BIBLE STUDY #54
NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
August 7, 2011

Reading 1
1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-13a

At the mountain of God, Horeb,
Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter.
Then the LORD said to him,
“Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD;
the LORD will be passing by.”
A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains
and crushing rocks before the LORD—
but the LORD was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake—
but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake there was fire—
but the LORD was not in the fire.
After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound.
When he heard this,
Elijah hid his face in his cloak
and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.

The Word of the Lord

Reading II
Rom 9:1-5

Brothers and sisters:
I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie;
my conscience joins with the Holy Spirit in bearing me witness
that I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart.
For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ
for the sake of my own people,
my kindred according to the flesh.
They are Israelites;
theirs the adoption, the glory, the covenants,
the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises;
theirs the patriarchs, and from them,
according to the flesh, is the Christ,
who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

The Word of the Lord

Gospel
Mt 14:22-33

After he had fed the people, Jesus made the disciples get into a boat
and precede him to the other side,
while he dismissed the crowds.
After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.
When it was evening he was there alone.
Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore,
was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it.
During the fourth watch of the night,
he came toward them walking on the sea.
When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified.
“It is a ghost,” they said, and they cried out in fear.
At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Peter said to him in reply,
“Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
He said, “Come.”
Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus.
But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened;
and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter,
and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
After they got into the boat, the wind died down.
Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying,
“Truly, you are the Son of God.”

The Gospel of the Lord

Reflection

After feeding the 5,000 men (from last week’s gospel), Jesus sends the disciples away in a boat, and Jesus went up a mountain to pray. Why a mountain? In scripture, that is where God lives. Jesus is going to the top of a mountain to commune with his Father.

One thing to note is that before every important event in his life, Jesus prays. We should follow his example and do likewise.

We now switch to the disciples. This part of Matthew’s gospel is called Book Four, and is a book about the church (remember, the gospels were put in written form several decades after Jesus died and rose). We are getting a teaching on what it means to be church.

There is much symbolism here. A boat is an ancient symbol for the church. Water can be a symbol of life or a symbol of death. The church, as it goes through life, will have calm times and times of much storminess. And remember, we are the church.

They are also at the 4th watch, some time between 3 am and 6 am. The darkness represents evil and the storm represents the waters of death. The boat is being tossed by the sea. The impression I get from reading this passage is that Matthew is trying to depict a very rough storm.

Having been in the US Navy, I can relate to rough seas. I was on a supply ship that was 600 feet long and had millions of tons of supplies. Even then, it could get rough. The worst was when we sailing back to the States, and the ship was almost empty of supplies, so the ship was very light and it was very easy for a storm to rock the ship violently. It would lean to one side so far that we walked with one foot on the deck (floor) and one foot on the bulkhead (wall). The ship would pitch back and forth and your body would learn to automatically adjust to this kind of movement without having to think about it. The first time on land and our bodies would still be automatically trying to adjust to a moving ship. It looked like we were either spastic or drunk.

The first time out to sea is scary and intimidating. The first time in a storm is terrifying. Try to sleep in your bunk when the ship is being tossed about in a storm.

But we always made it through the storm. There was lots of training so we were well prepared for emergencies. We depended on each other to get home safely.

Going through the storms of life can be scary, especially when Jesus is not in the boat. Sometimes we think we can handle the storms without Him, but there are certain storms that will capsize our boat if not for Him.

The symbolism in our gospel passage is that as the church goes through life it will sink unless we depend on Jesus as our rock and our strength, our refuge in times of trouble. Placing our trust in the Lord will help us make it through the storms of our lives. It also tells us that we get in trouble when ministry becomes something other than spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ. If we are spreading our own gospel (what we want the gospel to say instead of what it really says) or if we leave faith out of the context of helping people than we have lost our way and are sinking.

The lack of recognition of Jesus by the disciples (It is a ghost!) shows their lack of faith. Even when Peter recognizes Jesus, and steps out of the boat, he begins to sink. It shows that we struggle between faith and doubt. Sometimes we are faithful and sometimes we fail. Peter is a good example: the one given the keys to the kingdom denies Jesus the night before he died. This is a life long struggle for all of us.

When the boat seems ready to capsize, Jesus approaches them by walking on the water, and he calms the sea. When Peter is sinking, Jesus reaches out his hand to save him. Who is this man that he is able to do these things? After the disciples say, “It is a ghost,” Jesus says, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” The words translated as ‘it is I’ are the same words God uses in Genesis 3:14 when Moses asks God for his name: “This is what you should tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you.

Matthew is telling us that Jesus is God, and therefore he is the one who saves, as evidenced by the last sentence of our gospel: “Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, ‘Truly, you are the Son of God.’”

In the context of a teaching on the Church, what is Matthew telling us? As we attempt to minister to people, it is Jesus and his saving actions that we profess. The disciples get in trouble when Jesus is not with them; they begin to sink when they are on their own. It is only when he joins them in the boat, it is only when Peter asks for help and Jesus reaches out to him, that they are on the right track.

Ministry is more than helping people, it is spreading the Good News. A good example is Straight and Narrow, the drug and alcohol rehab center in Paterson. They treat the spiritual as well as the physical needs of their clients. The clients were helpless in the face of their addictions, and one of the things the clients do is profess their helplessness and seek the help of a higher power, which in our case would be Jesus. It is the combination of the work of the staff and the grace of the Lord that helps them overcome their addictions.

Personally, I didn’t become a priest to be a social worker. I became a priest to spread the Gospel. In the context of the gospel and at the command of Jesus, we help other people, just as Jesus did, but it’s the gospel that comes first. We must have, so to speak, “Jesus in our boat” or we will also sink.

In the first reading, Elijah is on Mt Horeb (another name for Mt Sinai) and has an encounter with God. It was fitting for Elijah to be on Mt Sinai, since his mission was to reestablish the covenant and to and restore the faith of the people (remember, this is where Moses received the Ten Commandments).

He was told to go there by God and wait for him to pass by. Elijah had preached against King Ahab and his Queen Jezebel who had erected statues of Ba’al in the Temple, and when his preaching went unheeded, there was a drought. On top of that, Elijah defeated the pagan prophets in a contest, and King Ahab wanted him dead.

In the ancient world, wind, earthquake and fire were manifestations of the presence of pagan gods, such as Ba’al. The presence of these elements of nature showed that a divine being was near.

But God does something better; he appears in a tiny whispering sound, like in the quiet stillness of our hearts, and brings peace. He is with Elijah in his troubles, whose hope is in the Lord. What could be better than that?

In the second reading from Romans, we see a striking and bold example of what it means to be church. Paul, born a Jew but converted by Christ himself, is willing to do anything to bring the saving and gracious touch of Christ to his fellow Jews. He knows what Christ has done for him and he wishes to share that with other Jews. According to Paul, the Israelites have everything God can offer, except the best offering, that of Christ himself. In fact, he feels so bad for them, longs to convert them so much, that he is willing to be “accursed and cut off from Christ” for their sake. What a great example of self giving and love.



Fr. Phil