Homily for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) 2021

The boat is the Church

Grandparents came to Australia by boat

For most of human history, the only way to travel to far-off, remote destinations was by ship.

To the early Christians, the ship was an obvious image of the Church.

Just as a ships carry people safely to their destination, so the Church is the means by which we travel safely to our destination: heaven.

Significantly, the little boat that set out on the Sea of Galilee contained the whole Church - Jesus and the twelve apsotles. Just image if it had sunk!

The point is that we are meant to see ourselves in that boat.

The storm

I find it fascinating that the storm caused so much trouble for the apostles.

At least four of the apostles grew up on the Sea of Galilee and made a living as fishermen.

In truth, the Sea of Galilee is actually a landlocked lake, with steep mountains rising up all around. These mountains can cause fierce winds and storms to break over the lake.

The apostles would have navigated these sorts of storms countless times. They would have had a good idea about how to safely sail the lake in a storm.

Even so, the natural abilities and resourses of the apostles are inadequate. They are overwhelmed by the difficulty and challenge of the storm.

The storm has one key effect on the apostles: it causes them to doubt Jesus. It created the illusion that Jesus was not in control.

The church has, does, and will continue to face many similar storms until the end of time.

Each of us, too, face our own storms individually - death, hardship, family dysfunction, physical or emotional injuries, loss of work...

The difficulties that face the Church and the difficulties we face personally can have the same effect on us as the storm had on the apostles.

My difficulties create the illusion that Jesus is not in control, that I am “going down”. My difficulties undermine my trust in God and my confidence that the good God is alive and at work in my life.

Like the apostles, we often react to our storms by running around in fear, anxiety and anger.

Trust in God

While the apostles stress, Jesus sleeps. Jesus faces this storm, and every human difficulty, with utter serenity.

How? He trusts completely in the Father. He has utter certainty that the good God has it in hand. As a wise person once reminded me: “Don’t worry Marcus. The throne of heaven is occupied.”

First reading and psalm.

The certainty that the good God is in control is called faith. Faith is utter certainty and conviction regarding the things of God, including in God’s providence. In every moment, he is doing what he has always done for those who trust in him - drawing good out of evil - calming the storm.

Jesus shows us how to face with serenity the difficulties of our lives - trust completely in God’s goodness.

St Augustine summarises well how we ought to face our difficulties and hardships:

Saint Mark’s Gospel The Calming of the Storm (4:35–41)

“As a vessel on the sea is exposed to a thousand dangers—pirates, quicksands, hidden rocks, tempests—so man in this life, is encompassed with perils, arising from the temptations of hell, from the occasions of sin, from the scandals or bad counsels of men, from human respect, and, above all from the passions of corrupt nature […]. This should not cause him to lose confidence. Rather […] when you find yourself assaulted by a violent passion […] take whatever steps you can to avoid the occasions [of sin] and place your reliance on God […]: when the tempest is violent, the pilot never takes his eyes from the light which guides him to port. In like manner, we should keep our eyes always turned to God, who alone can deliver us from the many dangers to which we are exposed”