Together in the Same Boat with Jesus

 

Church law requires those charged with the responsibility of leadership in religious communities at stated times to visit their members and those entrusted to their care. This is an ancient prescription in the life of the Church that dates way back to a time when personal visits were very time-consuming and otherwise difficult and challenging, but they were nonetheless seen as necessary and desirable for communication and community. Nowadays, we communicate much more frequently and in many varied ways. Even so, direct personal face-to-face interaction retains a certain privileged status. Indeed, as you are undoubtedly aware, there is a lot of concern in our society today about the breakdown and failure of interpersonal interactions, thanks to the dominance of technological alternatives. However modern we may be or want to be, nothing quite can replace personal presence in human relations.

And so it was also in today's Gospel passage [Mark 4:35-41] about the disciples in the boat on the Sea of Galilee caught in a violent, frightening storm. Not surprisingly, the disciples were filled with fear and terror amid the raging tempest, and they equally unsurprisingly turned to Jesus for help in their panic, – much as many people turn to him in prayer even now, if only as a last resort because nothing else seems to work.

Jesus, of course, was there. He was present. His presence, however, was obscured by the fact that he was asleep. Hence the disciples’ frantic efforts to awake him, which they eventually succeed in doing, with the intended result.

This image of the disciples in the boat caught in a life-threatening storm is a traditional image used to depict the Church, which has been sailing through the centuries through some seriously stormy times. We might include in that familiar image our own era, with its conflicts and divisions that seem to be tearing our society apart, conflicts and divisions form which the Church itself is not immune.

This Gospel story reminds us that Christ continues present in his Church now as then, whether the threatening storms be external challenges, inner turmoil, or our inevitable uncertainty about the future. The same story challenges us, however, that his presence is not some theoretical abstraction. Rather, we must really recognize his presence among us and take his presence seriously enough to call on him. 

Storms are inevitable. The boat – our Church, our society, our local community – will always have to struggle, a struggle we can’t escape. So inevitably, we may feel fear and anxiety, even doubt, as we face difficulties. The Gospel challenges us to face those difficulties together, as a community conscious of Christ’s continuing presence among us, a presence that reveals itself in many ways, not least in the faith, hope, and love we share with one another, together int he same boat with Jesus.

Homily for the 12^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Saint Paul the Apostle Church, Horseshoe Bay, TX, June 23, 2024.