It is a paradox. God is not in the storm in the story of Elijah; God is in the storm in Matthew’s gospel account today.
Where is God most present? In Elijah’s flight from his enemies? In the disciples’ struggle with the storm? God is always present, but the way God is present varies.
In the silence, the voice of God sends Elijah back to the fearful and violent place from which he had fled. Peter and Jesus get back into the boat. They don’t go to shore. The boat is where the others are, and even though it is a place of danger, they are all in it together. (We keep hearing that same phrase these days about life with the coronavirus: We are all in this together.)
Our own impossible situations are dramatic in an analogous way, and we are invited by the Gospel to imitate Peter and call out to Jesus, “Help me!” And Jesus, in turn, will stretch out his hand to catch us.
A week before my mother, Celia, died, I recall being indescribably weary as I arrived at the elevator door. The accumulation of Celia’s demanding illness interwoven with my three cancers and a broken leg had pretty much leveled me.
As I rode up on the elevator at the nursing home that day, I leaned my forehead against the wall. “I can’t do this alone today,” I prayed.
A little while later, along came my mother’s brother, Adam, who had only come three other times in eleven months. I recognized him for who he was: the outreached hand of Jesus. God provided in my storm.
Going back to the Gospel, Peter, the fisherman, is remarkably more aware of the storm’s treachery than he is confident of Christ’s summons, until Christ reaches out to him.
But the import of this story is not for individuals alone. Muchmore than that, the boat can be seen as a symbol of the church threatened by persecution and trials that sought to destroy it in the early church. Our church is that way today. Destruction threatens. The uncertainty the church faces about its strength and direction is real and absorbing. Will we become more centralized and authoritarian as some would wish, or will it become more collegial and embracing of people’s lives and gifts? One danger our church faces is missing the boat – not recognizing what Jesus is calling us to be and do. Another danger is an unwillingness to enlarge the crew for the boat – women and men, married and single.
With our mind’s eye, if we sweep across the ministry of Jesus, we find that he had a way of being active and alert with the very mind and heart of God. He would be where he was needed most, in the way he was needed most. His last promise to his followers was, “I will be with you always.”
Jesus, the Holy One, Our God made flesh, will be with us as a faith community and as individuals.
The great truth concealed beneath the waves of the storm that threatened to engulf the disciples is this: Jesus, the Christ, will bring to the moment peace, calm waters and a future to unfold.
Whether we recognize the coming of our God in a tiny wisp of wind, or in a voice in a stormy night, or in a raging pandemic, our God will come to us.
~Sister Joan Sobala
