Emotionally, learning someone, a husband, a father, brother, or wife that I have been relying on, is unconcerned about my life, is one of the most disconcerting moments of life. The sense of betrayal and insecurity can shatter anyone. The disciples were going through a similar phase in life. They were in the midst of the sea and the eye of the tempest, and the one whom they relied upon, their master, Jesus, was sleeping like the dead.
“Lord, don’t you care if we perish!” The disciples made a plea to him with a voice that sounded between an angry shout and a desperate cry. The response of the disciples in the gospel today represents the cry of humanity in the face of this pandemic that is rendering children, orphans, families without breadwinners and companies, bankrupt. We are desperate and question why God is not responding in the middle of such a pandemic. Is there an answer soothing enough to comfort us? Going through the details of this miracle can help us learn a spiritual lesson or two in the middle of the pandemic crisis.
Placing this story in a historical sequence in the life of Jesus is difficult. But its symbolic import is unmistakable. The boat as the Church or the community of believers is easily distinguishable. The wind and storm are challenges that rock the Church, and the disciples are scared and unable to steer the Church in their own capacity. The text is indicating to the persecutions and struggles that the disciples were already undergoing. But we don’t quite understand why Jesus appears to be sleeping? The narration is a literal reenactment of the scenes in Psalm 107: 23-30 where Jesus emerges as the Lord of the universe. The man who walks with them, eats with them, spends his days and nights with them, is not just one of them but is the Lord of the universe. This is the theophany that the disciples and all Christians are invited to believe.
The conversation that follows after calming the sea reveals where the disciples had mistaken. The fear of the wind and storm was greater than their trust in the master. They did not believe that the one in the boat, albeit sleeping, can calm any tempest. This is a biblical answer to our anxieties even today. When we feel helpless, still trust in the LORD. He will come as strength to those who call upon him. He has power over everything in this universe.
When sicknesses, deaths, and other natural calamities threaten to destroy our world, most people become desperate. But some people begin to fight it and defend others. They become part of the solution. When we do not become part of a solution, we often become part of the problem. God has always given us collective wisdom to solve our problems. Humanity needs to stay together with God to solve the problems we face.
The vaccines for Coronavirus itself are made at unprecedented speeds. How did we manage that? Humanity had already learned the skills of isolating proteins of viruses while finding cures for other deadly diseases. The skills and techniques that we have developed advance humanity to survive other attacks. The greater the obstacle we overcome, the greater we evolve into the perfection of the heavenly Father.
The Father is transforming humanity in a non-stop transformation process enabling us to overcome greater and greater obstacles for a more perfected form of ourselves. Yes, we are going there, to the perfection of the heavenly Father: “be perfect like your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48)
At the end of their ordeal, the disciples find out that the master could allay all their fears. After a crisis is resolved, it is crucial to identify the lessons we need to remember. The disciples learned to trust in Jesus, the Lord of the Universe, more than ever. For Him, these tempests are so small as to stop them by a word or two. So, too, we shall trust in the Lord, all the while making ourselves part of a solution to the crisis.