Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

“Sleep of Jesus During the Storm”
by Alexandre Bida, c. 1875

 
Readings for Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary: [3]
 
Reading 1: Amos 3:1-8; 4:11-12
 
Hear this word, O children of Israel, that the Lord pronounces over you,
over the whole family that I brought up from the land of Egypt:
 
You alone have I favored,
more than all the families of the earth;
Therefore I will punish you
for all your crimes.
 
Do two walk together
unless they have agreed?
Does a lion roar in the forest
when it has no prey?
Does a young lion cry out from its den
unless it has seized something?
Is a bird brought to earth by a snare
when there is no lure for it?
Does a snare spring up from the ground
without catching anything?
If the trumpet sounds in a city, will the people not be frightened?
If evil befalls a city,
has not the Lord caused it?
Indeed, the Lord God does nothing
without revealing his plan
to his servants, the prophets.
 
The lion roars—
who will not be afraid!
The Lord God speaks—
who will not prophesy!
 
I brought upon you such upheaval
as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah:
you were like a brand plucked from the fire;
Yet you returned not to me,
says the Lord.
 
So now I will deal with you in my own way, O Israel!
and since I will deal thus with you,
prepare to meet your God, O Israel.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Am 3:1-8; 4:11-12
 
The prophet Amos issues a warning to Israel (the Northern Kingdom). He begins his address by explaining that, because the people of Israel are God’s chosen ones, the Lord will hold them to a higher standard of behavior (under the Law of Moses). Then he starts with his own divinely inspired compulsion to exhort them with his prophetic vision using a series of everyday events with which his listeners would have been familiar. (“Do two walk together unless they have agreed?” Agreement goes before harmony. “Does a lion roar in the forest when it has no prey?” The answer would be understood as no, etc.) The prophet therefore must also speak: “The Lord God speaks—who will not prophesy!” The concluding remarks in this selection indicate the Lord’s judgment is at hand.
 
-------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 5:4b-6a, 6b-7, 8
 
R. (9a) Lead me in your justice, Lord.
 
At dawn I bring my plea expectantly before you.
For you, O God, delight not in wickedness;
no evil man remains with you;
the arrogant may not stand in your sight.
R. Lead me in your justice, Lord.
 
You hate all evildoers;
you destroy all who speak falsehood;
The bloodthirsty and the deceitful
the Lord abhors.
R. Lead me in your justice, Lord.
 
But I, because of your abundant mercy,
will enter your house;
I will worship at your holy temple
in fear of you, O Lord.
R. Lead me in your justice, Lord.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 5:4b-6a, 6b-7, 8
 
Psalm 5 is a lament, pleading for rescue from those who are evil and do not follow the statutes of God. The love of God is for his faithful people, and those who do not follow his law “the Lord abhors.”
 
-------------------------------------------
Gospel: Matthew 8:23-27
 
As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him.
Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea,
so that the boat was being swamped by waves;
but he was asleep.
They came and woke him, saying,
"Lord, save us! We are perishing!"
He said to them, "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?"
Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea,
and there was great calm.
The men were amazed and said, "What sort of man is this,
whom even the winds and the sea obey?"
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Mt 8:23-27
Jesus calming the sea is the first of this set of miracles recorded in St. Matthew’s Gospel. There are notable differences between St. Matthew’s account and that of St. Mark (Mark 4:35-41). First we note that Jesus leads the disciples into the boat, rather than the disciples taking him there. We also see a more reverent attitude on the part of the Twelve as they wake him, contrasted with the accusatory tone in St. Mark's Gospel (“do you not care that we are perishing?"). This account of the disciples' experience, in both cases, points directly at the identity of Jesus as the Son of God, and serves as a proof for the reader.
 
“Does this icon of Jesus asleep in the midst of a storm with his distraught disciples not dramatize the leap from hopeless despair to tested faith? […] Faith makes us aware of God’s ‘absent presence’ by the very force of the trials faith’s self-surrender brings on. The disciples would not be weathering this storm if they had not followed Jesus.  And yet he sleeps.” [4]
 
CCC: Mt 8:20 2444; Mt 8:26 2610
-------------------------------------------
Reflection:
 
Beyond the obvious proof of Jesus’ identity as the Messiah, the Only Begotten Son of God, the story of Jesus calming the sea has another important lesson for us, his modern-day followers.  Simply stated, the story is: Jesus beckons, and the disciples are compelled to follow.  A storm threatens them, and Jesus calms both the storm and their fears.  The story encapsulates one of the many gifts Christ offers those who trust in him: the Lord’s peace and consolation.
 
The peace of Christ is something so valuable, so cherished by his faithful, that we should thank God for it daily.  It is the peace of Christ that gave the early martyrs the courage to stand up under torture.  It is the peace of Christ which opened the hearts of many of the saints to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  When the storm rages around us and all seems to be chaotic, our natural emotional state tends to imitate the chaos in which we find ourselves, and cloud our vision.  But the peace of Christ calms those turbulent waters, and allows us to see clearly into the very depths of the sea, as is so beautifully stated by Diadochus of Photice in his Treatise on Spiritual Perfection.
 
The peace of Christ requires something of the believer.  To attain serenity in the face of calamity, it is necessary to place our trust, our complete trust, in the Lord our Savior.  We are reminded of an old movie called “The Court Jester” with Danny Kaye.  In one scene Danny, a bumbling minstrel, was hypnotized by a minion of the beguiling princess (Angela Lansbury) and was transformed into a champion fencer.  While he was under the influence of the suggestion, he fought bravely and with skill against the evil Sir Ravenhurst (Basil Rathbone).  But when the trance was broken he became the terrified jester flailing wildly.  Without trust and faith in Christ, our human emotions betray us and, like horses fleeing fire, we can be led to do exactly the wrong thing.
 
When we are faced with crises, it is so important that we pause and place our trust in Christ.  Allow him to take on the fearful situation, as he did with the storm in the Gospel, and he will calm our fears, bring us peace, and show us the way.  Does that mean he will intervene and change our physical reality?  No, but he can change our mental state, providing the comfort, consolation, and peace that will make all the difference in how we react and how others perceive God acting through us.
 
Our prayer today is that God will strengthen us and give us his peace, calming the storms that rage about us, that we might boldly proclaim his name to all we meet this day.
 
Pax
 

---

[1] The picture used is “Sleep of Jesus During the Storm” by Alexandre Bida, c. 1875.
[2] S.S. Commemoratio
[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word Volume I, Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, © 1996 p. 364.