POWER OVER ALL

Jb 38: 1.8-11; 2Cor 5:14-17; Mk 4:35-41

      The Liturgy of this Sunday is invitation to renew our faith in God whom is very attentive to our cry for help and to give him the place he deserves in our lives. The first reading is taken from the book of Job. Job is a righteous man who, even experiencing heard sufferings, doesn’t lose his faith in God. His story is symbol of the life of a devoted Jew, who uses to put the relationship with God above all things. He is an example of person who assumes the faith in God as reason of identity and remains faithful even in times of trials. The today’s text describes how God overcome the resistances of the sea and made it to obey him. For ancient people, the sea was symbol of the negative or evil forces, but didn’t resist to the power and wisdom of God. Through his works God shows his care and protection in relation to the life, especially of the human being. This reality helps Job to understand that only good things come from God. The second reading speaks that Christ died and rose for our sake in order we live for him only. The reality of the baptism confirms that our vocation and identity is to belong to him. His love for us motivates us to do the best of ourselves for the good of others like he did for us. Like this we feel one with him, taking his way of thinking, of feeling and acting.

     After announcing the Kingdom of God in parables, Jesus invites his disciples “to cross over to another side of the lake”. Another side is symbol of another way of thinking, feeling and acting. This is the synthesis of the experience of the disciples with Jesus. They were invited to change their mentality in order to become more according to God’s plans. In some moment Jesus reacted hardly with Peter just because his resistance in this matter. “The disciples entered in the boat and took Jesus with them”. This is an important sign of their identification with the Master and his proposals. They aren’t alone. The boat is symbol of the life and the mission, mission which they are invited to carry out. Taking Jesus in the boat is to assume him in the life and entrust to him success of the mission. It is a mutual confidence: Jesus entrusts to them a mission and they entrust their lives to him.  

      The strong wind and the sea in this context are symbol of trials and difficulties. During all time they were tempted to think that they could resolve difficulties situations for own account (alone), leaving Jesus inactive in their lives. Of course that to say “Jesus was sleeping” doesn’t mean a real sleep, but it means the moments in which his presence and proposals were ignored. This situation caused panic and confusion in the life of the disciples. “The disciples call on Jesus to save them”. The call for help is expression that during their mission they were invited to show their faith in Jesus who was always present, confirming their words through marvellous deeds. The fear and the lack of faith were sign that they didn’t know Jesus very well: “Who is this man? Even the wind and waves obey him!”

    According to the mentality of the people of Ancient Covenant, only God has power to control the sea, putting limits to its borders. Jesus is really the Son of God, because has power over the sea and over all. This is the truth that the new followers of Jesus have to witness. For many times, the opposition against our work, our doubts and fears have reduced our capacity of believing. Jesus seems absent in our lives because maybe we don’t give him the place he deserves. We know that our strengths aren’t enough to face up the challenges of the journey. Jesus accompanies us with care and attention and expects to be consulted not only in critical moments. Let us allow that Jesus be awake in us in order to revive the hopes and to increase the faith.

Fr Ndega