Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time Cycle B June 20 2021

 Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time   Cycle B    June 20 2021

           Our Gospel today opens on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  Anyone here ever been there?   Jesus has been preaching all day to large crowds on the shore while He was in a boat on the water.  The subject of Jesus’ preaching was parables, several of which we heard in last Sunday’s Gospel about a farmer and the parable of the mustard seed.  And Jesus was at it for most of the day.  Finally, evening drew on and Jesus told His disciples, “let us cross to the other side” of the lake.  St. Mark says something rather odd.  The Gospel states: “Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was.”  “Just as he was?”   I take this to mean that Jesus was tired, worn out, shot, exhausted, pooped.  He had been preaching all day, and Jesus was tired.  That is only normal.  So “they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was.”

          Then Mark adds another detail that neither Matthew nor Luke, who tell the same story of calming the storm, adds.   Mark tells us “And other boats were with him.”   Mark, the shortest of the Gospels, gives us very few details.  So when he gives us an aside like this, I wonder what it meant.  “Other boats were with him.”  Who or what are these other boats?

          The boat is often used as an image of the Church, as in the barque of St Peter.  That is why there is a boat depicted in the church window up there.  So other boats implies other churches.  I don’t know what St Mark intended by this comment, but for me it reminds me that we are gathered here praying and singing and worshipping, while up the street from us the Baptists and the Methodists are doing the same, and a few blocks to the West the University Christian Church is doing the same.  For me this odd detail of other boats is a reminder of the need to pray and work for ecumenism, for the unity of all Christians. 

This unity is so important for the power of our witness to Jesus as Savior and the effectiveness of our preaching of the Gospel.  Maybe St Mark already was aware of this, and so tells us that “Other boats were with him.”  I like to think so.

          And while Jesus is catching a few well deserved winks, a storm blows up.  Storms are always blowing up: in our world between nations, God knows within our nation, in our state and city, in our work places, in our neighborhoods and families, and even in our church as demonstrated this week at the US Catholic Bishops’ meeting.   This past week the US Catholic Bishops have met on-line, and it was contentious.  There was a storm over Catholic politicians who do not support all church teaching and who are going to Holy Communion.   The Vatican weighed in on this to pre-empt this storm, but it did not prevent it.  And I don’t need to list for you all the other fights in our city over homelessness, in our state, and in our nation.   Storms blow up all over the place.

          Where is Jesus in all this?  He often seems asleep, distracted, not paying attention.  Why doesn’t Jesus do something to save us?  The disciples woke Jesus and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

          Have you ever had the experience of being in difficulty and danger, crying out to the Lord for help, but He seems to be asleep, indifferent to your plight?  //  Of course you have.   We all can identify with the disciples in the storm.   We shout, at least to ourselves: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”  

           Following Jesus will not make the storms go away.  Will not shield us from conflict and controversy, will not protect us from bitter disagreements and very different views of issues. 

          But, we can have faith that Jesus is in control.  That He has the power to protect us in the storms and tempests of life.   From the beginning of the Church, when St Peter and St. Paul argued publicly over the role of the Gentiles in the Church, up to the US Bishops meeting this week, and long into the foreseeable future, tempests and storms and disagreements will be with us in the Church and all the other aspects of life. 

          But we do not be afraid.  No matter how strong the wind is, no matter how loud the thunder and storm, no matter how high the waves, Jesus is not asleep.  Jesus does care for us.  Jesus will protect us in the ultimate sense and help us to remain true to Him and to His Father. 

          So we can have confidence.  We can have faith. 

Enjoy the ride, AMEN.