Homily for 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
19th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Aug. 13, 2023
Matt 14: 22-33
Ursulines, The Fountains, Tuckahoe
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx              

“Peter cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” (Matt 14: 30).

(from Wikimedia, unattributed)

A sudden, fierce storm on the Sea of Galilee isn’t unusual.  That Jesus’ disciples, at least 4 of whom were experienced fishermen on that lake, were caught by surprise in such a storm is thus no surprise.  Matthew doesn’t call this occasion a storm, but he notes the waves and a strong wind.  That’s severe enuf that even tho the lake is only 8 miles across at its widest, it was taking the disciples all nite to cross; the “4th watch of the nite” was the hours just before dawn, and we presume they’d set out the evening before.

According to the gospel accounts of Matthew (8:23-27), Mark (4:35-41), and Luke (8:22-25), they’d been caught in a violent storm on the lake on another occasion, that time with Jesus in the boat.  Terrified that they’d be sunk, they’d cried out to him for help, and he’d stilled the storm.  They were overawed.

On this 2d occasion, after feeding a large crowd by multiplying bread and fish, Jesus isn’t with them because he’d remained ashore to pray privately thru most of the nite.  Mark (6:45-52) and John (6:16-21) also recount this episode, when Jesus walks on the surface of the lake in the middle of the storm and overtakes the boat, scaring the disciples because they think they’re seeing a ghost.  But once again the storm suddenly dies and they land at their destination, a place called Gennesaret.  Mark reports that “they were utterly astounded” because they still didn’t understand who Jesus was:  “their hearts were hardened” (6:51-52).  Matthew, on the other hand, asserts that they recognized Jesus as “truly the Son of God” (14:33).

After all, it’s not just anyone who can stop a storm or walk on water.

Matthew also gives us the unique story of Peter’s attempt to “come to [Jesus] on the water” (14:28) and his faltering faith.  Jesus has to reach out to save him from being swallowed by the waves, really meaning from his faithlessness.

The larger point that Matthew presents to us is the position of the Church in the world and of the individual believer.  The boat sailing on an often hostile sea has become an image of the Church voyaging in a dangerous world.  In the 1st storm story, Jesus is in the boat with the apostles; in this 2d episode Jesus, tho not in their midst, is aware of their danger and comes to them from where he’s been praying.  He tells them to “take courage,” for he brings them his divine presence:  “It is I,” and (14:27).  In Matthew’s Greek, “It is I” is literally “I am,” God’s own name for himself:  the name told to Moses from the burning bush (Ex 3:14), the name by which Jesus identifies himself to the mob that comes to arrest him in the Garden of Gethsemane (John 18:5-8).  Therefore they need not be afraid Jesus, Emmanuel, “God with us,” is always with his Church even when it seems about to be overwhelmed by the powers of evil.  “Take courage, it is I; don’t be afraid.”

Peter is an individual disciple.  He has confidence in Jesus, almost a rash confidence:  “Lord, if it’s you, command me to come to you on the water” (14:28).  It’s not that Peter’s confidence is misplaced.  Rather, he doesn’t keep it focused on the Lord.  The moment he considers his situation, “how strong the wind was,” his confidence evaporates (14:30).  On his own, he’s helpless.  He’ll sink and be lost.

So it is with us disciples.  If we rely on ourselves to navigate thru the perils of the world—thru temptations, thru false teachings, thru indifference to the spiritual life, thru the traditional hostile trilogy of “the world, the flesh, and the devil”—then indeed we’ll be sunk.  How many of our Christian brothers and sisters thru the centuries have had to face harsh persecution, and still do in parts of the Muslim world, in India, in China, in tyrannical states like Nicaragua—and have been tempted to forget about Christ and yield their consciences to the demands of the government, of society, of the culture.  In America we face a lot of that same hostility.

In the face of such hostility, we have to do what Peter did:  cry out, “Lord, save me!”  Neither the Church as a whole nor we as individual believers can survive without keeping our eyes and our hopes on Jesus.  As St. Peter told the Jewish leaders when the apostles were on trial for preaching the resurrection of Jesus, “There’s no other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved” (Acts 4:12)  If we want to be saved, we must rely on Jesus.

Jesus drew power from living always in the presence of his heavenly Father.  We heard today that after he’d dismissed the crowds and sent his apostles on their way, “he went up on the mountain by himself to pray” (14:23).  It’s absolutely necessary for us, too, to take time to pray—by ourselves, with our families, with the parish community.  United with Jesus and with his Father by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can deal with “the world, the flesh, and the devil,” and we can be saved, as we prayed in the collect, for “adoption as [God’s] sons and daughters,” saved to enter our promised inheritance.