June 20, 2021
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
When Jesus first began traveling with and preaching to his disciples, they knew there was something special about him. In fact, they had dropped everything they were doing without hesitation to follow him. But even with his authoritative teaching and many signs, the disciples were still unsure of his true nature. Although identified as the Son of God at his Baptism, they did not yet realize that he was, in fact, equal to God in both status and divinity. In today’s readings we find one of the clues which may have given them insight into the equality between the Father and the Son as both command the forces of nature.
The First Reading is a passage from the book of Job (Job 38:1, 8-11), a long tragic tale about a very pious man, but with a happy ending. In the beginning of the story, Job is a very affluent man with many possessions and a large extended family. As a test of Job’s faithfulness, God allows one of his helper angels, incidentally, named Satan, to strip Job of his wealth, family, and possessions. He is even inflicted with a horrible skin disease. Yet, because of his staunch righteousness, Job refuses to complain to or curse God. He keeps his faith and patience no matter what troubles Satan inflicts upon him or his family.
Job is subsequently visited by four friends who insist that he must have committed some sin to be afflicted with such misfortune. But throughout the ordeal Job insists that he has done nothing wrong and continues to proclaim his faithfulness to God. However, Job’s friends are relentless. So, he finally breaks his stance and composure at their persistent nagging and makes an emotional plea to the Lord for an explanation regarding his plight all the while maitaining his innocence.
Finally, the Lord responds to Job’s plea, but He does not give a direct answer to his questions. Rather, God offers a monologue describing the immensity of His creation and the fact that no mere mortal could understand the complexity of his motives nor the mystery of His design. God then asks Job a series of rhetorical questions which reveal Job’s lack of wisdom about the ways of God.
The Lord addresses Job out of a storm, “Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its size? Surely you know. Who stretched out the measuring line for it? Who shut within doors the sea, when it burst forth from the womb? When I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling bands? When I set limits for it and said here shall your proud waves be stilled?” (Job. 38:4-5, 8-11).
With this description of the immensity of God’s own creation, Job realizes that he is no match for God’s power and divine providence and that he has not right to question the motives of the Almighty. Job is humbled and capitulates before God, promising never to confront the Lord again. In the end he is rewarded with the prosperity of his former life.
The control of the raging waters and the calming of the “proud waves,” abilities reserved only for God in the book of Job, are once again found in the Gospel from Mark (Mk. 4:35-41). These are found in an incident that occurs directly following the parable of the mustard seed from last Sunday, along with a series of other teachings Jesus has delivered to his followers.
At the end of the evening Jesus and the disciples leave the crowd and get into the boat to cross to the other side of the sea. While Jesus is asleep on a cushion in the stern, a violent squall erupts in the sea terrifying the disciples despite the fact that they are seasoned fisherman. Fearing for their lives, the disciples wake Jesus saying, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mk. 4:38).
Finally, Jesus awakes, rebukes the wind, and says to the sea, “Quiet! Be Still! (Mk. 4:39). Immediately the storm abates, and the wind and the sea become calm. Jesus then turns to the disciples and asks them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” (MK. 4:40). Being filled with awe over what they have just witnessed, the disciples ask one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?” (Mk. 4:41).
Up until this point in Mark’s Gospel, the disciples have seen Jesus perform many miracles. He has exorcised a demoniac and healed Peter’s mother-in-law. He has cleansed a leper, raised a paralytic, and straightened a withered hand. But this time he has done something totally unique. He has commanded and controlled the forces of nature, something the disciples know from their Hebrew Scriptures can only be done by the omnipotent God of Israel, God of their forefathers, and God of Job. They have yet to recognize that Jesus is, in fact, one with the Father and thus capable of the same divine actions.
Unfortunately, it will take many more miracles and signs until the disciples come to discern the true nature of Jesus. In fact, it will take until his death and resurrection that they finally come to realize that he is the Word Incarnate, the Great “I Am,” who was with God from the very beginning and active in the creation of the world.
How many times in our lives are we like the disciples? We seem to be sailing along easily through life, maybe like Job. Then a storm emerges. Something unexpected like the death of a loved one, a sudden illness, or the loss of a job. We flounder in the throes of the calamity and cry desperately for help. But we do not even recognize that Jesus is resting peacefully in our midst with all of the power of his Heavenly Father to control the situation.
We need not ask, “Jesus, do you not care that we are perishing?” Because we are assured that both the Father and the Son know what we need before we even ask (Mt. 6:8). We just have to have courage and wait for the divine resolution, one that is beyond our comprehension, be it in this life or the next. For God rewards the faithful. We need only have the patience of Job.
