Tuesday, August 2, 2022

 Tuesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Jeremiah 30:1-2.12-15.18-22; Matthew 14:22-36)

The incredible story of Jesus walking on the sea gives rise to the claim of a miracle.  No one can walk on water unless, of course, it is frozen.  This account may work on a spiritual level without necessarily a miraculous implication.

A boat adrift at sea well symbolizes the early Church after the resurrection.  It is suffering persecution, false teachers, and other difficulties.  Seemingly Jesus is not present in its need.  But he is watching over it all the time like parents viewing their children with closed-circuit video.  Peter, the Church’s vicar, suffers the same cowardice that he literally exhibited in his denial the night Jesus was taken captive.  The people on the shore, however, appear more credulous as they bring their sick to him for healing.

Such an interpretation runs the risk of eroding belief in the gospels.  Yet it appears that there is considerable symbolizing and imagining in the formation of the gospels.  What is fundamental is not literal accuracy of all gospel accounts.  Rather it is the reality of Jesus having given his life for the redemption of humanity and God’s approval of the sacrifice with raising Jesus from the dead.  For this reason, we proclaim with the disciples of today’s passage, “’Truly, (he is) the Son of God.’” We also entrust to him our sick and hurting.