NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
(1 Kings
19:9, 11-13; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:22-33)
“War is hell.” We have all heard this lament. But it doesn’t
seem to be widely believed. If it were, there wouldn’t be so many movies
glorifying war. There wouldn’t be so many children’s toys highlighting battle
gear. Perhaps there wouldn’t be so many young people seeking a military career.
However, “war is hell” makes sense when we recognize hell as
the worst of all situations. It is so horrific that many times soldiers who
have participated in combat don’t want to talk about what they have
experienced. Nevertheless, sometimes we get inklings of its conditions: the
sights not only of blood but also of torn and exposed organs; the stench not
only of clothes worn for days in extreme weather conditions but of vomit and rotting
flesh; the sounds not only of bombs exploding but of sirens at full volume and
men wailing.
We begin this reflection with reference to war because
Elijah in the first reading has just come from a kind of war. There has been
religious combat in Israel. Elijah himself a few days before slaughtered 450
prophets of the pagan god Baal. He had to flee to Horeb, the mountain of the
Lord, in the south to avoid the vengeance of Jezebel, the queen of Israel. She,
a foreigner devoted to Baal, vowed to take Elijah's life for his audacity. The prophet
seeks refuge in a mountain cave when the word of God comes to him. He tells the
Lord that the Israelites, following Queen Jezebel, have put all the Lord's
prophets to the sword so that only he remains alive. God responds that he
should come out of the cave and stand on the mountain. There He will come to
him.
A hurricane of the kind in which God revealed himself to Job
passes by. However, in this case, the storm produces no divine revelation.
Then, an earthquake of the kind that preceded the giving of the Ten
Commandments to Moses shakes the earth. But, once again, God does not reveal
himself. Finally, Elijah hears “the whisper of a gentle breeze,” through which
God discloses his will.
With a gentle voice, God most often reveals himself as a
lover of peace. Yes, he can come with fury, but he prefers to come with tenderness.
He is near to support the weak and to encourage the discouraged. This is what
happens in today's Gospel. The disciples are returning by boat to the other
side of the Sea of Galilee.
They left Jesus on the mountain to pray alone. It is night, the symbol of evil.
The waves rock the boat pouring water into it and threatening the disciples'
lives. The disciples become completely terrified when they see what appears to
be a ghost walking on the water. Jesus reassures them: “'Take courage and do
not be afraid,' he says, 'it is I.'”
Just as the first-century Christians, we today can find
comfort in the gentle voice of the Lord. In the early Church, Christians faced
persecution from without and discord from within. The apostles taught them with
this story how Jesus remained close by and spoke in a gentle voice. Today, we
are challenged by increasing violence and indifference toward religion. And there is always the threat of war. But
Jesus remains with us. “'Take courage and do not be afraid,' he tells us in the
gospels and through our companions in the Church, 'it is I.'”
