If you’ve ever been around an esteemed person who exuded some form of pure and moral greatness, you would have a better sense of what the apostles must have felt on a regular basis in their three-year ministry with Jesus.
Let us imagine the scene in today’s gospel, which would have seen a disgruntled group of apostles suddenly interrupted from the great ecstasy of having not only witnessed the great miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the feeding of the over five thousand in attendance, but the euphoria, joy and hope that it aroused, to the extent that as we saw yesterday, they wanted to make Jesus king. The Lord snaps them out of it, so to speak, by sending them out on the boat to eventually meet him on the other side, while he evades the crowds by going up the mountain to pray. This is where we’re at in today’s gospel.
The apostles, the inner circle of the Lord, have been sent (again, this is what the word “apostle” means: one who is sent) on a boat rowing through the sea, which eventually becomes a raging tempest. The winds are strong and they’ve gone out five to six kilometres already. That’s quite a ways from shore. Saint Bede, known as the Venerable Bede, born in 673 in England, had something to say about the fact that they got out so far in that boat: “This ship, however, does not carry an idle crew; they are all stout rowers; i.e. in the Church not the idle and effeminate, but the strenuous and persevering in good works, attain to the harbor of everlasting salvation.” That is such an important insight from Saint Bede to warn us against idleness and the effeminate nature of those who always desire things to be done for them. We need to work hard, row our best, to get to the other side, look after our physical selves but allowing God to also strengthen our spiritual selves; valuing drinking water while still running to Christ for living water, eating healthy food and also letting Jesus feed and nourish your soul, and enjoying walks for exercise while also attending to your walk in the Spirit. For this we pray, “Lord please, give me the strength I need and the motivation I’m lacking.”
This is precisely when they see Jesus approaching the boat walking on the sea and they’re afraid. Jesus lets them know it’s him and encourages them to neither fear nor be worried. Then,
“They wanted to take him into the boat,
but the boat immediately arrived at the shore to which they were heading.”
What a strange miracle. That makes it the third one in the span of perhaps five to ten minutes? Theophilus, the Patriarch of Antioch from year 169 until 182, is struck by the number of miracles mentioned here in today’s gospel: “Observe the three miracles here; the first, His walking on the sea; the second, His stilling the waves; the third, His putting them immediately on shore, which they were some distance off, when our Lord appeared.”
It’s like they were in a dream, and we all know how dreams can be crazy at times and not make much sense. Sometimes however, such instances help to paradoxically bring us back to reality… to shore, so to speak. An appreciation of something more grounded. In this case, it was another shocking glimpse into the Incarnation, the unique visitation of God in the flesh among us and how his power is limitless. Saint John Chrysostom, born in year 347 in Antioch, Syria, remarks as to why this miracle of the three took place: “He appeared to them in this way, to show His power; for He immediately calmed the tempest: Then they wished to receive Him into tile ship; and immediately the ship was at the land, whither they went. So great was the calm, He did not even enter the ship, in order to work a greater miracle, and to show his Divinity more clearly.”
In the first reading, when the apostles are now living in the immediate light of the resurrection, they began to lose focus as to their core mission: to love, especially the less fortunate and those who are struggling. They needed to be brought back down to earth and grounded in their mission.
This call for a reality check came to them in the form of complaints. They halted everything they were doing, and called a meeting. What was the problem? The Greek converts were alleging that their widows were not being given the same treatment as the Jewish widows. So they restructured everything so that this injustice could be dealt with, and they made it a priority. Ask yourselves what you would have done in the same situation. Ask yourself what you would have done out at sea, by command of Christ, that became treacherous? Would you have been angry at him? Doubted him? Left him once back on solid ground? Do we stick close to him only when things are going well? It seems that the apostles were all in when the glory was being heaped upon them in the presence of the greatness of Christ.
Maybe we are similar, and love the Lord only in good times. The Lord May allow us to undergo some struggle, but he is never far off. He gives us the grace to slowly and gradually prioritize until finally we reach a clearer idea of who and what must be at the top: God, who if loved beyond and above all things, makes our relationships and interactions with all secondary things in our lives so much clearer. The beautiful things become even more beautiful. The problems become more easily handled. Temptation, more easily overcome. Love, more profoundly lived.
All we need to do is cling closely to Christ, our Lord and God, who is risen! This is the great lesson he was trying to teach his apostles by sending them out through stormy waters and it is the same lesson he is trying to teach us, and he does so because he loves us… for why else, would he want us so close?
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