12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

1^st Reading: Job 38: 1, 8-11

The tone of the narrative becomes markedly different for the last 4 chapters of the Book of Job, maybe because it is God speaking and we expect God to sound different that Eliphaz or Elihu, maybe because the book is racing towards its climax.  God has not come down to earth to explain Godself or answer Job’s questions.  God’s first words are, in effect, I’ll ask the questions around here.  The emphasis on the sea is not arbitrary.  It would seem that ancient peoples, especially those living within sight of the Mediterranean or some other ocean, had an innate ancestral memory of a time when the earth was covered by water.  To the ancients, one of God’s major responsibilities was to set limits to the sea’s encroachment onto the dry land.  Job repeatedly called God’s justice and mercy into question, but here God adds a note of benevolence to God’s boast of creations:  The world not only exists thanks to God.  It is designed to make life possible, even pleasant, (H. Kushner’s The Book of Job, 137-141).

In 38:1, “from the heart of the tempest Yahweh gives Job his answer.”  In all chapters 38 and 39 there is not a single answer.  It is all questions.  God doesn’t formally answer a single one of Job’s complaints.  All God does is offer a radically new perspective which makes the answers unnecessary.  God invites Job into a warm and personal encounter with himself, (R. Rohr’s Job and the Mystery of Suffering, p. 149).  

2^nd Reading: 2 Corinthians 5: 14-17

Paul is utterly convinced that Christ’s life in us changes everything so much that Christ’s love actually impels us to live no longer for ourselves but for Christ.  Paul is trying to point out that because we are one with Christ, death can harm us no more than it can harm Christ.  Note, Paul didn’t say we won’t suffer and eventually die, but suffering takes on a new meaning.  We are part of a new creation in Christ.  (Taken from NCR’s “The Word Scripted for Life” by Sr. Mary McGlone, p. 29) 

Paul expects the return of Jesus, and with it the resurrection of the dead.  But whereas in 1 Corinthians he had assumed he would be among those still alive at the time, he is now facing the prospect that he may well die before it all happens.  A day of judgment is coming when all work will be assessed, but behind that, and motivating Paul far more deeply than anything else, was the sense of a personal love, love for him, love through him.  The love that would, after all, hold strong despite everything  IN and through it all, the new covenant in messiah and spirit means new creation, (NT Wright’s Paul, p. 310-311).

The Gospel: Mark 4:35-41

This is the first of a series of 4 miracles in Mark.  It reflects some of the mythological cosmogony of the time but basically asserts the Job position, the control of God (here Jesus) over all the forces of nature.  The disciples’ cry becomes that of the early church beset by persecution, rejection and desertions.  IN the midst of the stormy sea, Christ’s presence is not to be doubted; confidence and trust will bring believers safely to shore.  We professedly claim that Christ is first in our life and yet in the face of a crisis or severe problem, we spontaneously turn in many directions for support before turning to God.  How human, how true to form.  We need an unwavering trust that comes from the Holy Spirit, (R. Faley’s Footprints on the Mountain, p. 437-438).

Jesus tells the sea to be quiet. Be still.  Richard Foster challenges us, “Don’t you feel a tug, a yearning to sink down into the silence and solitude of God?  Don’t you long for something more?  Doesn’t every breath crave a deeper, fuller exposure to his Presence?  It is the discipline of silence that will open the door.  You are welcome to come in and listen to God’s speech in his wondrous, terrible, gentle, loving, all-embracing silence,” (Celebration of Discipline, p. 109).

Catherine of Siena wrote, “God is a bright ocean that distills and reveals hidden truths so that my soul has a better understanding of how to trust Love, and this water is a mirror in which You, Eternal Trinity, give me knowledge.”  Using these images of the sea, what waves are stirred in you?  How do we shake loose from thinking we know better and to trust God with the tides of our lives?  What does it feel like to not be able to control the waves?  How can we help one another weather the storms?