“…Peace! Be still!” (Mark 4:39)
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of
the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All
rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
(Year B: Third Sunday after Trinity, 20th June 2021)
This Sunday, we hear about a storm on Lake Galilee where the disciples were with Jesus. Just a word about geography: Lake Galilee is a relatively small lake somewhat less than the size of North County Dublin. It is below sea level and because of its unique location is subject to the occasional sudden and violent storm today as well as when Jesus led his band of disciples in the areas around that lake 2,000 years ago.
The community for which Mark wrote this Gospel some 40 years after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus was the subject of persecution. Today, we are buffeted and tossed on the stormy seas of our world just as when the disciples were in a place of great fear. We are in that boat today and we, also, experience moments of anxiety – possibly acute anxiety about all sorts of things that happen at some stage to many people – a precarious job contract, no job contract, no business, illness, a broken down relationship, a loss of health or the challenges and joys of ageing. We yearn for peace and stability in a world of conflict and upheaval. As we have just read in Psalm 107 we yearn for a haven where the Lord may bring us.
Jesus calmed the storm and we hear that ‘there was a dead calm’. Whatever the circumstances of our lives we, too, can find places of ‘dead calm’ in our souls if we take the time and patience to go there. The calming of the storm all around is about what happens within me, you, the next person. We can only be responsible for our part of the situation but our response to the storms can facilitate a point of calm in the ‘eye of the storm’. Finding those daily ‘still points’ is important but we can be sure of one thing – there will be storms and very often sudden and unexpected storms that defy the best meteorological forecasts and analysis.
We may feel caught up in this turmoil at a personal, family, organisational or societal level. We might yearn for some rock of certainty or refuge. If only we could hold on to something like flotsam on the water while ships sink. The literal words of holy scripture or the devotional practices of old might offer some comfort or refuge when everything else seems to be crumbling all around us.
At times like these we may be tempted to do one of three things:
- Make a retreat into self-contained holy huddles sure of our own salvation and correctness.
- Succumb to indifference and mediocrity.
- Abandon a living faith through despair, despondency and cynicism.
- Seek out places and times of quiet where we can be alone with our God.
- Stay active in every sense of the word including reaching out to others in need around us.
- Join our efforts with those of others who may not share our faith but share many of our values – values of life, solidarity, justice, sustainability and equality of respect.
(~520 words)
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