January 30, 2021

January 30, 2021
“Some went down to the sea in ships…Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and He brought them out from their distress; He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad because they had quiet, and He brought them to their desired haven.”
Ps. 107:23a, 28-30 NRSV
Today’s Gospel reading from the fourth chapter of Mark tells of the disciples and Jesus getting in boats to cross the sea of Galilee. When the storm rose they panicked and woke the exhausted Jesus from His much-needed sleep. He immediately rose and rebuked the storm, bringing quiet and calm so they could continue on to “their desired haven” on the other side.
The disciples were surely familiar with the passage from Psalm 107 and knew that only the Lord God could have performed this miracle. Thus their bewilderment at the possibility that this flesh-bound human could possibly be God; the Great One extolled in the Scriptures for all the wondrous works that their forefathers experienced. How could it be? What does it all mean? Is He really the Promised One they had been longing for?
“And they feared exceedingly: and they said one to another: Who is this (thinkest thou) that both wind and sea obey him?
Mk. 4:40b
O my Sweet Jesus, I thank You, I bless You, I praise You and adore You! I kneel before You with all the gratitude of my sinful heart for revealing Yourself to me as God in the flesh, the One Who is the most humiliated of all persons, Who calls me in Love to follow in Your footsteps along the painful Way of Redemption.
~Amen