“All of today’s gospel reading depicts a sailing trip across the Sea of Galilee.
The Sea of Galilee is the source of the Jordan River. It is also at the very northern epicenter of the Great Rift, which goes all the way down to the Dead Sea, crosses through the Red Sea, and goes all the way down to Lake Victoria in the middle of Africa. It’s the biggest crack in the world, and a lot of it is filled by the ocean.
I mentioned the Red Sea, and even though it’s at the northern end of this, the Sea of Galilee is actually below sea level. If you dug a canal between the Galilee and the Mediterranean, the Mediterranean is deeper into the Sea of Galilee.
So no one’s going to dig that canal. It’s also very tropical. Bamboo grows all around that area. That’s how warm and humid the Sea of Galilee is. And at the northern end of the lake is a mountain. It’s part of the Golan Heights.
In the winter time, there’s snow on that mountain with a ski resort. So there’s a place you can go skiing in the Middle East, right there in northern Israel.
But this causes a problem because you have this warm tropical body of water and air, and then you have this mountain. And from time to time, that cold air is going to slide down and hit that tropical air. Storms can come up very, very fast. I’ve actually witnessed this when I was a seminarian studying in Israel.
I was sitting on the Mount of Beatitudes on the North Shore, and I watched this little puffy cloud form and grow and grow and grow and turn dark. And there was lightning.
Now the storm didn’t cover the whole lake. It only covered a small coast, but still a very large part of the lake. Where it was going over, you could see the water rolling up as the storms went across. This is why the fishermen and the sailors preferred to sail across at night. It’s cooler at night, even in the tropics. The heat differential reduces the number of storms.
Remember how this passage begins on that day as evening drew on. They were waiting for nightfall to travel because it was safer. Unfortunately for them, a storm came up. And like I said, they can come up in a matter of minutes.
A storm came up and everyone was afraid. They woke Jesus up and they said, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ And then Jesus, of course, rebukes the sea and the wind, and everything is calm. He says to them, ‘Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?’
This passage is very, very deep in the sense that it reminds us, unfortunately, that most people who have a belief in the Lord, Jesus Christ, really only concentrate on that belief when there’s a storm coming.
Now, it could be a literal storm: like when you’re in your basement, there’s a tornado coming, and you’re praying. But more often than not, a storm can come in the way that a doctor gives you a call and says, ‘We saw a mass on the x-ray and we need to take a biopsy.’ Or you’re called into the boss’s office and told sales have been slow, so they have to cut back. Those are storms. Those are different kind of storms, but those are still storms.
That’s when we look to the Lord. That’s when we shout to the Lord. That’s when we’re like the apostles saying, Teacher, do you not care?
But Jesus was always there in the boat, wasn’t He? He was with them on the land before. He’s going to be with them when they get off the boat, just like Jesus is with every one of us now. He’s there to call out to.
When a storm hits your life, He’s there. When things are going well, and they’re calm and peaceful, that’s a great time to take some time out with the Lord. Some people keep the Lord apart, not thinking about Him until they really need Him.
We need Him every day.
Talk to Him every day. Pray to Him every day. If things are going great, talk to Him about how great things are going. Maybe even give Him a thank-you. And when you’re doing this, you might just find that over time, if you call to the Lord when things are going well, your faith deepens.
And when those storms come, and they come for everybody, you won’t be shouting in panic. You won’t be afraid. You won’t be terrified. You might be concerned, but you’ll know that no matter what it is, the Lord Jesus is in your life. The Lord Jesus is with you, and whatever the world throws at you, you will persevere through it. you will grow stronger through it until you too arrive at the Heavenly Kingdom.”
~Fr. Joseph Gembala