Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
12th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Cycle B)
Readings:
Job 38:1, 8-11
Psalm 107:23-26, 28-31
2 Corinthians 5:14-17
Mark 4:35-41
Abbreviations: NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition), NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), RSVCE (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name, YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments; therefore, we read and relive the events of salvation history in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that our Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of the Readings: Do You Have Faith in God?
Jesus's question to the Apostles concerning their faith in
God in today's Gospel Reading is the focus of the Sunday liturgies for the
remainder of the Sundays in Ordinary Time until the season of Advent. In the
Gospel Reading, we follow in the footsteps of the Apostles. Like them, we
experience Jesus's words and wondrous deeds as the Apostles (and we) come to
have a deeper personal relationship with Jesus. We also believe with the
Apostles that He is the Messiah promised by the prophets and God Himself.
In the First Reading, Job and his friends discuss the mystery of the suffering of the just. In response, God tells Job that he needs to have faith. Speaking out of a great storm, God reminds Job that He is the God of Creation who formed the seas and has the power to do things that human beings cannot fully understand or explain. God tells Job that he needs to remember that all creation is subject to God, and Job must cling to his faith. The experience of the just man Job in his suffering and God's omnificence in commanding the sea foreshadows the same themes in the Gospels. Jesus not only demonstrates the same power over the sea in two miracles (e.g., Mt 8:24-27; 14:24-32; Mk 4:35-41; 6:45-52), but He is the one genuinely righteous/just and sinless man who suffers for the sins of humanity.
In the Psalm Reading, sailors see God's wondrous works in the raging sea and His power to bring them to salvation amid great storms. They acknowledge that only God has power and authority over the natural world and men's lives.
In the Second Reading, St. Paul wrote about Jesus's power to give new life to those who accept Him as Lord and Savior. Paul assured the Christian community at Corinth that they had all died with Christ in the waters of Christian Baptism, and they had been raised out of those waters to new life, just as God raised Jesus from the dead. Paul told them that Jesus's death on the altar of the Cross produced the new order of a new creation through a New Covenant in the blood of Christ, just as He promised at the Last Supper.
The storms in the First Reading and the Responsorial Psalm prepare us for the Gospel Reading. We hear about the mighty works of God the Son as Jesus calms a storm on the Sea of Galilee and then asks His disciples, "Do you not yet have faith?" His rhetorical question means do they not yet recognize His identity as the divine Messiah and believe all He has told them. His words and works demonstrate that He has the power to calm the sea, raise the dead, and forgive sins. But Jesus's greatest miracle will be raising them and us to a new life in a new creation through the Sacrament of Christian baptism.
The First Reading Job 38:1, 8-11 ~ The Lord of Creation Harnessed
the Sea
1 The LORD addressed Job out of the storm [whirlwind] and
said: 8 Who shut within doors the sea, when it burst forth from the womb; 9
when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling bands? 10
When I set limits for it and fastened the bar of its door, 11 and said: Thus
far shall you come but no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stilled!
In a series of dialogues, Job and his friends discussed the mystery of human suffering. However, they could not find an adequate answer to the question: "Why must a just man suffer?" as Job has suffered. Yahweh answers their question by speaking out of the storm and asking Job: "Who rules the sea?" which is another way of asking, "Job, do you not have faith in Me, the God of Creation?"
God is the Lord of all Creation. He has the power to do things that human beings cannot fully understand or explain. God was telling Job that he needed to remember this and have faith. The experience of the just man Job in his suffering and God's omnificence in commanding the sea foreshadows the same themes in the Gospels. Jesus not only shows the same power over the sea in two miracles (e.g., Mt 8:24-27; 14:24-32; Mk 4:35-41; 6:45-52), but He is the one genuinely righteous/just, and sinless man who suffers for the sins of humanity. Jesus suffers in His Passion and offers His life in a sacrifice that is the will of God in His plan to bring about humanity's redemption from sin and death.
The Lord God was with Jesus in the midst of His suffering, and He was also with Job. In both cases, the obedience of Jesus in accepting His suffering and the faith of Job despite his suffering led to Satan's ultimate defeat. The result of their faith and obedience was that God rescued them. God rewarded Job with a new life and blessings that restored everything taken from him. God resurrected Jesus to eternal glory, fulfilling His mission to establish His Kingdom of the Church and defeating Satan and death by bringing the gift of redemption and eternal salvation to humanity.
Responsorial Psalm 107:23-26, 28-31 ~ God Commands the Sea
The response is: "Give thanks to the Lord; his love
is everlasting." Or "Alleluia."
23 They who sailed the sea in ships, trading on the deep
waters, 24 these saw the works of the LORD and his wonders in the abyss.
Response:
25 His command raised up a storm wind which tossed its
waves on high. 26 They mounted up to heaven; they sank to the depths; their
hearts melted away in their plight.
Response:
28 They cried to the LORD in their distress; from their
straits he rescued them, 29 he hushed the storm to a gentle breeze, and the
billows of the sea were stilled.
Response:
30 They rejoiced that they were calmed, and he brought
them to their desired haven. 31 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his
kindness and his wondrous deeds to the children of men.
Response:
Today's psalm reading prepares us for the Gospel Reading. The psalmist explains how those who sail the seas for a living witness the power of God in the ocean's immense surging waves. Verses 25-26 offer a poetic image of the rising and falling waves in a storm at sea. The ship climbs to the crest of one wave, only to slide down the back of the wave into what feels like the sea swallowing the vessel into its depths. In such a terrifying trial, men of faith cry out to God, and the Lord, in His mercy, hears them. He quiets the raging waters and brings the ship to a safe harbor. The psalmist writes that Sailors who have experienced God's mercy in this way should thank Him and tell others of God's compassion for them amid the terrifying storm.
Today's psalm also is a metaphor for life. Sometimes, life overwhelms us, and we fear we cannot survive. Then, our faith is put to the test just as God tested Job's faith. In those times, we must call upon the Lord God and put our faith and hope in Him, knowing that He has the power to save us and even the great waves of the sea cannot oppose Him. We must follow the Apostles' example who, during a great storm at sea, called upon Jesus to save their lives, as we read in today's Gospel reading (also see Mt 8:23-27). Jesus also has the power to save us from disaster as we battle the storms of life, and He can also deliver us from spiritual death with His gift of eternal life.
The Second Reading 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 ~ A New Creation
in Christ Jesus
14 The love of Christ impels us, once we have come to the
conviction that one died for all; therefore, all have died. 15 He indeed died
for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him
who for their sake died and was raised. 16 Consequently, from now on we regard
no one according to the flesh; even if we once knew Christ according to the
flesh, yet now we know him so no longer. 17 So whoever is in Christ is a new
creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.
In verse 14, St. Paul assured the Christians of Corinth that they have all died to sin with Christ in the waters of Christian Baptism, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, God raises them to a new life, just as He raised Jesus from death. Jesus died so that they might truly live in a resurrected life that defies the power of physical death. St. Paul told them that Jesus's death (described in verses 14-15) produced a new order in a new creation (verse 17) with a new perspective of life in which life in the Spirit replaces life in the flesh. Christ created a new creation and order through a New Covenant in His blood, as He announced at the Last Supper (Lk 22:19-20).
The Gospel of Mark 4:35-41 ~ Jesus Calms the Storm
35 On that day, as evening drew on, he (Jesus) said to
them (his disciples), "Let us cross to the other side." 36 Leaving the crowd,
they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with
him. 37 A violent squall came up, and waves were breaking over the boat so that
it was already filling up. 38 Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They
woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" 39
He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Quiet! Be still!" The wind
ceased, and there was great calm. 40 Then he asked them, "Why are you
terrified? Do you not yet have faith?" 41 They were filled with great awe and
said to one another, "Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?"
Jesus suggested to the Apostles that they sail to the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. They were probably in the boats Peter, his brother Andrew, and James and John Zebedee owned. Sudden storms springing up on the Sea of Galilee are common, and a huge storm overtook the boats without warning. In fear, the Apostles cried out to Jesus, asleep in the stern. Upon waking and seeing their peril, Jesus immediately calmed the storm. This miracle is a private sign (away from the crowds) for the disciples and another event that points to a revelation about Jesus's true identity. Only God can control nature; Jesus's miracle in quieting the storm points to His divinity.
When Jesus calmed the storm, He asked His disciples, "Do you not yet have faith?" Jesus asked them if they had not yet recognized His true identity and had faith that He was the divine Messiah promised by the prophets. What Jesus asked the disciples would become the lingering question from this event until after the Resurrection when Thomas confesses, "My Lord and my God!" The first sign of His divinity was when Jesus forgave the sins of the paralyzed man when the Pharisees asked: "Who but God can forgive sins?" (Mk 2:7). The answer to that question, and the Apostles' rhetorical question: "Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?" in verse 41, is that only God can forgive sins and control the forces of nature.
The event the Apostles experienced is also what is described in today's Psalm reading. One wonders if they thought of Psalm 107:23-31 as the sea raged, and they were fearful the ship might sink in the waves. But God the Son heard their cries, calmed the sea, and brought them to safe harbor. If the Apostles were familiar with this psalm, they could not have missed the connection between God's power over nature in calming the storm and Jesus demonstrating the same power over nature (see Mt 8:23-27, Mk 4:35-41, and Lk 8:22-25). The only conclusion they could have reached was that Jesus, who commands the storm, is God!
|
God Saves Sailors
in a Storm at Sea Psalm 107:23-31 |
Jesus Calms the Storm in Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41, and Luke 8:22-25 |
| Sailors in ships (Ps 107:23) | Disciples in a boat (Mt 8:23; Mk 4:36; Lk 8:22) |
| Storm with wind and waves threatens ships (Ps 107:25-26a) | Storm with wind and waves threatens the boat (Mt 8:24; Mk 4:37; Lk 8:23) |
| The sailors become frightened (Ps 107:26b) | The disciples become frightened (Mt 8:25; Mk 4:39a; Lk 8:23b) |
| The sailors cry out to the LORD/Yahweh (Ps 107:28a) | The disciples cry out to Jesus (Mt 8:25; Mk 4:39b; Lk 8:24a) |
| The LORD/Yahweh stops the storm (Ps 107:28b-29) | Jesus stops the wind (Mt 8:26b; Mk 4:39c; Lk 8:24b) |
| The LORD/Yahweh calms the sea (Ps 107:30) | Jesus orders the sea to be calm (Mt 8:26c; Mk 4:39d; Lk 8:24b) |
| Conclusion: God commands nature | Conclusion: Jesus is God who commands nature |
| Michal E. Hunt www.agapebiblestudy.com | |
The disciples had further evidence of Jesus's divinity in a similar event when He walked on the sea and calmed the storm in John 6:16-21. They may have remembered when Job told his friends only God could walk on the sea (Job 9:8).
The Gospel of Mark records:
The Gospel of Mark also records five miracles that defy natural law and point to His divinity:
Notice an echo of God calming the sea in the Book of Jonah in today's Gospel. Like Jonah, Jesus was asleep as the storm was raging. Others on the boat who feared for their lives had to awaken him (Jonah 1:5-6; Mk 4:38). In Jonah's story, God calmed the sea and saved those on the boat, and in Mark's story, God the Son calmed the storm and saved the Apostles. Jesus names the Galilean prophet Jonah more times than any other prophet in the Gospels. He also pointed to Jonah's experience of being swallowed by the great fish and then released after three days as a sign of His death and resurrection (Mt 12:39-40). And, speaking of Jonah's conversion of the Ninevites and their salvation, Jesus told the Jews, "and look, there is something greater than Jonah here" (Mt 12:41), referring to Himself. The Gospel's message for us is: if God can control the wind and sea, He can also save those who have faith and trust in Him when the storms of life threaten them, and He will never abandon us if we only have faith.
Catechism References (* indicated Scripture is quoted
or paraphrased in the citation)
2 Corinthians 5:14 (CCC 616, 851);
5:15 (CCC 605*, 655, 1269*);
5:17 (CCC 1214, 1265)
Jesus is true God and true man (CCC 423*, 464, 465*, 466-469)
Faith is a gift of God (CCC 1814*, 1815*, 1816*)
Maintaining faith in adversity (CCC 671*, 672*)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2015; revised 2024 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.