Homily

"Let us go across to the other side." Jesus’ command to the disciples that opens this Sunday’s Gospel passage (Mk 4:35-41) challenges in a particular way our temptation to stop, to close in on ourselves and our habitual horizons. The Gospel passage helps us understand that the crossing is certainly not easy. It seems to begin in the evening, as Jesus’ slumber indicates. It is analogous to our days: the tightening horizon of idealism, the absence of new visions. We need a new and wider horizon. But this is only possible if we obey Jesus’ command. At his word the disciples get in the boat. But then, a little while later, a storm blows in, a frequent occurrence on the lake of Gennesaret. Normally fishermen just have enough time to notice the fury of the wind before the waves are breaking on their boat. The scene portrayed by the evangelist is emblematic. The boat is being tossed about by the waves and Jesus is sleeping. The apostles worry all the more and their fear grows, while Jesus continues to sleep soundly, a behaviour that is disconcerting to the disciples, to say the least. It seems that Jesus cares nothing for them, their lives, or their families. The fear grows greater and greater until the disciples wake Jesus up and rebuke him, "Do you not care that we are perishing?" It is a cry of desperation, but we can also read in it their trust in this teacher; it may seem a little harsh, but it contains hope. Our prayer also sometimes seems like a cry of desperation meant to wake the Lord up. How many of us are caught in a storm and have nothing to hold onto except our cry for help, while it seems like the Lord is asleep? That cry is close to the realities of many people, sometimes entire nations exhausted to death. Jesus’ slumber might be a sign of how comfortable he is with the disciples during the crossing, but it certainly indicates his total trust in the Father; he knows that God will not abandon him. Taking the Lord with us means taking on board his trust and his power.
At our cry he wakes up, stands tall on the boat, and threatens the wind and the stormy sea. Immediately the wind is silent and there is a dead calm. God has defeated the hostile powers that would not allow them to cross (in this context it should be noted that in the Old Testament, creation is described as a battle between God and the sea, represented by a monster). The episode ends with a peculiar comment. The disciples were overcome with fear and said to one another, "Who then is this?" Mark’s text speaks of fear more than amazement. And it is a greater fear than what they had felt a little while before because of the storm; it is not the same thing as distress, but can actually go along with complete trust in the Lord. This second fear is no less strong than the previous one, it cuts deeply, right down to the depths of the spirit. We could say that it is the holy fear of being in the presence of God; the fear of those who feel small and poor in front of the saviour of life; the fear of the those who, weak and sinful, are still welcomed by the one they have offended and who surpasses them in love; the fear of losing the one true treasure of love we have been given; the fear of not knowing how to take advantage of God’s presence in our everyday life; the fear of losing the "dream" of a new world that Jesus has begun in us and with us. It is precisely this fear that gives us a sign that we are already on the other shore.