MATTHEW 8:24-27

Jesus got into a boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep. They came and woke him saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” He said to them, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm. The men were amazed and said, “What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?”  

Gospelthink: I calm the storms of life for you if you have faith in me.

“I don’t feel a single thing; have the pills done too much; haven’t caught up with my friends in weeks. And I just wanna see if you feel the same as me. Do you ever get a little bit tired of life, like you’re not really happy, but you don’t wanna die, like you’re hanging by a thread but you gotta survive? So I got these quick repairs to cope. Like a numb little bug that’s gotta survive."

Matthew’s Gospel speaks of the challenge of a sudden fierce storm that threw the fishermen into a state of panic. The challenge was so great that even their experience could not keep them from being alarmed. They were people who knew what to do with these sudden storms; they understood the procedures; they had been through them before. But, as they were being tossed and thrown in every direction with this storm, they lost perspective. The pressure of the moment was too much. They yelled at Jesus in their fright: “Lord, save us! We are perishing!  We are about to die.”

The Gospel can be studied from the point of view of an allegory, that is, a story that is told by the evangelist Matthew to bring home a point. There are moments in life which can easily be compared to storms, moments and difficulties which tend to dominate one's thinking and one's behavior. Em Beihold in her song "Numb Little Bug" identifies them as the happenings which make you feel like you are hanging by a thread.

She wrote the song, she says, while she felt numb because of the antidepressant pills that she was taking for her anxiety. But the song can easily be the song of anyone who is experiencing some form of anxiety or "storm" in their lives. Which is all of us at one time or another as we live. At times, we feel like we are hanging by a thread, like yelling at someone or something to "save us because we are about to die."

Em Beihold sings that she needs quick repairs in order to cope, in order to survive. The ability to live through those storms lies in the ability to identify the quick repairs and to use them as best we can. Many in the modern world have found those repairs in some sort of chemical that makes us feel better whether in pill form or in drink or some drug.

Jesus tells the person of faith that she/he must understand their faith a little more, calling their faith "little." He has the answers that are quite capable of rebuking the storm or challenge or anxiety. They are contained in the Gospels in the way he lived and spoke and thought as he lived on this earth that we live in.

The problem comes in following what he said, did and thought. But if we manage to do it, we will find that it is the way to cope with the challenges that we face.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, there are indeed challenges in my life that make me feel like I am close to despair. Help me identify with your Son in such a way that His words, actions and thoughts become part of me. Be with me, we pray.

©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America