LORD, SAVE ME!

XIX SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - 1 Kings 19:9,11-13

Coming out of slavery, in the desert, the people of Israel made an extraordinary experience of God, as the liberator, the one who cares and the one who is always present walking with them on their journey towards the land he had promised them. That experience was the foundation of their lives and their history. They experienced God as the one who revealed himself to them and called them to a relationship with him, a relationship sealed with a covenant. However, the theophanies (manifestations) of God could be terrifying, as they are described like a thunderstorm, an earthquake or a volcano:

“On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, as well as a thick cloud on the mountain, and a blast of a trumpet so loud that all the people who were in the camp trembled. Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended upon it in fire; the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently.” (Ex 19:16-18)

The people had to remain at a distance, afraid of dying  (Ex 19:21). Then, it is not surprising that the letter to the Hebrews compares the theophanies of old with the way God revealed himself in the New Testament saying:

“You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. (For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”) But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” (Heb 12:18-24)

The prophet Elijah - the great prophet, who put his whole life at the service of God and whose heart was full of zeal for the Lord - had a profound experience of God, in which he realised that the traditional signs of God’s presence were not valid anymore. God was not in the mighty wind, in the earthquake or in the fire. Instead, he perceived God’s presence as “a gentle breeze”, like the breath of life that God breathed into the nostrils of the first human being (Gn 2:7). Elijah was discouraged and reaching despair, preferring to die than to go on with his mission, which he considered a failure, but after this experience of God he felt a new strength and was ready to carry on with his mission, the mission that God himself had entrusted to him.

In this Sunday’s gospel, the Apostles experienced loneliness and despair in the darkness of the night, battling with a heavy sea. Their worries were so big that mistook Jesus for a ghost. Indeed, when we are not able to recognise God’s presence among us, we see ghosts everywhere and remain terrified like the Apostles. The word of Jesus came reassuring: “Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.”.

Trying to show off in front of his companions, Peter asked Jesus to allow him to walk across on the water. However, instead of enjoying a glorious moment, Peter was humbled by his own fragility, weakness and lack of faith, when he started going down. At least, he had the good sense of asking for help: “Lord, save me!” (Mat 14:30). We are not better than Peter and like him, we must ask earnestly: “Lord, save me!”.