WHY ARE YOU SO FRIGHTENED?

XII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Mark 4:35-41

‘Why are you so frightened?”

Today, Jesus asks the same question to each one of us. We are frightened. The future is very uncertain. There are dark clouds on the horizon. The two big powers are at loggerheads with each other and their conflict can easily become a nuclear war that might destroy the world. The Church - especially the Catholic Church - shares in the uncertainty. It seems that she is descending into confusion as if she is lost. And we are filled with doubts. Is the Lord with us or is he asleep, abandoning us to our fate? 

This Sunday’s gospel presents us with a gloomy picture: The night was falling. It was dark and the disciples were crossing over to the other side, that is to the unknown, into a pagan world that accepts other values and follows other paths. There, on the other side, they might despise and reject us; they may even persecute us. The disciples experienced the turmoil of going through a violent storm with strong winds and high waves, threatening to drown them. This is the world we live in. And Jesus, even asleep, is in control. He is the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. That’s why he reproached his disciples: “Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?” Indeed, we would not be afraid if we just believed that Jesus is the Lord. He is in the boat, meaning that he is in the Church and will not allow her to go down. He is steering the Church through rough waters towards a secure port.

In the second reading, after experiencing Jesus’ love, Paul writes: “The love of Christ overwhelms us”. In his overwhelming love, Jesus died for all of us. That’s why “living men should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life for them.” (2 Co 5:14-15).