19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jesus’ walking on the water is not simply a demonstration of His miraculous power. It is more basically an explanation of who Jesus is. Jesus does what God does. Jesus speaks of Himself in the same way God speaks of Himself: Jesus proclaims, “It is I, “echoing God’s saying His name to Moses—”I am who am”. (The echo is clearer in Greek than English.)
Peter’s walking on and sinking into the water demonstrates what it means to have ”little faith.” Peter has faith. He joins the others in the boat in doing homage to Jesus and professing, ”truly, you are the Son of God.” Peter also has faith enough to keep from sinking when he realizes how strong the winds are, and how deep the waters.
We can likely see our own faith life portrayed in this scene. We recognize who Jesus is; we profess Him as the Son of God. We want to follow Him, but we sometimes become terrified by the winds that buffet us in life, and we begin to sink. We too cry out, “Lord save Me!” Jesus stretches His hands out to us and says, ”take courage, it is I. Do not be afraid.”
Through Peter, Matthew has shown us what it is to be a disciple. We will doubt and will need to be pulled up by Jesus time and time again. However, we also can share in the dignity and power of Jesus. With enough faith in Jesus, we can do many things—maybe even walk on water.
God Bless
Msgr. Powell
The Transfiguration of the Lord
This year the Solemnity of the Transfiguration falls on a Sunday in Ordinary Time. It therefore supersedes the Sunday in Ordinary time and we focus today on the mystery of the Transfiguration.
Jesus’ transfiguration took place in the context of His speaking repeatedly about His coming suffering and death. The thought of His death caused His followers to be “overwhelmed with grief”. To counterbalance their grief, the Transfiguration of Jesus gave them a foretaste of His risen glory. They were shown what would be the outcome of Jesus’ laying down His life: He would be raised to eternal glory. A share in His glory awaited those who were joined with Him and remained faithful to Him.
The transfigured Jesus is a glimpse of Him glorified by His Father, and a glimpse as well of who we shall become when we are raised up to be with Him and like Him. Jesus’ words to His disciples, “Rise, and do not be afraid”, tell us that we can live without fear because we look forward to being raised.
Grasping and living this hope takes faith—perhaps more faith than we can always muster. However, remember that Jesus also tells us that a tiny bit of faith can work wonders. Nothing is impossible for God, not even raising us to eternal life.
God Bless
Msgr. Powell