From Fear to Floundering to Faith

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reflecting on the Word

By Dr. Karla J. Bellinger

When I was a little girl, a picture in my children’s Bible depicted  Jesus standing in the front of a boat with his arms sweeping high  into the air. The sea has calmed. The disciples look relaxed and  happy. All is good. 

But I used to wonder, even as a little child—in the middle of the  storm, how did Jesus get to the front of the boat? In the beginning,  he slept in the stern. In the end, he stood majestically in the prow.  How did he wrestle his way from the back to the front as the waves  tossed the boat? 

The picture suggests fear in the back, faith in the front . . . ? But  wait! Right in the middle of this story, between fear and faith, is this  moment of floundering. 

Sometimes we want to skip that floundering part. Why? Maybe  because once we are adults, we are not supposed to flounder? But we  do flounder. We have moments of helplessness. In times of trouble,  we may accuse God of “not caring.” 

Jesus asks, “Do you not yet have faith?” Maybe that is an accurate  observation. The disciples do not yet have faith. Yet Jesus helps them  just as they are. He doesn’t ask them to believe based on nothing;  he is willing to show them. He has changed water into wine. He has  made a blind man see. He now calms the waves. 

It is in their floundering that they find faith. They discover an inner  certainty, a deep assurance, a faith in the One who keeps showing  them someone to believe in. 

Perhaps the picture in my storybook was wrong. Maybe Jesus  lifted his head slightly, stilled the sea, and went back to sleep. Who  knows? Either way, the disciples swelled with amazement and awe:  “Who is this whom even wind and sea obey?” 

Consider/Discuss 

  • Much of life is lived between total fear and total faith, often in floundering  with high winds and rough waves. The possibility of drowning is  terrifying. The waves could pull us under. Why can’t we smoothly slip past  the floundering of this story? How has the Lord calmed the seas for you,  kept you from sinking into the deep? 
  • We are not alone in floundering. Peter put his foot in his mouth more than  once. Moses told God to go find somebody else. The prophet Jeremiah  said, “Nah, I’m too young.” Even one of Thomas Merton’s most famous  prayers begins by telling God that he (Merton) has no idea where he’s  going. How have you experienced God taking you as you are and lifting  you to something greater? How can we do that for others?

Living and Praying with the Word 

Thank you for giving us fortitude when we have no courage left.  Thank you for your helping hand that seems to come out of nowhere  to lift us up. Thank you for your unexpected calm when the world  swirls in chaos around us. Thank you for that invisible help that  we name “grace.” Thank you for the assurance that we can make it  through the storms because we are not alone in the boat.

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