Scripture Study for

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Understanding the Word

By Dianne Bergant, C.S.A.

Elijah has retreated into a cave, but God calls him from this place of shelter  and darkness to stand before the Lord out in the open. There he witnesses the  wind, the earthquake, and the fire associated with God’s appearance, but he  does not experience God within these natural marvels. It is only when he hears a  “tiny whispering sound” that he is gripped with the realization that God is present. He covers his face in an act of reverence. Most commentators maintain that  this tiny whisper points to the importance of the small and seemingly insignificant in life as the stage upon which the revelation of God is enacted. 

Paul speaks about his ardent attachment to his Jewish compatriots, his kindred according to the flesh. Although he has turned from proclaiming the gospel  to the Jewish people and devoted himself to the conversion of the Gentiles,  he never ceases loving the people from whom he came. It is this very love that  causes him such anguish, because his own people have not accepted Jesus as  the Messiah whom God first promised and then sent to them. Paul lists several  prerogatives that they enjoy as the chosen people of God. However, their great est boast is that the anointed one of God came from them. 

In the pre-dawn dimness, the apostles saw Jesus walking toward them on the  water. To portray Jesus walking on the chaotic water was to cast him in the guise  of this creator-god who alone governs chaotic waters. Peter accepted Jesus’  invitation to walk on the water to him. Peter is a model of both faith and lack of  faith. He believed that he would be able to walk on the water, and he did; he  doubted that he would be able to long endure the chaotic waters, and he did  not. Ultimately, it was faith that won out, for Peter cried out to Jesus, knowing that  Jesus had the power to save him, and he did. 

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