Homily for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Keep Your Eyes Fixed On The True Son Of God

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, August 13, 2023

The divinity of Jesus Christ is something we cannot possibly be overemphasized. How come? In recent times, there has been a disturbing tendency to turn Jesus into an inspiring spiritual teacher and one religious founder among the many like the Buddha and Mohammed. There is a growing movement in our culture to reduce Jesus to one inspiring teacher among the many. But if that’s all he is, then let us all go home. If Jesus were just another inspiring spiritual teacher, let us stop praying in his name, stop praying to him, stop evangelizing in his name. If he is nothing more than an inspirational teacher, then our ancestors in faith who died for him were at best reckless and fools. But the good news is that the Gospels are not content with such a reductive description of Jesus. Though Jesus is presented as a teacher— he taught a lot like the sermon on the mount, the parables, the Eucharistic discourse etc., the authors of the Gospels know that he is infinitely more than that. There is something else at stake in him and our relationship to him. 

In today’s Gospel passage, we are told that after miraculously feeding the people, Jesus instructs his disciples to get into a boat and head to the other side, while he dismisses the people. Once everyone has gone, he goes to the mountain to pray. As the boat is heading to the other side, a whirlwind ensues. As this is going on, Jesus comes to them walking on the sea. What is the implication of this? God’s Lordship over the sea is one of God’s unique characteristics in the Old Testament. By walking on the sea, Jesus embodies Yahweh’s Lordship over the elements. More to it, the Book of Genesis tells us that in the beginning, the Spirit of the Lord hovered over the surface of the tohu-va-bohu, that is, the primal chaos, the stormy water. By hovering over the chaotic water, Yahweh’s Spirit, his breath brings order out of chaos. I tell you, no first century Jew experiencing this event or reading this story would miss that Genesis overtone. Jesus walking on the water is the very incarnation of Yahweh bringing peace and calm. We are told that when the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were utterly terrified. They thought they had seen a ghost. Reassuring them, Jesus says, “Take courage; it is I; do not be afraid.” That little phrase, “It is I,” is the English translation of the Greek, “Ego emi,” (I am). “Ego eimi” evokes Exodus 3:14 when Moses asks God, “What is your name?” Responding, God says, “Ego eimi ho on” (I am who I am). So, when Jesus walking on the water says “It is I; do not be afraid” he is declaring that he is the presence of Yahweh, the Creator and Redeemer of his people in the flesh. 

In the narrative, we are told that Peter and the other disciples were in the boat. Whenever the Gospels speak of Peter and other disciples in the boat, that’s the symbol of the Church. It is all of the disciples of Jesus making our way through the stormy waters of time. Don’t forget, we are on a journey. Like Peter and the disciples, we are heading to the other side. We are in the same boat. We are all sea-sick. We are haunted by all manners of storms— trials, temptations, tests, injustice, health problems, social, cultural, religious and economic unrest, corruption, moral failure, death of a loved one, joblessness, insecurity, mass shooting, political upheaval, threat to democracy, lack of trust etc. Everyone is facing some kind of storm. Like the disciples in the boat, we are mortally terrified. But from the lips of Jesus our Divine Master we hear, “Do not be afraid.” You know, Jesus is the only one who can truly assure us that we don’t have to be afraid. Anybody else in this world— politician, social activist, philosopher, cultural leader, spiritual leader, musician, physician, etc. is incapable of giving us this real and final assurance. Why? Because they are also in the tohu-va-bohu with the rest of us. At best, they can give us a kind of mitigated peace, they can hold off our fear for a time. But none of these figures, and nobody in the world can give us peace that lasts, peace that reaches down to the bottom of the heart and soul. Who alone can give that? God! This is why the divinity of Jesus matters so much. If he is, as many have said, just one more spiritual leader, he can give us some interesting insight, but not the final, soul-transforming peace. Nobody, except the Divine One can possibly give us such assurance and confidence. 

Notice that the moment Peter looks away from Christ the Divine One and pays attention to the waves, he begins to sink. When we put our confidence in anyone else, in anything other than Jesus, we will sink back into the tohu-va-bohu. This is a great spiritual lesson to learn. As long as Peter kept his eyes on Christ, as long as he kept his eyes fixed on Jesus, he was able to share in his divine power. Peter is able to walk on the water. Notice also that the waves didn’t stop. The chaotic water didn’t become still, calm and peaceful. As Peter kept his gaze upon Jesus, the storm continued but he was able to walk over it. He didn’t sink. The powerful force of the waves didn’t blow him away. The water did not consume him. But the moment he looks away, takes his eyes from Jesus and concentrates on the stormy water, he starts to sink. Do you know that the sacraments give us a share in the divine life? We can participate in what Jesus has by nature. We can walk on troubled water too— the water of failure, the water of sin, the water of fear, the water of ill-health. We can walk on them only if we can keep our eyes fixed on the Divine One, Jesus Christ our living Lord. But if you put your faith in power, wealth, pleasure, honor, fame, money, the latest technology, the latest ideology or philosophy, the reigning thing in the world, you will sink so fast to the bottom of the tohu-va-bohu. 

In conclusion, it is not by accident that as soon as the boat got to the shore, the disciples of Jesus worshipped him. They didn’t just thank him. They didn’t just say, “Oh, thank God you showed up when you did.” They didn’t just say, “What a great thing he did for us.” No! They got it. They worshipped him. The disciples in the boat understand who Jesus is. They know he is not just a mere spiritual leader or one more inspiring teacher. They know he is more than that. That’s why they confessed: “Truly, you are the Son of God.” And up and down the centuries, that remains the confession of the Church. When we stop making that confession, we stop being the Church.