Homily for Tuesday of the 13th Week in OT, 28 June 2022, Mt 8:23-27
I like the image of a Messiah, Son of God who gets tired and falls asleep in the boat, in the middle of a storm. We can also relate well with the description of the disciples in panic and crying out, “Lord save us, we are perishing!” In the version of St Mark, they wake him up and even rebuke him and say, “Teacher, DO YOU NOT CARE that we are perishing?”
This is a common motif of the lament psalms of the Old Testament—mga Salmong Reklamo. One good example is Psalm 44, which is not just a lament but almost like a protest against a God who does not seem to care. The Psalmist says, in vv.24-27,
“Lord, wake up! Why are you sleeping? Rise up!
…why are you hiding your face from us? Why are you indifferent to our pain and misery?”
What makes this psalm unique is the fact that the author who is lamenting is practically asking, “Lord, what did we do to deserve this?” The more common laments usually go with a public confession, an admission of guilt, blaming no one but themselves for their misery. Like here in Ps 106, where we have a good example of a Psalm that is lamenting but is also expressing repentance.
In v6, he says: “We have sinned like our ancestors; we have done wrong and are guilty.” Later, the Psalmist even enumerates in detail the sins of the Israelite people, how God allowed them to be brought low because of their guilt but later had mercy on them anyway.
But in Ps 44, 18-19, the author is enumerating all the misfortunes that have come upon them. He says all these have happened although “We have not forgotten you. We have not been disloyal to your covenant. We have not disobeyed you nor turned away from your path.” In simple language, he sounds like saying, “Wala naman kaming ginawang masama para parusahan mo kami nang ganito. Unfair ka naman, Lord!”
I am sure there are some of us who might feel like saying this in their prayers sometimes but are afraid to do so. Why? Because they think it’s a sin and that God might punish them even more. Here’s the good news: it’s ok. God understands.
In our first reading however, it is God who is complaining against Israel, through the words of the prophet. He laments that they refused to heed the warnings of the prophets despite the fact that God had favored them more than all the families of the earth. He mentions how he had saved them in the past, “like a brand plucked from the fire.” And that despite all these, they refused to be converted.
I am fascinated by the way the oracle ends. God says, “So now I will deal with you in my own way! And since I will deal thus with you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” Meaning, since you would not listen to my messengers, I will deal with you myself. The warning is both scary and hopeful.
Scary, on the one hand, because it can mean an impending situation of disaster or tragedy. But hopeful on the other hand, because it is often in situations like these that God prepares us for his amazing interventions that will render us speechless, exactly as Christ did with his disciples after he calmed the storm.
