THE CHURCH AS A BOAT ON THE STORM IS A CURRENT ACTUALITY AND REALITY ALREADY REPRESENTED BY CHRIST HIMSELF WHO PROVIDED US WITH THE SOLUTION OF FAITH

Jesus had already tried to take a boat to go to a place and isolate himself there, after learning of the violent end of the Baptist, but the attempt was frustrated by the rush of people for whom he felt compassion

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They have existed since ancient times many artistic representations of the boat as an image of the Church, which is told in this Sunday's Gospel page. But they don't exist, at least they don't matter to me, depictions of Jesus retreating alone to pray. Except for the case of Gethsemane, prelude to his passion. Perhaps because it is more difficult to make an internal experience artistically visible, spiritual and private. Yet in the Gospel the two moments are together, whoever composed this page wanted one not to exist without the other. here she is:

«After the crowd had eaten, Jesus immediately forced the disciples to get into the boat and precede him to the other shore, until he dismissed the crowd. The crowd is dismissed, he went up the mountain, on the sidelines, to pray. Evening came, he was standing up there, alone. Meanwhile, the boat was already many miles from land and was being tossed by the waves: in fact the wind was against it. At the end of the night he went towards them walking on the sea. Seeing him walking on the sea, the disciples were shocked and said: “He's a ghost!” and they screamed in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying: "Courage, it's me, do not be afraid!”. Peter then answered him: "Man, if it's you, command me to come to you on the waters". And he said: "Alone!”. Peter got out of the boat, he started walking on the water and went towards Jesus. Ma, seeing that the wind was strong, he got scared and, starting to sink, he shouted: "Man, save me!”. And immediately Jesus held out his hand, he grabbed him and told him: “Man of little faith, because you doubted?”». As soon as we got on the boat, the wind stopped. Those who were in the boat bowed down before him, saying: “Truly you are the Son of God!”» [Mt 14, 22-33].

Jesus had already tried to get a boat to go to a place and isolate yourself there, after learning of the violent end of the Baptist [Mt 14,12], but the attempt was frustrated by the rush of people for whom he felt compassion. Not only, in the face of the hunger of the people and the impotence of the disciples[1] he performed the gesture of multiplication of the loaves. An act that was misunderstood, also given the Johannine tradition that says:

"Jesus, knowing that they were coming to take him to make him king, he retreated back to the mountain, him alone […] "In truth, verily I tell you: you are looking for me not because you have seen signs, but because you ate those loaves and were satisfied"" [GV 6, 15-26].

This preamble probably explains the opening line: «And immediately he forced the disciples to get into a boat». We do not know Jesus' hidden intentions and can only speculate. Perhaps the hasty action combined with the forcing of the disciples to get on the boat had the aim of saving him and the group that followed him from distorting the theological meaning of the gesture he had made on the loaves and, as John attests, to the misunderstanding of the type of messianism that Jesus intended and in which the disciples could bask. Or perhaps because he actually felt the urge to be alone, on a high place to pray. For the evangelist Matthew the mountain is a significant place. Thanks to him the discourse on the Beatitudes takes the name of the Sermon on the Mount. On a mountain Jesus was transfigured and on a hill, now resurrected, he gave the missionary mandate to his disciples [cf.. Mt 28, 16-20]. In this case it is the place of solitude and prayer. Jesus, in chapter six of Matthew, he had warned against the hypocritical prayer of those who want to be seen, preferring the hidden one, in the secrecy of the room [cf.. Mt 6, 5-6] and that above all it was addressed to God calling him in the intimate and personal form of "Father". A little later he taught the community prayer of Our father that we all know. What we can say is that Jesus was looking for this personal relationship, alone to alone, with Dio, not just any one, but with his Father. In prayer we know that Jesus, also thanks to other evangelical traditions, felt his filial conscience very alive.

But there's more. Matthew says that Jesus remained detached from the disciples, invisible from his family while in the meantime the evening and darkness fell. The boat with the disciples on board had already gained miles from land and the contrary wind was tossing it, making the situation precarious and dangerous. It is evidently a description of the situation of the Church in the post-Easter period. The episode that is now taking place - Jesus' journey on the water [Mt 14,24-33] – in fact it has a symbolic dimension: the text is a metaphor for the Church's journey through history, in the time between Easter and the parousia. Jesus is above, on the mountain, to pray [cf.. Mt 14,23]: or, he is the Risen One who is at the right hand of God in the heavens and intercedes for his people in the world. Precisely this important theological and symbolic covering has made even moderate scholars say[2] that the episode had little or no historical value. Which does not take away the meaning of an experience that transcends time and reaches us. That is, that of a Church that moves on an unstable element, with the darkness that prevents us from seeing the outlines, the wind that designates the adversities inherent in every era, the waves that cause disturbance and nausea. Finally, Peter, who in other circumstances expressed a strong and mature faith, here he displays a hesitant and weak confidence. And above all, in everyone, the inability to see the Lord which causes internal upheaval and fear.

Matthew describes the scene placing it on the broader backdrop of the story of the Exodus and the crossing of the Red Sea, to mean that what the disciples are doing is a gateway to salvation. As already in the exodus from Egypt, even now the protagonists are in serious difficulty and prey to fear. The presence of Jesus walking on the water is a clear reminder of the God who saved his people and who dominated the waters of the sea:

«Your way is on the sea [hate], your paths upon the great waters, but your footsteps were not recognized" [Shall 77,20]; «Thus says the Lord who opened a path in the sea and a path in the midst of mighty waters» [Is 43,16].

In particular, our text contains references to the fourteenth chapter of the Exodus in which the passage of the sea is narrated. Se Gesù avanza verso i discepoli alla "quarta veglia della notte" - but he is a prison of the night [Mt 14,25], the moment of salvation for the children of Israel, when God routs the Egyptian pursuers, strikes «at the morning watch» [Is 14,24]. For the children of Israel, the transition is not only geographical, but it is also a liberating passage from fear [Is 14,10-13] to the fear of the Lord [Is 14,31]; it is a transition from "seeing" the approach of the pursuers [Is 14,10] upon seeing the powerful hand with which the Lord had saved them [Is 14,31]. The presence of strong winds still unites the two stories [Is 14,21; Mt 14,24]. Jesus introduces himself to the disciples saying "It is I" [Mt 14,27], with an expression that corresponds to the Name of God revealed in Exodus: "I am". In short, we are facing the path of the Church, Easter journey, path of salvation, but of a salvation that is not so easily discernible because it is mixed with situations of contradiction and suffering.

At this point the temptation would be strong to apply this narrative to the current events of the Church. But those who know a little about history know very well that there has never been a quiet and peaceful period for it and that today it is no more difficult than in other moments. Nor that Peter is more or less faithful today than in other historical eras, rather. The Council developed a vision of the Church that defines it thus:

«(That) And, in Christ, the sacrament in some way, that is, the sign and instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of the entire human race"[3].

Therefore a human reality which retains all its fragilities to which the grace of the call and mission has been granted. So what, if the Church will always encounter difficulties, if waves and winds will toss the boat for three night watches, what is the true drama in which it may stumble and from which it will be difficult to escape except through a particular key? It is the drama of retaining Jesus, the Sir, a ghost! «And shocked they said: “It's a ghost!” and they cried out in fear".

This is why I wrote at the beginning that the two scenes that make up today's Gospel passage designate a single picture and are inseparable. As Origen rightly noted[4] Jesus almost forces his disciples to cross the sea of ​​history, with all the difficulties and vicissitudes that this entails, almost separating himself from them, returning to the Father. We can imagine the difficulties they had after Jesus' death, upon hearing that he was Risen, in recognizing him as alive and victor over death. Matteo points this out in the last chapter before leaving: «When they saw him, you are spoiled. But they doubted." [Mt 28, 17]. However, it is to these disciples of little faith that he will ensure a constant presence, of a different nature than the previous one, but equally effective: "And here, I am with you always;, until the end of the world " [Mt 28, 20].

They, so, he did not separate from us, as those disciples in the trembling boat and Peter himself feared who said: "if it's you"; but the necessary return to the Father, symbolized by his going up the mountain alone to pray to him, it happened so that God could be "all in all" and His love and His salvation, could be recognized in the Church which from now on becomes the sacrament of union with the Lord and of the unity of human beings as the Council said.

Thus we reach the last act, to that key or, given the context, that sail that allows you to travel the ferry without fear, that is, faith. The episode of Peter who wanted to walk on the water like Jesus teaches us this, but lacking full faith. A dangerous temptation that can seize every season of the life of the Church, perhaps even the current one. That of emptying Christ, to make it a ghost or an ectoplasm - Phanstasma estin, A ghost is ― mentre la Chiesa è intenta in altre cose, busy with who knows what precious work or with some arrangement of its structures. The Gospel, as Origen rightly notes, it does not say that Peter did not have faith, but he had little of it[5]. Elijah too, narrates the first book of Kings in the first reading this Sunday, shares a life-threatening situation with Pietro. God passes by him, but it will not be present in noisy and sensational realities, as in the massacre of the prophets of Baal, but in a “thin silent voice” (Qol demamah daqqah דקָּֽה דְּמָמָ֥ה ק֖וֹל)[6].

Jesus' rebuke to Peter, his stretching out his hand and grasping it are all sacramental actions that will become exemplary for the Church. Jesus, indeed, he does not scold Peter so that he remains half drowned in inadequacy, but why, through this moment of truth, he becomes aware of the situation he finds himself in and the hand of Jesus that grasps him is a gesture of salvation, healing and change, parable of what the Church does with the sacraments that multiply the love and grace of the Lord over time.

The presence of Jesus, grasped through faith, thin silent voice, it is fundamental for the boat that is the Church to find its tranquility and the disciples to finally recognize the fullness of the divine form of the Lord, no longer seen as a ghost: «As soon as we got on the boat, the wind stopped. Those who were in the boat bowed down before him, saying: “Truly you are the Son of God!”».

I close with a phrase from a famous book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

«The yes and the amen are the sure ground on which we rest. We continually lose sight in this troubled time of the reason why we deserve to live. We are allowed to live continuously close to God and in his presence and then there is no longer anything impossible for us as there is nothing impossible for God. No earthly power can touch us without the will of God, and misery and danger bring us closer to God."[7].

Happy Sunday everyone!

from the Hermitage, 13 August 2023

 

NOTE

[1] «But Jesus said to them: “They don't need to go; you yourselves feed them”. They answered: “Here we have nothing but five loaves and two fish!”. And he said: “Bring them here to me”» (Mt 14, 16-18).

[2] John Paul Meier, A marginal Jew. Rethinking the historical Jesus, Volume 2, Mentor, message and miracles, 2002

[3] The light 1.

[4] «So it could be, returning to the text, that the disciples feeling uncomfortably far from Jesus, they cannot separate from him even by chance, because they want to stay with him; by me, judging that they must have proof of the waves and the contrary wind, which would not have been there if they had been with Jesus, imposes on them the obligation to detach themselves from him and get on the boat" (Origene, (C)oment to the Gospel of Matthew, New Town, 1998, pg. 215.

[5] Op. cit. Pg 218.

[6] 1Re 19, 12. La Bibbia Cei translate: «the whisper of a light breeze». The Masoretic text has: «A thin silent voice».

[7] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Resistance and surrender, St. Paul, 2015.

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San Giovanni all'Orfento. Abruzzo, Mount Maiella, it was a hermitage inhabited by Pietro da Morrone, called in 1294 to the Chair of Peter on which he ascended with the name of Celestine V (29 August – 13 December 1294).

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