A reflection on this Sunday’s Mass by Sr Kym Harris osb

A reflection on this Sunday’s Mass by Sr Kym Harris osb and downloaded from http://www.prayasyoucan.com.au

“Do you not care?” That was an unfair question for the disciples to have asked Jesus. Why he had been asleep, in a very heavy sleep, and wouldn’t have known what was happening. But that question is often hurled against God! The community for whom Mark was writing was experiencing bitter persecution under Nero. Did not Jesus and God care?
When Jesus rebukes the storm, the verb Mark uses was used earlier to cast out a demon. In other words, Jesus, in rebuking the storm, confronts evil on the disciples’ behalf and defeats it. This confrontation with evil continues through the Gospel till the final confrontation at Calvary where Jesus dupes the Evil One and defeats him…but it doesn’t look much like success to those watching, who could well have asked “Did not God care?” It doesn’t look much like success, unless…one had the eyes of faith, like the centurion.
When the storm subsided, the disciples were filled with awe – that crucial component of faith. (You can hear it in the centurion’s response to Jesus’ death.) They were beginning to have a new way of seeing Jesus. Slowly, slowly he will teach them that God does care but in a way that does not take suffering, pain and evil away. God does not save by taking away evil and suffering but rather invites us to join with him in the drama of salvation. As for the church under persecution, so to for us, we must face the question “Does not God care?” and realise that it can only be answered with the response of faith.
Image is of a stained glass window from Covington Cathedral, Kentucky.