HOMILY FOR THE 19TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A.
THEME: Keep your eyes on the goal. Don’t lose focus!
BY: Rev Fr Stephen ‘Dayo Osinkoya.
1 Kings 19:9A, 11-13A
Psalm 85
Romans 9:1-5
Matthew 14:22-33
The Gospel today is about faith and focus. It teaches that though storms and struggles inevitably arise, we have a choice as to whether we focus on them or on Jesus. This Gospel passage of today can therefore be looked at in three different phases:
Perceived Distance,
Produced Distress, and
Point of Decision.
PERCIEVED DISTANCE
In this brief text we encounter the mystery of God seemingly hiding His face. Jesus, in drawing back from his disciples, exhibits the mysterious truth that God sometimes seems to hide His face. But does He actually do so? Certainly to us it seems that He hides His face. But does He actually do so in such a way that He forgets about us?
We must note that Jesus was not away on vacation. Neither was it at the stadium to see a match or at the cinema to see a movie. Rather, He was praying. As such, He was in communion with His Father, but surely also with His disciples. And while the storm grows, He makes His way toward them in stages.
At first they cannot see Him. Be He surely sees and knows them. Later, even when they do see Him, they cannot understand at first that it is He. They even mistake Him for a ghost, for someone or something that means them harm. And so it is with us. For it often happens that we, too, conclude that God has hidden His face, that He is not mindful of the troubles we face. It seems to us that He is distant, perhaps unconcerned, and surely not visible to us.
But it is not always that God has simply hidden His face. It is often that we simply cannot see Him for different reasons. Sometimes it is simply that our minds are too weak and easily distracted. Sometimes it is our flesh, which demands to see everything in a physical manner and refuses to accept the reality of spiritual sight. Sometimes it is our prejudice, which demands to see and understand only in ways acceptable and pleasing to us, as if God must only speak in a way chosen by us.
And this leads us to the next stage.
PRODUCED DISTRESS
Added to the disciples experience of distance from the Lord is the distress of the storm that assails them. To the degree that we do not see the Lord we will be anxious about many things. In the perceived absence of God, fears increase and shadows grow longer. In this sense much of our distress is self-produced. That is, it is the product of our lack of faith and our lack of awareness of God’s abiding presence.
This is why it is so important for us to accept the “normal Christian life” of being in living, conscious contact with God. For knowing God does not mean that there will be no storms. But it does mean that we can face them with courage and trust. There is an old saying, “Stop telling God how big your storm is. Tell the storm how big your God is.” This can only come as we grow in faith and the experience of God’s presence.
POINT OF DECISION
The next stage is of decision. Now the Lord presents them with a choice: focus on the storm or focus on Him. He does not just say to them, “Do not be afraid.” He says, “It is I; do not be afraid.” In other words, if they focus on Him they will not be afraid. If they come to experience His abiding presence many of their fears will dissipate. It is the same for us. If we will accept the normal Christian life and come to more deeply and constantly experience the Lord’s presence, our fears will dissipate. It is NOT that there will be no storms. Rather, it is that they will not overwhelm us with fear.
So we also have a choice to make: either focus on the storms in our life or focus on the Lord. And the result will be that we will either live in growing fear by focusing on the storms, or we will grow in confidence and trust by focusing on the Lord. There is an old saying, “What you feed, grows.” If we feed our fears and negativity they will grow. But if we feed our faith and trust they will grow. So, what’s it going to be? What will we focus on? What will we feed?
RELATED: HOMILY FOR THE 19TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A
The decision before the apostles is now clear. One of them, Peter, accepts the Lord’s offer to focus on Him rather than the storm. But as we see in the text, the decision to do this is, like most things in life, is more of an ongoing process than a one-time decision. It is something we must grow into by making many small decisions that develop into greater capacities by a process of growth in the grace the Lord is offering.
So we too have a decision to make: will we focus on the storm or on Jesus? We have to keep our eyes on the prize. The Book of Hebrews says, Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12:2). That’s right, keep your eyes on the goal. Don’t lose focus!
What God offers us in this Gospel is a faith that grows to understand this and to see God always, a faith that permits us to be in living, conscious contact with God at every moment of the day. This is the normal Christian life that Christ died to give us. If we will be open to receive it, our faith will grow. And as our faith grows, so does our ability to experience this presence beyond what our senses can perceive. Yes as our faith grows, even in the midst of storms, we can still know He is near and draw strength and courage.
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