LORD OF ALL CREATION

A MESSAGE FOR THE 24th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

After celebrating the Kingship of Christ last Sunday, it should come as no surprise to see our Blessed Lord’s authority put to use in this week’s Gospel.  For Christ is King, not only of men’s hearts and souls, not only of every individual nation, but even of the very elements of nature itself.  As Creator of all things, “by whom nothing was made that was made” it is a simple task for our Lord to rebuke the winds and the sea, and bring tranquility to the great waters.  

This was not the first time the oceans had been made to obey the commands of God.  We have only to remember the parting of the Red Sea to allow the passage of Moses out of the slavery of Egypt’s land, and the subsequent drowning of the Pharaoh and his army of chariots.

The oceans are a dangerous place, and countless thousands have been lost in their stormy waters.  The raging seas and mighty waves of the sea are in many ways similar to the passions of our own soul, and when our Lord calms the troubled waters in today’s Gospel, he is also restoring calm to his panic-stricken apostles.  We would do well to offer our supplications not only for those in peril on the sea, but for our own souls , that God may deliver them from the dreadful peril they too face in the tempestuous lives we all lead. The words of the 106^thPsalm offer an appropriate subject of meditation in times we are in danger of being overwhelmed:  

“They that go down to the sea in ships, and occupy their business in great waters; These men see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.  For at his word the stormy wind ariseth, which lifteth up the waves thereof.  They are carried up to the heaven, and down again to the deep; their soul melteth away because of the trouble.  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end.  So when they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, he delivereth them out of their distress.  For he maketh the storm to cease, so that the waves thereof are still.  Then are they glad, because they are at rest; and so he bringeth them unto the haven where they would be.”