Discouragement and Disappointment

Homily for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Had we read St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans last week Sunday, we would have heard him say that “nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.” However, following immediately upon that stirring passage, we read today something that doesn’t quite seem to align itself with that assertion. St. Paul says: “I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people.” In this short statement, we learn quite a bit about St. Paul, both as a man and as an apostle of Jesus.

First of all, it is quite obvious that St. Paul loves his people, the Jews. He was a Pharisee, zealous in his efforts to lead all his fellow Jewish brothers and sisters in the observance of the Torah, the covenant that God had entered into with the children of Israel. In his letter to the Philippians, he elaborates upon this point: “If anyone else thinks he can be confident in flesh, all the more can I. Circumcised on the eighth day, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrew parentage, in observance of the law a Pharisee, in zeal I persecuted the church, in righteousness based on the law I was blameless.” In today’s reading he speaks not so much about himself as he does about his race: “They are Israelites; theirs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; theirs the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”

So not only did Paul love his Jewish brothers and sisters, he was proud of his Jewish heritage. It was a great disappointment to St. Paul that his fellow Jews did not turn to Jesus as he had done. We will continue to read from the Letter to the Romans next Sunday. In that readings, St. Paul reveals even more about his desire to convert his Jewish brothers and sisters.

We also find a similar story in the prophet Elijah from this morning’s first reading. He had done all that God had asked of him. He had preached God’s word to Ahaz and Jezebel, and he had defeated the prophets of Baal in a powerful demonstration of God’s power. However, Jezebel had set her husband’s heart against Elijah and had chased him into the desert. When we meet him this morning, he is sitting in a cave hiding from his pursuers and waiting for God to come to his aid.

In a cave on the mountain, Elijah told God of his disappointment: “I have been most zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts, but the Israelites have forsaken your covenant. They have destroyed your altars and murdered your prophets by the sword. I alone remain, and they seek to take my life.” Not only was he disappointed, he was also afraid. Elijah knew God’s power. He knew of the wind and fire and earthquakes that had been part of God’s appearance to Moses on this very same mountain. So this is what he was expecting of God again. However, God comes to him in a breeze, a whisper. The sacred author does not tell us what Elijah heard in that whisper. However, we know that it must have been enough to pull him out of his discouragement and send him on his way again.

The Gospel story we hear today can also be read in this way. The apostles are alone in a boat that is being battered by the storm. Especially in the early days of the Christian community, the apostles and disciples of Jesus knew many storms as the Romans and the Jews continue to persecute them for their way of life. However, Jesus appears to them as the ship seems to be sinking and tells them to have faith. Peter, the leader of the Christian community, attempts to walk on the water just as Jesus is. However, he begins to sink because instead of concentrating his attention on Jesus, he begins to turn his attention to the storm itself.

All three of today’s readings speak to us of the need to continue to place our trust in God’s help even in the face of discouragement. As St. Paul wrote in the Letter to the Romans, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator