A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Matthew. Jesus got into a boat up on the Lake Of Galilee, and his disciples followed him into the boat. Without warning, this often happens up in the lake area, the winds sweep down from the north. Without warning, a violent storm came up on the lake, and the boat began to be swamped by the waves. Jesus was sleeping soundly.
So his disciples made their way toward him and woke him up. Lord, they said, save us. We're lost. Jesus said to them, where is your courage? How little faith you have.
Then Jesus stood up and took the winds and the sea to task. Complete calm followed. The men were dumbfounded. What sort of man is this, they asked, that even the winds and the sea obey him? And this is the gospel of the lord.
Praise to you, lord Jesus Christ. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. Without the shadow of a single doubt, without the suspicion of a shadow of a single doubt, when it comes to persuasion, there's nothing can match experience. You may read, a blind person, person born blind, may read and be or be told, or have read to them the most detailed, the most elaborate, the most scientific, the most artistic, the most elaborate description of a sunset you have ever experienced, read, heard, seen.
Yet a person born blind will never know what a sunset is. You may talk to people about heat, try to give them a scientific definition of heat. You'll give them a description of heat. It will mean nothing comparable to putting their hand over a match. That's the reason that any human beings, and apparently a lot of human beings today are experiencing it, there is nothing comparable in the religious life or the religious order of thought and of action than what is called a religious experience.
I've never had one, but apparently plenty of people are having them these days. Whatever this thing is, there is nothing can match it. See, this is what we anyone who denies this is is so unrealistic, so inhuman. You take this example today of our blessed lord on the lake. If any, these are small boats you're talking about.
They didn't have didn't have Evinrude motors hanging over the stern as they have them over there today. These were practically just enlarged rowboats, and I mean enlarged small rowboats, and they wound up by being just bigger rowboats. And these storms sweeping down from the north, they're they're funneled right down in that in the Jordan Valley, they can be furious, and they can be sudden, and they can be without warning. They'll sweep down on you. And some of these men were watermen.
They knew about the sea. They knew about water. They knew about winds. They knew about waves. They knew about rough seas.
They knew about boats being swamped. They knew how storms behave. Now there are two things that are remarkable here. The first thing is this, that they appeal to Jesus. Why did they do that?
That's the first thing. Here are men who were thoroughly acquainted with the vagaries of of this of the Sea Of Galilee. They were well aware of what it means to be out there in a violent windstorm. And yet, when they get in this situation which borders on the tragic, they appeal to Jesus. Why did they do it?
That's point number one. What did they expect from him? They must have expected something, as why did they go and wake him up? Notice here he is sleeping. Whenever I read this, I think of Cardinal Spellman, who used to make these trips, you know, he was just a very slight sort of gentleman, and he used to make these trips.
This is absolutely irrelevant, but it's well, I've started it, might as well finish it. But he used to go to visit our troops at Christmas time, you know. And he told me this himself, that he could sleep no matter how violent the air was, no matter how tumultuous the plane was, how it was being tossed around, he would just take off his collar and his coat and curl up on a double seat and go to sleep. Well, that's our blessed lord sleeping through this. He shows utter utter he's not concerned at all.
I want you to notice this point. He's asleep at the switch. He shows no concern for the apostles or the disciples. Disciples. Apparently, he's dead asleep, probably in the stern sheets.
Not the only place he could be in is be sleeping. So they appealed to him. So they had to have some reason for going to him. And the results are that he speaks, he commands the sea and the winds. Now for anybody who's been who's acquainted with storms, who's acquainted with the sea, to say that the winds and the sea evade him is simply to state the impossible, unless you're dealing with something totally miraculous, as we would say today.
And the seas and the winds obeyed Jesus Christ, and we're told they were dumbfounded. What did they expect to happen, I wonder? Well, whatever they expected to happen, when what they hoped would happen, obviously they hoped that Christ would do something about the situation. Whatever it was they were hoping for, the consequences simply dumbfounded them. They were stunned.
They were almost immobilized. To think that this man sleeping in the stern of the boat could command the winds and the sea. Just think out in Colorado, what's happening out there today. If someone go out there and say, here here's someone sleeping along the bank, and you go up to him and say, look fella, we're in a heck of a situation here. Look, our dams are breaking, villages and towns are being wiped out.
We're in a horrible shape, and the situation is is beyond control. Don't you give a continental hoot about what's going on here? And here this fellow stands up and commands the Colorado River, and it subsides. What would you think in the year of our Lord 1983? Well, I'm not exactly this is more than comparable to it.
So they were dumbfounded because they got what they were hoping for, suppose. And they you see, they weren't fully trusting. They weren't fully trusting. Whatever they wanted, they they didn't half they only half expected to get it. And when they got it, they're speechless.
They're dumbfounded. I wanna make one little application of this to our own lives because it is so obvious. First of all, when we're in trouble, I don't care what it is, and we're not always in trouble. Let's let's face it, we're not always. Life isn't just a mess.
There are plenty of moments, there are plenty of days, there are plenty of times in life when things are good and we are we say joyously happy. Everybody has some experience of that. But on the other hand, there are times when the seas get rough. There are times when the winds blow. There are definite times, maybe not many, but there are definite times in all of our lives when we seem on the verge of absolute disaster.
We don't know where to turn. And Jesus, who has been our companion, who has been with us, who has been our changeless friend, is asleep at the switch. He just is not there at all. We pray, we beg, we plead, we promise, nothing. I feel totally empty.
My prayers just seem to be as dry as dust, have absolutely no meaning. I get down on my knees and I try to pray and I say, What is this all about? I go I'm just going through motions. I can't feel, I can't experience Jesus. First of all, who in the world said I had a right to expect to experience Jesus?
That's point number one. Who said I had a right to that? If it happens, fine. But who says I should expect it to happen to have this experience? But let us not let us not hesitate at all to say that many times when I call upon God and need him most, he seems to be totally absent, asleep at the switch, if you'll pardon the mixed metaphor.
This is a fact of life. The dark night of the soul was written by a saint, Saint John of the Cross. So this story of the of those disciples crossing remember, it's not a a million miles across the Lake Of Galilee, but if you've ever been on a pond and a violent storm hits you, you know that half a mile can be a can be almost eternity. And so let's not minimize the fright, the fear, the dread that these men experienced. Let us face the fact that when they needed Christ most, he seemed to seemed to be indifferent.
Asleep. Asleep. And yet, is he? Remember, he was in the boat with them. Keep that in mind.
Be in that boat with Jesus. In the name of the father, and of the son, and of holy spirit. Amen.