{"id":4357,"date":"2023-08-13T11:59:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-13T10:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/?p=4357"},"modified":"2023-08-22T13:40:48","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T12:40:48","slug":"commentary-on-19th-sunday-of-the-year-a-13-08-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/commentary-on-19th-sunday-of-the-year-a-13-08-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Commentary on 19th Sunday of the year (A), 13.08.2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fear and faith<\/h3>\n

Commentary by Melissa Bane Sevier<\/strong><\/small> , www.melissabanesevier.wordpress.com<\/a><\/h3>\n

They say it\u2019s the first step that\u2019s the hardest.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fear often keeps us rooted in our place, afraid that any movement will make things worse.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes well-meaning people will remind us to have faith in God, who can do all things.\u00a0 Remember Peter who stepped out of the boat on faith, they might say.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Here\u2019s the story, as Matthew\u2019s gospel tells it.<\/p>\n

Immediately [Jesus] made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was <\/em>against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, \u201cIt is a ghost!\u201d And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, \u201cTake heart, it is I; do not be afraid.\u201d Peter answered him, \u201cLord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.\u201d He said, \u201cCome.\u201d So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, \u201cLord, save me!\u201d Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, \u201cYou of little faith, why did you doubt?\u201d When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, \u201cTruly you are the Son of God.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0From Matthew 14<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To tell you the truth, I\u2019ve never thought Peter sounded too smart in that story.\u00a0 I mean, who in the world decides to walk on water just because Jesus could do it?\u00a0 (\u201cIf Jesus jumped off a cliff would you do it?\u201d asks your mother.)\u00a0 Peter steps onto the water and then starts to sink.\u00a0 He seems surprised.\u00a0 Surprised!\u00a0 Hellooo, Peter\u2014it\u2019s water!\u00a0 What were you thinking?\u00a0 Jesus picks him up and helps him back to the boat.\u00a0 \u201cYou of little faith.\u00a0 Why did you doubt?\u201d\u00a0 Why?<\/em>\u00a0 He doubted because it\u2019s water he was trying to walk on!\u00a0 Jesus seems awfully hard on Peter.\u00a0 I could be hard on Peter, too, but for a different reason.\u00a0 \u201c\u201dOh, you of simple reasoning, why did you think you could walk on water?\u201d\u00a0 But not, \u201cWhy did you doubt?\u201d\u00a0 It just doesn\u2019t seem fair.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The fear that Peter felt is probably not unfamiliar to you.\u00a0 Maybe you haven\u2019t attempted to walk on water lately, but you know what fear feels like.\u00a0 You have felt the fear of having a sick child or a helpless parent.\u00a0 You have felt the fear of not knowing if you\u2019d have enough money to pay the bills at the end of the month.\u00a0 You have felt the fear of wondering if your relationship would last.\u00a0 You have felt the fear of being in a new situation\u2014a new school room this fall, for example.\u00a0 You have felt the fear of imminent loss.\u00a0 You have felt the fear of grave illness.\u00a0 We live in a universe that is very frightening at times.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fear has a way of leading us in different directions.\u00a0 Some people smother their fears with alcohol or drugs.\u00a0 Some try to pretend they are not afraid.\u00a0 Some deny that there\u2019s anything to be afraid of.\u00a0 Some say that having enough faith will handle it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Like Peter, I think we tend to alternate between courage and fear.\u00a0 Between \u201cI can get through this\u201d and \u201cthis storm will never end until it takes me under.\u201d\u00a0 Sometimes both in the same moment.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus told Peter that he hadn\u2019t had enough faith.\u00a0 In the usual sense, that seems an unrealistic and unfair accusation.\u00a0 It also seems less than helpful.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I wonder if what Jesus was saying to Peter was not that he should have had enough faith to stay on top of the water, but that he should have had enough faith to reach out to Jesus sooner.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We need help in this world.\u00a0 It comes from God; it comes from other people who care about us.\u00a0 We may not be able to walk on water, but we can stretch out a hand to give or receive help.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When we find ourselves standing on a surface that won\u2019t support us, we have two choices.\u00a0 We can sink alone, or we can reach out.\u00a0 Neither one sounds appealing.\u00a0 But, truly, the choice is pretty clear.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Have faith, and grab a hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fear and faith Commentary by Melissa Bane Sevier , www.melissabanesevier.wordpress.com They say it\u2019s the first step that\u2019s the hardest. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fear often keeps us rooted in our place, afraid that any movement will make things worse. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes well-meaning people will remind us to have faith in God, who can do all things.\u00a0 Remember Peter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4359,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4357"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7903,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4357\/revisions\/7903"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}