Welcome the Storm—It's Our Baptism

©2010, Randall A. Beeler

16 And when evening had come, his disciples went down to the sea. 17 And when they had gone up into a ship, they went over the sea to Capharnaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus had not come unto them. 18 And the sea arose, by reason of a great wind that blew. 19 When they had rowed therefore about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they saw Jesus walking upon the sea and drawing near to the ship. And they were afraid. 20 But he said to them: "It is I. Be not afraid." 21 They were willing therefore to take him into the ship. And presently the ship was at the land to which they were going. (John 6, DRE)

When we the Church are tossed in stormy waters, we should welcome such tempests.

The current media blitzkrieg on Pope Benedict XVI and the Church is a parable for the suffering that is endemic to our lives. If we the Church are to witness with our lives Christ's triumph over suffering and death, we need suffer the very longings and tortures the world tries to wriggle itself out of.

To proclaim that baptism is more than the sprinkling of water, we must die Christ's death with Him, plunging under the water, to be raised up in His new life (Rom 6:1-11). We the Church sacramentally embody God's recreation of us through the waters of chaos.

Jesus walks the stormy waters, just as God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—broods over the waters of chaos at the Creation (Gen 1:1-2).

Jesus bears life across the raging sea as the Ark bears a renewed humanity across the Flood (Gen 7:17-24).

Jesus parts the waves of death-dealing water between Himself and us, as God parts the Red Sea for the Israelite to sprint to new life (Exod 14:21-31).

Jesus crosses the waters of life and death to lead us to life eternal, as Israel crosses the Jordan into the promised land (Josh 3:7-17).

Jesus inflames the sodden courage of the disciples, as Elijah calls fire down upon the soaked sacrifices in the midst of the child-sacrificing priests of baal (1Kgs 18:30-40 ).

Jesus lives amidst the raging waters, even as God the Son is born to life from the amniotic water of Mother Mary's womb (Lk 2:1-7).

Jesus draws the disciples out of the tempest-tossed sea back to shore, even as John the Baptizer lifts the Son of Man from the waters of the River Jordan (Matt 3:13-17).

At their destination, Jesus then feeds the disciples Himself as the Bread of Life (John 6), even as, at His death, lifegiving water and blood pour from His pierced side (John 19:31-37), signifying the death-to-self and resurrection to new life to which all mankind is called.

Jesus' dark-night encounter with the storm-soaked disciples reveals that God is with us—Emmanuel—especially in the storm.

No peril, then, is too perilous, no storm too buffeting, no tragedy too tragic, for us to hope in the Lord, to embrace Him, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, in our suffering itself.

Indeed, we need not look for suffering, for the world provides enough. But when suffering comes, we need not look for the Christ, as if He is far away. Our suffering washes us in the awareness that the suffering itself is our very path home.

And home is filled with the Water that quenches all thirst and bears us beyond drowning to our destination, our shoreline reunion with Our One True Beloved.

In the midst of these crises let us not be easily shaken. Let us keep our eyes focused on the true horizon, the coming victory of Jesus over the entire cosmos. As we approach that great Day, there will be much that will test our faith. Yet every test is an opportunity for growth, for strengthening, for purifying us as the Bride is made ready to meet the Bridegroom. That day may be near or it may be yet distant, but in every age and every generation we must stay sober and alert, and in a state of confident expectation. (Michael D. O'Brien)