March 4, 2010 – Matthew 14:22-15:20

The story of the boat at sea is one that I have always liked. I was reading St. Thomas Aquinas’ take on it and he has a reflection different from how I ever looked at it. The story is an analogy to our Christian history. Jesus departs from the Apostles and sends them on their boat. This is similar to Jesus’ Ascension and the Church being “one its own”. But what is Jesus doing. He has gone up the mountain to pray, we can speculate that He was praying for the Apostles in the boat. What do we think Jesus is doing right now. Up in Heaven praying and offering Himself for us. The Church is the boat, out in the stormy sea of the world being battered and punished. The Apostles are scared and fearful. I am sure Church leaders throughout history have been scared and fearful of the world around them.

Then at a moment of great terror after long hours of battling the storm, Jesus comes towards the boat. What is the reaction of those on the boat. At first it is fear and untrusting. They have been persuaded by the storm and the world to not trust themselves and so at the first sight of Jesus appearance they do not trust their own sight. St. Thomas discusses that this will be the way it may come about at the end of time when Jesus returns. The world has made us lose faith and trust and we will not recognize Christ return. But He will reassure the Church with His words.

St. Thomas doesn’t go into what Peter does, or maybe I just missed it, but if you follow the analogy out, towards the end, St. Peter will be required to take a leap of faith. Obviously it will not be St. Peter himself, but you can see that it could be the successor of St. Peter. This will require the successor to walk out to where Christ is. Note that the storm has not subsided when Peter leaves the boat. He is walking through the storm. Then the wind shakes his faith and he begins to sink. In the end, the successor will have his faith challenged and will have to rely on Christ for help. And Christ will help.

Once Christ makes it to the boat, then the storm stops and all is at peace and those on the boat bow to worship Him. Sounds a lot like what will happen upon Christ return and defeat of the evil in the world and the new world to come. One where the is not evil and the Lord is Lord, Heaven come down to Earth. Just thought that was a new take on a tale we have heard many times. Give you something new to chew on.