Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

FR MICHAEL BIBLICAL IMAGERY

(Fr Michael Boakye Yeboah: Vice Rector of St Gregory Seminary, Kumasi-Ghana)

 “IT IS I”

            “It is I” is a phrase that evokes the self-identification of God. The Matthean usage of “It is I” emphasizes the presence of Christ in and with the community in its mission. When the phrase “It is I” is used together with “fear not” in most situations in the Bible, they carry the nuance of reassurance.

            Needing reassurance is part of being human; no one is totally self-sufficient. It is natural to seek some reassurance when confronted with uncertainty. We want some feedback that our solution or thoughts are reasonable, rational, or otherwise good enough, or that we aren’t missing something obvious. Reassurance can help to calm a doubt, allay a worry, solidify a plan of action, or guide a decision. The statement “It is I” is a phrase that every Christian would love to hear from Jesus when (s)he is caught up in a difficult challenge of life. I have never experienced a turbulent storm at sea or on a lake nor experienced a boat ride; so, I cannot know what Peter and his friends really experienced that created that level of fear but no matter what creates fear in you, assurance from Jesus can be heartwarming. For me, without the assurance I get daily from God’s word in praying the Divine Office, saying Holy Mass and praying the Holy Rosary; I do not feel secure in life. But once I experience the assurance from God’ word, then I am motivated to say with St Paul: “what will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, not 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” (cf. Romans 8:35, 37-39). This is the hallmark of today’s theme: “It is I”.

            In today’s Gospel account, the one-time Tax Chief Officer Matthew narrates to us a Gospel drama in which Jesus walks on the nocturnal, stormy lake. The account opens with Jesus praying “in solitude on the mountain” and ends with genuine worship by the disciples. After Jesus had come to the aid of the disciples, they could not but do him homage, saying: “Truly you are the Son of God.” Jesus’ majestic strides over the waves, the even clearer superiority over the forces of nature exhibited when he permits Peter to climb out of the boat and come to him.

            Living in total faith in Christ Jesus is central in today’s readings. Simon Peter had faith. Only a man of faith would accept an invitation from “a ghost” – as he thought Jesus was – to step out of a boat and attempt to walk across water. Trouble was that the sea was rough, “for there was a headwind”. Peter walked confidently on until he felt the force of the wind. He became distracted and took his eyes off Jesus. That was when he began to sink, and Jesus had to take him by the hand to prevent him from drowning.

            A lot of people play one ball game or another. It could be football, basketball, lawn tennis, table tennis, cricket, hockey or golf. Those who know these games always tell you to keep your eyes on the ball. The moment you take your eyes off the ball, you are bound to make a mistake. Somehow when it comes to religion, a similar advice can be given: “Keep your eyes on Jesus.” That was what Peter stopped doing, and he began to sink. In his own case it was fear that made him take his eyes off Jesus: “…as soon as he felt the force of the wind, he took fright and began to sink.”

            Something like that can happen in the life of a Christian. We start off with a great deal of faith. We believe in Jesus. We believe that he is there for us, that he is both able and willing to come to our help in any situation. At that time, we have our eyes fixed on Jesus. But let some difficulty or problem crop up in our life, and many of us will become disoriented. It could be a serious illness, the loss of a job, a serious financial crisis, a court case, a failed or failing marriage, childlessness, or the fear of contracting Covid-19. We are distracted, and we take our eyes off Jesus. We begin instead to look in other direction for solution to our problems. In Africa when challenges like these happen some people have been known to begin to seek refuge in occultism, secret cult, secret society, even witchcraft, and so on. All of a sudden, Jesus is relegated to the background, if not repudiated altogether. At that point we have really begun to sink; we are at the point of drowning.

            But trust Jesus! He will be there still to reach out and take us by the hand, so that we do not drown, as he did for Peter. Peter had to reach out in his own turn, and take that hand. We too must do the same if we do not want to drown altogether. We must reach out faith in Jesus and set our eyes back firmly on him. We must reject all the idols we have erected for ourselves as solutions to our problems. They are not the solutions to our problems, they cannot be the solutions; they are part of the problems. The sooner we let go of them, the freer we shall be to take the hand of Jesus and be saved from drowning. Instead of thinking about his ability and inability he should have marched steadily toward the “Son of God” out of the faith he was given.

            In the first reading Elijah receives training in this same faith by means of a mysterious symbolism. He has been promised an encounter with God’s majesty as it passes by. And he has to learn that the great forces of nature which once proclaimed storm experienced by the disciples on the lake, the earthquake that the Psalms depict as a sign of his proximity, the fire that once revealed God in a bramble bush are, at most, premonitions of God in earthly metaphors – they are not his actual presence. Only when the “tiny, whispering sound” comes does Elijah know that he must bury his face in his cloak. This inexpressible gentleness is something of a hint of the Incarnation of the Son: God wishes to be a gentle as Jesus will be: “He will not cry out or shout, no one will hear his voice in the street, a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench” (Isaiah 42:2-3).

            In the second reading Paul laments that Israel has not carried Elijah’s faith to the ultimate, to the Incarnation of the Son of God. In this period of uncertainty because of the Covid-19, some people are losing their faith in the Lord; it is therefore a time all who have the sacred privilege in teaching in God’s assembly should endeavour to send messages that will give assurance that though fear may make us to sink in our faith, Jesus will surely appear to tone-in the words “It is I…do not be afraid.”