Twelfth Ordinary

Mark 4: 40

Jesus said, “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith at all?”

There’s a great scene in the movie Forrest Gump that relates to this week’s readings. In the movie, Captain Dan lost his legs in a battle that he believes was a sign of his failure as a leader. In his anguish he wishes he had died on the battlefield. He is mad at God, at life, and at Forrest Gump for his unshakable faith in goodness.

One day, Captain Dan was on a shrimp boat in the Gulf of Mexico when a hurricane loomed. He lashed himself to the ship’s mast as the brutal storm advanced. In this way, Job-like, he withstood the fury of the storm in order to come face-to-face with the ultimate bearer of life and death.

It’s an inspiring portrayal of one way to respond to the storms that life bring us all. Some of us are tempted to run and hide when life’s storms come our way. Others, like the apostles in this week’s gospel, get paralysed with fear and worry. Others, in an ultimate act of faith, take on the storm face- to-face, and in doing so, experience the forceful presence of God in the winds we’re so tempted to fear. As Jesus says, “Don’t you have any faith at all?”