Jesus Is Lord Of All

𝐉𝐔𝐋𝐘 𝟏, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐆𝐞𝐧 𝟏𝟗:𝟏𝟓-𝟐𝟗

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟐𝟔:𝟐-𝟑, 𝟗-𝟏𝟐 “𝐎. 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭 𝟖:𝟐𝟑-𝟐𝟕

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉?” (𝒗.26) 

          Knowing that Jesus is beside you, will you give in to fear? The natural response would of course be no. But this was not what was depicted in this gospel passage and the fact that this scenario appears in all the three synoptic gospel underscores its importance.

          What struck us was the attitude of the disciples who panicked and did what they felt was the only thing they could do under the circumstances and that was to call on the Lord who was asleep even when the boat they were on board was being tossed about by a great storm (𝒗𝒗.23-27).        

What this means is that being a disciple of Our Lord is not an assurance that we will be spared from the storms that pass through our midst. The world we live in today is filled with varying degrees of storms literally and symbolically.

          Take for example the worsening climate change conditions that induces typhoons, hurricanes, tsunamis, and flash floods even in times when it’s not supposed to. Currently, we are also drowning in the social and political storm before us that impacts our lives. There is another kind of storm that we experience and this is the kind that dampens our spirits and causes depression and manic disorders.

          These may come in the form of sickness and diseases, accidents, disappointments, death in the family, loss of job and income opportunities, failed relationships, indebtedness, addiction and temptations. There are many more of these that may cause an imbalance or create a void in our day-to-day living and which to some extent will leave us not only perplexed but feeling abandoned by the God who created us.

          While Jesus may have said that he came “𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆, 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚” (𝑱𝒏 10:10), anything that happens in our lives especially that which are contrary to divine will and reason is not created by God but by our human will taking precedence. Life is a matter of choice and because man was created to have a will of his own, God gives man the leverage to choose which way he should go.

          As with the storms that pass through our lives, there are two options that are available to us. We can either worry and assume that God doesn’t care, or we can resist fear and put all our trust in the Lord who is more than willing to help us when we call on him.

          In this passage we see that being disciples won’t protect us from the storms in our lives. In fact, life becomes more complicated when we choose to give our lives to Jesus because life becomes a matter of choice day in and day out – a choice to do good or to patronize evil that is made attractive by its worldly rewards and Jesus doesn’t promise that we will be exempted from these trials and temptations if we follow him.

          Peter in fact warns us “𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕, 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒋𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒅.” (1 𝑷𝒆𝒕 4:12-13)        

And in this passage Jesus teaches us that fear stems from lack of faith “𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒆?” (𝒗.40) which should remind us that we need to grow in faith and to “𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒏 𝑮𝒐𝒅.” (𝑴𝒌 11:22)

          In our life, storms blow against our faces and many times we have trouble living. There are struggles we need to overcome, and it is during these times that we can invite Jesus to come into our lives because when he does, the storms that we face will die down and our lives will become completely calm (𝒗.26).

          In life there are many kinds of storms that may unsettle us, and these storms are not limited to situations or events. It can even refer to an individual who is irrational, unreasonable, self-righteous, over-bearing, domineering and you name it a person who has these negative qualities can also become a storm in our lives that we need to deal with.

          We can look to when we are carrying a pail of water from one place to another and it is always said that it would be advisable to place a piece of wood to keep the water on the pail steady and not spill it. This is the same with the storms that we experience. We need the cross of Jesus to keep us stable and still in the face of storms.

          But for these storms to pass, we need to be specific about what these storms are because Jesus is not a generic God whom we can ask for just about anything we want. The one definite message behind this passage is that Jesus will come when we ask him for help and he will definitely calm the storms that we face and we need faith to be able to come and give our complete trust to Jesus.

          𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡 𝟏𝟔𝟐 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡 says: “𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧.” We can lose this priceless gift, as St. Paul indicated to St. Timothy: "𝑾𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒇𝒂𝒓𝒆, 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆. 𝑩𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑𝒘𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉." (1 𝑻𝒊𝒎 1:18-19) 

To live, grow and persevere in the faith until the end we must nourish it with the Word of God; we must beg the Lord to increase our faith (𝑳𝒌 17:5); it must be "𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒚," abounding in hope, and rooted in the faith of the Church. (𝑮𝒂𝒍 5:6)

          What this Gospel passage teaches us is that Jesus alone can give us peace when we are faced with life’s storms and he will bring us out of the darkness of our lives and into the marvelous light of his presence. His looming presence that is bigger than any problem in the world gives us hope and confidence when we encounter doubt and uncertainty. And it is only his presence that will provide stability and balance when we are faced with worry and anxiety.

          At the end of the day, the real tragedy is when we pass up the chance to weather these storms by not calling on Jesus. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘺 1, 2025)