The Word Of Peace
Homiletic Reflections On Peacemaking

Deacon Robert M. Pallotti, D. Min.

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

June 22, 1997

On May 2, 1863 confederate forces under the command of Gen. Stonewall Jackson engaged the Union forces at Chancellorsville, Virginia for one the Civil war's most bloody and costly defeats for the Union forces. That same day, by freak accident, Jackson was shot in the back by one of his own men. The wound was extremely critical. He was rushed to a small home outside the immediate vicinity of the raging storm of the battle.

That night fever began to set in, as his wound became infected. Throughout the night he groaned in agony. Often his sounds were incoherent, as his fever rose he approach fits of delirium. The importance of the battle raging down the road was now replaced by the personal storm Jackson and his friends were involved in. What would they do without Jackson? Would all be lost in a sea of defeat?

Jesus tells his disciples to cross over with him to that farthest shore over the waters. They get into the boat and soon the sea begins to get violent and dangerous--a storm rolls in. They panic, they wake Jesus who was asleep in the boat, unconcerned about the storm. They are naturally frightened, the boat could sink and they could drown.

The early symbol for the Church was a boat on the waters. The "waters" often refers to death, the forces of destruction in the Scriptures. Yet, the "waters" can also be the life-giving waters of Christ. Mark is writing his gospels to a Church under persecution--hard times were afoot. There would be struggle and physical danger. The community seems to be panicking, asking, " Where are you Jesus ?" " Are you asleep?" Such questions echo the sentiments of the Jewish people in the book of Psalms who call upon Yahweh to rise from sleep to help them.

We hear in Job that God spoke out of the storm. God was no the storm--but God spoke from out of its depths ! God assures Job that there is no need for panic, that God transcends, has power over the storm. We see this in Mark' s gospel a well ! Jesus assures the disciples, don't panic, chill out, the storm's power is really an illusion.  Then all is quiet. His question to them is " Why are you so terrified?  Why are you lacking in faith?"

Paul tells us that because Jesus has fathomed the depths of the "waters" of death and chaos and been raised, we need not live in terror of death anymore ! Jesus' service death of love is the way to overcome the storms of life without our being terrorized by them in the process. Now, hope amidst the troubles is the unshakable foundation of Christian life. It empowers us to not run about in terror and panic --to not assume that the " storms" have the last word ! Their power is illusionary ! In Jesus, God's power over the storms is testified to by the raising of Jesus from the dead. Death appeared so powerful. Death can send people scurrying off in panic. Death can terrorized people to accept lives of oppression and cruelty-- all because it appeared so invincible ! Now, in Jesus, death's invincible power has proven to be a "paper tiger".

This is easy to state in words, but we know that when life's "storms roll in " we are apt to be very much like the disciples, like the early church of Mark. Sometimes these storms result in the death of someone we love. Sometimes these storms are from brute circumstance or from human folly and lay waste to millions of lives in war, political tyranny, economic exploitation and environmental destruction. In whatever forms such storms come, they can be terrifying, we panic, lose our bearings and ask " Where are you Lord ?" " Are you sleeping?" Here the risen Lord comes from out of the center of the storm and stills the waves, quiets the winds. To be in the presence of the risen Lord, as we are today and every day, frees us from terror and panic--empowering us in hope, and calling us to love and peace.

We can be the Lord's faithful and loving servants despite the danger and death of the waters--for these things are revealed as powerless to separate us from God. Physical death or harm remains a possibility--and in challenging the forces of death and destruction in faith can lead us to harm or physical death. But ! we need not live in terror or panic--God walks with us, sustains us in the troubles, and greets us on the other side of them. We can still be faithful--come what may, and rest in the knowledge, borne of faith, that all will be well, in the power of the risen Christ.   Stonewall Jackson continued to toss and turn, o speak incoherently throughout the night. Suddenly, all was quiet, the sun began to arch over the horizon. There was peace and quiet all around the room. Then in a clear and articulate voice Jackson uttered his last words, " Men, let us now cross the waters and sit in the shade of that large tree."  The storm had now past, he was free from its illusionary power.

Jesus frees us from the terror and power of death and the death-dealing forces of the world. We are empowered to resist them, no matter the consequences--for we have been guaranteed that we too " will cross over the waters and sit in the shade of the risen Christ."

Deacon Robert M. Pallotti, D. Min.
Uploaded June 22, 1997