Tanaw | Storms at sea – Bulatlat

By PROF. REVELATION VELUNTA
Union Theological Seminary, Cavite

Jb 38:1, 8-11
Ps 107:23-24, 25-26, 28-29, 30-31
2 Cor 5:14-17
Mk 4:35-41

In Sunday’s lection, the disciples find themselves in the middle of a raging storm. Jesus is with them, but he is asleep. The Gospel of Mark shares the detail that he was sleeping on a pillow. Scholars say that pillow was actually a sack of sand for ballast.

What’s fascinating about this narrative is that the fisherfolk did not wake Jesus up until they themselves were already afraid.

Jesus, the carpenter, was sleeping in the safest part of the boat, beneath the stern deck. So, when the disciples–who lived by and off the sea in calm and stormy weather–came to wake him up, there was really reason to be afraid. The storm was life threatening!

Jesus woke up and calmed the storm.

When fisherfolk–then and now–sound the alarm, lives are at stake. When indigenous communities cry out for help, they have done everything possible to avert disaster. When farmers declare that their livelihood is endangered, they have exhausted practically all avenues for relief. When thousands of our Palestinian sisters and brothers–mostly women and children–are murdered by the Apartheid State of Israel, then demands for a ceasefire and a stop to genocide cannot be left unheeded.

Many among us, despite the storms of life, are asleep and safe because of what others are doing. But there are storms that are so dangerous and death-dealing, for everyone, that we MUST be awakened and be put to task.

It is time for us to arise and face the raging storms.

Balik-Tanaw is a group blog of Promotion of Church People’s Response. The Lectionary Gospel reflection is an invitation for meditation, contemplation, and action. As we nurture our faith by committing ourselves to journey with the people, we also wish to nourish the perspective coming from the point of view of hope and struggle of the people. It is our constant longing that even as crisis intensifies, the faithful will continue to strengthen their commitment to love God and our neighbor by being one with the people in their dreams and aspirations. The Title of the Lectionary Reflection would be Balik –Tanaw , isang PAGNINILAY . It is about looking back (balik) or revisiting the narratives and stories from the Biblical text and seeing, reading, and reflecting on these with the current context (tanaw).