Getting Closer to God
Aug 8: Memorial of Saint Dominic, Priest
People often try to debunk miracle stories, like today’s Gospel, by first assuming they’re not true, and then trying to imagine a possible explanation for the Apostles mistakenly believing they’ve seen a miracle.
There are a few problems with this approach. First, you can’t just assume your conclusion and work backwards from there. Yes, the person doing the proposing has to provide evidence; in this case, the evidence is eye witness testimony. So without contradictory evidence, saying “It didn’t happen because things like that can’t happen” is circular reasoning.
Second, these imaginative explanations (i.e. “Maybe Jesus was just walking on the shore and the Apostles were confused”) are not evidence. They’re literally just made up guesses. Most of the time, they’re not fully explanatory anyways, and only cover the cliff’s notes version of a particular story. (If Jesus was on the shore, what’s up with Peter jumping out of the boat?)
But most importantly, they don’t explain the context. Maybe you have a good alternative theory to a particular miracle, but every miracle? Are the Apostles getting confused that much? And if the Gospels are all made up, you get back to the question of why the Apostles were willing to die for a lie.
Reading 1
Nm 12:1-13
Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses on the pretext of the marriage he had contracted with a Cushite woman. They complained, "Is it through Moses alone that the LORD speaks? Does he not speak through us also?"
And the LORD heard this.
Now, Moses himself was by far the meekest man on the face of the earth. So at once the LORD said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam, "Come out, you three, to the meeting tent." And the three of them went. Then the LORD came down in the column of cloud, and standing at the entrance of the tent, called Aaron and Miriam. When both came forward, he said, "Now listen to the words of the LORD: Should there be a prophet among you, in visions will I reveal myself to him, in dreams will I speak to him; not so with my servant Moses! Throughout my house he bears my trust: face to face I speak to him; plainly and not in riddles. The presence of the LORD he beholds. Why, then, did you not fear to speak against my servant Moses?"
So angry was the LORD against them that when he departed, and the cloud withdrew from the tent, there was Miriam, a snow-white leper! When Aaron turned and saw her a leper, he said to Moses, "Ah, my lord! Please do not charge us with the sin that we have foolishly committed! Let her not thus be like the stillborn babe that comes forth from its mother's womb with its flesh half consumed."
Then Moses cried to the LORD, "Please, not this! Pray, heal her!"
The wife Miriam and Aaron are referring to is the woman Moses married when he was on the run in Midian.1 You know, after he saved a Hebrew slave from being murdered by his master? Even as an excuse, it’s unfair to hold that against Moses.
But the real reason they’re jealous is that Moses is close to God. What do they do to make up for that distance in their own lives? Do they try to improve their interior prayer life or perform corporal works of mercy? No, they try to denigrate the one who’s close to God.
How often do we do that? See someone who seems good and holy, and instead of admiring them and being inspired by them, we instead try to find something wrong with them.
That is not why God put these people in our lives.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 6cd-7, 12-13
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
For I acknowledge my offense;
and my sin is before me always:
"Against you only have I sinned;
and done what is evil in your sight."
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
That you may be justified in your sentence,
vindicated when you condemn.
Indeed, in guilt was I born,
and in sin my mother conceived me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not off from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
This is the correct way to deal with feeling separate from God. Don’t try to tear someone down; pray to God to mend that relationship, instead.
Alleluia
Jn 1:49b
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Rabbi, you are the Son of God;
you are the King of Israel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
“Son of God,” in the Old Testament, was a reference to king David. Jesus is, of course, a descendant of David and in some way an inheritor of his throne.
But He’s something more—the literal Son of God.
Gospel
Mt 14:22-36
Jesus made the disciples get into a boat and precede him to the other side of the sea, while he dismissed the crowds. After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.
When it was evening he was there alone. Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. "It is a ghost," they said, and they cried out in fear.
At once Jesus spoke to them, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid."
Peter said to him in reply, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water."
He said, "Come."
Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!"
Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"
After they got into the boat, the wind died down. Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, "Truly, you are the Son of God."
After making the crossing, they came to land at Gennesaret. When the men of that place recognized him, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought to him all those who were sick and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak, and as many as touched it were healed.
Jesus calms waters pretty often, like here and the time he fell asleep during a storm.2 The beginning of Genesis describes a “mighty wind sweeping over the waters.”3 How does God calm these primeval waters? With a Word. Jesus4 was there from the very beginning.
Yet all of that doesn’t help Peter. He does have a little faith, when he keeps his eyes on Jesus. But when he looks down at the water, at Earthly troubles, he starts to sink.
Jesus walking on water shows that he has control over the natural world. But Peter shows us that we can be close, if only we have the faith.
And the Holy Spirit, and thus the Holy Trinity.