Tuesday 1 July 2025 - Why are you afraid?

Tuesday 1 July 2025

Today is Tuesday the 1st of July, in the 13th week of Ordinary Time. Salt of the Sound sings, ‘Peace I Leave With You’. Peace, my peace Peace I leave with you My peace I give Not as the world gives Not as the world gives, I give to you My peace Do not let your hearts be troubled And do not be afraid Do not let your hearts be troubled No, do not be afraid Peace Peace Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 8:23-27 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A gale arose on the lake, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’ Listen to the sounds, in today’s passage - ‘swamped by waves’; ‘a great gale arose’; ‘we are perishing!’ Hear the scene in your imagination, the shouting, the roaring of the wind, the crashing and spitting of the waves. Jesus sleeps through it.   He seems surprised - or at least he expresses surprise - at the fear and lack of faith of the disciples.  Hear his tone.  Hear the sound of the ‘dead calm’. Listen. What does this scene tell you about Jesus? Try and look for a new perspective.  Listen to the passage again.  This time, visualise it. Matthew 8:23-27 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A gale arose on the lake, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’ Some challenges may give us a sense of being flattened by waves. ‘Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm.’  Sit in that ‘dead calm’ for a moment.  Allow it to filter, to seep through to your very core. Let whatever has surfaced for you be known to Jesus.  Notice His reaction.  Sit with Him in the dead calm. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be World without end Amen