June 20, 2021
Revised Common Lectionary
1 Samuel 17:(1a, 4-11, 19-23) 32-39
or Job 38:1-11
Psalm 9:9-20 or Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32
2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Mark 4:35-41
Lectionary for Mass (RC)
Job 38:1, 8-11
Psalm 107:23-24, 25-26, 28-29, 30-31 (1b)
2 Corinthians 5:14-17
Mark 4:35-41
As I reflected on today’s reading from the book of Job and considered the terrible ordeals suffered by its title character, I wondered yet again why bad things happen to good people.
So I asked my smart speaker. Alexa delivered her response with the usual calm and confident tone that I’ve come to expect: “Here’s something I found on the web. It implies that if bad things happen to good people, no one is safe.”
That’s right, I thought. On any given day we could lose a job, crash the car, receive a cancer diagnosis, or be killed in a mass shooting. No one is safe. OK, God, so what about that? How can you let that happen?
That’s precisely what Job was asking, setting the context for the brief passage that we hear today. Significantly, the Holy One doesn’t directly answer, but instead turns the tables by posing four chapters worth of questions to Job—and to us—of which we hear only a small portion today.
Mere mortals that we are, we want answers from God. There are, of course, plenty of well-meaning Christians (even preachers) who are more than happy to provide glib responses on God’s behalf to the difficult questions that arise from human suffering. We’ve all heard them: “Everything happens for a reason” or “God won’t give you more than you can bear” or “They’re in a better place.” Yet in today’s Hebrew Scripture reading God provides no such easy answers, but instead poses more questions.
Questions figure prominently also in today’s Gospel reading. As Jesus sleeps in the boat while a storm rages in the sea around them, the disciples question him accusingly, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mk 4:38) After calming the waves with the power of his word, Jesus responds to the disciples’ question with questions of his own: “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” (4:40)
Don’t we, like the disciples, wonder at times if God is asleep in the midst of our fears and difficulties? Have we not asked like Job how bad things can happen to good people? How can we account for God’s seeming inattention or indifference to human misery?
Christian faith sees God’s definitive response to suffering in the world not in explanations, but in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. By healing the sick and raising the dead, he not only showed God’s compassion but pointed to God’s plan of wholeness for the world. Moreover, as Emmanuel, God-with-us, he has embraced the full range of human experience, including suffering and even death. Rather than remaining aloof from the plight of humankind, God weeps with those who weep and suffers with those who suffer.
Today’s readings suggest that it is not God who is called to respond to these questions, but us. We see the power of God’s creative love all around us. We know of God’s self-emptying love in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. We experience God’s continuing presence through the abiding love of the Spirit. Have we still no faith? Can we let go of our fear, entrusting ourselves and the world to the compassionate love of the Holy One, confident that the outcome rests in God’s hands?
A Hymn for Today: “Stand by Me”
Charles A. Tindley (1851 – 1933) was the son of enslaved African Americans in Maryland. He taught himself to read and write, then later relocated to Philadelphia, where he went on to become a highly effective pastor in the Methodist Episcopal Church, a popular preacher, and a writer of hymns. He is regarded today as one of the parents of Gospel music. This hymn text quotes directly from today’s Gospel reading and expresses the faithful response of disciples in the face of misfortune, suffering, persecution, and human frailty. Listen to a recording here.
When the storms of life are raging,
Stand by me, stand by me,
When the storms of life are raging,
Stand by me, stand by me.
When the world is tossing me
Like a ship upon the sea,
Thou who rulest wind and water,
Stand by me, stand by me.
In the midst of tribulation
Stand by me, stand by me,
In the midst of tribulation,
Stand by me, stand by me,
When the hosts of hell assail,
And my strength begins to fail,
Thou who never lost a battle,
Stand by me, stand by me.
In the midst of faults and failure,
Stand by me, stand by me,
In the midst of faults and failure,
Stand by me, stand by me,
When I do the best I can,
And my friends misunderstand,
Thou who knowest all about me,
Stand by me, stand by me.
In the midst of persecution,
Stand by me, stand by me,
In the midst of persecution,
Stand by me, stand by me,
When my foes in war array
Undertake to stop my way,
Thou who saved Paul and Silas,
Stand by me, stand by me.
When I’m growing old and feeble,
Stand by me, stand by me,
When I’m growing old and feeble,
Stand by me, stand by me,
When my life becomes a burden,
And I’m nearing chilly Jordan,
O thou “Lily of the Valley,”
Stand by me, stand by me.
Text: Charles A. Tindley, 1851-1933
Tune: STAND BY ME
Image Credit: Christ Sleeping in the Storm, Elena Cherkasova, ca. 2010
“Word and Song: A Lectionary Reflection” is written by the Executive Director of The Hymn Society, Rev. Dr. Mike McMahon. For his full bio, click here and scroll down to the “staff” section.
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