Who Then Is This?

[Reflections on the Mass readings for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, which you can read here]

Today we hear in the Gospel at Mass Jesus could sleep through just about anything.

Sometimes we forget that Jesus was fully human, whose body needed rest, sleep, food, and which could sustain injury. If we read the Gospels closely, He maintained a punishing schedule, to the point that His immediate family became alarmed for His well-being. It should be no surprise that when He got a bit of a break he practically face-planted in the back of the boat and did not wake when it was buffeted by a fairly severe storm. That really does not strain the imagination or credulity.

The Apostles reported in the Tradition captured in the Gospels that they had begun to panic over the storm and at their wits' end did the only thing they could think of, and that was to wake their exhausted rabbi. Likely they were not sure what He would do, but they apparently were out of options. Roused from sleep, He "rebuked" the storm (again, fully human, He was probably a bit irritated at being roused from a sound, exhaustion-fueled sleep), told the Apostles they were worried over nothing, and though the account does not say so He probably went back to sleep.

"Who then is this?" they asked, the account saying that they were filled with great awe, which in today's colloquial idiom would be rendered as, "totally freaked." Jesus had performed miracles, performed healings, all of which focused on individual conditions, but this time He took charge of the very elements themselves.

Sometimes we forget that Jesus was fully divine, who had full command over the entire creation. This dichotomy puzzled the Apostles and continues to puzzle us today. How could the Omnipotent so self-limit as a human yet occasionally let the divine through? Yet by the account, He did. Perhaps like the wind and the sea we too should obey Him. Yet unlike the wind and the sea He gives us the freedom to choose. We can choose to ignore His command and be subject to the buffeting of a spiritual life untethered in God, or we can choose to heed it and find peace in our souls.

Who then is this indeed?