To the end

12th Sunday Ordinary Time – B

“Let us cross to the other side,” Jesus says to his disciples after a long day of teaching the crowds. This wasn’t just for a change of scenery. They were crossing the border into Gentile territory on a mission to bring Jesus’s healing word to the people there.

This mission is no cruise, however. Having Jesus in our boat does not protect us from storms threatening our lives. Jesus’s calming of the seas in response to the disciples’ fear of perishing was not proof of his care for them. It was to verify what he would later say at a crossroads on their mission: “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35).

We are not more fortunate than others or guaranteed an easier life because we have faith. Jesus promises nothing of that. What he does promise is this: he will be with us to the end of the age. Faith in that promise turns terror to awe.

Because we have faith, that promise will sustain us on this urgent mission. For what awaits us on the other side of the borders we cross for the sake of the Gospel are multitudes in need of the life-giving promise we bring in Christ.

This post was first published in “GIA Quarterly: A Liturgical Music Journal.”

Image credit: Photo by Miguel Bautista on Unsplash.

Read more reflections on the Sunday readings here:

• Prune our hearts
• Heed and follow
• New life in Christ
• Now what?
• We are Loved and Longed For