Private Prayer and the Storm at Sea
9th Sunday of Pentecost
Corinthians 3:9-17; Matthew 14:22-34
After the miraculous feeding of more than five thousand people, Jesus directed his disciples to “get into the boat and go before Him to the other side [of Lake Gennesaret] while He dismissed the crowds”. Why such a rush to send the disciples away, why did Jesus not give them an opportunity to wait until He let the people go, so that they might all go together in the boat? The evangelist describes briefly, and does not explain why. But as the story unfolds, it becomes clear to us:
"And after he had dismissed the crowds, He went up into the hills by Himself to pray.
When evening came, He was there alone." /Matthew 14:22,23/ Jesus wished to be alone that He might pray in private.
Why pray when He was Himself God?
- We should not forget that Jesus was also a man. As God, the Son of God, He could do the works of God: He could miraculously feed more than five thousand people; He could heal the paralyzed, the lepers, and make the blind see. But, having a human body, being a man, He also tired, needed rest, needed food and drink, and, as a human being - needed prayer, conversation with the Heavenly Father.
Each of us, each person, no matter what pleasant events we attend, no matter how much joy, goodness we have received, whether in the temple or at secular events for various occasions, we all need to be alone for a time. We need to rest, to reflect calmly about our actions and what we have done, relax our muscles and ease our psychological stresses, and we also need to pray alone, in solitude.
In prayer, we need to tell God everything that hurts our souls, to express our inner aspirations, desires and requests, and above all, to thank God for all our good deeds. All this can best be done in private.
In order to receive salvation and all the graces of God, we need the prayer of the community, the Church, and the sense of belonging to the Church /Ephesians 3:21/, just as Christ also needed people who are united by faith in the Church so that salvation can be brought to them. Yet, Jesus also needed to be alone. As a man He needed to pray privately, because, as cited several times in the Gospel, He looked for a secluded place to be alone (Luke 6:12), "and spent the whole night in prayer to God."
We should note that before choosing from among his 12 closest disciples, Jesus spent the entire night alone - in prayer. And, He also went to a deserted place to pray privately after preaching from the boat. Jesus Christ, by his own example, taught his disciples, all his followers, including us, that in addition to communal prayer, it is necessary to pray alone. It may not necessarily be a formal prayer, it may be a simple conversation in our own words with God the Creator, in which we can express everything that we would or could not say to our closest friend.
Prayer alone balances a person; a person performs introspection and comes to peace of mind. For this reason, such prayer is good not only after communicating or interacting with many others, but also before communal prayer, in which peace of mind is most necessary. For, we should remember that we always begin the Divine Service with the exhortation: "Let us pray to the Lord in peace!".
As we read this passage from the Gospel, the question also arises: Why did Jesus, knowing (as God) that there would be a storm at night, send his disciples across the lake?
Jesus was preparing his disciples for the great mission of salvation, the preaching of the Gospel in the midst of difficult life circumstances. They had to swim mostly in the stormy sea of life. They required tempering, and the desire to act in such circumstances. They had to develop a faith in themselves that would not waver when life's storms would arise, when waves of hatred would flood their boat - the Church.
It would be difficult for them, but just as with His appearance on the waves during the storm He gave Peter a hand of support, helped, calmed His disciples, calmed the storm, so too, they had to understand that with His support, even when there are big storms, when waves will flood their boat, they must not despair. He will be invisibly with them. He will extend to them a helping hand and lead them to a quiet haven, to the shore of salvation.
And, likewise, we should also understand. At times, it may be difficult for us, and it may be difficult for the Church of Christ. We do not look for storms, but life rarely passes without storms, without trials, without temptations... We must be spiritually prepared for those storms, upheavals, trials and temptations of this world. Under the most difficult circumstances, we must keep our faith. Our human strength may be insufficient at times, we may be too weak, but Christ is always near.
Our spiritual sight must always be directed to our Lord Jesus Christ. As long as Peter directed his vision to Christ, he walked on the stormy sea, over its waves. Likewise, by faithfully directing our spiritual vision to Christ, we will be able to travel the stormy seas of life, and no waves will be frightening to us.
Amen.
Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko
Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.