Brief synopsis of the readings: In our first reading from the first book of Kings we see the prophet Elijah exhausted from proclaiming God’s word to a hostile audience. God then appeared to Elijah and directed him to stand on the mountain. There he observed a strong and heavy wind, then an earthquake, then a fire. But the Lord was not in any of these. Then Elijah heard a tiny whispering sound and returned to his cave. In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus instructs his disciples to get into a boat and precede him to the other side while Jesus went alone to pray. During the fourth watch (the hours before sunrise) the boat was far from shore and began to battle a heavy wind and choppy sea. During this Jesus began to walk on the water toward the boat. This astonished his disciples and they feared he was a ghost but Jesus admonished them to not be afraid. Peter then asked Jesus if he could also walk on the water but when Peter climbed and felt the wind he began to sink. Jesus then took Peter’s hand and asked why he had doubted. Seeing this Peter acknowledged that Jesus is the Son of God.

“The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” How often we have heard that: if we see something we don’t like we should make enough noise that it will get noticed and fixed. On the other hand my high school girlfriend’s father used to say: “Empty drums bang the loudest.” I hope he wasn’t referring to me.

When we read about the wind or the earthquake or the fire in 1st Kings or the wind and rough seas in the Gospel I suspect most of us don’t give much thought to their origins. From the beginning of time we’ve been subject to harsh weather events for which we have no control. We can’t stop them. We can only build structures that will protect us. But truthfully this has become more acute with climate change and it’s caused us to build better floodwalls, structures that sway in earthquakes and windbreaks. We still can’t stop or tame these events.

But what if these climate events we read about aren’t just nature? Perhaps, instead, they are part of the story. Our first reading shows Elijah at a turbulent time in his life. His prophesies against pagan worship put him at odds with King Ahab and Queen Jezebel and the queen threatened Elijah’s life. It was an ancient version of “if you go after me I’m coming after you.”

It was also a time when most people believed in at least the existence of multiple gods. Ahab and Jezebel worshiped Baal and in the previous chapter of 1st Kings, Elijah orchestrated a throw down that proved God was stronger than Baal; it was not hard to understand why Ahab and Jezebel were angry. Today we believe there are no gods but God, but at the time there was the belief that Baal and other gods existed, but our God was the most powerful. Recall the first commandment where God announces he is a jealous God, not that he was the only God.

And so when God called Elijah out of the cave to see the power of wind, earthquakes and fire, well, perhaps Elijah thought this was simply another manifestation of God’s power. But, as the text stated, God was not in the power and the noise. Instead God was in the tiny, whispering sound.

Likewise in the Gospel. Jesus had just been teaching the crowds and fed the multitudes with the loaves and fishes. We don’t know much about his audience but it’s not a stretch to think that there was much debate and noise among them. Many saw Jesus as a miracle worker but at least some probably tried to explain how this was all a hoax. When his disciples were in the boat and the storm came up, perhaps this was a metaphor for the noise and chaos in the crowd.

And again, Jesus calms the storm. In fairness if you’ve ever been on the water during a storm or rough seas, nothing centers the mind more than the recognition that you are entirely powerless and your life may well be in danger. To see Jesus walking toward them on the water must have given them great comfort.

For us today it’s not hard to look around and see the winds, earthquakes, fires and rough seas around us. I’m certain I’m not alone in putting down the morning newspaper and wondering from time to time if we’ll survive this or that storm. And it’s tempting to call on God to come at this conflict with a bigger storm, a stronger wind, a more lethal earthquake or a fiercer fire.

But God is not there. God lives in the tiny whisper, the calm seas. And God does that so that we can do the same.

Please understand I’m not suggesting that we do not respond to injustice and there are times when we need to act. Sometimes we do need to be the squeaky wheel (or the empty drum). But we also need to know when we need to be the tiny whisper. Consider, for example, the civil rights movements of the last century.

I’m choosing this example out of many, only because I think it makes the point well. In the American South in the 1960s and before, only white people could be served at lunch counters. It sounds strange to see this but these were often in drug stores and laws prevented integration. In Greensboro, North Carolina and other cities African Americans defied the law and sat on the stools demanding service (and were arrested). Imagine what would have happened of the employee behind the counter had welcomed them and taken their orders. This never happened and anyone who tried would have been immediately fired, but that whisper in that setting would have been strong. Imagine being one of the protestors and being treated with quiet, generous respect.

In the end God did not overpower Baal, Baal never existed. Jesus didn’t “outstorm” his doubters, he fed them.

Let’s try to be that tiny, whispering sound.