Focusing on destruction

In today’s first reading (Gen. 19:15-29), we have the familiar story of Lot’s wife:

The sun was risen upon the earth
when Lot entered into Zoar.
Then the LORD rained upon Sodom
and upon Gomorrah
brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain,
and all the inhabitants of the cities,
and that which grew upon the ground.
But his wife looked back from behind him,
and she became a pillar of salt.

Why did she look back? Perhaps, in some tragic way, she had left her heart in Sodom and Gomorrah: her home for many years (as evil a place as it was).

But there may have also been another reason for her to look: a very human reason.

Consider the awesome spectacle that was happening behind her: cities collapsing, fire and brimstone coming out of the sky, an unleashing of destructive power greater than Hiroshima. Consider the tremendous flashes of light and the “long echoing roll of ruinous noise” coming from behind her.

Who wouldn’t be tempted to look? Who has not been drawn to and mesmerized by the sight of terrific destruction? Who hasn’t said to themselves..

"That could have been me."

(That may have been what Lot’s wife was thinking – in the instant before she was killed.)

Destructive power also holds the attention of the disciples in today’s Gospel (Mt. 8:23-27) as a violent storm rages over and around their small boat.

Once again, it is very natural, very human, that they are focusing on this destructive power.

But the first thing our Lord says to them is,

“Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?”

They had been focusing on the storm – it filled their eyes and their minds – and so they were afraid.

In his gentle rebuke,
our Lord is reminding them
not to focus on the destructive forces around them,
nor to be concerned about their own safety,
but to keep the focus of faith:
focus on God
and focus on his plan for them.

It is no coincidence that Lot’s wife met with doom when she took her eyes off the path set for her by God and looked at the destructive forces of fire and brimstone. Nor was it a coincidence that Peter stopped walking on the water and started sinking when he took his eyes off Christ and looked at the destructive forces of wind and wave (Mt. 14:30).

So too in our lives we can be frozen at the sight or the at thought of frightening things and then fail in those things which God calls us to do.

It is good for us to be prudent, but our focus should not be on the bad things that can happen to us in the world but on the good things of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: the blessings and the labors he gives us through his grace.

The world is full of terrors – especially in these days – and threats of destruction seem to grow ever darker and ever larger.

But our primary focus should be on none of these things: our eyes must be fixed on Christ and the path of service and love he calls us to follow, for he alone offers us the path of ultimate safety and everlasting life.