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Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land. Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by. And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out; for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid." Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled. For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.
When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret and anchored there. And when they came out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, ran through that whole surrounding region, and began to carry about on beds those who were sick to wherever they heard He was. Wherever He entered, into villages, cities, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Him that they might just touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched Him were made well.
- Mark 6:47-56
Yesterday, we read that having returned from their first mission, the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. And He said to them, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves. But the multitudes saw them departing, and many knew Him and ran there on foot from all the cities. They arrived before them and came together to Him. And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things. When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said, "This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late. Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat." But He answered and said to them, "You give them something to eat." And they said to Him, "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?" But He said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see." And when they found out they said, "Five, and two fish." Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties. And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all. So they all ate and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish. Now those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men. Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude away. And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray.
Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land. Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. We remember that Jesus has stayed behind for solitary prayer after dark on the mountaintop. But somehow He sees the disciples straining at rowing on the sea. The Gospel gives us another hint to Jesus' divinity, how His disciples are in His sight wherever they may be.
Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by. And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out; for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid." Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled. For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened. The fourth watch of the night is about 3 o'clock in the morning. One can imagine the impression made on the disciples! Jesus' command, to be of good cheer, is really about courage or confidence in the Greek. This story gives us several divine attributes of Christ: His all-seeing capacity regarding His disciples, defying the elements by walking on the water, and the ceasing of the elements of the storm. We're given the hint that the disciples' hearts have been hardened to the apprehension of these capacities of Christ; they hadn't understood about the bread in the wilderness (see yesterday's reading, above). The hardening of the heart is a kind state of denial, an unwillingness or inability to take in or be aware of something. My study bible tells us that knowing Christ, as a matter of the heart, is not merely an intellectual process. It says, "When our hearts are illumined by faith in God, they are open to receive His presence and grace. In the ascetic writings of the Church, the heart is known as the 'seat of knowledge.'"
When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret and anchored there. And when they came out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, ran through that whole surrounding region, and began to carry about on beds those who were sick to wherever they heard He was. Wherever He entered, into villages, cities, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Him that they might just touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched Him were made well. I find it really interesting that this healing happens in the marketplaces. The ultimate offering of Christ is healing; everything in His divine capacity works for healing; grace is healing. It's like the environment of the marketplace in this story offers substitution for our usual material way of thinking, so that we see what Christ has brought. The "exchange" in this marketplace is our brokenness for His healing. Again, the divine qualities of Christ are available here for all. My study bible says that Christ permits miracles through touch to show that His very body is life-giving. It is also telling us of the faith now in these many who come to him.
I think that probably there has been a great deal of commentary on Jesus' statement "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid." What is translated as "good cheer" is from a word that means to "take courage" or to be emboldened, infused with energy (for a mission or task), to take heart. There is a kind of confidence in faith that is inexplicable. We can see it in the Mary, the Mother of God, who takes up a challenge in faith when she is presented with the good news of the Annunciation. We can see it grow in these apostles or disciples to whom Jesus has said these words. They've just gone out on their first apostolic mission. There will be, as we know, many more, in growing conditions of change, of hostility and strangeness, and of course in the mission of the Church that will continue after Christ's Ascension, and after Pentecost. But this is where we stop to really think hard about our faith. How does grace fill us with a kind of courage or resolution that doesn't really make a lot of sense? How does our faith give us confidence we don't have otherwise? I don't think we can explain these mysteries. I don't think they happen through a mere intellectual process. Christ's assuring presence in "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid" is like His presence in prayer. We don't pray in a monologue; prayer is a dialogue. God is with us; we speak and we also must listen, even when there is a silence which is not empty, but full. We open our hearts for this; what we understand or grasp is with the full center of our being, not just an intellectual process. Thus, the "hardness" of the apostles' hearts is battered with His presence on the water and in their boat. Faith is that heart-emboldening, warming thing that happens when grace meets our capacity to grasp and to take in, to comprehend. We go back to the mystical teaching at the beginning of John's Gospel to think further about this mystery of the heart: "The light shines in the darkness; and the darkness did not comprehend it" (John 1:5). This word, comprehend, is a good translation from the Greek. It's a word that means both to understand, and to take in. Knocking at the door of our hearts is the presence and mystery of Jesus Christ, fully God who has also been fully human. We need our hearts to take Him in, to understand, to embrace the grace that offers us the inexplicable in ourselves: courage to do the things He calls us to do, a capacity for forgiveness we might not have known we have, an understanding of love and the courage to live in an expanding truth. These are the realities of the heart to which Christ calls when He says to be of good cheer, to be bold, to have courage, strength, confidence -- faith, if you will. They are words for all of us all the time, more powerful with experience, perhaps particularly so in the early hours of darkness before dawn.
