Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid

 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 the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught on their first apostolic mission.  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 recall from yesterday's reading (above), that we have been given a complete day in the life of Christ's ministry, and this is a continuation of that same day.  Jesus went to the mountain to pray by himself, after He sent His disciples into the boat to go to the other side, to Bethsaida, and also He had sent the crowds away who were fed in the wilderness.  Now it is finally evening, and the disciples are in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, while Jesus is still on the mountain.  Somehow He sees them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them.  Again, we have the image of the disciples in a boat on the sea, which by tradition has become an image of the Church.  My study bible points out that this is the second time Christ permits them to be caught in a storm see this reading for the first.

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 3:00 in the morning.  The first time Christ permitted them to be caught in a storm at sea He was with them.  But this time they are alone.  It is by nature a time in the dark of the very early morning when human beings feel vulnerable.  We can imagine their fright at seeing Him!  But in this way, by allowing them a time to cross the sea alone, He strengthens their faith that He will always be with them in the midst of the storms of life, as my study bible puts it.  It is I is literally translated "I Am," which is the divine Name of God (see John 8:58, Exodus 3:14).  My study bible suggests that Christ reminds the fearful disciples of His absolute and divine authority over their lives.  The text suggests that their human limitations prevent them from understanding about the multiplication of the loaves in the wilderness (yesterday's reading, above), and they have failed to spiritually "take in" the miraculous nature of that feeding.  My study bible comments that knowing Christ is a matter of the heart, not simply of the intellect.  It notes that when our hearts are illumined by faith in God, we are open to receive God's 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.   Christ permits miracles through touch, my study bible says, to show that His very body is life-giving.  We are reminded of the woman with the blood flow in 5:25-29, who was healed by touching the hem of His garment.  Once again, we witness that God's grace may work through the created things of the world, an affirmation of the Incarnation itself.

If we look up the name of Gennesaret, we'll find that at its root is the Hebrew word for "garden."  It may mean "prince's garden."  Whatever the meaning, it was known as a place of incredible fertility, both of the soil for agriculture and of the water for fishing.  In the image of the sick laying in the marketplaces for healing by Christ -- and that as many as touched Him were made well -- we get a kind of image of tremendous fruitfulness of faith in this Prince, the Prince of Peace, the Son of God.  They are the abundance of the harvest of faith.  As Christ repeatedly instructs the disciples to cross back and forth over the Sea of Galilee, as He travels from one place to another, we find this harvest where there is faith, and that it is lacking where there is no faith.  Whatever power and accomplishments Christ is able to use and have at His own authority, it will only work where there is a corresponding receptiveness in human beings, a kind of understanding of the heart.  Today's text truly points us to the heart, as we're told that the apostles still fail to understand about the feeding in the wilderness, as their heart was hardened.  In modern understanding, we tend to think only of the brain as a center of knowledge and intelligence, facts and understanding.  But in the ancient sense of the word, the heart is the center of a person, and unites every part of us.  As my study bible points out, faith is more than intellectual understanding.  There is a different kind of knowing and understanding connected to soul and spirit.   It is this heart-knowing that is so seemingly extraneous to a modern mindset, one that accepts what is popularly considered to be "scientific" in outlook.  But this, I would suggest, is even a poor concept of what science is.  Science works on hypothesis, on seeking what has been as yet unproved.  It depends upon forward movement into mystery in order to expand knowledge.  What is popularly called "scientific," that is, accepting only that which has been conclusively proven using particular methods, isn't really scientific at all, as it excludes the understanding that what we don't yet know will always have an impact on what truly "is," and that without that knowledge our own information will remain incomplete.  Moreover, scientific and mathematical proofs frequently rely upon assumptions in order to work -- and one may ask, what are assumptions if not a kind of faith?  To exclude this knowing of the heart and the role of the heart or center or ourselves in understanding -- and even of ourselves as human beings -- is to work with incomplete knowledge, to be deficient in our perception of the cosmos and our places in it.  It is to be lacking in our own fullness of expression and comprehension, our capabilities for understanding.  To have a hardened heart is to fail to perceive the things of the heart, including faith and love.  It is a self-limiting experience, a decision to be blind or deaf in a particular sense.  The Scriptures teach us that to live a truly full life, in an awareness of life and reality itself that is not limited by our own refusal to take in what is before us and offered to us, we need to include this perception of the heart to be fully ourselves and to use the capacities with which we are created in God's image and likeness.  We must be able to take in the things of God to participate in life fully, as we were created to do.  We clearly have the choice, and it is a question of growth in understanding and the fullness of maturity to be all that we can be and not limited through prejudice or false teachings about anything.  We are creatures made for growth, meant to be always asking, seeking, and knocking.  If we are truly to understand our faith, we are meant to grow in understanding in all kinds of ways, with nothing left out of this equation of who we are as human beings and how we can develop our capacities for intelligence of all kinds.  This is what it means to be truly balanced.  The Gospels give us the struggles of the apostles to teach us all about our own lives, our fears, our capacity for trust in God, and particularly how service to God relies on our always asking, seeking, and knocking.  As they mature, so we are meant to mature -- with faith transfiguring everything that we have, even as we witness untrained fishermen becoming wise beyond the understanding of philosophers, articulate beyond the capacities of orators, and changing the world through their courageous missions and heroic martyrdom.  Let us consider all that we are, and neglect nothing of our possibilities through the faith that gives us real balance, and unites all the capacities within us.  It is in this struggle to fully realize who we are that we follow His instructions:  "Be of good cheer!  It is I; do not be afraid."