But immediately He talked with them and said to them, "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 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, having returned from their first apostolic mission, 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.  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.  My study Bible comments that only God has dominion over nature; therefore this miraculous even confirms the divinity of Christ.  We recall the previous time the disciples were allowed to be caught in a storm (see this reading).  On that occasion Christ was with them, but here He had left them alone.  In this way, my study Bible notes, Christ strengthens their faith that He will always be with them in the midst of the storms of life.  It is I can be literally translated from the Greek "I Am," which is the divine Name of God (see John 8:58).  My study Bible says that in this way, Christ reminds the fearful disciples of His absolute and divine authority over their lives.  

 

And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled.  For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.  My study Bible teaches here that to know Christ is a matter of the heart, and not simply the intellect.  When our hearts are illumined by faith in God, it says, they are open to receive God's presence and grace.  In the ascetic writings of the Church, the heart is understood 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 of His garment.  And as many as touched Him were made well.   Christ permits miracles through touch; we understand from this -- and also the healing of the woman with the blood flow in this reading --  that Christ's very body is life-giving.  

 

 If we take the first part of our reading for today, the story begins like a dream unfolding; or, we could say that in some sense it is reminiscent of a dream in the night.  It begins with a setting in which Jesus has stayed behind to go pray upon the mountain, while He has sent the disciples ahead of Him -- across the sea in a boat (see yesterday's reading, above).  Listen to the language of the text:  the disciples are in the boat in the middle of the sea, while Jesus is alone on the land.  Both are images of aloneness in some sense, and of being far away, even unconnected with one another.  We think of all of their activities from the previous day (again, see yesterday's reading, above), and all of the things they do always together, and now they are far apart and isolated from one another.  But Jesus, no matter where He is or how separated from them, sees what is happening with them:  He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them.  And here is the dream-like quality:  it's three o'clock in the morning.  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.  Isolated, in the deep dark of very early morning, in the middle of the Sea of Galilee with the wind against them.  This isn't a modern power boat, but an ancient which they must row across the sea.  Can we possibly imagine how frightening such a sight would appear to be?    So it is in this context we hear Jesus' words to them:  "Be of good cheer!  It is I; do not be afraid."   The Greek that is translated as "be of good cheer" means to take heart, to be emboldened, take courage, be confident.  It is the right response to the cold feeling of aloneness in the midst of the sea and dark and wind.  The "I Am" has already been remarked upon in the note from my study Bible.  Christ's presence is the presence of the Lord, even the Lord of the Old Testament, and that presence is meant to banish fear.  In Greek the command is a plural imperative addressing them all:  "μὴ φοβεῖσθε," "don't fear," the word for fear the same root that shapes the English word "phobia."  The lesson they (and we) are to take seems to be that Christ is always watching, even when He seems to have abandoned us and is far away, even when we are separated by a great distance and by great differences of environment -- even as Christ is at the right hand of the Father while we here in the world are lost at sea in our own ways and in our own dark nights.  He is watching and His presence is with us nevertheless, just as the Lord was with Israel in the stories of the Old Testament.  We see that the text is careful to emphasize that the disciples really hadn't understood Him yet and His divine nature, for it tells us they were astonished as "their heart was hardened."  They hadn't yet understood the things of the Lord, their faith was such that is would become, and this episode is likely, of course, to have informed their future missions into the world for the Kingdom.  They've just returned from their first missionary journey, but they still have a lot to learn, as do we throughout our lives and in terms of our faith.  We don't know how the Lord is with us, and how our faith works to call the One who comes to our side (the literal meaning of the Greek word Paraclete/Παράκλητος, also translated as Advocate (1 John 2:1).  In this case, they haven't even called Him as far as we know, but His eye is on them and He comes to them to banish their fears, and to still the wind.  It's important that we understand Christ as the God who sees (Genesis 16:13) even when we feel we're alone and isolated, and that we know we must call on the Lord.  Jesus says this also of Himself in His humanity, "I am not alone, because the Father is with Me" (John 16:32).  Even in our own aloneness, let us consider the God who sees, for He is always with us to dispel our fear so we may seek His presence and His way forward for us.  I have recently listened to some statistics that stated that today's generation of younger people seem to be suffering from a greater loneliness than ever before.  Let us consider the importance of Christ's presence as an answer to today's problems for many.