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 to 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 returning apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught on their first mission as those sent out by Him.   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 to the boat to them, and the wind ceased. This is the second time that Jesus permits His disciples to be caught in a storm (see also this reading).   The first time He was with them, asleep in the stern of the boat.  Here, He is on the mountain praying (see yesterday's reading, above), and so has left them alone.  My study Bible comments that in this way, Christ strengthens their faith that He will always be with them in the midst of the storms of life.  It is I is literally translated "I Am," which is the divine Name of God (see John 8:58).  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 comments here that knowing Christ is a matter of the heart, not simply the intellect.  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 called "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 (see also the healing of the woman with the flow of blood, Mark 5:25-29, part of this reading).

There are times when we feel abandoned by God, even though we believe and have experiences that tell us that God has acted in our lives in the past.  In today's reading, the disciples themselves, we're told, have hearts that are hardened; that is, they fail to understand the miraculous feeding of the five thousand (see yesterday's reading, above).  Even with the memory of our faith, there are times when we still feel abandoned by God to circumstances, even circumstances that seem too overwhelming for us to bear or to overcome.  But today's passage reassures us now that twice the disciples have been seemingly (literally) "lost at sea," but nevertheless in the midst of their time of fear and abandonment, Christ is there.  Although Jesus stayed behind on purpose, going up to the mountain alone to pray, He is still somehow aware of their distress, and He responds as well.  It is a reminder that God knows about us and cares about us, although God is seemingly an impossible distance away, impossibly far away for God to be aware of ourselves and our own tiny problems compared to a universe of cares and "a sea of troubles," to borrow one expression from Shakespeare's Hamlet Soliloquy.  Indeed, Hamlet, in the midst of his indecision regarding his troubles might be a good example for us, of one who acts on emotion, suspicion, overthinking, impulsive at the wrong time -- he is anything but dependent upon faith.   But today's passage suggests patience amidst the storm; it seems to tell us to hold on, despite our horrible feelings of doom and fear, not to act impulsively or impatiently, not to panic.  Making this particular story more complex, and also one more relatable to us in the modern world, the event of the disciples straining at rowing on the sea takes place about the fourth watch of the night, which corresponds to approximately three o'clock in the morning.  (A "watch" was a three-hour period; the first watch began at 6:00 PM or sunset, the second at 9:00 PM, the third at midnight, and the fourth at 3:00 AM.)  So to add another dimension to our story, it is like a troublesome, burdensome problem that keeps us awake with strain or fear in the middle of the night.  Christ's ghostly appearance is another sign of such times, when things are heightened and magnified as prospects of gloom, which take on a different character in the light of day after we've slept.  But to be able at last to encounter our Lord is to encounter the reassuring presence of love.  For even when we cannot access the confidence we find in our faith, experience teaches us that there will be a time when Christ unexpectedly brings His confidence to us, a reassuring presence, and one that invites us to abide with Him, even when we're in the middle of troubles.  Indeed, Jesus' first word to the disciples is translated here as "Be of good cheer," but in the Greek it more literally means "Take courage."  And this is, so often, what we really need.  We must remember that Christ calls us to endurance; that means, often, that what we will need is patience (Matthew 24:13, Luke 21:19).  Sometimes we'll find peace in a church service, or when we can get alone to pray following His example, or when we finally enable ourselves to take a deep breath or a walk in nature somewhere.  A talk with a faithful friend or loved one can also pull us out of ourselves and remind us that we're not alone in our faith or our prayers.  But even when things are admittedly difficult, and we struggle, we can still be reminded in the midst of those times, "Be of good cheer!  [Take courage!]  It is I; do not be afraid."  There is a way to go through whatever it is that faces us, and in the long haul, that is found in the one thing necessary to see us through, our faith and the presence of Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled. For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened

 

 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 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, having returned from their first mission, 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.  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 points out that this is the second time that Christ permits His disciples to be caught in a storm (see also this reading from last week).  The previous time He was with them, but here He had commanded them to row alone without Him across the Sea of Galilee.  In this way, my study bible tells us, Christ strengthens their faith that He will be with them in the midst of the storms of life.  It is I is literally in the Greek "I Am."  That is the divine Name of God given to Moses in Exodus 3:14, and by which Jesus will also refer to Himself as Incarnate Lord (John 8:58).   In this way, Jesus reminds the fearful disciples that His authority over their lives is both absolute and divine.  

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 comments that knowing Christ is a matter of the heart, and not simply one's intellect.  It says that when our hearts are illumined by faith in God, they are open to receive God's presence and grace.  In the ascetic writings and tradition of the Church, the heart is known as "the seat of knowledge."  The loaves refers to the miraculous feeding in the wilderness in yesterday's reading, above. 

 

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 marketplaces, and begged Him that they might just touch the hem of His garment.  And as many as touched Him were made well.  At this point, Christ is so well known and sought after in this region that people run to Him.  My study bible comments that Christ permits miracles through touch to show that His very body is lfie-giving (see also Mark 5:25-29).   

How can we understand the power and knowledge of the heart in a modern world?  It seems frequently that the modern world has forgotten all about this strange understanding of knowledge of the heart, and is focused exclusively on the mind or intellect, putting faith in abstraction and theory over experience and understanding as it pertains to the soul and the spirit.  That especially would include our connection to God.  In truth, a human being does not fully function as a whole picture of the self without all of these elements participating at once.  In fact, the intellect without direction from a true understanding of the heart does not fully grasp what is love, and easily mistakes a kind of selfish indulgence for the true things of love, which include the wisdom of what real needs human beings have.  As a child understands the gratification of selfish desire as some sort of paradisaical state, an adult with more experience in life understands deeper needs of the child that the child can't see, such as medical care that is not necessarily fun or enjoyable.  Education itself is another lifelong need of human beings; but that also might require changing our minds, enlarging our perspectives, growing and stretching  in ways that are not easy.  And there we come to the things of the heart that include knowledge, for this education also comes to us in spiritual things, and in learning the needs of our souls, even the need to prepare for a greater life than meets the eye in a worldly sense.  Expanding our understanding of life as fully lived, which includes the understanding of the presence of Creator within our material world, is something which is an affair not just of the intellect, but also of the heart.  Without the experiential life of faith, and especially as lived through the practice of prayer, worship, study of Scripture and the life of the Church through those who have come before us, we don't get to be fully rounded in our knowledge of who we are and who we are called to be and to become.  Finally, as God is love (1 John 4:7-21), we grow in learning and practicing love through our experience of communion with God.  This is a lifelong matter of coming to terms with our own corrections and needs for repentance and personal change within the context of the experience of faith.  If that seems too strange or overwhelming to consider, think about the experience of friendship.  Learning what hurts others, and what hurts oneself, becomes a process of growth in knowing how to be a friend and what to look for in a friend.  Our communion with God -- a reality of the heart -- becomes such a process that expands us and helps us to understand and grow in love, but incorporates so much more than a worldly friendship does.  God will ask us to constantly grow in all the dimensions of which we are capable, and that includes those we don't know about without participation in this life that is offered to us through Christ.  Saints are the product of this love and growth.  They are not necessarily "perfect" human beings without flaws and failures, but they are those who are forged and whose identity is born through this deepening process of love and communion with God.  They bring and anchor heaven into this world, material life and life in Christ at the same time.  In Acts 17, St. Paul tells to the Athenians that he is there to illumine to them "the unknown god" whom their philosophy has given them to understand exists, but of whom they have no knowledge.  He tells them that God is the creator of heaven and earth, and does not dwell in temples made with hands.  Rather, the entire race of human beings are created "so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring' " (Acts 17:26-28).   This reality that dwells among us, in Whom we live and move and have our being, therefore, is the one which is to be known and understood in the heart.  The heart, the center of the self, encompasses all of our faculties so that we come to grow and to understand our proper place in communion with God and midst all of creation, and that must be the fullness of love.  Let us open and nurture that place, and protect it from the influences which would deprive us of so great and precious a treasure.

 

 

How is it that you do not understand?

 Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.  But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign?  Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation."

And he left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side.  Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.  Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread?  Do you not yet perceive nor understand?  Is your heart still hardened?  Having eyes, do you not see?  And having ears, do you not hear?  And do you not remember?  When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  They said to Him, "Twelve."  "Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  And they said, "Seven."  So he said to them, "How is it that you do not understand?"

- Mark 8:11-21

On Saturday, we read that in those days, when Christ was in the Decapolis, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way, for some of them have come from afar."  Then His disciples answered Him, "How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?"  He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.  And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude.  They also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them also before them.  So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments.  Now those who had eaten were about four thousand.  And he sent them away, immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and came to the region of Dalmanutha.

Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.  But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign?  Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation."  In our recent readings (of Friday and Saturday), Jesus has been first in the Gentile territory of Tyre and Sidon, north of Galilee, and then in the Decapolis, a mixed region of Jews and Gentiles.  He traveled there after disputing with the Pharisees and some scribes (see Thursday's reading), in order to avoid further conflict and conspicuousness within the Jewish homelands.  But here, He's clearly back in Jewish territory, and we can see His understanding of what would happen once He returned -- the Pharisees have come out to dispute with Him again.  This time, they're back with another demand, and it calls to the questions about His authority to do what He does, and to teach as He does.   They're demanding a sign from heaven.  A sign from heaven, according to my study bible, means a spectacular display of power.  They want to be convinced by signs that He's the Messiah.  But clearly there have been plenty of signs given in His ministry, all kinds of healings which we've read about so far in Mark's Gospel, and Jesus is not going to perform a special sign just to convince those whose hearts are too hardened to grasp what He's about and what is happening in His ministry.  Once again, they demand, and He responds.  He's looking for faith, not coercion.

And he left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side.  Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.  Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread?  Do you not yet perceive nor understand?  Is your heart still hardened?  Having eyes, do you not see?  And having ears, do you not hear?  And do you not remember?  When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  They said to Him, "Twelve."  "Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  And they said, "Seven."  So he said to them, "How is it that you do not understand?"   My study bible tells us that the leaven of the Pharisees is their doctrine (Matthew 16:12) and their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).  Now it's Jesus' turn to be incredulous as His disciples still have failed to grasp the miraculous two feedings in the wilderness, of the five thousand, and four thousand.  Do they really think He is complaining because they have no bread, after those two experiences?  Do they think He's literally speaking about lacking bread?   How is it that they do not understand?  As is true of many occasions in the Gospels, the disciples take what He's saying literally and miss the meaning -- this time, to His exasperation.  My study bible says that in Scripture, leaven is used both positively (as in Matthew 13:33) and negatively, as it is here.  In both cases, leaven symbolizes a force which is powerful enough (and frequently subtle enough) to permeate and to affect everything around it (see 1 Corinthians 5:6-8).

We're given a very interesting contrast through today's reading.  There are first of all the Pharisees, who have got hold of a bone to pick with Jesus, and they are not going to let it go.  Over and over again, questions of His authority will come up.  Where does He get the authority to teach in the temple?  When He comes to Jerusalem during Holy Week, and is greeted by the crowds as befits the Messiah, He will go to cleanse the temple -- and again, the demand will arise.  Where does He get the authority to do what He does?   Right from the beginning, Jesus teaches not as a disciple of a famous rabbi, not as a scribe, but speaking with His own authority, and this astonishes people.  It enrages those whose work it is to regulate and guard the faith, especially as He disputes with them and gives back as good as He gets.  He will not back down from His own mission and ministry, and what He's been sent  to do.  Where does that authority come from?  He wants people who will discern the answer to that question through faith, through the spiritual eyes and ears to see and hear with, as the Gospels so often remind us, citing Isaiah (see Isaiah 6:9-10).  The Pharisees demand to be convinced through some spectacular sign, as if there are not already abundant signs in the ministry Christ has been given.  But they don't want to see, and they don't want to hear.  They want to demand conditions, proofs, and assert their own authority to judge Him.  By contrast, we have the apostles.  Growing in faith, they still struggle.  And remarkably -- even to Jesus -- they also fail to grasp things that have been done right in front of them!  They think He's complaining about a lack of bread, when they have just experienced two miraculous feedings in the wilderness from a handful of loaves.  We've given the contrast of the deliberate hard-heartedness of the Pharisees, jealous of any challenge to their authority and position, and the disciples, whose minds simply cannot and will not take in something as stupendous as the multiplication of the loaves in the wilderness -- even though it's happened twice already.  One party demands proofs for belief, the other simply hasn't gotten there yet (even to Jesus' apparent consternation).  The text gives us this contrast in a lack of faith.  One side suffers from hypocrisy and hard-heartedness, and clearly is charged with knowing better.  The other shows us human frailty and limitation -- following Jesus in discipleship, but still failing to grasp what is being plainly shown to them.   But they are on a journey of faith, and what makes the difference is our capacity for enlightenment vs. our hard-hearted refusal to receive a truth that will challenge who we are.  The disciples know they have something to learn, but the leadership as a whole refuses humility in this sense.  Everything depends upon our understanding of mystery -- that there are things beyond what we know and can immediately grasp, and moreover, that we are called to that place of mystery.  We are called to grow in it, to experience it, and to be stretched -- to have our hearts expanded to what we don't expect and don't yet know.  Jesus will carry the disciples on to places they literally could never imagine, to experiences absolutely beyond their expectations.  But that is what our faith is like, if we truly follow them, and in their footsteps.  That is where He calls us as well.  But we need eyes to see and ears to hear, a humility that assumes there is always more we need to learn, from an authority much greater than ourselves -- which does not suit itself to our expectations.   "For," as Isaiah writes, "'My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' says the Lord.  'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts'" (Isaiah 55:8-9).