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, returning 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 comments that this is the second time that Christ permits His disciples to be caught in a storm (see also this reading from a week ago).  The first time, He was with them.  But this time, He had sent them across the sea alone, while He stayed behind on the mountain for solitary prayer.  In this way, my study Bible says, Christ strengthens their faith that He will always be with them in the midst of the storms of life. "It is I" translates literally to "I Am," which is the divine Name of God (see Exodus 3:14; John 8:58).  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.   To know Christ is a matter of the heart and not simply the intellect.  When our hearts are illumined by faith in God, my study Bible says, they are open to receive Christ's presence and grace.  In the ascetic writings of the Church, it adds, the heart is known as "the seat of knowledge."  Interestingly, When Christ tells the disciples to "be of good cheer" in the previous verses, this is a word that means to "take courage" or "be emboldened."   It might be rendered by the common expression to "take heart."  But it means to be warmed from within.  So, in this sense, Christ's call to "be of good cheer" is also a matter of the heart.

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.  My study Bible states that Christ permits miracles though touch in order to show that His very body is life-giving (see also Mark 5:25-29).  

Jesus shows up to the disciples, walking across the water, on the sea, and tells them, "Be of good cheer!  It is I; do not be afraid."  We must always note that it is about the fourth watch of the night, meaning this takes place at approximately three o'clock in the morning.  If we think about our own times of panic and fear, we can associate the time of "about" three o'clock in the morning with the stuff of nightmares, bad dreams, sudden fears, panic attacks.  F. Scott Fitzgerald has famously written, "In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning, day after day" (The Crack Up, 1936).  It's a time when we're seen to be vulnerable, and our sleep can be disturbed.  Sometimes these fears are attributable to influences that steer us away from Christ, from our faith.  After all, as we have read so often across our recent readings from the lectionary, Christ is constantly contrasting faith with fear.  He has repeatedly reminded those in His care to substitute faith for fear.  He told Jairus who sought help for his daughter, "Do not be afraid; only believe."  The previous time the disciples were desperately afraid crossing the sea while Jesus slept, He told them, "Why are you so fearful?  How is it that you have no faith?"  The woman with the twelve year blood flow "took heart" and courage, facing all of her fears in her deep need for help, because of her faith in Christ, and touched His hem and was healed (in the same reading as the story of Jairus and his daughter).  Repeatedly we observe this call from Christ, and as He calls to us today, we must observe the same dichotomy and contrast between fear and faith.  When He makes His appearance before the apostles in today's reading, even walking across the water, there is another sort of "spooky" element to the story; they fear that they are seeing a ghost.  Even this adds to the contrast of fear and faith.  For ghosts were then and remain a part of the lore of fearfulness, of things that make us afraid, and it is once again Christ who banishes the tyranny of fear.  His command, to "be of good cheer!" is rooted in a verb that means to "warm."  It's a call to be warmed up and thus emboldened from the inside, from the heart.  So even this is in contrast to the fearful time in the dark on the sea at 3:00 A.M., in what was no doubt a cold wind blowing against them as they strained at rowing.  Christ the true Light is the One who brings the lamp of His fire to us, so that we might see in the dark, but maybe more importantly, so that we are warmed up, emboldened, and take good cheer from within.  We take heart in His light, we can trust in Him, and He can show us the way.  He is the one who banishes the ghosts of our fears and guides us forward, but we must take heart in Him and trust.  Perhaps it is for this reason that the Church teaches historically that we need to guard our hearts, banishing fear, but also being willing to pray into our pain and uncertainty, to reach for Him and His words of eternal life.  Our deepest fears may be confronted in Him, if we but have the courage to meet them His way.  And this is the journey for us of faith through Lent when we are reminded that we are to place all things in His hands and cast off the things we're to leave behind.  Let us not allow our hearts to be hardened.  The ghosts of the past cannot haunt us if we allow ourselves to be led by the light of His lamp.

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 having returned from their first missionary journey, they 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.  And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled.  My study Bible remarks that this is the second time Christ permits His disciples to be caught in a storm (see this reading for their previous experience in a storm while crossing the Sea of Galilee).  Let us note that in yesterday's reading (see above), Jesus had sent them across the sea toward Bethsaida, while He went to the mountain to pray.  The first time they were caught in the storm of the sea He was with them.  In today's reading, He has sent them ahead of Him, alone.  In this way, my study Bible explains, 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 as "I Am," which is the divine Name of God from the Old Testament (see John 8:58, Exodus 3:14).  My study Bible says that in this way, Jesus reminds the fearful disciples of His absolute and divine authority over their lives.  The fourth watch of the night is approximately three o'clock in the morning.

For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.   To know Christ is a matter of the heart, my study Bible comments, and not merely 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 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.  My study Bible reminds us that Christ permits miracles through touch in order to show that His very body is life-giving (see also this reading, especially the section on the healing of the woman with the years-long blood flow).

 

The stories about Jesus and His ministry are filled with drama.  The previous time the disciples crossed the Sea of Galilee in the middle of a frightening storm, they found themselves finally coming to rest in a deserted, "lawless" place among tombs, where they met a man possessed by a Legion of demons (in this reading).   But here, the reception is quite different.  They've anchored in a place where Jesus is well-known and immediately recognized.  Here, and apparently in the entire surrounding region of villages, cities, and country, people laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Him that they might just touch the hem of His garment.  Mark especially seems to give us the "flavor" of this ministry as that which drives the disciples through a enormous and dizzying variety of experiences, all vivid in their own ways.  I don't know if we can imagine what it would be like to be in a boat, rowing, in the middle of a stormy Sea of Galilee at three o'clock in the morning!  That is, of course, unless we've had a similar experience.  I've found myself on a slightly stormy sea in the middle of bright daylight in the summer in the Aegean, on a modern large catamaran with a powerful motor designed for such a trip, and even then I can say the experienced captain was clearly extremely anxious and frightened for what might happen.  In that instance, we docked at the nearest island port until the storm passed.  If we put ourselves in the shoes of the disciples, can we even imagine what this would have been like at 3:00 AM, without modern technological help?  Seeing Christ walking on the water, of course, adds another element to the story!  While there are those who may dismiss out of hand the miraculous elements of the Gospels, I'm not one of them.  Even modern physics posits a multi-dimensional universe, and that particles of energy and matter do not always behave as expected.  I accept Christ's identity in the sense that today's reading teaches us about Him:  as God Incarnate He has a mastery over wind and waves and the forces of nature.  As Mark unfolds the stories of Jesus' ministry, we see revealed to the disciples more and more glimpses or signs of Christ's divinity.  Who can walk on water?  Who can calm the waves and the winds?  Moreover, in today's reading, we catch sight of ourselves, and how we are able to blind ourselves to things we can't quite accept.  It tells us that the disciples' hearts were hardened so that they did not understand about the loaves and the fishes described in yesterday's reading.  How is that possible?  In an era in which we're used to being told explicit news events, "verified" by what we see on television or hear in recordings, in which we are constantly fed evidence of "proof" of something, this might be hard to understand.  A mass acceptance of something seems to make it so (helped along by marketing techniques for the public).  But eye witness experience is different, and our minds work in a particular way to influence what we think we know or see.  Therefore to have a "hardened heart" in Biblical parlance is to be blind to something, either deliberately, or in the case of the disciples, perhaps they are having a hard time accepting all that they are being exposed to about Jesus and what it all implies.  In the tradition of the Church, as explained above in the notes from my study Bible, the heart is a seat of knowledge, and there in the heart is a kind of understanding that doesn't come simply from rational deduction or grasping of material facts.  There is another way to perceive, especially for the perception of things of a spiritual nature and the realities of our dependency upon and communion with God.  It is important to make room for an experiential understanding of faith, for ours is a kind of intimate relationship just as we read the disciples themselves developing with Christ.  This kind of dependency and trust is deepened in the  heart, and realities are grasped especially through a heart that is open to love and understanding, a sympathy that conveys wisdom or knowledge otherwise not known but understood.  This is the real spiritual tradition of the Church, those whom Christ calls capable of grasping faith as a little child, what it is to have a heart open to God.   In the Eastern Christian tradition, those with such a heart are called spiritual elders:  they need not be of any specific age or gender or walk of life.  But they are those with a deep and mature faith, expressed and experienced through such understanding and insight, and they are able to grasp the truth in the hearts of others that isn't necessarily accepted but is nevertheless there.  They are such that others open their hearts to them, and theirs is a humility that is filled with grace which may be easily overlooked by the world.  Our hearts are indeed the key to a deep mystery -- a mystery about who we are, and about God and our relationship to God.  Our hearts also tell a hidden story about what we'd rather not see.   Only God has the real key to our deepest hearts, and Christ is called the "heart-knower" (see Acts 1:24, in which the Greek text literally uses this term).   Just as Jesus can command physical nature, and heal human ailments, so another sign of His divinity is His knowledge of our hearts.  St. Paul writes, "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6).  Let us pay attention to the heart, where such light shines for us.  The disciples see Him walking toward them on the water, but He also speaks to our hearts when we need Him, and says, "Be of good cheer!  It is I; do not be afraid."

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 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, upon returning 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.  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.   My study bible tells us here that knowing Christ is a matter of the heart, not merely the intellect.  It says, "When our hearts are illumined by faith in God, they are open to receive His presence and grace."  The ascetic writings of the Church call the heart the "seat of knowledge."   It is the true center of a person, which includes the fullness of what it is to be a person.  The fourth watch of the night is about three o'clock in the morning.

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.  The fact that miracles are permitted merely by touch shows that Christ's very body is life-giving.  (See also 5:25-29, the healing of the woman with the blood flow.)

Our reading tells us that the disciples were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled, when Jesus went up to the boat in the middle of the sea.  For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.   This astonishing picture is one in which a number of elements are present:  Christ sends the disciples across the sea when it is already late, and He stayed by Himself on the mountain to pray.  About three o'clock in the morning, the disciples are having trouble.  All the winds are against them.  And He walks out into the sea to them.  What a picture this makes of loneliness and struggle, the disciples (again, many of whom were seasoned professional fishermen) struggle at rowing.  It's the wee early hours of the morning.  It's a story of Christ always with us, teaching us, "Be of good cheer!  It is I; do not be afraid."  That which is translated as "be of good cheer" is more accurately rendered as "take heart" or "take courage."  This story of three o'clock in the morning isn't so strange to those who know sleepless nights when worry or struggle keeps them awake.  And it is a good time for prayer, if we follow Jesus' example.  We pray so that we, too, may find His courage and His words that teach us not to be afraid.  But then something else is even more intriguing in the reading, that we are told that the disciples were amazed and marveled because they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.   How could they not have understood?  Were they not witnesses with their own eyes?  What this seems to suggest is that amazing and astonishing as walking on the water is, what happened with the loaves and fishes (in yesterday's reading, above) was somehow even more miraculous, more astonishing, required a deeper grasp of faith to understand.  The depth of mystery in this foreshadowing of the Eucharist is something with perhaps even more hidden meaning and power, an even greater gift, than the unheard-of capacity of walking on the water (only the divine can surpass the laws of nature).  Somehow something so great was happening at the feeding in the wilderness that the disciples' hearts were "hardened" against it, and they failed to understand.  After all, the whole mission of Christ in the world is one of "feeding" us with His very Person, of allowing us to participate in His life, to abide in Him.  That is an endless act of power, one that will never stop giving to us.  It is not limited in time to one event, nor is it limited in supply, but is and will continue to be endlessly replicated, infinitely feeding and giving and nurturing us.  And this is just a fragment of the immeasurably deeper mystery, the great gift contained in the feeding of the five thousand, which is central to all four Gospels.  Whatever we are given, it is contained in the fullness of what we have yet to fully unpack, so to speak, the food Christ gives us forever, for every moment, whether it be comfort or teaching or leading us as the sheep who need a Shepherd - or, mysteriously, His body and blood.  The disciples are only beginning to get a clue about what they are involved with, and even their hearts aren't ready to expand to contain what Christ brings to us.  What do you need to open your heart to that is in His life for you?