Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up

 

 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."  

 

So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. 

 

- John 2:13–25 

 

Yesterday we read that there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.  And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?  My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."  Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water."  And they filled them up to the brim.  And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast."  And they took it.  When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.  And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.  You have kept the good wine until now!"  This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.  After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.  Yesterday's reading gave us the sixth and seventh days of the beginning of Christ's earthly ministry, corresponding to the sixth and seventh days of creation in Genesis 1.

 

  Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."  In the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, this event occurs at the end of Christ's ministry (it is His first act after the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem beginning what we know as Holy Week).  But here in John's Gospel, it is placed at the beginning.  There are some patristic commentaries that Christ performed this act twice.  Those who sold oxen and sheep and doves traded in live animals which were to be used for sacrifices. Those who sold doves are profiting from the smallest animal for sacrifice, the one the poorest would purchase.  The money changers were trading Roman coins for Jewish coins; Roman coins had the image of Caesar on them (treated as a god) and so were considered to be defiling in the temple.  My study Bible comments that the cleansing of the temple also points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  In the verses that follow, Christ will speak of His body as a temple.  But we are reminded that each person is considered to be a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19), and so the cleansing of the temple is also a sign that our hearts and minds should be cleansed of earthly matters that draw us away from the love and guidance of God.

So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.  As Jesus is not a Levitical priest, my study Bible explains, His authority to cleanse the temple is challenged by the religious leaders in the temple.  The term the Jews, some say, is more properly translated as "Judeans."  In this context, we remember that the temple is in Jerusalem (in Judea), and Jesus is from Galilee, where His ministry is based.  Moreover, by the time this Gospel was written, persecutions had begun of the followers of Christ.  So, this term "the Jews" when it appears in John's Gospel is used most often to indicate the religious leaders.  Here it refers to the chief priests and the elders (see Matthew 21:23).  We need to recall that Jesus, His family, and His disciples (including John the author of this Gospel) are all Jews.  My study Bible also comments that as Christ is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, He answers in a hidden way:  the ultimate sign will be His death and Resurrection.  

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.  In John's Gospel we find three Passover feasts reported that were attended by Jesus, between His Baptism and Passion (see also John 6:4; 11:55).  This is how we know His earthly ministry lasted three years. 

 

 It's interesting that today's passage ends with this statement:  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.  Over the course of the past several readings -- in particular the readings of Wednesday and Thursday, when Christ was choosing His first disciples -- we have seen Christ repeatedly using this characteristic, that He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.  This is part of His divinity, and He is known as the Discerner of Hearts.  In the Book of Acts, there is a particular Greek term applied to Christ, a noun used when the disciples, now founding the Church, seek Christ's discernment through prayer.  That word in Greek is καρδιογνώστης/kardiognostes ("heart-knower").  It's usually translated by invoking an address to Christ, using the term Lord, or God, referring to One who knows the heart (see Acts 1:24; 15:8).  But the term "heart-knower" as direct translation from the Greek, is important, as it gives us a solid and foundational identity of the Lord, and this expression manifest in the person and ministry of Jesus Christ, as experienced and witnessed by the disciples.  For this is part of the power of faith, a kind of experience that they who knew the human Jesus Christ have witnessed directly, but that all believers can witness through prayer and worship in spiritual experience, if you will.   With the experience of living our faith, we come to perceive that Christ knows our hearts before we do, and we continually witness through the stories in the Gospels that Jesus manifests this ability; it is characteristic of Him.  There are times when He will assertively draw out from people their heart's desire by asking, for example, "What do you want Me to do for you?" (Matthew 20:32 and other locations).  But in John's Gospel, we have already understood it clearly established that this is part of who Christ is; it is part of the manifestation of His divinity even in the human Jesus in the world.  It is in John's Gospel that Jesus explicitly tells us (in His final address to the disciples at the Last Supper), "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him" (John 14:7).  This is such an important tenet of our faith that we must remember it when reading the Gospel, for it is one of the purposes of the Incarnation, that through Christ we know God the Father.  We are given explicit knowledge of God's desire to save, to heal, to restore, together all of us to God.  This is God's love explicitly expressed for us, so that we know God's love, and we learn love as well.  Again, it is John the Evangelist who will also tell us, "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:8).  The "heart-knower" then, we can be assured, is also love, and the author of love, the One who teaches us love -- and we need love to know God.  So when we read in today's reading that Christ also fulfills the prophesy of the Psalmist, "Zeal for your house has eaten Me up" (Psalm 69:9), we should know also that this zeal is a zeal born of love, a compassionate, rigorous love for human beings who need God and God's love.  The full text of that psalm verse reads, "Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on Me."  This is surely true of Christ, who out of love bore those reproaches Himself.  Let us consider today that zeal, the love that motivates Christ to cleanse the temple for it is the place where the people are cared for and nurtured by God, but unfortunately can also become a place of corruption, where people are led astray.  May we all carry and experience Christ's love for ourselves, and grow in that love in response.

 

Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up

 

 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And he said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."  

 

So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. 

 

- John 2:13-25 

 

Yesterday we read that on the third day after choosing the disciples Philip and Nathanael, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.  And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?  My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."  Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water."  And they filled them up to the brim.  And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast."  And they took it.  When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.  And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.  You have kept the good wine until now!"  This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.  After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.

 

  Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And he said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."   In the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, this event occurs at the end of Christ's ministry (the beginning of Holy Week).  See Matthew 21:12–17, Mark 11:15–19, Luke 19:45–48.  But here, John places it at the beginning of His Gospel.  My study Bible notes that some Church Fathers teach that Christ performed this act twice.  Those who sold oxen and sheep and doves were trading in live animals used for sacrifices, while the money changers traded Roman coins for Jewish ones.  Roman coins bore the image of Caesar as god and so were considered to be defiling in the temple.  My study Bible comments that the cleansing of the temple also points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  As each person is considered a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19), it is also a sign that our hearts and minds must be cleansed of earthly matters.  The quotation which His disciples remembered is from Psalm 69:9.

So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.  My study Bible comments that, as Jesus is not a Levitical priest, His authority to cleanse the temple is challenged.  The term Jews in John's Gospel frequently refers specifically to the leaders.  In this case, it refers to the chief priests and the elders (see Matthew 21:23).  As Christ is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, it says, He answers in a hidden way:  the ultimate sign will be His death and Resurrection.  These words will be twisted at Jesus' trial, and used to mock Christ, and to later lay suspicion on His disciples (see Matthew 26:60-61, 27:40, 27:63).

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.  My study Bible comments here that John reports three Passover feasts between Christ's Baptism and Passion (see also John 6:5, 11:55).  This is how we know that Christ's earthly ministry lasted three years.  

The cleansing of the temple has been understood in various ways.  From the text of the New Testament itself (see the quotations from Matthew's Gospel, above), we're told that Jesus' saying, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" was used, even in the context of His earthly lifetime, against Him.  It was misunderstood, misinterpreted, used to discredit Him -- and His disciples after His death, for false testimony against Him, and to mock Him at the Cross.  The cleansing of the temple itself was understood by Origen, for example, to have been allegorical -- and clearly within the context of tradition, it is seen as both historical and allegorical, as my study Bible notes.  Not only does it give us an allegory regarding the things the Church should and should not be concerned with, but it also teaches us (again, as my study Bible noted) an allegory about what St. Paul said was the temple of our bodies, and our need to cleanse body, soul, spirit in following the path of Christ.  Our vigilance in prayer, for example, is thus part of this cleansing, our knowledge of ourselves essential to it -- and our willingness to part with that which actually endangers our well-being, spiritually and otherwise (see Matthew 5:29-30; 18:8-9, also allegorical statements by Jesus regarding the endangering things we need to cleanse from our lives).  As my study Bible noted, certain Church Fathers teach that the cleansing of the temple happened twice.  All of this is to say that when we read Scripture, we have to understand it as a particular kind of literature.  When we read about the life and ministry of Jesus, we have to understand that it is open to each of these ways to approach it, for Christ Himself spoke -- as reported here in John's Gospel -- in an allegorical way, especially in order to teach those who would hear and seek to understand, while disclosing nothing to those who would not (see Matthew 13:10-17).  What is important and essential is that we not fall into a rationalistic divide of "either/or" thinking, and we come to understand that each of these approaches is valid and gives us truth.  Each approach, especially taken together and considered for what each contributes to our spiritual lives and the understanding of our faith, and in particular the Person of Jesus Christ, should be seen as part of a whole, and more that is beyond what we can grasp.  For included in Scripture, and in the tradition of the Church through the Holy Spirit, is also mystery.  That is, the fullness of the mystery of Jesus Christ, which we don't know -- as only God can know God in God's fullness, and as the "way" of Christ is a road (the word translated as "way" in the Gospels, as in John 14:6, means also "road" in Greek.  So when we think about the Bible, we need to understand that all of these ways that come to us through Christ's own speech as given in the Gospels, through the Epistles and the Revelation, even "the Lord" of the Old Testament as understood through the lens of the New, and the different ways of understanding and hearing which we are given through tradition, especially patristics from the early centuries of the Church (what are called "Church Fathers") -- each of these things, though seemingly separate and different, are valid and may all be true at the same time.  We have to take the fullness of our faith as a whole if we are to accept and to understand and to grow in it, and this must also include the mystery and acknowledgement of what we don't know.  For what we don't know, and what we are unable to say about God, is also a part of our faith which we must keep in mind -- when we read Scripture, when we worship, when we pray.  For all intersect in faith, and even in the deepest place of the heart, which is also a mystery known fully only to God, and not to ourselves.  Jesus taught His disciples, "Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old" (Matthew 13:52).  The old and the new, and that yet to come, is all part of the treasure we receive.  Let us understand it as the whole of the kingdom of heaven, indivisible, and all a gift to treasure, every part valued and necessary and precious.

 

 

 

Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up

 

 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."  So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

 

- John 2:13–25 

 

Yesterday we read that on the sixth day given in John's Gospel, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.  And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?  My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."  Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water."  And they filled them up to the brim.  And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast."  And they took it.  When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.  And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.  You have kept the good wine until now!"  This beginning signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.  After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.

 

  Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."   In the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, this event occurs at the end of the ministry of Jesus, the first action of Christ in Jerusalem during Holy Week.  Here, John puts this event of cleansing the temple right at the beginning of Jesus' ministry.  There are certain patristic writers who teach that Christ performed this act twice.   Those who sold oxen and sheep and doves are trading in live animals used for sacrifices; the money changers exchange Roman coins (considered to be defiling in the temple as they bore the image of Caesar) for Jewish coins.  My study bible comments that the cleansing of the temple points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  Also, each person is considered to be a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19), so this is also a sign that our hearts and minds should be cleansed of earthly matters.

 

  So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.  Jesus is not a Levitical priest, and so His authority to cleanse the temple is questioned and challenged.  Only the Messiah would be one with such authority otherwise.  It is the beginning of the constant pattern of the religious leadership, that they will be demanding a sign from Christ to prove His identity to them.   John sets out parties and factions right away in his Gospel.  We should keep in mind that the term Jews in this Gospel frequently refers specifically to the leadership; in this case it is a reference to the chief priests and the elders (see Matthew 21:23).  Christ is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, and so He answers in a hidden way.  The ultimate sign will be His death and Resurrection.  Here we encounter the perspective of John's Gospel, the last of the Gospels to be written, where in the perspective of the Church and the events to come after Christ's death, this statement by Jesus was understood as a reference to Resurrection. 

 

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.  John's Gospel gives us the events which occur during several religious festivals, and the attendance of Christ and the disciples at three different Passover Festivals (see also 6:4, 11:55).  This is one way we know that His ministry lasted three years.  Here, John also tells us something important about Jesus, that He is the "heart-knower" (in Greek, kardiognostes/καρδιογνώστης), another property of the divine (Acts 1:24, 15:8-9).

A weekly message from a parish priest reminds me today that now is a time of preparation for commemorating the Virgin Mary on August 15th.  For the Eastern Orthodox, and traditionally in the whole of the Church, the two weeks leading to that feast are a time for fasting, almsgiving, and prayer. (See Jesus' reference to these practices in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter 6, an important central piece of the Sermon.)  These different practices focus and center us more in the place we need to be and in relationship to God and to one another, and there are many ways of practicing each of them.  We don't just fast from certain foods (and there are no "bad" foods for Christians), but we fast from things like gossip, or too much television or internet, or friends who aren't really good for us to be around, or whatever it is that distracts us from where we really need to center in life and for what is good for us.  We might practice charity in a myriad of ways, from simple kindness to donations to work for a cause or giving time to help others.  And prayer, as we know, may take on many beautiful forms and practices.   Today's reading gives us Jesus' cleansing of the temple, and this action is front and center in John's Gospel -- right after Jesus' first sign of turning the water to wine at the wedding in Cana.   This action by Christ not only reinforces the need to refocus our lives and practices around the purpose of worshiping God and what that means for our relationships with one another.  It also teaches us to put aside what distracts from that purpose and that central "good" and what is beneficial for our lives.  It's a vivid example, as we don't necessarily think of Christ creating such dynamic scenes as making a whip of cords, and driving people out of the temple -- quite a scene of physical action!  But that should serve its purpose for us to remind us of the importance of what it teaches.  This isn't simply a prelude or backdrop to Christ's conflicts with the religious leadership.  It is an important illustration of the repeated message by Christ in the Gospels that we need to take decisive action to root out the things that really do us no good, that lead us off the path of our focus and the enrichment of the act of loving God at all times.  When something else starts to shift us away from that love, and into a place where something else becomes a higher priority, we need to refocus, and maybe we need to cut out of our lives what distracts us from our best lives, our true help in life.  Jesus' zeal isn't just a matter of having a deep purpose to fulfill or even His deep love of the Father and His true desire for all of His people.  This zeal is in the right place, shown for us as a matter of dedicated purpose, and for us to follow in our own hearts.  It's not just a temporal dramatic action to show His deep commitment.  My study bible reminds us that each of our bodies is also a temple, and so we must care for ourselves -- and the whole of what it means to be ourselves -- as Christ cares for the temple, with the same zeal, the same need to clean out what is not helpful and good, and the same purposeful refocus on what is to our best benefit in life.  All of life works as an integrated whole, and one piece of our lives isn't separate from the rest.   Just as Christ says that His Father's house should not be a house of merchandise, so our lives as well should not merely be lives of "merchandise," a pure collection of material things.  Let us remember His zeal for us, and take it to heart at this time of preparation for commemoration.  Let us cleanse ourselves from what distracts from true wholeness of life.

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, after 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.  The fourth watch of the night is about three o'clock in the morning.  In another recent reading, as they were on a stormy sea, Jesus asked the disciples, "Why are you so fearful?  How is it that you have no faith?"  This time He's left them alone to cross the night sea by themselves, and they struggle against wind.  His assurance gives us to understand His presence with us, and the message that is there, "Be of good cheer!  It is I; do not be afraid."   Among the other astonishing things in today's reading, it may be perplexing to readers how the disciples fail to understand the divinity of Christ in the sign of the loaves in yesterday's reading, above.  My study bible tells us that knowing Christ is a matter of the heart -- and not merely the intellect.  When our hearts are illumined by faith in God, it says, then 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."  It is the center of who we are, where all comes together in our power of comprehension.  A hardened heart is one that is both unfeeling and uncomprehending;  compassion, for example, is also a form of understanding.

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 says that Christ permits miracles through touch in order to show that His very body is life-giving (see also the healing of the woman with the twelve-years blood flow, in this reading).

How do we understand things?  Why is it that the disciples still fail to understand about the loaves?  "Hard-heartedness" is a phrase that teaches us about what it means to truly comprehend, and it also teaches us about how we look at life.  There are a number of ways  in which we are capable of understanding things.  There is the intellect, but there is also compassion.  There is empathy.  There is a kind of emotional understanding.  Above, beyond, and in addition to these, there is a kind of perception of spiritual truth that gives us insight and discernment.  A part of the understanding of the heart involves our capacity to see and dignify the "personhood" of others.  Jesus tells the Pharisees, when they ask about easy divorce available to men under Mosaic Law, "Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept" (Mark 10:5).  In today's reading, this term is used to describe the disciples' unawareness of the evidence of Jesus' divinity in the sign of the multiplication of the loaves (see yesterday's reading).  There is a level at which faith and the heart intertwine.  Faith is an action of the heart, not only the intellect.  Faith is a key component to comprehension of certain kinds.  Jesus will frequently echo Isaiah (and numerous other Old Testament references) when He says, "For the hearts of this people have grown dull.  Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them" (Matthew 13:15).   In ascetic writings on prayer, the Orthodox tradition teaches that one should pray "with the mind in the heart."  Even modern psychology increasingly tells us that the intellect alone is not enough involvement of the whole person for healing from trauma of many kinds, and the development of new techniques for addressing various types of trauma is an unstoppable trend, with many components and directions evolving from it.   In today's reading, we're told that even Jesus' very body is life-giving; again, even the body stores intelligence and experience, and is a component in psychological healing.  From its inception, the Church has taught that our bodies are inseparable from soul and spirit; the great evil of a "fleshly" perception is precisely that separation, a root of "hard-heartedness."  The heart pulls all of this together, and becomes the place where God's love dwells, where grace is at work.  Those whose faith has given them any form of healing can testify to the depths at which God's love works to reach us when nothing else can.   That Twelve Step programs invoke reliance on a Higher Power is evidence of that.  What all of this signals to us is that the depths at which our faith is at work will open up our understanding of ourselves as human beings -- more importantly, as persons.  We are not merely intellectual beings propelling a body around as a kind of vehicle in the world.  Rather, all of the varied aspects of how we are created, the gifts with which we are endowed, intelligence that works in myriad ways, gives us capacity for perception that teaches us how much more to our own lives and persons there is than a "worldly" perspective may allow for. This center of a person that pulls all of those things together is what is called the heart in Scripture.  It is, perhaps most tellingly, the place where relationship and relatedness is truly centered -- which is why the heart is a place of prayer and desire.  The heart is also a place where we may nurture evil things that ally us with what is not good.  Jesus also teaches that "out of the heart come evil thoughts--murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander" (Matthew 15:19).  John's Gospel tells us that Jesus had many followers in response to particular signs in His ministry, but that "Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people" (John 2:24).  In fact, Jesus perceives what is in the heart without having to be told about it.  He is called the "heart-knower" in Acts 15:8, which uses a particular Greek word that encapsulates the concept (καρδιογνώστης).  All of this is to teach us that if we fail to involve the whole of ourselves in our faith, we are missing out on perception and intelligence.  If we fail to nurture our heart or to guard it properly, or to be aware of what we can hold onto that is not good for us, then we aren't guarding our true spiritual, emotional, mental, and intellectual health.  We might be blindsided in life by our attachments and prejudices, or the things we dwell upon which skew our proper perception and thinking, and take us away from good direction in life.  Let us think about the heart, and what it means to know the true center of ourselves.  The journey of faith is always right there as we move forward into its depths.