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.

See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you

 

 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.  In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.  For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.  Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"  The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."  

 

Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."  And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.  And that day was the Sabbath.  The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed."  He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'"  Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?"  But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.  

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well.   Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."  The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."  Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. 

 

- John 5:1-18 

 

Yesterday we read that after two days in Samaria near Jacob's well Jesus departed from there and went to Galilee.  For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.  So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.  So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.  And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."  The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"  Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives."  So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.  And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"  Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.  And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."  So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives."  And he himself believed, and his whole household.  This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

 

 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  According to patristic commentary, this feast is considered to be the celebration of the Old Testament Pentecost (also called the "Feast of Weeks").   It commemorated the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai.  My study Bible says that the references to the Law of Moses later in this chapter confirm this interpretation.

 

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.  In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.  For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.   This was a double-basin pool which was believed to have curative powers.  My study Bible says that it has been discovered about 100 yards north of the temple area, near the Sheep Gate.  The water for this high-ground pool flowed from underground springs.  It as used to wash down the sacrificial lambs before they were slain.  A note tells us that this pool functions as a "type" of Christian baptism.  Under the old covenant, a great multitude waited to enter the water for physical healing after an angel touched it.  These waters were special in that they were a way of indirectly participating in the animal sacrifices of the temple, since the animals were washed in the same water.  But this grace was limited to the first person to enter.  In the new covenant, baptism is given to all nations as a direct participation in Christ's own sacrificial death (Romans 6:3-6) without the mediation of angels.  Baptism therefore grants healing of the soul and the promise of eternal resurrection of the body, and its grace is inexhaustible.  

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.  My study Bible cites St. John Chrysostom, who writes that Jesus singled out the man who had waited for thirty-eight years in order to teach us to have perseverance, and as a judgment against those who lose hope or patience in much lesser troubles lasting a far shorter time. 

When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"  The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."  Here my study Bible comments that Christ's question is relevant for many reasons. First of all, it made public the fact that the sick man kept his faith even in circumstances that are seemingly hopeless.  How could a paralytic ever be the first into the water?  Second, Christ draws attention away from the water and toward the need we have for a man to help us.  This is fulfilled in Christ, who became Man in order to heal all.  Finally, my study Bible adds that not everybody who's ill truly desires healing.  Some might prefer to remain infirm in order to have license to complain or to avoid responsibility for their lives, possibly to continue receiving the pity of others.

Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."  And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.  And that day was the Sabbath. This healing is the third sign of seven given in John's Gospel.  It manifests the divine power to restore a person to wholeness.

 

The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed."  He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'"  Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?"  But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.  My study Bible tells us that although the Law itself does not specifically forbid the carrying of burdens on the Sabbath, this is prohibited in Jeremiah 17:21-22 and explicitly forbidden in rabbinical teachings.  That Christ is Lord over the Sabbath is made clear here by His command ("Rise, take up your bed and walk") and by the man's obedience.  As is frequently the case in John's Gospel, the use of the term the Jews refers to leaders as a sort of political term, and not to the people in general.  We are asked to notice the malice of these leaders, as their focus is only on the Sabbath violation, asking the man, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed'?" but ignoring altogether the miraculous healing.  

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well.   Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."  My study Bible asks us to note that this man was found in the temple, for it shows his great faith, as he had gone there directly to thank God for his cure instead of leaving to someone's home or to the marketplace.  Jesus tells him to sin no more:  My study Bible notes that while there is a general connection between sin and suffering (Romans 6:23), it's not always one-to-one.  The innocent frequently suffer, and often the guilty are spared earthly sufferings (see also John 9:1-3).  Nonetheless, there are times when one's own sin leads directly to personal suffering in this world.  St. John Chrysostom writes that this was the case with this paralytic.  But Christ's warning, according to my study Bible, is that the sins that destroy the soul lead to a far worse result than an affliction of the body.  The one hope is to flee from sin altogether.  

The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  This man does not report Jesus to the leaders of the Jews in a way that is malicious, but rather as testimony to Christ's goodness.  My study Bible says that although these leaders are only interested in the violation of the Sabbath, the healed man emphasizes that it was Jesus who had made him well, and says nothing about carrying his bed.  

For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."  Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.  Jesus refers to God as My Father, and the religious leaders clearly understand that this implies absolute equality.  He will continue this dispute in our following reading.  

In Matthew 12:1-8, we can read of a similar kind of incident, in which Jesus upsets the religious authorities who accuse Him and His disciples of violating the Sabbath, as they gleaned food by plucking heads of grain to eat in the fields as they walked.  In that case, Jesus provided to them an example of a blameless violation of the Sabbath by David and his men, who ate of the showbread meant only to be for the priest.  But Christ's greater emphasis is on mercy as the very nature of God and source of the Law ("But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless" - Matthew 12:7).  In that reading, Jesus declares that "the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:8), hence the relevance also for the events of today's reading.  My study Bible asks us to examine the attitudes of the religious leaders, whose zealousness for rabbinical tradition would become the source of conflict with Jesus, and also an object of His great criticism for the hypocrisy it led to on their part (Matthew 23).  Moreover, the fullness of Christ's purpose in coming into the world is revealed through this particular action of mercy, for it is necessary in order to heal.  It is not separate from faith (nor used to induce faith through "proofs") as remarked upon by my study Bible, when it notes that the man was found giving thanks in the temple, in gratitude for his healing.  This detail about gratitude is extremely significant, for it seems that it is related to Christ's admonition to the man, "See, you have been made well.  Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you." One of the ways in which we can understand this teaching given by Jesus is an emphasis on the true importance of gratitude, and its linked understanding that this is the recognition of just where the man's healing comes from in the first place.  For without proper gratitude for the healing, how would he be expressing in his life any sense of what has happened to him, and what great gift has been given to him?  How do we understand gratitude except in its proper place as recognition for the giver of a gift?  To continue to commit sin with impunity would in fact imply a complete lack of recognition of the Giver; and prove a sort of challenge to God -- implying entitlement and not gratitude or recognition of what he has been given.  One might say that to continue to sin, without a thought given to God and God's desires and teachings or nature, would be test God in some sense, to challenge the nature of our relationship to God.  For it is we who depend upon God, even as God loves us beyond what we can understand of love.  Gratitude characterizes proper relationship, a true sense of maturity even in human relations.  For without it, we do not properly recognize love or mercy, nor the care and sacrifice of others.  Neither are we able to function fully without the practice of gratitude, as in its absence we find despair, unhappiness, and blindness to the things in life that offer us goodness and richness, our own blessings we overlook.  (For modern science on gratitude, see this article and this one.)  Even these religious authorities show an extreme lack of gratitude in their blindness to the revelation of God's mercy in the miraculous sign of healing, the blessing that has come among them and within their community.  So we may conclude here the essential nature of gratitude to our lives, and the many ways we might show that.  In this case, Jesus admonishes this healed man to remember God, by teaching him to "go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."  It teaches us not to take our blessings for granted, nor the mercy or kindness of others.  It also gives us a strong message about God at work in our midst, for as Jesus teaches about the Holy Spirit, our own responses to God form the shape of judgment (see John 16:7-11), including the possibility of consequences to our lives even in this world.  Even such negative consequences must be seen as corrective warnings, if we are not blind to them nor to God's goodness, giving us another reason why gratitude is a necessary component of a mature spirituality and character of a person.  So let us think hard about gratitude and its central importance for us as human beings.  It centers us in the place of relatedness to God, to Christ, and to God's active work in the world through grace and the Holy Spirit.  It teaches us the proper response to love (and God is love, 1 John 4:8).  It is the hallmark of a person of a fully formed character, and creates right-relatedness within our own social groups, while its lack creates severe problems and conflicts.  Let us consider both the powerful effects of gratitude, and the depleted conditions of life without it, as we move through Lent toward the Passion of Christ, and to Resurrection.