"Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!” – Mk 6:45-52
The key to today's fragment of the Gospel is "Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!” How often are we afraid? How often do certain things overwhelm us? In such situations, Jesus comes to us, He comes breaking the rules, He walks on the lake of our life. How do we behave in this situation? Do we cry like the apostles? Or are we glad to see him? But let us look at the text for today from the beginning. After the five thousand had eaten and were satisfied, Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and precede him to the other side toward Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. This sentence describes the situation after the multiplication of the bread. Jesus urges the disciples to get into the boat and meet Him on the other side toward Bethsaida. He wants to send the crowd away at this time.
And when he had taken leave of them, he went off to the mountain to pray. This is an important tip for us as well. You cannot be on your feet all the time; you cannot constantly work even in important matters. There also comes a moment to go away, find our own mountain, where we can be alone with God. We cannot allow ourselves to devote entirely to important matters, sometimes even to the matters of the Church, and at the same time neglect prayer. And I admit that I know such cases. A person so involved in the affairs of the Church that he/she has no time to pray. Isn't that a paradox?
We need silence, scientists say, but the Bible also says it. Man cannot work constantly at high speed. Man cannot be with others all the time. Time alone is also needed. And time for meditation, for a conversation with God.
When it was evening, the boat was far out on the sea and he was alone on shore. Then he saw that they were tossed about while rowing,for the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them. Jesus recognizes our hardships as well. He sees that in our spiritual life there are also "opposing winds". And then He comes to us. He comes breaking patterns; he comes across the lake ...
But when they saw him walking on the sea,they thought it was a ghost and cried out. They had all seen him and were terrified. It is often the case that Divine Intervention can cause fear in us. Yes, we need help. But sometimes the spectacularism of this help scares us. We do not like when someone turns our thinking upside down, we have our existing patterns. And all we want is to maintain the status quo.
But at once he spoke with them, “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!” He got into the boat with them and the wind died down.Jesus often cries out ... Take courage ... do not be afraid. You might think that these disciples were so fearful. They seem to be so strong; you could say - real men, but at the same time Jesus tells them so often: Do not be afraid. Take courage. It may be the same with us. From the outside, we seem confident and in general somehow focused on victory, sparkling in the company, talkative but when a great moment of trial comes, the coward comes out of us. It turns out that we are really like little bunnies. We fear of taking risks, to standing in truth towards oneself or others, etc. We are terrified by a gust of wind, a storm. And when Jesus comes to our rescue, we seehim as "a ghost". However, when we let Him into our boat, we invite him into our lives, everything that terrified us disappears. The storms are silent, the wind is silent ... It is just us and He ...
Then he got into the boat with them and the wind dropped. They were utterly and completely dumbfounded, because they had not seen what the miracle of the loaves meant; their minds were closed. In this last sentence, I would like to draw your attention to " their minds were closed ". In the Gospel it is in the context of the multiplication of the bread. They did not understand what Jesus did because their mind was closed. How does this relate to us? We also often have a "close mind". This is related to the phenomenon I wrote about a bit above. It is about patterns. Jesus comes on the lake - thus breaking the patterns. And we often stick to our patterns.
Each of us has certain ideas. There is a problem, let us call it "A" and let us call the solution: "B" Every time when we have this problem .... we also have a solution. We are so used to this pattern, that it becomes the so-called "obvious obviousness”. When we entrust our lives to Jesus, He will say NO to schematics. He solves problems in his own way. When bread is lacking, He multiplies it. When the disciples go out in the boat. He comes to them on the lake.
If we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, we must be ready that he will solve the problem differently than we imagine it. Therefore, our minds must be open and sober. Because He can do anything. Nothing is impossible for Him. That is why it is time to say NO to close minds. Today. And one more thing: Don't be afraid!
Until Tomorrow
fr. george