Walking on water | Nationwide Catholic Reporter

“Take bravery, it is I, do not be afraid” (Mark 6:50).

1 John 4:11-18 Mark 6:45-52

  Mark needs his readers to see the link amongst Jesus’ multiplication of the loaves and fishes and the gift of manna in the desert. Jesus is the new Moses, and when, like Moses, he prays on the mountain prior to walking on h2o to help you save his disciples, Jesus is invoking the exodus as a preview of his passage by way of the waters of demise to new lifetime in the resurrection. 

Each crossing of the lake is a rehearsal of the faith the disciples will need when storms threaten to sink them and the boat of the church. The risen Christ is with his church, not as a ghost but as savior and redeemer.  “Have braveness, it is I, do not be afraid.” Mark’s narrative emphasizes just how long it took the disciples to grasp who Jesus was. Like the crowds, they wished him to be a messiah king to restore Israel. If he could feed 5,000 adult men in the desert, he could raise an military to defeat the Romans. They would be his lieutenants, ready to share in his glory.  Like the folks in the desert with Moses who “hardened their hearts,” the disciples refused to see God’s strategy for Jesus.

In Chapter 8, halfway as a result of his Gospel, Mark has Jesus quiz his disciples about who they believe he is. Only then is Peter inspired to get in touch with him the Christ, at which Jesus reveals his approaching struggling and dying. This is the sort of messiah he will be, despite Peter’s efforts to dissuade him.  In Chapter 9, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up on the mountain in which he is transfigured. This scene, way too, is a preview of the resurrection and the revelation that by his suffering and dying Jesus fulfilled the Regulation and the Prophets.

How lengthy it took the early church to understand Jesus is reflected in Mark’s Gospel. Faith is not a lock-step march ahead into glory, but extra like an invitation to walk on h2o. We must reside involving earth and heaven, occasionally in doubt and sometimes in blessed assurance, in periods of tranquility and other occasions shaken by crises and uncertainty.   Like the disciples, we have to emerge from our own struggles with faith eager to belief that Jesus is usually with us.  There is no warranty we will not encounter storms, suffering and reduction. In fact, staying with him guarantees we will experience issues.

“Hardness of heart” is a terrible condition to be in, so confident of my own actuality that I will have to reject and even vilify those people who disagree with me. It is also a really small spot to be, with psychological partitions on all sides to safeguard my planet, even if this signifies closing out new thoughts, experiences, persons and the probability to learn and develop.   Discipleship is a lifelong journey of opening our hearts to God and a person a different, which is the path to the fullness of daily life.