Saturday, April 29, 2017

Jesus' Message to Us: "Be Not Afraid; It is I"

In today’s Gospel, John 6: 16-21, we have the story of the disciples, after a busy day in ministry, going down to the sea, getting into a boat, and travelling across the sea to Capernaum.  They do this in spite of the fact that it is dark and a storm is ravaging the waters. They are out on the sea about 3-4 miles and see Jesus walking on the waters toward them. They are scared out of their wits! Aware of their fear, Jesus says to them: “It is I. Do not be afraid.” 

 Who is this man, they must have been asking themselves? He’s walking on the rough sea and not sinking!  The disciples want to take Jesus into the boat with them, but the “boat immediately arrived at the shore to which they were heading.”  “Immediately?”  “Really,”  I ask. Did Jesus not only calm their fears but miraculously bring them to the safety of the shore, I wonder.

Jesus shows us the face of our God: a God of mercy and compassion, a God who is concerned about every detail of our life, a God who knows when we are in “perilous waters,” a God who calms our fears—is aware, in fact, when we are afraid  and of what we are afraid.
 

We may not see Jesus walking on the treacherous waters of our lives, as these disciples did, but He, along with the Father and the Spirit,  is there. The Trinity is always at our sides, walking along side us, dwelling within us, watching over us day in and day out, throughout the “nights” of our lives. God is the light in that darkness, the strength in our weaknesses, the courage in our fearsome moments, the love in our less-loving moments, the forgiveness in our moments of resentment, waiting to be recognized.  God waits, as, in Jesus He was waiting for the disciples in the boat to see Him approaching them on the stormy waters.

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