From the Daily Office Friday January 29, 2021
Mark 6:47-56
45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.
47 When evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. 48 When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea. He intended to pass them by. 49 But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; 50 for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” 51 Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, 52 for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.
53 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. 54 When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, 55 and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.
This is the second story about Jesus walking on the sea in the Gospel of Mark. The first sea crossing is when Jesus calms the storm on the water when he and the disciples are on their way to the country of the Gerasenes, prior to his encounter with the demoniac Legion. That crossing had exposed the disciples’ lack of faith and understanding of who Jesus is. The second crossing in the reading today is similar, and shows that the disciples are still terrified, both at the storm and at what they thought was a ghost, a response most see as the author’s attempt to again depict their lack of faith. Then Jesus tries to assure them, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” Yet they are still astounded. They could not understand because “Their hearts were hardened,” a harsh expression found in several places in the Old Testament to describe enemies of God.
One of the themes of the Gospel of Mark is the failure of Jesus’ disciples to ever completely understand who this man they are following is. It has been written that the only thing they do right is when in the very beginning they drop their fishing nets and follow him. From that point on they just never quite “get it.” The disciples disappoint Jesus at nearly every turn in the story. They never grasp who he is or what he wants of them. They can’t understand the meaning of his parables, and Jesus has to explain them again. About midway through the gospel Peter finally seems to figure it out when he says “You are the Messiah” when Jesus asks “But who do you say that I am?” But after that seemingly enlightened moment Peter fails again, draws the wrong conclusion, and even rebukes Jesus, prompting Jesus to say, “Get behind me, Satan!” And it wasn’t just Peter who couldn’t see the truth. None of them seemed to understand why suffering and the cross had to be a part of Jesus’ mission. The disciples James and John, the sons of Zebedee, wanted to share Jesus’ glory by sitting “one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory,” causing anger and dissension among the other disciples. The disciples couldn’t even stay awake on the last night when Jesus asks them to “remain here, and keep awake” when he goes to Gethsemane to pray. And in the end of course Judas betrays Jesus, Peter denies him three times, and the others all run away and desert him. Jesus of course knew what they were like, and had even predicted their betrayal and denial of him, telling them at the Last Supper, “You will all become deserters.” Yet, despite all of their failures Jesus still keeps them as disciples, and his wish to see them after the resurrection is fulfilled when the young man dressed in the white robe at the empty tomb tells the fearful women, “But go, tell the disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” (Mark 16.7) Jesus keeps his faith in them, just keeps after them, never lets them go.
Why would the author of Mark, writing about three decades after the death of Jesus, and to an audience which by then had come to look upon the disciples as heroes of the church, portray them this way? Mark Allan Powell in Introducing the New Testament says “the point for Mark seems to be that discipleship is a relationship established by the call of Christ and defined by his own faithfulness, not by any merit that can be attributed to the disciples themselves.” I don’t know if the author of Mark had that in mind or not, but I can say that Powell’s interpretation gives me great comfort. Let me explain why.
Let’s put ourselves into some of these stories about the disciples. I think we might have some of the same reactions as they did. I know I would. Do we too sometimes doubt, lose faith, fail to see? Bad things happen to us or loved ones that we don’t understand. Why is there evil and suffering in the world? Where is God in all this? Thorny questions. This journey we are taking as Christians, as followers of The Way, is not easy. The Presiding Bishop Michael Curry in his book Love is the Way says this love Christ offers is agape love, which is love for the other. It is a sacrificial love that seeks the good and well-being of others, of society, and the world. He also says that the opposite of love is not hatred, but rather selfishness, and further that selfishness is the most destructive force in the world. This is the path we as Christians have accepted, have said “Yes” to, just as did the disciples when they dropped their nets to follow Jesus. And although we’ve said yes, we like those disciples Peter and James and John and Judas also lose sight of Jesus. We become selfish, prideful, envious, and greedy. This is where Mark Powell’s explanation about why the disciples are portrayed so negatively comforts me. It is Christ’s faithfulness in us that persists through our struggles including our doubts. It is his faithfulness that helps to keep mine alive. We are all Christ has to build this Kingdom Jesus talks about. In the words of St. Teresa of Avila, “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.” Sorry Jesus, but I’m afraid that we, like those original disciples, with our selfishness and doubts and lack of faith are the best you’ve
got to work with. Thank you for continuing to believe in us, for keeping after us, never letting go.
Rev. Bob Donnell
Prayer For the Human Family (BCP p. 815)
O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
