Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

[Jesus] said, “Take heart; it is I. Don’t be afraid.”  +In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.             
 
You have heard me say before that we live in an age of anxiety. Some of it is because we live in an increasingly chaotic and uncertain time. Certainly the 2020 pandemic and the rise of crime in our major cities has deepened this sense of anxiety we feel. Another fact is the rise of social media and its impact on our mental processes. Yet another contributing factor is the rise of unbelief in Western culture and society. Our cultural knowledge of God and of the Scriptures is so diminished from what it was a mere 50 years ago. Whereas we once lived in the culture that was familiar with Bible stories and was aware of the presence of God in our midst, today that is no longer true. People are ignorant of the Bible, and they don’t have an awareness of the transcendent presence of God. The great irony in all of this is that we feel this anxiety despite the great technological advances we have made in the last 50 years. On the one hand, we think our technology gives us greater control over the world around us, yet we feel less secure than ever.

Today’s Gospel lesson underscores the ultimate answer to anxiety. The power and presence of Jesus Christ.

As St. Mark continues his account of Jesus in his Gospel, we see that right after Jesus feeds the five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fishes, that He orders them to get back into the boat again and go to Bethsaida on the other side of the lake. Once there, the disciples would finally get their opportunity for prayer and rest. In the meantime, Jesus goes off by Himself to have His own time of prayer and refreshment with the Father. Mark shows us a familiar pattern with Jesus: Before and after times of ministry, Jesus is spending time in prayer with the Father.

While Jesus is off by Himself praying, the disciples are in the boat trying to get to Bethsaida. But the wind comes up and begins to greatly hinder their progress. Mark tells us that Jesus sees them out on the lake having difficulty. But Jesus waits until the fourth watch of the night (between 3am and 6am) to go out on to the lake towards them. When Jesus reaches the place where the disciples were, the text tells us that Jesus was walking on the water, and that He meant to pass by them.

Now, Jesus walking on the water is amazing and supernatural, yet another sign to us of His identity as Messiah and Lord. But what is Mark talking about when he writes that Jesus “meant to pass by them?” Jesus doesn’t intend for the disciples to not see Him. He gets close enough so that they can see Him. Jesus wants to “pass by” the disciples in the boat, so that they can see Him and be encouraged and strengthened by His presence, and underscore the truth that Jesus truly is God. Jesus’ desire to “pass by” the disciples take us back to the encounter Moses has with God on Mt. Sinai, when God passes by Moses, so that Moses will get a glimpse of God’s glory and be encouraged and strengthened by His presence.

But that doesn’t happen, because when the disciples see Jesus out on the water, they aren’t strengthened and encouraged, but they are terrified, thinking that Jesus is a ghost or evil spirit out on the water. They cry out in fear.

Jesus responds with love and compassion to the disciples’ cries of fear, saying to them, “Take heart; it is I. Don’t be afraid.” And He gets into the boat with them, and the wind ceases. Jesus’ presence and power serve to bring peace and calm to a very terrifying and stressful situation.

There is a clear lesson here for all of us. Whatever situation you find yourself in, invite Jesus to come and be with you in that situation. Don’t try to handle it by yourself. Remember that Jesus loves you and wants to bring His power and presence into the storm of your life. Where there is confusion, fear, and anger, Jesus brings His understanding, comfort, and peace.

I want to suggest to you that if you want to find relief from your anxiety, there are spiritual exercises that you can do, things that will help you stay spiritually healthy amid this age of anxiety we live in.  In that vein, I would like to recommend two books written by John Eldredge. Eldredge is an evangelical, but he understands the concept of a spiritual rule of life, or daily spiritual practices that can help you stay spiritually healthy. The two books are Get Your Life Back and Resilient. The first was written during the pandemic, and he wrote it to help people cope with the fear and the social isolation that were a consequence of the lockdowns. The second book was written as a follow up to the first, to elaborate more fully on the exercises he established in the first book.

John Eldredge recommends that we adopt the following practices in order to stay spiritually and emotionally healthy when dealing with stressful times and situations, to help us keep our peace even during tough times. First, he recommends daily times of prayer. This prayer includes the practice of offering back to Jesus all the people and situations that are on our minds and hearts. “Lord Jesus, I give everyone and everything to you.” This also includes prayers of faith and adoration of God. “Lord Jesus, I love you, I believe in You, I worship You.”  Second, he recommends that we spend less time in front of screens and more time outdoors. Instead of looking at your smartphone immediately when you wake up, spend time in prayer first. Instead of watching screens until you go to bed, turn off the screens an hour before bedtime. Take walks and have conversations with friends. Read books. These practices can help keep anxiety from overwhelming us and driving us to unhealthy behaviors.

“And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but hearts were hardened.” One familiar theme we see in the Gospels is that Jesus’ disciples, despite being with Jesus and witnessing His miracles, had a difficult time accepting that He was the Son of God. Despite the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, despite Jesus walking on the water and calming the storm, the disciples still struggled to believe. We have the same struggle. We believe in Jesus, but when the crisis comes, when anxiety hits, we falter. We fall into fear. We turn to other ways of dealing with our anxiety: food, alcohol, and busyness. We refuse to give our problems and our fears to Jesus.

When we find ourselves falling into this trap, the best thing to do in that moment is stop and remember that Jesus is with us. “Take heart; it is I. Don’t be afraid.”
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+In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.