The first reading from the letter of Saint John today, continues the discussion about love from yesterday’s readings for mass. God loves us and we must also love one another. We can be sure that we remain in Him, and He remains in us, because he has given us his Spirit. In modern times, we also grow in grace every time we receive the Eucharist at mass.
The first reading goes on to tell us that God is love. Whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out all fear. This reading ends by saying that “one who fears is not yet perfect in love.”
Jesus’ disciples obviously didn’t have perfect love yet, in today’s gospel, because they were afraid when they saw Jesus walking on the water in the middle of the night.
“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. 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. They were completely astounded. They had not understood the incident of the loaves.”
Jesus performed not one, but two very powerful miracles that day. Nothing like this had ever been seen before. Indeed, we might have reacted the same way if we had seen these miracles first hand. One thing to note about the disciples though, is that they were not perfect people. Their love for Christ was imperfect.
The last sentence of the gospel says something that is quite out of character for Jesus’ disciples. It says, “their hearts were hardened.” This is not mentioned in the gospels of Saint Matthew, or Saint John. In fact, all three accounts of Jesus walking on the water are very different from one another. Saint John claims that as soon as Jesus got in the boat, it immediately arrived at the other shore. Saint Matthew gives the account of Saint Peter trying to walk on the water and when he became afraid, he started sinking. Christ had to save him.
These “imperfect” accounts of Jesus walking on the water give credible testimony that it really happened though, because we actually are imperfect human beings. Eye witness accounts always vary. The events are remembered quite differently, even today, when the police interview people who witnessed a crime, especially after a period of time has passed. However, when multiple witnesses say the same thing, even if interpreted differently, it is taken as the truth.
It seems a bit odd that after witnessing two very profound miracles, it says that the disciples hearts were hardened. This shows even further, the imperfection of the disciples even in the face of witnessing these two miracles first hand. We are like that too. We do not always respond well to things we do not understand, but maybe we shouldn’t be so hard on ourselves for these imperfections. Christ seemed to understand the imperfections his disciples had and especially demonstrated this in today’s gospel when he said, “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!”
Jesus revealed his divinity with two very powerful, profound miracles that occurred in a single day. Both his divinity and the miracles themselves were difficult for his disciples to grasp. How difficult that must have been to absorb and understand events that had never before been seen on the earth.
There are many things we can learn from today’s gospel, but one of them might be to have patience with ourselves and our own imperfections. Jesus Christ was the only perfect person who ever lived. We should however, learn to cast our fears onto the Lord and trust that he really is, who he says he is. Jesus Christ is the son of the living God. In life, and even in death, we should not be afraid, for he is with us. Like the first reading for mass today said, “we have confidence on the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world.”
Perfect love casts out all fear. This is the only perfection for which we should all be striving. To love Jesus more deeply and trust him more completely, with our lives.
