A New Understanding

Gospel: Mark 6: 45-52

After feeding the multitude, Jesus crosses the lake and goes up the mountain to be alone with God.  He intends to take us to a higher level of understanding about the events of the feeding.  Meanwhile, the disciples are not with him.  They are literally and figuratively out at sea, i.e. they fail to understand the deeper meaning behind the events of the last day.  The disciples, then as now, will continually fail to understand the deeper meaning of Jesus and their own lives.  

Jesus comes to heal those who are ill and lame.  He comes to deliver those held bound by demons of all sort.  He comes to feed and nourish and to eat with us at table.  This is the authentic work of God in the world.  The disciples have been accustomed to a god who imposes his will on the world through law and conquest, through violence and coercion, through threat and intimidation.  Jesus offers a different vision of God, a God of love, a parental God who provides nurturing and care for the household of faith.  

Jesus comes down the mountain to be with the disciples lost at sea.  He has to tell them not to be afraid, for his presence frightens them.  But the presence of God is not to instill fear but love.  God's presence is to calm and assure and console.  Authentic religion is about the latter and not the former.  When we seek God in the world, let this discernment guide us to places and people who are bearers of this light.