After the miracle where Jesus feeds the 5,000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, he sends his disciples ahead on a boat so that he may pray alone. A fierce storm makes rough water for the disciples. Jesus sees this and walks out on the lake past the boat, and they cry out in terror thinking he is a ghost. Jesus identifies himself as “I am” when he says, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” The raging storm stops immediately.
It appears that Jesus’ disciples, who have witnessed all of his miracles, cannot understand who Jesus really is. This is the second time Jesus has saved them from a storm on the water, and yet they were terrified when they saw him walking on the water.
The reading continues when they reach the other side of the lake at Gennesaret. As soon as they reached the shore, they were recognized, and people started gathering and bringing their sick to Jesus for healing. People were healed even by touching the edge of his robe. Thus, just the sight of Jesus brought believers to him in large numbers.
However, this far into Jesus’ ministry, his disciples still had trouble believing he was indeed the Son of God. They, like us, knew their faults and had trouble believing the Messiah would choose them as his followers. Their disbelief took the form of misunderstanding—they still did not understand the real purpose for Jesus’ coming to earth. Just as the disciples needed to transfer the truth that they already knew about Jesus to their current situation, we must also transfer God’s truth to our own life situations.
It is reassuring as a Christian who still has moments of questioning or disbelief, that even those closest to Christ had these same problems. We are fully human and sometimes are unable to see all God is doing for us. In this example, Christ doesn’t rebuke the disciples for their disbelief, and he doesn’t rebuke us about this when we have a similar problem. He realizes our limitations and knows our hearts. This Bible text, once again, is a reassurance of God’s love, compassion and understanding of his followers.
