Do Not Fear

And when evening was come, his disciples went down to the sea. And when they had gone up into a ship, they went over the sea to Capharnaum; and it was now dark, and Jesus was not come unto them. And the sea arose, by reason of a great wind that blew. When they had rowed therefore about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking upon the sea, and drawing nigh to the ship, and they were afraid. But he saith to them: It is I; be not afraid. They were willing therefore to take him into the ship; and presently the ship was at the land to which they were going.
John 6:16-21 (Douay-Rheims Bible)

Prayer Reflection

Dear Father in my thoughts I have placed myself where the apostles were on this night in the very boat with them. We've rowed out away from the shore and now the winds have risen up. My thoughts have circulated on Jesus and how he suffered on the cross and died a horrendous death. But as I recalled this with the others in the boat, we also had seen his risen presence. How truly fortunate for us he is still with us. My goodness these winds are beginning to truly rock the boat. It's dark out too and I am beginning to fear the water. I look out toward the shore, and I see, a man walking toward us and I truly become frightened, out of fear he may drown, without thought of his divine nature in this instant. He calls out and tells us to not be afraid, it is I he says. We really were frightened of the sea in the dark and seeing this man come to us. A man who we have known that died and came back to life. He's here, amazing but we are also back at shore, so fast too. He's here, he's really here with us, how can I be afraid then when he just did something extraordinary. My pulse quickens with the realization that he's really here with us.

One had to be there in person with them that night to know, and yet for us we can only imagine with God's grace to understand the truth. But more importantly, how does God's Word affect us in our life? Are we just as afraid as these men in the boat when we hear God's Word spoken. Jesus tells us to not be afraid, so why are we then?