6 January 2027 · Latin Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Syro-Malabar Rite · മലയാളം
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.” 1 John 4:18
After feeding the five thousand, Jesus sends the disciples ahead by boat and goes up the mountain to pray. In the night the wind is against them and they strain at the oars. Early in the morning he comes to them walking on the sea. They think he is a ghost and cry out in terror. Then comes one of the most beautiful sentences in the Gospels: “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” In Greek, “it is I” is egō eimi, the name God revealed to Moses. He climbs into the boat, and the wind ceases.
Mark adds an honest note: “they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.” They had just seen a miracle and still did not see who Jesus was. St John gives the remedy for fear: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” God's love living in us, and our love for one another, is the only lasting answer to the storms of life. “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us.”
Theme: “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Christ comes across the storm; love casts out fear.
“He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” Psalm 121:3–4
“After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.” Mark 6:46
Apply: Pray each night this week for those who are struggling.
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” Isaiah 43:2
“for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”” Mark 6:50
Apply: Repeat “Jesus, I trust in you” when fear rises.
“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.” 1 John 4:18
Apply: Do one act of love toward someone you fear.
The Lord of the sea climbs into our small boat.
Where love lives, fear loses its grip.
Take-home resolution: Pray Psalm 27 each morning this week.
Dear friends, after feeding the five thousand, Jesus sends his disciples ahead in the boat and goes up the mountain to pray (Mark 6:45–46). Even after a great success, he goes to the Father in prayer.
In the night the disciples are straining at the oars, for the wind is against them. Mark tells us that Jesus saw them (Mark 6:48). From the mountain, in the dark, he sees them. He sees you too, when life is hard work against the wind.
Early in the morning he comes walking on the sea. They think it is a ghost and cry out. Then he says: take heart, it is I; do not be afraid (Mark 6:50). The words it is I are the name of God revealed to Moses. The Lord of the sea climbs into their little boat, and the wind ceases.
Yet Mark says their hearts were hardened; they did not understand about the loaves. We too can see many signs of God's love and still be afraid. St John gives the remedy: there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).
Today, in many places, the Church celebrates the Epiphany, and our Eastern brothers and sisters celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. Christ is revealed as the one who comes to us in every storm. Let us invite him into our boat, and let his love drive out our fear. Amen.
Children, Jesus walked on the water to help his friends in the storm. When you are scared, say: Jesus, I trust in you! He is always near.
Lord Jesus, you saw your disciples straining at the oars and came to them across the sea. When the wind is against me, let me hear your voice: Take heart, it is I. Fill me with your perfect love that casts out fear. Amen.
John continues where he left off: since God has loved us, we must love one another, and love of that kind drives out fear. Mark shows the disciples in the middle of a real fear, on the sea at night, when Jesus comes to them with the words, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” Both readings teach us that fear gives way when we know who is near.
Setting.
This passage continues directly from the verses read on Tuesday. John now draws the conclusion. God's love cannot be seen as God is seen; but it can be seen where people love one another. And love has a future: it gives courage when one thinks of the day of judgment.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.” (4:12)
A startling step. We expect the verse to end, “but we see him in Christ” (as John 1:18 does). Instead John says that the invisible God is known where there is love among people.
“And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world.” (4:14)
“We have seen”: the letter began with eyewitness (1:1), and the writer comes back to it. Love in this letter is never cut off from the facts about Jesus.
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear;” (4:18)
One who is loved does not fear a beating. John is not saying that the Christian never feels afraid. He is saying that fear of God's punishment should not be the last word between a child and the Father.
How the Church reads it.
St Augustine, preaching on this verse, compares fear to the needle that goes through the cloth and pulls the thread of love after it: the needle goes out, and the thread remains (in substance, Homilies on the First Letter of John 9). The Catechism says that the person who is moved by love no longer stands before God as a slave, in servile fear, or as a mercenary looking for wages, but as a son responding to the love of him who “first loved us” (CCC 1828).
Setting.
This scene comes straight after the feeding of the five thousand, read on Tuesday. Jesus sends the disciples away by boat, dismisses the crowd and goes up the mountain to pray. In the night, a contrary wind holds the boat back on the Sea of Galilee. The disciples, as the Gospel says at the end, have not yet understood what happened with the loaves.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.” (6:46)
Mark shows Jesus at prayer alone at only three moments (1:35; 6:46; 14:32–39), each of them a time of decision. The Catechism says that he often went apart to pray in solitude, on a mountain, preferably at night (CCC 2602).
“When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea.” (6:48)
He sees them from the land, even when they cannot see him. The Greek says “about the fourth watch of the night”, between three and six in the morning, as the Malayalam POC has it. They have rowed all night. His help comes late, but it comes.
“But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”” (6:50)
Three short phrases. Fear is answered not with an explanation but with a Person. The same words, “Do not be afraid”, opened the pontificate of St John Paul II on 22 October 1978.
“for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.” (6:52)
Mark does not hide the disciples' slowness. A hard heart here does not mean malice, but dullness. Those who saw the bread multiplied do not yet see who gave it. This is an encouragement to us who are also slow.
How the Church reads it.
An ancient Christian image sees the boat as the Church, tossed about in the world and kept safe by Christ. Tertullian uses it, of the disciples in the boat, in his work On Baptism (in substance). The Church also learns here that the Lord does not always remove the wind at once. He sees, he comes in his own time, and he gets into the boat with us. That is the Epiphany again: the same Lord shown to the wise men is now shown to his own frightened friends.
Why did Jesus intend “to pass them by”? Was he going to leave them?
No. It is not about ignoring them. In the Old Testament, when God “passes by”, he is showing himself to someone (Exodus 33:19–22; 1 Kings 19:11). Mark's words tell us that this is a revelation of God's presence, as much as a rescue.