The following reflection in the form of a poem-like piece was written in the full context of where today’s Gospel reading is found in the sixth chapter of John...

As we bask in Easter light
the persistent and pesky dark voice of fear
buzzes in our ears like summer-time mosquitoes.
Our boot-strap mentality and fervent swatting is exhausting.

FEAR.

Fear of...fill in the blank.
Hunger.
Loneliness.
Death.
Rejection.
Loss of control.
What is yours?

We are like the people pursuing Jesus - 
famished, fatigued and fixated.
Our fear disorients and drains us.
Up the mountain he goes.
We are close behind.

Jesus senses our hunger for hope.

A great feast-like feeding follows 
on the well-trodden heels 
of his miraculous words of gratitude.
Further up the mountain he goes.

Our bellies now full,
we join the disciples in the boat
as they cross dark waters
and the storms arrive.

Storms of...fill in the blank.
A shocking diagnosis.
The death news of a loved one.
Loss of a job.
Fracturing in a relationship.
What is yours?

As the ground beneath us shifts and swirls,
winds that carry the familiar voice of fear whip up.
Our hands grasp to the side of life’s vessel 
in both desperation and determination.

Those same hands are calloused from all that rowing.
Rowing through the storms of life.

Just then, our tired eyes catch a glimpse 
of a familiar figure nearby.
It is Jesus.
There, in the midst of the storm 
and the fatigue 
and the fear is...

JESUS.

Can you sense him nearby?

“It is I.”

“Do not be afraid.”

Can we accept his bold command
when everything around us tirelessly tries to say the opposite?

Fear is all too familiar...
...but, so too is our friend Jesus.

When we hear his voice
and heed his command 
amidst the storms of life
we will suddenly find ourselves 
on the safe and sturdy ground of shore...

...basking in the Easter light that breaks there.