Take Heart, Take Courage

Back when I was around seven years old, my family and I were on a trip to Silver Dollar City in Tennessee—Silver Dollar City would eventually become Dollywood.  My parents were busy watching a candle being made or something—one of those demonstration booths, places like that have—it was, of course, super boring to me, so I begged to go to the playground which was in sight of where they were.  And this being the early 1980s, my parents were perfectly fine with me heading out on my own.

Playgrounds made in the 1970s and 80s seemed designed to bring pain and suffering to children, with metal structures and concrete pads being the consistent feature.  I had broken my arm at a playground just the year before, but still my parents let me go.

It was Tennessee and the sun was hot that day.  I climbed up the slide and then pushed off, not considering that the metal slide and the hot sun might be conspiring to ruin my day.  I felt the scorch on my legs almost immediately and popped up to my feet, thinking I would just run my way down the rest of the slide.

Nope.  My feet slid out from under me.  I landed hard on my back, slid down the rest of the way and landed again on the ground, hard on my back.

The shock of the landing was compounded with the fact that suddenly I couldn’t breathe.  I gasped for breath, helplessly.

An older couple—I remember thinking they looked like someone’s grandparents—ran over to me.  I guess I managed to point to where my parents were and I think the man must have been the one that ran off to get them.  My memory is bit foggy—it was a long time ago. 

But the woman stayed.  She looked down at me and softly spoke to me as I continued to struggle to breathe.  “You have the wind knocked out of you,” she told me.  “It’s okay.  You’re going to be all right.  Just breathe.  It’s okay.  Just breathe.”  I remember her putting her hand on my abdomen as she spoke.  “Just breathe.”  All these years later, it seems like a dream to me.  But I remember her kindness more than anything and I remember feeling safe.

If you have ever had the wind knocked out of you, you know it can be terrifying, especially if you’re a child and you don’t know what’s happening.  Simply it’s just a spasm in the diaphragm and it does resolve on its own, but for those brief seconds, you feel like you’re going to die.

Today’s reading from Mark 6:47-56 is very similar to last week’s reading.  Once again, we find the disciples on a boat, struggling.  Last week it was with a storm.  This week it’s with a stiff wind.  They are really struggling with the oars.  But while it was a storm last week that frightened them, in this week’s reading it is Jesus, Himself, who is not on the boat, but, from shore, sees the disciples struggling and decides to walk out to them—to walk on water, to the disciples, who when they see this mysterious figure walking out on the sea, predictably freak out, thinking they are seeing a ghost.

Jesus says to them in verse 50, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Now here is where I’m going to turn into a bit of word nerd and punctuation nerd, because when I first read this verse which is the NRSV, I noticed a couple of things.  First, the overall feeling in this verse is one of tenderness and calm.  It’s as if Jesus were talking to the disciples as if they were a wounded animal caught in a trap.  He doesn’t want to scare them, but He wants them to know they are safe.

“Take heart,” he says, which is such an interesting phrase that I thought, I wonder what the other translations say.  Because the whole verse here is one of calm, even with its punctuation.  Take heart comma it is I semicolon do not be afraid period.  Pause, longer pause, stop.

But let’s see what other translations say.

The NIV for example.  I heard someone on Facebook the other day call the NIV the khakis of Bible translations, inoffensive and just fine.  Depending on how you grew up, what denomination, especially if you were in a mainstream protestant church, you probably grew up with the NIV version.

So, let’s look at what they do with verse 50.  The NIV reads, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

Take courage exclamation point.  It is I period.  Don’t be afraid period.

This is a different Jesus than the NRSV.  I call this Jesus, Gaston Jesus—Gaston from “Beauty and the Beast.”  This is Warrior Jesus.  This is I Am Here to Save You Jesus.  This is Arnold Schwarzenegger Jesus, carrying all twelve disciples on His back as He walks across the sea.

Let’s look at another translation, this time the World English Bible, which might be a new translation for you.  I am familiar with it because it is in the public domain and if I want to include Bible quotes in my books, this is the version I’m going to use.  The World English Bible is basically a modern version of the King James Version.  So no thee’s and thou’s.

Here’s their translation of verse 50, “Cheer up! It is I! Don’t be afraid.”

Cheer up exclamation point.  It is I exclamation point.  Don’t be afraid period.

The King James Version actually says, “Be of good cheer.”

And so I can’t help but call this the Charles Dickens’ Jesus.  I seriously hear Jesus with a British accent in this version.  Incidentally, Dickens did write a book on Jesus’s life for his children.  It was recently turned into an animated movie this past year.  But this is a Jesus who is always smiling, a Slap You On the Back, Best Friend, Jesus. 

I could go on and on with the various translations.  I will give you one last one—this from The Living Bible, which like The Message Bible is considered more of a paraphrase than an actual translation.  The Living Bible is the only Bible my mom had and it seems like it was the go-to version for women in the 1970s. 

But verse 50 says this, “It’s all right,” he said. “It is I! Don’t be afraid.”

It’s all right, Jesus says.

Take heart.

Take courage.

Cheer up.

It’s all right. 

So, which Jesus speaks to you?  Because it occurs to me that how we view Jesus may have a lot to do with the Bible translation we have been most exposed to in our lives.  Or maybe it’s the opposite.  Maybe we are drawn to the translation where Jesus speaks in a way that we have already heard Jesus speak to us, to our own hearts. 

I did not start reading the NRSV until I became Episcopalian.  And today, I can tell you that the NRSV translation of verse 50 with Jesus saying, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid,” that soft measured approach, seems most like the Jesus I know now.

But there have been times in my life when “Take courage!” was how my Jesus spoke.  That Jesus set a fire under me.  Don’t give up!  Don’t be afraid!  Take courage!  I needed that Jesus.  I needed the Jesus who would fight for me and who wanted me to fight for myself too.

And there have definitely been times in my life, like when I was on the ground at the base of that slide in Silver Dollar City, struggling to breathe, when I needed Jesus to say, as that woman said to me, “It’s all right.  It’s going to be all right.”  I needed a soothing Jesus, a loving comforter. 

Jesus speaks to us differently throughout our lives, but always in the way we need to hear at the time.

What words do you need to hear today?

Take heart.

Take courage.

Cheer up.

It’s all right.

Amen.