Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid

Reading this with the children tonight. Jesus had fed the five thousand and was spending the night alone in prayer, the disciples had sailed off ahead. A storm came up and those on the boat were in mortal fear. Seeing Jesus walking on the water made them even more afraid, but he greeted them like this:

Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid

As he got into the boat, the storm ceased and they were astonished, 'for they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened'.
Here is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, co-equal with Father and the Spirit, in Being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice and truth (as the catechism states), and HE is saying, 'be of good cheer' and, 'be not afraid'. If it were any other, we might have reason to fear. These disciples had seen the feeding of the five thousand, at the least, yet their hearts were hardened and so they were not able to take the lesson about who Jesus was, and all the implications of that, so that it would stand them in good stead for when a trial came. Their hearts were hardened. What if God did answer every point of objection you have to his activity, person, and very existence? That may yet not shift the hard-heartedness which cuts you off from the great, not to say eternal, blessings and lessons we have here in the Bible, that you might be saved and really live:

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

John 10:10