“Fear Is The Right Response!”
Our Gospel lesson today is rich with metaphor and meaning. The traditional and almost trite interpretation of the miracle of Jesus stilling the
storm has to do with the idea that Jesus is there with us in the storm and will for Christians bring us a calm in the face of life’s storms.
I'm not here to tell you that that isn't true. I believe it to be true, and likely you do too. Not only that I've found it to be true, and most likely so have you.
However, what I want to do today is to ask us to look a bit deeper into this parable, and maybe in that deeper look, to find a meaning that isn’t quite so mundane as one that simply reassures us. In fact, I would suggest that anytime that we think that a scriptural message is there to only grant us some form of comfort then we are probably missing the point.
There are times in the lives of Christians in which fear is the appropriate response. As a friend likes to say: if you recognize that you are in mortal danger and don’t feel fear, that’s not courage: that’s just stupidity!
Jesus invites the disciples to sail to the other side after nightfall. He says, "Let's go across to the other side." I'm not sure that taking off to the other side of the lake after dark was the wisest thing to do. It took them right into a storm.
For the most part, we'd like to think that Jesus keeps us out of the storm. We'd like to think that as a Christian, and being close to Jesus, we might not have to face as many storms as others do, or we'd like to think that maybe we're somehow immune from some of the storms of life.
Jesus hopped into the boat with them and immediately led them into the midst of a life-threatening storm. If we’re paying attention, that’s where he leads us too!
No one is exempt from the chaos and the storms of life. In fact, in some cases, our faith and commitment to God leads us right into the chaos, the storms. And it is in the storms that he leads us. It is in the storms that we show forth our faith.
In fact, the closer we are to Jesus, we closer we are to chaos, the closer we are to the storms of life. The closer we are to Jesus, the more we have to confront the storms which bring us to mission, ministry, growth, and faith.
Life is always about change and growth. In facing dramatic changes, we will be lead into chaos, the storm, a deep fearful time, before we can become clear on what it is God wants us to do. Our most important and significant growth has come during times of stress, chaos, and uncertainty.
In order to see whose we are, who we are, and where we are going, we have to be led into chaos and the storm for a while. Therapists call it "coming to terms with reality." PNC’s call it: developing a new Mission Statement for the church.
It is the experience of being led into chaos by the Savior, and coming out on the other side with a new sense of the realities of God, and with a sense of growth, and depth of faith. For First Presbyterian it is the struggle to know what we can do to further the mission of our Lord over the next 5 years or the next 10 years. One thing I can guarantee you, whatever it is it won’t make us comfortable, but it will show forth our faith.
Jesus was in the stern asleep on the cushion. This is an interesting idea. Mark, generally a man of few words, notes that Jesus was in the stern sleeping on the cushion.
Jesus took the disciples out into the midst of a storm and then said, “Okay, handle it. I’m going to take a nap!”
The stern of a sail boat is where the helmsperson sits. From there the helmsperson steers and guides the boat and gives directions to the crew for a safe passage. And it is not a place to be asleep. Not only is it a place that brings seasickness in a storm, it is the place from which one ought to control the boat.
Mark, notes, Jesus was asleep. The Captain, the helmsperson, the one who was to be guiding and directing the boat for safe passage was sleeping. And with no one giving directions for sail set in the storm, with the tiller flopping wildly about, of course they were rightly afraid. Perhaps one was trying to release the mainsail, another the jib, and one may have been trying to steer, without arousing Jesus.
Jesus was at the helm. No question about it. He was right there. The disciples should not have been afraid. They should have been sleeping. Isn’t that what we want to do? Leave it up to Jesus and we’ll take a little nap?
Just as true courage can only be exercised in the face of fear, the key to this whole story is the question of faith, "Who is this that even the wind and sea obey him??" This one, the one at the helm, the one who invites us into chaos, the one who helps us clarify whose we are, who we are, and where we are going, is no less than Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior, the Christ. But the places where Christ leads us will often make us fearful, and sometimes he’s going to let us handle it ourselves because that’s where the courage that can only come from our faith in Him will show itself. He is showing his faith in us.
Jesus is the one who calms the storms, makes order out of the chaos, and lifts us to faith so that even when we are afraid, we will live and walk and even sail with Him even in chaos, even in storms, even when we want to take the helm away from him, when we think he's fallen asleep and doesn't know where he's headed. He has placed his church in our hands. We can only guide it through faith and obedience to his will.
It won’t always feel comfortable to us. It won’t always make sense to us. It won’t always take us to a place, to a decision, to a commitment that we ever thought we would be at, but it will take us home and spread his kingdom if we but seek always his will and his kingdom.
May we receive the power of the Spirit of God to know the faith that gives us a glimpse of eternity even in the eye of every storm!!
Amen.!!
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