CALMING FEARS

Rembrandt, The Stilling of the Storm.

Yogi Berra once quipped, “It is tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”

We are at a time when there is much fear abroad, when we do not know what the future holds. How do you handle fear for yourself or your loved ones? What resources do you have to combat your fears?

“Fear is at its most fearsome when it is diffuse, scattered, unclear, unattached, unanchored, free floating, with no clear address or cause; when it haunts us with no visible rhyme or reason, when the menace we should be afraid of can be glimpsed everywhere but is nowhere to be seen. ‘Fear’ is the name we give to our uncertainty: to our ignorance of the threat and of what is to be done – what can and what can’t be -to stop it in its tracks – or to fight it back if stopping it is beyond our power.” (Zygmunt Bauman: LIQUID FEAR)

In the modern era we have turned to the government to protect us from our fears. We prefer safety over freedom. “The story of the rise of modern democracy could be written in terms of the progress made in eliminating, or constraining and taming, successive causes of uncertainty, anxiety and fear.” Government has become our Savior from trouble of any kind. We seek a utopia on earth, free from fear.

Fear is a terrible feeling. When we are afraid, we tremble, we cannot sleep, we worry, we are at the mercy of the implacable circumstances of our lives. Keeping calm in the face of danger is an achievement of the highest order. Both emotions were on display one evening on the Sea of Galilee. What started out as a leisurely boat ride turned into gut-wrenching terror when a furious squall suddenly came up.

In the midst of the storm Jesus was fast asleep, resting comfortably after a busy day. The disciples were bailing for their lives, trying to stay afloat. In desperation, these experienced fishermen awoke him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” They expected him to join them in the efforts to save the boat from being swamped. Instead, he stood up, and rebuked the wind and the waves, “Quiet, be still!” Immediately the wind died down and it was completely calm. (Mark 4:35-39)

We live in the midst of a storm where our safety is threatened by disease, social unrest, economic uncertainty and millions of people are in danger of losing their jobs, their businesses, their friends, and their churches. We feel fear of drowning and our inability to solve the problems.

This is the account of the physical miracle of the stilling of the storm. It is impossible to believe that a man could command the wind and the waves. In a celebrated incident in history, King Canute, eleventh century king of Denmark, Norway and England, despite his power and the flattery of his courtiers, demonstrated that he could not command the tide to stop rising. We cannot control nature, e.g.hurricanes or pandemics, but we can find ways to mitigate the effects of nature. Jesus had this calming effect on the wind and the waves. Yet his action did not calm the fears of his followers. “They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’” They recognized that the miracle demonstrated something extraordinary, something beyond nature, was at work in the person of Jesus.

Because of our familiarity with the story of Jesus we are tempted to be indifferent to who he is and what he is capable of doing. The nature miracles offer profound clues about Jesus’ full identity as the creator Son of God. Divine power is at work in a special way through Jesus. Christians believe that Jesus has power over the forces of chaos that threaten our lives in the present. He demonstrates that he can preserve us from the destruction of the storms that break over our lives. Nature here is representative of the forces of evil, of Satan and all his works, who would destroy Jesus’ followers and their faith. In John’s vision of the new heaven and the new earth, the sea is no more (Revelation 21:1). The sea portrays the uncontrollable forces of danger that threaten our safety. Jesus manifests the power of God, to conquer the powers of darkness, that fill us with fear.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you,

and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;

the flames will not set you ablaze.” (Isaiah 43:2)

We live in a fallen world beset by powers of chaos that can destroy us. Life is unpredictable. 9/11’s do happen. Cancer strikes. Accidents happen. The stock market nosedives. Recessions threaten. Marriages collapse. Friends and children let us down. Pandemics occur. Temptations overwhelm us. Fear stalks us.

When we are taken by surprise, when a storm or a virus hits us, when all our carefully thought out plans do not pan out, when we face the unknown, when certainty is replaced by chaos, when we are mugged by life, when we find that we are powerless to help ourselves or to solve what we are facing, when previously we have been able to cope, we are filled with fear. The actuarial tables do not always work in our favor. We can be on the losing side. We cannot always beat the system. e.e.cummings expressed this reality:

King Christ, this world is all aleak,

and life preservers there are none.

In the midst of our storms we may think that God is unconcerned about our plight, asleep at the helm, or even absent. We panic, and bail for our lives. We think the worst. We catastrophize. Jesus did not just rebuke the wind and the waves, he also rebuked the disciples: “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” That is a question he puts to us today! Where is our faith?

They had no need to be afraid. Jesus could rest assured that all would be well and that the storm would pass. He could sleep through the heart of the storm. His example is a lesson to us of how faith triumphs over fear. Yet despite calming the storm the disciples were still afraid. Why? “They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him?’”

Their expectations were that when they awoke Jesus, he would help them save the boat from being swamped. They did not expect him miraculously to still the storm. They awoke him because they all feared drowning, Jesus among them. They protested his lack of concern. When he stilled the storm and rebuked them for their fear and lack of faith they were startled and terrified. It was not the storm that then filled them with fear, but the calm. They realized that they were in the presence of great authority and power. Here was the person who died for our sins and rose again, defeating death. It revealed to them that there was no need to wake him.

As English Bible teacher and preacher G. Campbell Morgan (1863-1945) wrote:

the deeper thing they learned was this; that no storm can wreck the program of God; that though all hell be let loose, and though it have power over elements, and events, and the hearts of men, and the passions of the world, to stir them into storm, and wreck the apparently frail boat where Christ lies asleep, it is all useless. If He be there, all is well….There ought to be no panic in the heart of a man, when he knows Christ. We may be sure that Christ is at the heart of every storm. He apparently sleeps in the hour of our anxiety…All such panic is unnecessary and unworthy. The Lord is at the heart of the storm, and we may rest in him, and smile at the storm. It was Jeremy Taylor who said that we are far safer in the middle of a storm with God, than anywhere else without him.

That is why St. Paul could say: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:8,9) “Fear not” is central to the message of Jesus.

What can you say? How are you handling this present crisis? Put your trust in Jesus. He is Lord and Savior of the world. He is knocking on the door of our lives and asks to enter and calm us. He brings with him the indwelling of the Spirit and his fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. How needful are those for us and the nation today? Admit your fear and failings, repent of your anger and despair, allow him to take away your anxieties, let him search your heart and heal your painful unconsciousness. Walk with him and seek his guidance and wisdom. Let him fill you with hope for the future. Will you do this?

Lord Jesus, by your own peace of soul,

rooted and living in the eternal Father,

serene in the hours of commotion and anguish,

grant me your tranquility.

Be my life hid in yours;

let your fearless and imperturbable Spirit come and dwell in me.

You have said, I will give you rest:

your presence is our peace.

Your Spirit is the donor of every good grace,

and, in all that he bestows, brings with him

your eternal purpose, your divine counsel,

your support and most ready help,

your courage and your victory, your love.

Whom then, what then, shall I fear?

Whom then, what then, shall I fear?

You who guides us in the calm

will not leave us in the storm. Amen.

(Eric Milner-White 1884-1963, Dean of York Minster)