Grace to you and
peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen
“Peace!
Be Still!” “Why are you afraid?
Have you still no faith?”
“Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
In the Gospel of
Mark there are two storms that the disciples encounter as they attempt to cross
the Sea of Galilee.
Dr. Don Juel, the
seminary professor under whom I studied the Gospel of Mark made the observation
for us that these storms represent much more than just the arbitrary weather
patterns of the day. The storms that the
disciples encounter are highly significant in Mark’s telling of the Gospel
story, and they reflect the inner turmoil the disciples experienced, not merely
a weather phenomenon.
Specifically, it
is when the disciples cross over the Sea to the other side that they encounter
these storms and come face to face with their fears.
The Other Side.
The region beyond
the Sea of Galilee, to the east and north, was a Gentile territory. Not Jewish.
Foreign ground.
These words were
especially relevant to the Church at the time the Gospel was written because
Christians were struggling with the question of their mission to the Gentiles.
The message of
the Gospel had largely been rejected by those in Israel, and the early
Christian believers, following Paul, had to make the journey into the Gentile
world of the greater Roman Empire.
They became
sojourners in a foreign land.
And this journey,
away from their home into the unknown, caused great fear.
“Peace!
Be Still!” “Why are you afraid?
Have you still no faith?”
“Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Fear is a theme
throughout the Gospels.
From the angel’s
greeting to Mary, to the disciple’s hiding behind the locked door on Easter
evening, fear was their constant companion.
Fear is one of
the most basic emotions of the human experience. It produces within us either the desire to
flee, or to fight. It is part of our
survival instinct.
On the one hand
it is our fears that keep us alive.
But on the other
hand, our fears can enslave us.
“Peace!
Be Still!” “Why are you afraid?
Have you still no faith?”
“Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Fear overcomes us
when we feel threatened, when we leave our comfort zone, when we face the
unknown, and especially when we are out of control.
We all have our
fears, and sometimes those fears come to the surface and get the best of us.
One of our
primary fears is of our own deaths. Actually,
I had one person tell me that it wasn’t death that made him afraid, it was
dying. There’s a difference.
This fear of
dying, not death, is most evident in one simple fact: No one, I repeat, no one, wants to end up in
a nursing home for the remainder of their life.
Maybe in senior housing. If need
be, perhaps even in assisted living. But
absolutely no one wants to end up spending their last years in a nursing home
unable to care for themselves.
It is one of our
greatest fears.
There is another
type of fear that grips us.
This is like the
fear that gripped the disciples as they crossed over the Sea to the other side,
to the Gentile world. It’s the fear of
being a minority.
I’ve experienced
that fear.
I grew up in
South Dakota. South Dakota is in fact
two very separate and different states.
The first is in the East and is entirely white, and I mean entirely. That’s where I grew up.
The other is
primarily in the West, and it comprises 7 major Indian Reservations. When, as a white boy, you find yourself on a
Reservation where everyone else is native, fear is one response.
I felt the same
fear when I first experienced an all black neighborhood.
It’s a fear of
feeling displaced, of being the minority, of being out of control.
Such fears grip
our nation. They are causing storms to
rage all around us. They unsettle
us.
2043
That’s at the
root of many of our fears that are front and center in our nation’s life.
2043
That is the year
according to the United States census bureau that White people will cease to be
the majority in our country. At that
point there will be more people of color, be it black, Hispanic, oriental,
native, and other groups such as Arabs, or mixed race, than there are White
people. White people will remain for a
time the largest ethnic and racial block, but no longer the majority.
2043, just twenty
five years from now.
That produces
fear within many in our country. Real,
palpable fear.
2043 looms on the
horizon for two reasons: First, because
the bulk of immigration to our country is no longer from Europe, and second,
because the minorities in our country are having far more children that white
people. This is especially true of
Hispanic people who, in part because of their Roman Catholic background, have
more babies than any other ethnic group in the United States. And blacks are not far behind.
The birth rate is
significant because even if we sealed the borders of our nation, built a wall,
and kept all minorities from immigrating, we would only delay the day when
whites become a minority.
This is what is
driving the white supremacy movement in our country.
Fear.
If you want to
understand why the issue of immigration has become such a major storm in
American politics, specifically along our southern border, you need look no further
than 2043.
Last week I
mentioned the immigration crisis we are facing as a country, and specifically
how troubled I have been about the policy of separating children from their parents
as their status is reviewed.
This week I’m
deeply grateful that President Trump has taken action to stop this practice.
One of the other
things that happened is that when I posted my sermon on-line it generated more
responses than any other sermon I’ve posted, by far.
One response in
particular struck me:
“Never does He
call us to welcome rapists, murderers, pedophiles, hate filled blood
worshipping monsters into our homes.”
“hate filled
blood worshipping monsters”
Can you hear the
fear implicit in those words?
There are also
other signs of fear in our country.
I’ve shared with
you before that one of the troubling things I deal with at my other job is that
a number of my co-workers come to work with loaded weapons. They refuse to drive without a pistol loaded
and ready to fire.
Fear.
It goes beyond
simply floundering in a boat amid a storm at sea.
One of the things
about fear is that it often breeds hate.
Fear is why we
have ‘hate crimes’ in our country.
Fear.
“Peace!
Be Still!” “Why are you afraid?
Have you still no faith?”
“Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
“Then in their trouble they cried to the
LORD, and you delivered them from their distress. You stilled the storm to a
whisper and silenced the waves of the sea. Then were they glad when it grew
calm, when you guided them to the harbor they desired.
Let them give thanks to you, LORD, for your
steadfast love and your wonderful works for all people.”
These are the
words from our Psalm today.
I encourage you
to go home and read the entire Psalm 107 as it deals so beautifully with the fears
we face.
Faced with all
sorts of fear, time after time the Psalmist declares:
Then they cried to the Lord in their
trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress;
Faith casts out
fear.
That’s the first
thing to bear in mind.
“Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
Jesus is in
control.
If we really
believe that, there is no need to fear.
That’s why we hear so often the phrase, “Fear not!” in the Bible. Jesus is in control.
Trust in Jesus,
and you need not fear, not death, nor people different from ourselves, nor the
threats that surround us like a great storm at sea.
A second thing is
to have courage. Courage is different
than faith.
“In the world you face persecution. But take
courage; I have conquered the world!"
We will have
fears, and because our faith is often not yet perfect, those fears remain with
us.
Courage, though,
is the ability to act even in the face of our fears. “Good courage”, is the willingness to love,
even when doing so makes us vulnerable.
One experience I’ve
had as a pastor was helping a woman who was being abused by her husband. This is very risky, and violence is all too
common.
“Are you afraid?”
a colleague asked me.
“Yes, I
responded, but I still need to do it.”
In that moment
God had given me the courage to act even though I was afraid.
And sometimes
that is what we need.
“Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
How do we do that
when we are afraid of our neighbor? And,
in some cases, for good reason.
It takes courage,
and that is something God gives us, when we need it the most.
“Peace!
Be Still!” “Why are you afraid?
Have you still no faith?”
“Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Jesus is with us
in the midst of the storm. Take
heart. Have faith, and be of good
courage. Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment