Words for Life: Trust, not Fear - 2 Kings 4:1-7; Mark 4:35-41

The second scripture reading is about storms and fear, coming at a stormy, fearful time. This story concludes the fourth chapter of the gospel of Mark. Jesus has spent the day teaching, beginning with the parable of the sower, then teaching the crowds the parables of the lamp under a basket, the scattered seed, and the mustard seed. Jesus is tired out from the day, and so he and the disciples head out to cross the sea of Galilee, heading toward Gentile territory. Listen to this familiar story, starting with verse thirty-five.

35 On that day, when evening had come, [Jesus] said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

   This is the Word of the Lord.  Thanks be to God.

Can you sense the fear pulsing through this story?  The wind picks up, and water starts to fill the boat, and the disciples are fearful they may not make it across the sea. After watching Jesus speak to the wind and the waves, and watching nature respond instantly to his voice, the disciples are fearful about just who it is they are following. The NRSV translates the Greek in the last verse to read that the disciples were “filled with great awe,” but it could also be translated that the disciples were filled with great fear (verse 41). Who is this man who teaches, and heals, and orders even the sea to be still? I’m not sure what the disciples expected Jesus to do once he was awake, but I doubt they expected he would calm the water so quickly. The wind and the waves obey his command, just as God created order out of chaos at creation. In the gospel of Mark, there is an undercurrent of fear and foreboding. With each full day of observing Jesus teach and heal, the disciples try their best to understand the magnitude of who Jesus is and how they are called to be his followers.

Today, we are not strangers to undercurrents of fear.  There is plenty of fear in the air.  Storms repeatedly unsettle us –whether it’s a wildfire on the west coast, drought in our own backyard, or a powerful hurricane barreling through the Atlantic and now the Gulf. We are experiencing political upheaval as well, watching elections in Iran, the United Kingdom, and France bring new leadership, and paying attention to the political voices shouting for chaos and control in our own nation. All the while, there are the personal storms we face, as we struggle with declining health, grieving who and what is lost, and dealing with uncertainty in our lives.  Beloved of God, these stories from our scriptures of the widow and the disciples facing fear are relatable today. We know what it is like to face adversity without a clear plan of how we will make it through to the other side.

As we look for words of life in these stories, it is important to note that Jesus does not declare that there is nothing to fear. He asks the disciples why they are afraid, and why they do not have faith.  “Do not fear,” is one of the most repeated phrases in the Bible; some cite it is repeated 365 times in the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament.  The life of Jesus begins and ends with encouragement not to be afraid.  First Mary and then the shepherds are told by angels not to be afraid at the birth of Jesus. And in the gospel of Mark, the women are told not to be afraid when they find the tomb empty. Throughout the Hebrew scriptures and throughout the life of Jesus, God’s people are told not to live in fear.  Scripture does not deny that life is filled with reasons to be afraid. However, God wants us to trust that “though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil,” as Fred highlighted last week from the twenty-third psalm. Why? Because God is with us.  Because Jesus is with the disciples. Because Elisha the prophet is with the widow. Because God does not leave us to face our fear alone.  God is still calming the storm and proclaiming peace and stillness in our lives.  At the youth conference in Montreat, Dawn, a pastor from Columbia, SC, reminded us repeatedly that “Jesus is our peace,” and we don’t have to go looking for him. Jesus is present with us, when we pray and seek him.

When I worked in the Admissions Office at Union Presbyterian Seminary, supporting prospective students in their discernment journey, I shared a well-known prayer written by the monk Thomas Merton.  Merton was a wonderful writer, and his prayer has steadied me when fear has been louder than my faith.  His prayer goes like this,

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,

though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though
I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.[1]

Merton’s final line echoes the words for life Jesus hopes for the disciples in the boat and for us, his disciples today. Listen again.  “I will not fear, for you  [O God] are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”  God is always with us. The Creator, the Prince of Peace, the Advocate will not leave us to face any storm alone.  We place our trust in the hope and the promises of our God who will not abandon us.  We trust in the hope and the promises of Jesus Christ, who has the power to calm the storm on the sea and the storm in our hearts and minds.  We can choose to trust in God over fear, with God’s strength and steadfast presence.

[1] “The Merton Prayer,” Thoughts in Solitude. The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani. 1956. https://reflections.yale.edu/article/seize-day-vocation-calling-work/merton-prayer