A Faithful Fear

Mark 4: 35-41

June 25, 2006

A Faithful Fear

One of our members last Sunday gave me an illustration that she had found on the Internet and said that if I ever ran out of stories this one might be a good one. Little did I know then that I would find use for it for the very next Sunday. It is about buzzards, bats, and bumble bees.

If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkably nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.

A bumble bee, if dropped into an open tumbler,(I’m not sure how true this one is) will be there until it dies unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists until it complete destroys itself.

In many ways people are like the buzzard, the bat, and the bumble bee. We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations never realizing that all we have to do is look up.

Is that also the reason that we have such a problem dealing with our fears, because we fail to look up? We become prisoners to our fears because we fail to look up? We shuffle about helplessly in life because we fail to look up? We let our fears destroy us because we fail to look up? What can a Christian do with his/her fear except to look up?

But what does the Christian do when he/she looks up and doesn’t see anything, at least doesn’t see anything that is either able or willing to help? That seems to be the problem for the disciples in this morning’s reading caught in this great storm. They were afraid. The fact that at least four of Jesus' disciples were professional fishermen heightens the severity of the storm. We might easily understand the fear of a tax collector (or accountant) at sea; but the fishermen! It was a bad storm. This was a storm that made even experienced fishermen afraid for their lives.

Is there anyone in this room who has never been afraid? The artist Rembrandt once painted a canvas titled "Storm on the Sea of Galilee." Examining the painting carefully you will note that there are fourteen men in the boat. There are the twelve disciples plus Jesus. That makes thirteen. Who is the fourteenth passenger? It is Rembrandt himself. We are all in that boat. We all know what it is to be afraid. Maybe we all know what it means to be on the verge of panic.

What did the disciples do when they were afraid? They looked up, i.e. metaphorically looked up as they looked to Jesus. And what did they see? They saw Jesus asleep in the back of the boat. It was obvious to them. Either Jesus couldn’t help or else he was choosing not to help. Mark reports, “³⁸But (Jesus) was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and (the disciples) woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

This is our deepest fear isn’t it? When fear drives us to pray and there doesn’t seem to come an answer. We look up but don’t find anything. I think it would be easier for me to accept that Jesus could not help me rather than Jesus could help me but chose not to.

Doesn’t it bother you when others don’t share your fears, when others don’t get as excited about some danger or threat that you do? This, too, must have been the disciples’ reaction. They feared for their lives and Jesus just lay there napping. Is it true that Jesus lay asleep in the stern of the boat because he didn’t care what happened to the disciples, or could Jesus' sleep have been a sign of his complete trust in God?

I am not going to suggest that putting our fears into the hands of Jesus is easy, (I struggle daily with all sorts of fears) but I am going to claim that the scriptural witness is that putting our fears into the hands of Jesus works.

On a commuter flight from Portland, Maine to Boston, Henry Dempsey, the pilot of the aircraft, heard an unusual noise at the rear of the small plane. He turned the controls over to his co-pilot and went back to check it out. As he reached the tail section the plane hit an air pocket and Dempsey was tossed against the rear door. It became apparent all too quickly that the mysterious noise had been the rear door which had not been properly latched prior to takeoff. The door flew open the instant Dempsey hit it and he was sucked out of the small jet.

At that moment the co-pilot saw the red light go on that indicated an open door. He immediately radioed the nearest airport requesting permission for an emergency landing. He reported that the pilot had fallen out of the plane and requested a helicopter to search the area of the ocean over which they had been flying.

After the plane landed, airport personnel found Henry Dempsey even before the emergency helicopters could take off. He was holding onto the outdoor ladder of the aircraft! Beyond anyone’s comprehension Dempsey had managed to catch hold of the ladder as he fell and he had held on for 10 minutes as the plane flew 200 miles per hour at an altitude of 4,000 feet. As the plane landed he narrowly kept his head from hitting the runway. Dempsey was holding onto the aircraft with such force that it took the airport rescue team several minutes to pry his fingers from the ladder.

The moral of this story(?): You have to know when to hold on and you have to know when to let go. There are times when holding on is a great idea. Other times, letting go is the best idea. With our fears we need to know when to hold on and when to let go.

In our fears what do we hold on to with the tenacity of Henry Dempsey? We hold on to the love and promises of God.

The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.

Linda Sledge recalls a day from her childhood that she will never forget. She was playing in the sand of a Hawaiian beach near where she lived, building towers with her red shovel and bucket. She had wandered away from her parents. Suddenly a great wave knocked her off her feet into the ocean. She managed to get up on her feet, but the sand was flowing out from under her feet. Then another wave struck, and she had no footing. She cried out for her parents. All she could see was the vast ocean ahead. She thought she was doomed. Just then two strong arms reached out from behind and pulled her to safety. "Don't be afraid," her father said. "I've been watching you all the time." That, too, is God’s promise.

An in the midst of fear what should be let go of? Henry Dempsey was finally safe but couldn’t will himself to let go of the hatch ladder. We need to understand when we are safe in the hands of Christ and be willing to let go of our own efforts to save ourselves. Fear is the darkroom where the devil develops his negatives. It’s not a good place to be, and it’s time to let go of it. Amen.

May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.