AtomFear not, for I am with you
Matthew 14:22-33
“Be Not Afraid, I go before you always”: Powerful words of Promise for God’s People then and today!
If you’ve been anywhere near a radio, newspaper, TV, or internet…you must have heard the news this week…over and over and over again…
“TOTAL FEAR” was the catchword on the talk radio show I was listening to on my way home from a hospital visit in Fargo this past Thursday. I bet I heard the host say these words TOTAL FEAR a dozen times…as the Dow dropped 500 some points…as the jobs report was being speculated on…as 401k plans took another beating…and more…
Friday’s Star and Tribune…headlines…”MARKETS PLUMMET ON GLOBAL FEARS”…and inside the article…and several articles…”fear” and “afraid” show up over and over…
And, when I’m honest…as I read and heard this, I experienced some of the same concerns and fears…especially when I checked out my daughter’s 529 college plans and saw them take a beating…not to mention checking my retirement stuff…
Let’s face it…by nature, we, as Humans are people of FEAR!! I am…you are…and these fears pop up all the time!!
In a Peanuts cartoon strip Charlie Brown goes to Lucy for a nickels worth of psychiatric help. She proceeds to help him pinpoint his particular fear.
• Perhaps, she says, you have hypengyophobia, which is the fear of responsibility. Charlie Brown says no.
• Well, perhaps you have ailurophobia, which is the fear of cats. No.
• Well, maybe you have climacophobia, which is the fear of staircases. No.
• Exasperated, Lucy says well, maybe you have pantophobia, which is the fear of everything. Yes, says Charles, that is the one!
And, it’s so true: Sometimes we feel like we are afraid of everything. We are afraid of ourselves. We are afraid of people. We are afraid of the future. We are afraid of the past. We are afraid of life. We are afraid of death.
These fears even shows up in the dogs we own. From an article called “Going to the Dogs”:
Fear is a terrible thing. And if statistics compiled by the American Kennel Club are any indication, fear is becoming more pervasive all the time. Yes, I said The American Kennel Club. According to their records, in 1975 (my HS graduation year), cuddly poodles were the most popular purebred dog in America, with 139,750 registered. There were only 952 registered Rottweilers, a fierce breed often used as a guard dog. 20 years later, the poodle population had been cut in half to 61,775, while Rottweilers had increased 100 times to 102,596. I guess we could say that America is not only going to the dogs - but mean dogs at that! I can only guess this trend has continued!!
Which, by the way, is NOTHING new…
All the way back, in the story of creation found in the Book of Genesis, we read where Adam and Eve were hiding from God…IN FEAR…why? They had eaten of the forbidden fruit, and now they were hiding from God!! And, in the story, when God finds them, as we know that He will, for, after all, where can we go to hide from God? God asks them why they are hiding. Adam said, “Because we were afraid!!”
Fear is found throughout the New Testament; even from Paul, the one who wrote so often about peace that passes understanding, and about learning to be content in all situations: Even Paul had to contend with his fears. Paul had fallen flat on his face in Athens. He did exactly what he intended not to do, and in his own eyes he had failed.
He wrote of his arrival in Corinth: “For when we came into Macedonia we had not rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fighting’s; within were fears.” Paul fought with his fears, just like you and me--the fear of inadequacy, the fear of failing.
To be human is to have fears. Today, I want to acknowledge this…But then, where I want us to go today…where the Gospel goes today…is God’s response to our Fears. That yes, while the scriptures speak of our fears, just as often the scriptures speak of God’s response to our fears…which is, BE NOT AFRAID…for I AM WITH YOU!! Consider:
1. When Abram took his family to the Promised Land he feared that he was turning his back on everything he knew, his security for the unknown.
God spoke to him: Fear not Abram, I am with you…I am your shield and your reward will be great.
2. When the Jews stood at the Red Sea and could see Pharaoh’s chariots coming on the horizon, they cried out that they would all be slaughtered.
Moses said to them: Stand still, fear not, and see the salvation of the Lord.
3. When the angel of the Lord came to Mary and said that she would bear a child, she trembled with fear. What would become of her she wondered?
Said the angel: Fear not Mary, for you have found favor with God.
4. Notice Today…in our Gospel…which takes place RIGHT after Jesus has provided for them the gift of God’s Providence…the feeding of the 5000 and more…Right after they had FIRST HAND experience FIRST HAND God’s abundance…
They go out in the boat…a storm comes up…a figure like a GHOST appears on the Water, and…THEY WERE filled with FEAR!! And Jesus said, “Be Not Afraid…It is I!”
Over and over…in response to these many situations, what God does is tell his people…
Be NOT AFRAID: Fear not. Over seventy times this is mentioned in scriptures, more than any other human emotion. But…he doesn’t stop there…
After promising his presence…he offers His invitation…the invitation to face these fears head on, but face them keeping our focus on the God who promises to be WITH his people in the midst of all!!
And, this facing and trusting and keeping focus on this Incarnate God is the “rest of the story” of Abram, Moses, Mary, and even Peter…
What does Peter do in our Gospel story?
In the midst of the storm, in the midst of his fears…He gets out of the boat…starts to overcome his fears…until, he loses his focus and takes his eyes off of the bringer of peace…and starts to sink…
Peter gets caught between Christ and the crests of the waves. He doubts his walk. He fears the storm. And he falls beneath the waves.
But even here, in Peter’s sinking…we discover the Best News of All…the Incredible Good News that I sense Matthew, the gospel writer wants us to know.
Even when we sink, even when we take our eyes off of Christ, when the waves seem destined to swallow us up….God does NOT abandon us…our Lord is STILL with us…and His grace will pull us through. His presence is NOT dependent upon our FAITH…
The Good News of Jesus that we are invited to remember is: regardless of what happens, regardless of what we feel…or fear….God is with us. This is HIS PROMISE to HIS PEOPLE!!
Of course, this is NOT NEW…to us or to God’s people. Many of you and God’s people across the world live out this promise of God. I take incredible inspiration from God’s people who, in the midst of the storms and fears of life, “walk on water” if you will…in other words, trusting in God’s grace to carry them through…they live by faith in the midst of fears:
I think of the many I know who are undergoing chemotherapy or radiation treatments: people Pastor Wade and I visit on a regular basis…and see their faith and calm in the midst of the storm…experience their love and care asking about us, doing ministry FOR US…I spent time this week with one such person…facing several major medical issues…yet…this person (and the family with them) wanted to focus, not on themselves, but on me and my family…to keep us in their prayers…and I thought…WOW…
They are indeed “walking on water”…living by faith in the midst of fear!!
I think of the many around us who are living on fixed incomes…whose Social Security has not been raised for how long…those who are counting every nickel…yet…so many continue to give so faithfully and abundantly…not only to the ministry of First Lutheran, but to TeacHaiti, and in so many other ways…and I think WOW…
These folks are indeed “walking on water”…living by faith in the midst of fear!!
These are those who resemble the young child… who, on the night her house caught fire was forced to flee to the roof. His father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his daughter, “Jump! I’ll catch you.” He knew the child had to jump to save her life. All the child could see, however, was flame, smoke, and blackness. As can be imagined, she was afraid to leave the roof. Her father kept yelling: “Jump! I will catch you.” But the child protested, “Daddy, I can’t see you.” The father replied, “But I can see you and that’s what matters.”
That’s walking on water – living by faith in the midst of fear!!
Brett Blair, while reflecting on this promise of God, told this story:
Alexander Solzhenitsyn was the first author to alert the West to the horrible realities taking place in Stalin’s labor camps. Solzhenitsyn said that only once during his long imprisonment in a labor camp in the Soviet Union did he become so discouraged that he thought about suicide. He was outdoors, on a work detail, and he had reached a point where he no longer cared whether he lived or died. When he had a break, he sat down, and a stranger sat beside him, someone he had never seen before and would never see again. For no apparent reason, this stranger took a stick and drew a cross on the ground.
Solzhenitsyn sat and stared at that cross for a long while. He later wrote, “Staring at that cross, I realized that therein lies freedom.” At that point - in the midst of a storm - he received new courage and the will to live. The storm didn’t end that day, but through Jesus, Solzhenitsyn found the strength to ride it out.
FEAR…it’s part of who we are…it’s part of our make-up!! And we could make list after list of our everyday fears. Storms of Life…they are part of what it means to be human…and they come…often and unexpected!!
People of God, I don’t know what storm of life will come your way this week, or what storm you may be enduring at this very moment. But I know this: even as the storm rages around you, God’s promise to you is sure…His words today are FOR YOU!!
FEAR NOT…FEAR NOT…for I am with you!!
FEAR NOT as you go for that MRI now knowing what it will mean…
FEAR NOT when, out of the blue, your spouse says the marriage is over…
FEAR NOT when your worse fears become reality…
as happened yesterday for the parents of 38 soldiers in Afghanistan
COLLEGE KIDS…whether entering the unknown…last year before the unknown!!
FEAR NOT because I AM WITH YOU…and there is NOTHING that can separate you from the Love of God in Christ Jesus…(Our Romans 8 journey of a couple weeks ago!!)
Let me finish today this way:
I was inspired this week by the story told of an elderly saint of God. As he lay on his deathbed, a friend inquired as to whether or not he was afraid.
“Please tell me frankly”, the friend said, “do you fear crossing the river of death?”
“Well” replied this saint. “I would not be human if I didn’t have some fear…but, what I remember in my fears is that I belong to a father who owns the land on both sides of the river.”
Today’s Gospel reminds us, from birth through death: in life, there will always bring storms that bring fear. And even moreso…the Gospel tells us…in the midst of ALL the storms, God is with us as we face our fears:
Bringing the peace of HIS presence…inviting us to trust in Him, the one who indeed take care of HIS people…today and for ALL eternity. “BE NOT AFRAID”, He says, “I GO BEFORE YOU ALWAYS!” AMEN!!
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