Israelites, of old, were not comfortable with the sea. In the annals of ancient history, the Jewish people are not numbered among the great sailors of the age, as were the Phoenicians or Egyptians. As a matter of fact, the Hebrew word for sea, , Yam, derives from the name of the evil god in the Babylonian creation myth – a mysterious, threatening force.

The Sea of Galilee is about 13 miles long by 8 miles at its widest – one shore of which or another ought always to be in sight to boaters. In our terms, the Sea of Galilee was a lake. It was known for the abundance of fish and for the sudden storms that would sweep across its surface owing to the winds which rush down the Jordan valley.

So here are Jesus’ disciples making their way, with their Teacher, across the lake. Four of his disciples were fishermen. Suddenly a storm strikes. Its fury is such that the disciples are terrified – so terrified are they that they awaken the sleeping Jesus, whom they accuse of not caring what happens to them. Jesus rebukes the wind and says to the sea, "Peace, be still." The wind ceases and the seas are dead calm. The disciples ask, "What kind of man is this?" And they are terrified, again because they don’t know what to make of this man who has demonstrated power over nature.

Fear is a condition with which most of us have had to deal. On the one hand, it refers to apprehension – the sense that something bad could happen because of a specific, perceived danger. You are seated on an airplane awaiting take-off and you find yourself focusing on the airline disasters of the recent past. You become convinced that something like one of these disasters could happen to you. You find a letter from the I.R.S. in your mailbox. Or you see a flashing red light on the Black and White behind you. Or your doctor announces, "I have bad news." Or a home invasion robbery takes place in your neighborhood. Fear is a normal, reasonable response to circumstances in which danger seems a plausible outcome.

Jesus laid to rest the disciples’ fear of the storm; in the process he himself became the object of their fear. This story of this remarkable event in the life of Jesus and his disciples reminds one of the words in the 107^th Psalm …

What was it about the way Jesus that led his fellow passengers to awaken him and implore him to save them? I would suggest that it was trust. He could/would make things better. Please note, I didn’t say belief … this event had nothing to do with intellectual acceptance of a set of theological propositions. There was no Nicene or Apostles’ Creed. The word in Greek usually translated as faith or belief -- -- has as one of its primary meanings: trust. The disciples trusted Jesus to rescue them.

The second thing at work here is that the disciples aligned Jesus, in their terror, with the Almighty and all-powerful God: He who put the stars in the heavens, the earth in its orbit, who spread the seas over the earth and created man and woman. The disciples turned to the power beyond themselves and they found power in the man from Nazareth. The stunning point made by the disciples’ actions and by the writer of the Gospel was that somehow, and in some unknown way, the young Rabbi shared in the power and the authority of the Creator! The poetry of the Old Testament Book of Job puts their claim in context:

It is a stunning thing this ancient story says of the disciples – that somehow they discerned that the Almighty and the youthful Rabbi were one with the other. Such a thought was surely sacrilegious; yet they ventured the thought. We are children of the enlightenment and, let’s face it, we are not very comfortable with miracles -- in this case, Jesus stilling the storm. But we must give some credence to a story such as this – these disciples spread out across the world – risking their lives – because they believed something remarkable transpired when Jesus was involved. They surrendered their fear and found courage.

There is another dimension to this story: the man who wrote this Gospel was writing when the young Christian Church was in serious danger: a rebellion against Roman power was raging throughout Judea and Roman troops were systematically slaughtering the rebels. The image of a boat was the image used by the early Christians for the Church. The storm of war might be breaking over you, this story says, but the Lord Jesus is able to save the Church from doom. Trust in him! Trust in him! He will still the storm. Such a message surely engaged the trust of the early Christians – trust that when they were true to his message, the Church would survive and even, as Jesus, would prevail.

There are some powerful messages here for all of us about fear.

First, fear is a reasonable response to specific danger. What is not reasonable is generalized, non-specific anxiety like the sky is about to fall, doom is about to envelop me. Therein lies pathology. But you had better pay attention to that letter from the I.R.S., or the flashing red lights, or the physician’s pronouncement of bad news. Your apprehension has a basis in fact.

Second, fear can be handled – you do what you need to do to address the felt danger. If you need assistance, you trust in the plans and the skill and wisdom of those whose help you enlist. And do enlist those who can help.

Third, you will find strength in your apprehension with one or more persons to whom you are close. Here is a strategy that was characteristically employed by the disciples – they got together, they talked about their fear. "What is the worst that can happen?" They prayed together. If the church plays no other role in your life than providing you with a community of persons who can stand by you in your hour of need, it has fulfilled a vital purpose.

Fourth, fear, for its own sake, is not to be sought out. Folks, you don’t have to be scared to death to feel alive. The behavior of the responsible and psychologically healthy Christian is to take care of self whenever that is possible. Peter escaped from the captivity in which Herod Agrippa placed him; Paul escaped from incarceration, too; and later claimed the rights of a Roman citizen to protect him from possible execution. In whatever extremes you may find yourself, take care of yourself.

Fifth, the Christian’s faith assures him/her that his or her life takes place within the context of God’s love! The Christian does not have to seek martyrdom to win God’s favor. Indeed, the Christian trusts that life not death is the setting in which the faith is acted-out. I’ve been scared on occasion sometimes because of what I have been led to do because of my faith – and you have you been frightened – but never have I felt that God wanted me to surrender my live to prove my commitment.

Sixth, one of the words used in the Old Testament to describe a relationship to the Almighty is the word fear. Persons are instructed repeatedly to fear God. What’s that all about? Never is the context of such an instruction that God is going to do something awful to you. Never does it mean that the Almighty One is going to cause some evil to befall you. Rather, it is used to suggest that when you understand God’s power, His creativity, His love and set that alongside your/our smallness, weakness it is scary. To stand in the presence of the Holy is to stand, truly stand in awe. Therein lies the meaning of fearing God!

Fear is a reasonable response to specific danger … don’t believe the man who says, "I’ve never been afraid."

2. Fear can be dealt with if you enlist assistance and trust that person’s skill and wisdom.

3. Share your apprehension with those to whom you are close.

5. You trust, you know – that your life is lived in the context of God’s extravagant love.

6. To fear God means that you know what it means to stand in absolute awe of the Holy One.

Permit me to share a brief, personal, Father’s Day story … when my first child was born, Deborah, I was a student at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University in New York City. Debbie’s birth frightened me – it scared me as nothing else before or since! Honestly!

How could I know enough to give her a good upbringing?

The Rev. Dr. Duane L. Day