Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?

 

 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side."  Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was.  And other little boats were also with Him.  And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling.  But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow.  And they awoke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"  Then he arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still!"  And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.  But He said to them, "Why are you so fearful?  How is it that you have no faith?"  And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, "Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!" 

- Mark 4:35–41 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus said to His disciples, "Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed?  Is it not to be set on a lampstand?  For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.  If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."  Then He said to them, "Take heed what you hear.  With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given.  For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him."   And He said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.  For the earth yields crops by itself:  first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.  But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."  Then He said, "To what shall we liken the kingdom of God?  Or with what parable shall we picture it?  It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade."  And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it.  But without a parable He did not speak to them.  And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.

 

On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side."  Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was.  And other little boats were also with Him.  And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling.  But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow.  And they awoke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"  Then he arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still!"  And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.  But He said to them, "Why are you so fearful?  How is it that you have no faith?"  And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, "Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!"  My study bible comments on this passage that it shows Christ's mastery over creation, and thus gives another sign that He is the Messiah and divine.  Commands to the sea and waves, it notes, can only be issued by God if we take a look at Scripture (Job 38:8-11; Psalm 66:5-6, 107:29).  Jesus shows His human in being asleep, as He needed rest.  In the Incarnation, He assumed all the natural actions of the flesh, and sleep is a human need.  This image of Christ with His disciples in a boat is a traditional one used to illustrate the Church.  My study bible says that God both permits storms and also delivers us through them, so that we can see God's protection more clearly.  Christ's rebuke of the storm is also an illustration of His calming the tempests in the human soul.  The Church has also traditionally seen Christ as permitting this windstorm to arise while He sleeps in order to perfect the faith of the disciples and to rebuke their weaknesses, a part of their learning and preparation for their future as apostles, so they won't be unshaken by the temptations or trials of life.  Here the disciples' faith is mixed with unbelief.  They showed faith when they awoke Him, but unbelief when they said, "We are perishing."

There is a particular blog that I like to read on occasion, written by a priest of the Orthodox Church of America.  Recently I was asking in a comment forum about the state of anxiety I seem to feel and detect all around myself and in many people from all walks of life and perspectives.  It is an uneasy feeling of instability, a worry about what is coming next.  The father reminded me that we are repeatedly told in the Gospels "Do not fear" and "Do not be anxious" in one form and another.  Today's reading is one of those times, as Jesus asks the disciples, "Why are you so fearful?  How is it that you have no faith?"   A friend reminds me that, in fact, we are to focus on the state of our souls first, for this is the real life Christ emphasizes -- and then "all these things [about which we worry] shall be added to you" (Luke 12:31).  God knows we have needs, God knows our lives and our necessities.  God became one of us, as illustrated in this story, and lived among us, so that God could teach us what it is to become more "like God."  Faith is possibly the most necessary ingredient in achieving this "God-likeness."  It becomes the key to setting forward on a path that is dictated not simply by our own simplistic point of view in which our fears may sway us at any time, but rather one in which we are also led forth by grace, setting forth a way to grow and to transcend and to walk in the ways He takes us.  In this story, Jesus deliberately sets out across the Sea of Galilee into unusual and strange territory.  The story reads almost like a passage out of the myths of Homer, in which these men set forth across a story sea to an unknown destiny (where indeed a strange and unusual sight awaits them).   These seasoned fishermen, now frightened on their own known Sea of Galilee as they cross over to the other side in the windstorm, are being trained to become fishers of men.  As apostles they will eventually be going out to the whole world of strange lands in which to preach the gospel.  It serves us as an example of how life is lived in a state of prayer, if we but pay attention.  God will build up our capacity for learning how to live God's way through various tests and trials.  It is not that there won't be things that shock us, make us fear, or severely test our capacities and resources.  But our own capacity to face ourselves and our fears and shortcomings is something that is gradually drawn out through a prayerful life.  There will always be our own fears we need to discard, to work past, and ways of thinking we need to exchange for new ones on this journey.  Thus, the image of Christ and the disciples in a boat on uncharted waters  as a perennial image of the Church.  So as we, also, embark in uncharted, unexplained, and unpredictable waters ourselves, let us think of this picture.  There will be times when we consider the Lord to be sleeping and unresponsive to our own fears when we're surrounded by and facing the unknown.  But we should look to Christ's question:  "Why are you so fearful?  How is it that you have no faith?"   And emphatically our response must be to seek out that faith, to seek Him, and find the way He wishes us to carry on through it all, and whatever may come in life.  Let us have faith that He will provide us with His way, that our lives are not meant to be without pitfalls, the unknown, and times in which we are tested.