June 24th, 2012 “No Fear” Rev. Heather Jepsen
1 Samuel 17:32-49 and Mark 4:35-41
Fear.
Today we are talking about fear.
Knees knocking, palms sweating, eyes wide, quick breathing; fear. We are talking about being really scared,
scared out of your mind. We are talking
about that nervousness that seems to paralyze you. Did you feel that way at all this week, real
fear? Perhaps not. Webster’s gives the following synonyms for
fear: bother, worry, fret, fuss, stew, and stress. Did you feel that way at all this week? Perhaps you did. Fear.
David appears to have no fear in our
Old Testament reading. Make no mistake,
there is plenty of fear in the passage, it just doesn’t seem to come from
David. The Israelites are in battle with
the Philistines. King Saul is there as
well as some of David’s brothers. A
large fellow, Goliath, appears out of the Philistine ranks and starts trash
talking; a common prelude to battle.
Young David shows up bringing in some rations for the fighters and hears
this trash talking Philistine.
The rest of the Israelites are plagued
by fear. Just like those Webster synonyms
I see them feeling bothered, worrying, fretting, fussing, stewing, and stressed. They are paralyzed by their fear and all the
guy is doing is talking. David, the one
without fear, decides that by the power of God he will be able to take down
this enemy.
Now King Saul seeks to outfit David
with the latest battle field technology and so decorates him in his own
armor. It’s a comical scene really, as
the Bible writer describes David putting on the giant helmet, coat of mail, and
sheathed sword. It’s all so big and
heavy that David can’t even walk. “I
can’t wear these” he says, and takes the gear off. He doesn’t need all that junk. That is for people who are afraid, and David,
he has no fear.
David just grabs his staff, his
slingshot, and his bag of rocks. Upon
seeing him apparently unarmed, Goliath just laughs at David. The trash talking resumes and we find David
can dish it out as well as Goliath.
Finally the battle commences. The
two fighters run quickly toward each other and David takes out that sling
shot. With great skill, great accuracy, even
greater faith, and no fear; David launches that little rock at Goliath’s head,
and that’s it. Goliath is felled with a
crack to the skull and the battle is over, the Israelites have won.
As kids we loved this story of David
and Goliath. At one point I think most kids
take a rock and chuck it at the nearest tree imagining taking down the great
enemy. As adults, we give this story
less credit. It’s the stuff of
children’s Bibles and not something that has any real say in our life. As a pastor and a preacher, I can find lots
of possible things to wonder about in this story. From the role of oppressor and oppressed to
the glorification of violence this tale is ripe for discussion. But today, we are talking about fear.
It is interesting in this story to
find that so many people are afraid. The
warriors, full grown men who have seen battle before are terrified of
Goliath. Saul, the great king, clothed
in the best armor on the battle field is paralyzed by fear. The young David alone is the only one who is
unafraid. What is surprising about David
is that though he is small of stature, and has the smallest portion of
strength, he has the largest portion of faith.
David has battled with the beasts of
nature and always survived; a credit he gives to God rather than his own
skill. And so when trying to convince
King Saul to let him fight David says, “The Lord, who saved me from the paw of
the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this
Philistine.” Great faith, no fear; it’s
quite the story.
Of course today’s gospel reading is
also all about fear. Jesus is dead tired
after days and days of teaching and healing.
He needs a break from the crowds and the only way to get away is to
literally get off the land and to a place where the people can’t get to
him. Into the boat he goes with the
disciples. Mark notes that other boats
followed as well. The poor Savior can
never really get away.
Jesus is taking a much needed break,
sleeping on a cushion in the back of the boat, when a storm comes up. The storm grows and grows and before they
know it the waves are bigger than the boat and the craft starts taking on
water. We must remember that several of
Jesus’ disciples were experienced fisherman.
They must have known how to handle a boat in rough seas. Yet, even they too begin to panic. Before long fear sets in; bother, worry,
fret, fuss, stew, and stress. Something
must be done, and so they wake Jesus.
I love the way Mark writes his
narrative here. You can just see the
disciples panicking. Jesus has been
asleep, he doesn’t know what’s going on, but they are swamped in fear and all
worked up. They don’t calmly tap his
shoulder. No, someone shakes him awake
and yells in his face “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
Now I was just telling the brown bag
group this week that Mark is my favorite gospel. The reason I love Mark so much is that Jesus
is so human in Mark. I imagine that he
was a bit annoyed by this rude awakening.
And in our NRSV his reply to his disciples and to the storm is gently
translated “Peace, be still.” Another
possible translation of the Greek here is “Be quiet! Shut up!”
Jesus is often annoyed in Mark and personally I think this is no
exception.
Now the waters are eerily calm. And this, more than the storm, is frightening
to the fishermen. Jesus turns and asks,
“Why are you afraid? Have you still no
faith?” And the NRSV does us a
disservice here with their translation, “the disciples were filled with great
awe.” A literal translation of the Greek
is they were “fearful with a great fear”.
Who Jesus is and what he has done is much scarier than any storm that
threatens to take their lives. And so
they are fearful with a great fear. Fear:
bother, worry, fret, fuss, stew, stress.
And they ask one another, “Who is this guy?”
We have a study in contrasts this
morning: David, the young man who was without fear in the face of a large
opponent on the battle field; and the disciples, first afraid of a storm and
then even more afraid of the one they called teacher. David sets the bar high, like the story books
we often relegate him to, his is a mythical faith. When we consider our own lives it is hard to
imagine any of us going up against a giant of a problem and not being
afraid. David’s great faith is an ideal,
a fairy tale if you will, something to dream about, even strive for, but not
something many are likely to achieve.
No, I think we much more likely to
achieve the faith of the disciples; afraid of the storm, afraid of the calming
of the storm, afraid of everything, including Jesus. I think the disciples thought they were
following any other prophet and miracle worker.
Sure they had seen healings and exorcisms but these were common practices
among traveling healers at the time.
Jesus certainly wasn’t alone in these feats.
And yet here suddenly things change. No one controls chaos but God. Here suddenly they realize that they have
been walking around with God. That God
has been with them and God has seen all the stupid things they’ve done and God
has heard all the awful things they’ve said and so they are afraid. It’s much scarier than a storm or even
Goliath. It’s God, and God knows what
you’ve been doing.
Fear: bother, worry, fret, fuss, stew,
and stress. How many of those words
describe your week? I know they’ve been
a part of mine. Like us, the disciples
are always misunderstanding Jesus. He
doesn’t want to scare them; he doesn’t want them to be afraid. I am sure by this point he is hoping that
they will know he comes in love, not judgment.
But still, there is fear.
In our lives we face many things to be
afraid of. There are the problems that
are as big as Goliath. How will I ever
get past this, how will I ever overcome, how will I ever beat this thing, it’s
too big? And there are dangers as scary
as the storm. Our boat’s taking on water
and we just know we are going to sink, we are going to drown, and we are going
under. And then there’s the biggest fear
of all, what if God is real and what if God really knows me. What if God knows all the things I’ve done,
all the things I’ve said? Can there be
any forgiveness for me?
Fear.
It’s all too easy for us to become paralyzed by fear. And in this moment, we need the gentle
translation of Jesus “Peace! Be
still!” God does not want our fear. God wants our love. Because God doesn’t come at us in judgment,
God comes to us in love.
It is my prayer today that we would be
able to let go of even just a small part of our fear; that we could be more
like David, ready to take down any challenge in the name of the Lord. That though the storms may come, we might
have faith that Jesus is with us in the boat, and we will be ok. God has saved us from the paw of the lion and
from the paw of the bear and even from the greatest of storms. God will certainly save us from our fear.
May we go forward from this place with
great faith, and with no fear.
Amen.
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