Fear Not
a sermon based on Matthew 14:22-33
by Rev. Richard Gehring

            It's been a stormy season out here on the Great Plains.  At the current pace, there are likely to be more tornadoes this year than have ever been recorded in a single year in this country.  And those of use who live in or near Tornado Alley know that when the sirens go off, it's time to head to the basement and take cover.

            I know it's unlikely that a tornado will actually hit the spot in which I happen to be.  And I know that even if it does I'm not likely to be killed or seriously injured if I take the right precautions.  Still, there is a certain amount of fear whenever I hear the tornado sirens.  That sense of fear—the knowledge that there is a real possibility of danger—is probably a lot like the feeling the disciples must have had in today's gospel reading.

            Several of the disciples were fishermen.  They had spent much of their lives out on the lake.  They no doubt had seen many storms.  They knew that such squalls could come up quickly without much warning.  But all of that experience and all of that knowledge did not keep them from being afraid as the wind howled and the waves crashed against their boat.

            Fear is the overwhelming emotion that the disciples exhibit in this story.  They are afraid of the storm.  They are afraid of Jesus walking on the water.  Peter is afraid of going out on the water himself.  And even when the storm is over and they are all safely in the boat, there is still a sense of fear at the awesome power that Jesus displays as the Son of God.

            That fear is something that we can all probably relate to, and not just because we've had some stormy weather around here recently.  We live in a society that is very fearful.  We are afraid of crime, so we build more prisons and lock more people away for longer periods of time.  We are afraid of foreign powers, so we spend hundreds of billions of dollars each year on weapons.  We are afraid of economic ruin, so we hoard away vast sums of wealth.  In this election year, politicians are playing on all those fears.  As the major parties meet for their conventions in the coming weeks, I have no doubt that we will be hearing words like "safety" and "security" an awful lot.

            Yes, we often feel like those disciples in the boat.  We often feel as though there are much larger forces crashing and swirling around us and driving us beyond our control.  And all we feel able to do much of the time is to sit fearfully in our little life rafts and hang on for dear life.

            But as the disciples are sitting in this position, an amazing thing happens.  They have been out in the boat all night, battling the wind and the waves.  Then, in the hours just before dawn—when things always seem darkest—Jesus shows up.  He comes walking across the waves and through the howling wind.  As the fear of the disciples is at its peak, when they are not sure if they will make it back to land without the boat breaking apart, Jesus arrives to rescue them.

            But instead of alleviating the fears of his disciples, Jesus' arrival simply adds to that fear.  After all, they've never before seen anyone walking on water.  They think they are seeing a ghost.  Perhaps they think that this is some sort of bad omen—a sign that they were about to die.  So Jesus has to tell his disciples, "Hey, it's me.  Have courage.  Don't be afraid."

            Those words, "Don't be afraid," or in the King James Version, "Fear not!" are very common in the gospels.  It seems that whenever there is an encounter between a divine being and a human being, the human reaction is one of fear.  The angel that came to Mary announcing Jesus' birth began by saying, "Do not be afraid."(Luke 1:30)  The same words were spoken by the angels who appeared to the shepherds(Luke 2:10) and by those whom the women discovered at the empty tomb.(Matthew 28:5)  Jesus himself had to tell his disciples not to be afraid as he appeared to them following his resurrection.(Matthew 28:10)

            In each of these cases, there is a divine messenger bearing good news—news of salvation.  But the reaction of those who receive the news is inevitably one of fear.  It is ironic that we humans live lives filled with fear, but when there is divine intervention intended to alleviate that fear, we only become even more fearful.  As bad as things may be, we've gotten kind of used to them.  We might be afraid of strangers, afraid of our neighbors, afraid of the future, but we've learned to live with that fear.  What we have not learned to live with, however, is the fact that God reaches out to us in whatever circumstances we may be.  And when we find ourselves face-to-face with a divine presence we are more afraid than ever.

            That's how the disciples are feeling.  There they are in the middle of the lake, tossed about by the stormy seas.  And when Jesus suddenly appears in the midst of the tempest they are unable to escape his divine presence.  But Peter, as he so often seems to do, does something a bit rash here.  He says to Jesus, "If you're really Jesus, then let me walk across the water to you."  And Jesus, of course, replies, "All right.  Come on."

            Then Peter steps out of the boat and onto the water.  Now, remember, there's still a storm going on.  The wind is still roaring.  The lightning is still flashing.  The sea is still churning.  And here's Peter stepping out of the boat.  The rest of the disciples must have thought that he had completely lost his mind.  But in that moment, Peter becomes a model for courage.

            The rest of the disciples are still back in the boat, filled with fear.  They certainly don't like where they are.  It isn't a very safe place to be.  But they still prefer it to heading outonto the water.  They are not willing to trade in the certainty of the danger that they are used to for the uncertainty of something else that may prove to be even more dangerous.  But Peter steps out into the unknown because Jesus calls him to.

            There is a very important lesson in this for us.  We, too, would like to stay huddled down in our places of relative safety.  We, too, are fearful of what might happen to us if we go beyond what we know, if we step out of the relatively safe little zones that we have created around ourselves.  We may not exactly like where we are, but it still seems better than the alternative.

            We call this "common sense."  And, no doubt, the story is not about taking stupid chances merely for the sake of adventure.  But the story illustrates that there are times when Christ comes to us in the midst of tempests and tribulations.  And there are times that Christ calls us to take risks; to step out of the boat as Peter did; to act decisively on the faith we claim to have.  And when that happens, we must be ready to recognize God's presence in the storm.  We must be ready to respond to the call of Christ, regardless of the risk.  We must be ready to put aside our fear and live by faith.

            That is what Peter does, at least for one brief shining moment.  But then the fear returns.  Peter looks out at wind raging around him.  He looks down at the waves swelling under his feet.  He probably realizes exactly what he has done and, very understandably, he become a very frightened.  That fear then leaves him vulnerable once again to the storm.  It draws him down into the water.  What had seemed like the right thing to do a moment earlier suddenly seems instead like a colossally stupid thing to do.  And he begins to sink.

            As Peter sinks into the lake, he cries in terror and desperation, "Lord, save me!"  Jesus stretches out his hand, grabs Peter and lifts him into the boat, whereupon the storm ceases. The wind grows still.  The water turns calm.  The danger has passed.

            In a sense, Peter has failed.  He has taken the first few courageous steps, but then all of the old fears have overtaken him.  What begins as an act of courage and bravery ends in terror and embarrassment.  But still Jesus acts to save him.

            I think a lot of us are like Peter.  There are times that we muster up the courage to step out of our usual surroundings and confront our fears.  We take a few steps and then panic when things don't seem to be going quite like we had hoped or planned.  But the good news is that God is there to rescue us when we fail.  If we have been faithful to God's call, God will see to it that we are taken care of.

            That doesn't mean that we will necessarily be successful in all that we do.  Peter himself couldn't complete the walk on water that he began.  If we are taking risks, even if they are risks that God has called us to take, it is almost inevitable that we will fail from time to time.  We are, after all, still human.  But God is with us in our failures.  God may be disappointed with us, just as we often disappoint ourselves.  But God will still love and care for us regardless of whether we sink or swim in our efforts.  As long as we learn from our mistakes, and as long as we are faithful to God's call in taking risks, then there is nothing shameful about failure.

            Yes, we live with many fears.  We are afraid of being victims of crime or terrorism.  We are afraid of what might happen to us in the future.  We are afraid of death.  We are afraid of rejection.  We are afraid of really being ourselves because if people really knew what we were like then they wouldn't like us.

            But God knows us.  God loves us.  And God comes to us in the midst of our fears whatever they may be.  Our responsibility is to meet God halfway—to step out of the fearful existence in which we so often live and to take risks of faith in response to God's call.  And if and when we fail, we need to learn to graciously accept the loving grace and forgiveness that God offers.