Pentecost VIII

Pentecost VIII Proper 12 "It is I, do not be afraid."

Fear is one of three major distortions in the human soul.
The other two are self will and pride. All three are a consequence of the original choice humanity made to separate from God. All three produce a soul at war with itself, other people and with God.

Fear is the great enemy of faith. Because it is a spiritual distortion it affects all aspects of our lives. It colors our thoughts, our emotions and our wills. It diminishes our ability to perceive the world as it is. It inhibits our natural growth and development in the principles of love and compassion.

Fear is grounded in the sin nature that seeks control. The sin nature is the ongoing evolution of human life apart from the eternal life and love of the Holy Trinity. The Bible records for us numerous examples of how the evolving sin nature disrupts human societies, distorts religion and produces the disintegration of the individual psyche. We need only to listen to the news or observe the struggles of our lives to perceive the affect of the sin nature in our world.

Fear is an irrational reaction to the realities of life. And it is a reaction grounded in the self deceit of the human will to power. This self deception leads us to believe that the world should be different, better and in fact: perfect. It also leads us to believe that by right knowledge and right action we can impose our will on other people, nature, and God. In the depth of the separated soul is the demand: my will be done.

It is important to note the sequence of events that lead up to the reaction of fear the apostles experienced. Jesus performed an amazing miracle. With five small barely loves and two small fish Jesus fed thousands of people. All He did was to offer the loaves and fish to God with a prayer of thanksgiving. There is no record of Jesus asking God for help. There is no record of Jesus invoking God’s mighty miracles of the past to justify His miraculous intervention in the present. There is also no record that Jesus had any doubt that God would provide.

Jesus consecrated the need with a faithful prayer of thanksgiving for the food at hand. That prayer of faith offered five loaves and two fish. Those five loaves and two fish fed thousands of people. And, so we do not miss the miracle, John records that when every one had eaten their full there was more food left over than when they had begun. From five small barely loaves there were twelve baskets of left overs, one basket for each of the apostles to gather and wonder.

Then, Jesus withdraws. The crowds disperse. The disciples get into boats and row about four or five miles against a strong wind and waves. They are tired and exhausted and Jesus is not with them.

The fear comes when they see Jesus approach. The fear comes forth as their reaction to something extra ordinary and super natural. For, Jesus comes to them walking on the water.
Only hours before they had eaten there full of bread and fish and collected twelve baskets of left overs. They had experienced first hand a divine miracle at Jesus’ hands. They had heard the crowds proclaim Jesus a prophet and their desire to make him a king. It was a moment of triumph that Jesus quietly walked away from. And now, as Jesus approaches them, walking on the sea, they reacted with fear.

Why?

At this point, they know that Jesus is not just a prophet. At this point they realize Jesus is not just the royal heir of King David and a claimant to the throne of Israel. At this point they observe divine power at work in Jesus. It is at this point they react with fear. The internal commentary of the Bible clarifies their reaction. The Bible teaches: it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Jesus Christ is God up front and personal. Jesus leaves no doubt about who God is. He leaves no doubt about what God wants. In Jesus Christ God reveals the fullness of his steadfast holy love to the apostles and to all people every where. The truth of Jesus is the truth of Creation. It is the truth that God is the Creator and we are the creation.

Jesus Christ just doesn’t speak the truth or a version of truth, Jesus Christ is truth. And so, Jesus is the perfect mirror to our souls. He reveals to us the perfect love of God. He reveals to us our own choice to separate from God and live in the melodrama of our own stories. He reveals to us our own self will, fear and pride.

Once Jesus makes himself known, the world can never be the same. The apostles know this much. They also fear this much. Jesus walking on water is far more than what they expected. Jesus walking on the sea reveals himself as the Living God in human flesh.

The Living God is ineffably good and holy and loving. He is also his own person. He is not fixed. He is not static. He is not subject to human whim or definition. He is active, dynamic, creative, spontaneous. He is interested in a transforming relationship with the human soul.
The human soul is interested in control. Jesus cannot be controlled. The human soul is interested in deciding for itself what is true. Jesus is truth. As he makes himself known it becomes clear he will not allow himself to be redefined.

The human soul wants the deck of life to be stacked in its favor. Jesus is the wild card who changes everything and leaves nothing the same.

The human soul seeks to cheat life and shift the blame to some one else, even to God if necessary. Jesus is the reminder that we are each responsible for our own choices and that the laws of God cannot be cheated.

The fear of God is the recognition that we lack the right and the power to define God. God defines himself. He defines himself fully and completely in Jesus Christ.

The human soul, lost in the melodrama of self will and pride, fears that God will impose his will on us. The fear is not in God. The fear is in the distortions of a soul that seeks to make the universe stand still The fear is in a soul that seeks to impose its will The fear is in the soul that demands to be the center of attention.

Jesus’ presence on earth reminds us we are not the center of attention, but we are loved with an everlasting love. Perfect love casts out fear. Perfect love transforms fear into faith. Faith trusts in the abundance of a loving God.

Fear grasps and holds tightly. The more fear seeks control the more it realizes control is an illusion. And, the more fear feels control slipping away the more it seeks to redefine the laws of the universe to make control possible. Fear deadens the soul and enslaves the will to ever greater levels of illusion and self deceit.

Faith relaxes and trusts that it is not only OK that God is in control, it is wonderful. Faith discerns that free will is a will set free though total immersion into the eternal love of God through the waters of baptism. Faith learns that control is an illusion but choice is a reality. Faith helps the soul grow up and not only face the truth but to embrace the truth.

The truth is that Jesus Christ is the very meaning and purpose for our lives.

The apostles were not ready yet to make that commitment of faith. As Jesus walked on the sea and the sea and the wind yielded to his presence and supported him on his journey the apostles had the insight that following Jesus was going to involve something new and something different. Following Jesus was going to redefine their lives. They weren’t ready yet.

It is never easy to look into the reality of the Living Lord Jesus Christ and recognize that you are not the center of the universe but you are loved with an everlasting love. It is not easy to recognize that free will can only come through surrender of self will to God’s will.

It isn’t easy. But it is possible. As it was possible that a simple prayer of thanksgiving over five loaves and two fish could feed thousands with so much abundance that the left overs filled twelve baskets.

Jesus offers us that abundance. It is the abundance of a new life and a new way of living. It is the abundance of a narrow self limiting pattern of fear transformed into a endless potential of faith.
Jesus called to the apostles, It is I, do not fear. It is I, the fulness of God in human flesh. It is I, the eternal love of the Father reaching out to you from the wind and the waves.

Where there is fear there is no faith in our souls. Where there is fear there is no joy in our hearts. . Where there is fear there is Jesus standing in the midst of the storm, unaffected and undeterred , offering us himself to us to transform our fear into faith simply by the presence of his steadfast holy love. The storms come and go. The love remains forever.

Where is there fear in your life? Jesus is there in the midst of it calling to you, it is I, do not be afraid.