Why are you so afraid?

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God, our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The text for this morning's message is the Gospel lesson, read from the lectern. So why are you afraid? Why are you so afraid? Jesus' question to the disciples in the boat. But equally His question to you, and I. And then, as addition to that: have you still no faith? Now, that hurts, doesn't it? That hurts. First, You ask me why I'm afraid, and then You're telling me I have no faith? That's pretty harsh, Lord.

But there's is a need sometimes for harshness in our lives, isn't there? To bring the proper things into focus.

There it is, it's a beautiful evening and they're headed out on the Sea of Galilee in a boat. Who doesn't like a boat ride in the evening? But then suddenly a storm comes up - a storm, a storm. Not just any storm. This was a big storm, such that the waves were already beginning to fill the boat. And the disciples are panicked. Now, these are seasoned fishermen. You would think they would be able to handle a storm on the Sea of Galilee. It isn't the first storm they've been through, nor would it be the last storm they go through. So why so fearful during this storm?

To understand what's going on, we have to understand the geography of the Sea of Galilee, that it's surrounded by hills. It's basically a bowl with water in the bottom of it. That's what the geography is. Now, many of you have made Jello, haven't you? You mix it on the counter. And then you have to take it from the counter to the refrigerator to set, right? So you go over, you open the door to the refrigerator, you get the bowl, and you very carefully walk across the kitchen to put it in the refrigerator. And just as you're about to the refrigerator, the door closes. So you go back, gingerly set it on the counter. Do it all again. Same thing happens. Third time you decide, I'll just stick a chair in front of the door to keep the door open. But now you've lost the attention that you needed to keep that bowl of Jell-O steady. And you go a little faster than you should. And pretty soon, what starts happening in that bowl of Jell-O? It starts moving, doesn't it? It doesn't take long and pretty soon, it's moving pretty fast. And you can feel the force on your hands, and pretty soon, you're panicked: I don't want this all over the floor. That's kind of how it is in the Sea of Galilee when the storm comes up. The wind blows the waves and pretty soon, the waves have nowhere to go, they start crashing in on one another. And so, the waves are filling the boat, and the disciples, they're in a frantic.

And where's Jesus? He's in the back of the boat, asleep on the cushion. Sound asleep. Now I'm imagining that the back of the boat's a little higher than the rest of the boat. And so, maybe the waves haven't started splashing on Jesus yet. But they're frantic. It's like, don't you care, Lord, that were perishing? Now, I don't know if they were at that critical point yet or not in the boat. Maybe they exaggerated a little bit, like we sometimes exaggerate our circumstances to one another and before God. And there, Jesus wakes up, looks around, says to the wind and the waves "Peace. Be still." And the wind stopped, and there was a great calm.

I bet you're thinking "wouldn't it be nice if that happened in our life?" If in the franticness, in the panic of our day-to-day lives and all that's going in and we feel crashing in on us - not only our own life, but that of maybe our family's and our community and the world, and everything that's going on - wouldn't it be nice if Jesus would just say "Peace. Be still." And there'd just be this wonderful, peaceful calm that would come over the whole world. No riots, no fighting, no fear.

But instead, it seems like He's sleeping, and it's like, Lord, don't You care that we are perishing here?

What was the disciples' great fear? That they were going to die. That they were going to die. Now, keep that in your mind for a moment, because I'm going to come back to that. And don't worry if it slips out, I'll remind you again. But there's also a source of fear in everyone, because of sin. It's sin that creates fear. Fear is a result of sin. Adam and Eve had no fear of God until they sinned. And then they hid when they heard God, and even Adam says, when God asked "Where were you?" He said, "I was hiding, because I was afraid, because I was naked." He had done something wrong. And now he was afraid of God. And since then, God's people, humanity's always been afraid of God because of our sin.

The best episode of Brady Bunch is when the boys are told "don't play ball in the house." So, the boys are up in their room, and they're bouncing the basketball against the wall, and it gets away, and it goes bouncing down the steps. And on the bottom of the steps is Mother's prize vase - for most of us, it's a vase, but it's a vase, cuz it's really precious. And that basketball smashes this vase. And the boys know they're in trouble, cuz they've been told just like Adam and Eve "don't eat from the tree," "Don't play ball in the house." What are we going to do? Adam and Eve covered themselves with leaves, the boys glue together, the vase. And they think everything is good. Until Dad brings home the boss who's bringing flowers for Mom, because they're having a fancy dinner and Mom sets the vase with the flowers in with water on the center of the dining room table, and during the meal, the vase springs a leak everywhere it was glued together, so they got caught. And we chuckle. But if we were those boys, we would be pretty fearful.

You see, sin makes us fearful. And yet, when God is dealing with sin, He always tells His people "Don't be afraid." I should - I tell myself I'm going to go online. I'm going to find out how many times in the Scripture it says to us: don't be afraid. God telling His people don't be afraid. I'm sure it's quite a lot of times, because we are afraid. But God says to Isaiah - remember the other week, we saw Isaiah, his vision of God in the Holy place, and he said, "Woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips." Basically, I'm a sinner, and I'm of a people that are sinners, and I beheld God and surely, I must die. But then the serif takes the coal and touches his lip and says, "See, your sin has been redeemed, has been atoned for. Do not be afraid."

God's going to send his forerunner of the Messiah. He comes to Zechariah in the form of an angel, and the angel said, "Don't fear, Zechariah. You're going to have a child." He doesn't believe, he can't talk for a while. Joseph doesn't want to marry Mary, because she's with somebody else's child, and the Holy Spirit sends an angel. Angel says to Joseph at night, "Don't be afraid to take Mary for your wife. She's been faithful to you. The child she bears is the Son of the Most High, and He'll save His people from their sin." And then, of course, Christmas. There's the message of the angels to the shepherds: fear not. And on Easter, when the women go to the tomb and they're looking for Jesus, the angel says, "I know you're seeking Jesus. Don't be afraid. He's risen as He said."

So what are you afraid of? What's your big fear this morning? Maybe some's fear is are you going to be able to get out of here before the parade blocks off everything. I sure hope so.

But, remember what was it that the disciples were afraid of? They're afraid of dying, weren't they? Lord, don't you care that we are perishing? In a sense, that's true in two ways. One, they are perishing because of their sin, they're perishing - or they're soon to perish - because of the storm. And the answer to the question if Jesus would have spoken, would have been "Yes, I care. I care that you're perishing. First, that you're perishing eternally because of your sin. And second, yes, I'm very concerned about your temporary feeling of perishing because of the wave." And if you're one of the disciples, you'd say "Well, Your actions sure don't demonstrate it."

What are you afraid of? What are you really, really bottom-line afraid of? If we're honest with ourselves, we, too, are afraid of dying, aren't we? Over this whole last year? Weren't we afraid of dying from the COVID? Some still today are afraid of dying from the COVID. But then there's fear from dying from cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and any other chronic illness. Or simply trying to get across the street.

But are we fearful of that spiritual death? Are we fearful about spiritual death? Or does physical death kind of take over?

There was a young man. He was a confirmation student in one of the parishes I served. He wasn't a bad student. He wasn't a troublesome student. It's just off and on, he seemed to have a hard time focusing on the lesson. At the end it's like "Did you understand? Did you take anything from confirmation?"

As with most young people, that's what we're left wondering. Did they take anything away from this? But when faith intersects with their life - or rather life intersects with their faith - then, they reveal quite a bit. This young man had been injured - football practice injury to his neck. Needed a surgery. But the surgery was a rather delecate surgery, because if it went well, he'd be restored to being able to feel and to have movement and lead a normal life. But if it went awry, he could be paralyzed.

And his parents, well, they were really worried about their son. They're really anxious about their son. They probably went to the Lord and said, "Lord, don't you care that we are perishing here? What's going to happen if the surgery goes the bad way and our son is left paralyzed. Or worse, doesn't make it through the surgery?"

And the young man - I say that now cuz he's in high school, he's out of confirmation age - says to his parents: "This is what Pastor Ader taught me in confirmation."

He sort of paraphrased it, I don't think I said it quite this way, but he got the point. "Pastor Ader said it sinful to worry. So stop worrying, Mom and Dad. Stop worrying. And pray. I'm trusting that whatever happens, I'm in God's care. And no matter what happens, nothing's going to take me out of His care."

Well, that floored the pastor cuz wow, he really did pay attention, really did get something. But Mom and Dad were really floored. But they took their son's word to heart. And the good news to the end of that story is the surgery went well, and he could continue on with sports and normal life.

But the real lesson was that his faith was strong. Why is Jesus so comfortably asleep in the back of the boat? Because He knows His Father has not sent Him into this world to take on human flesh to die a meaningless death by drowning in the middle of the Sea of Galilee during a storm.

That would accomplish nothing. It would be meaningless. His Father sent Him into the world to take on human flesh to be - the the big word - propitiation (or in layman's terms, the atoning sacrifice) for our sin. And that didn't mean drowning in the Sea of Galilee, it meant death on the cross. And Jesus knew that the Father was not going to allow anything to hinder, the fulfillment of that death. Because that death on the cross was not a meaningless death, it was a meaningful death. Meaningful in that by it, just like the serif said to Isaiah, this is touch your lips, your sin has been atoned for."

In a few moments, you are going to take bread and wine, and it's going to touch your lips. Guess what? This touched your lips. Your sin's been atoned for. Because it's not just bread and wine, it's Christ's body and blood. And your sin's been atoned for, so even if you think "Oh this great sin God can't possibly forgive, and if He knew, He wouldn't forgive." Guess what? God knows what it is. Little or big. And He has forgiven it.

That's why Jesus can be so peaceful. That's why that young man could be so peaceful going into that surgery. He knew he was in God's care. That's how you and I can face the fear of death, knowing that hey, I've already died in the water of baptism. I've been joined to Christ's death and resurrection. He's promised that I will rise too on the last day and that I need not fear death.

"So why are you so afraid?" Jesus asks. "Have you still no faith?"

Well, Lord, it isn't that I or we don't have faith. Is that we still live in a world of sin and bodies of sin that sometimes distract us from You and our trust in You and Your ability to calm. And so, like the jailer, we say, "Lord, we believe. But help our unbelief." Fortify our faith... that is, strengthen it, and that's why we come this morning. That our faith might be fortified by the word of God, through the remembrance of our baptism and through the supper that feeds our soul, strengthens our faith fortifies it. Because apart from it being fortified by these means of God's grace to us, our faith is really quite empty. And apart from that Holy Spirit, who turns even the smallest of faith into flames, we are surely lost and indeed perishing. But thanks be to God. He knew our need. He knew we were perishing. He cared about it. Cared about it enough to send His Son into the world to be the one who would save us.

And it's because we have that salvation, that we then can also have that same peace that passes all human understanding, the peace that only God's people know. You can't describe it to somebody who doesn't have it. But if you have it, you know it, because you've known the peace and the calm that come from the One who not only can still wind and wave, but can still even the tormented soul. Peace. Be still. My peace, I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give it to you.

Live. And rejoice in the One who calms the storm. And when your eyes lose focus on the Lord, and the storm seems to be rising in your life, and you hear Him say, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?"

Then just say, "Lord, help me in my weakness. Fortify my faith with Your word and Your sacraments. And renew to me the joy of your salvation and the peace that is beyond our understanding." Well, then keep your hearts and your minds in faith in Christ Jesus onto to life everlasting. Amen.