35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!”And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (ESV)
What is the first Commandment???
You shall have no other gods besides me!
What does this mean???
We should fear, love and trust in God above all things!
I don't know how you did confirmation and sunday school. Did you repeat sections of the small catechism like this one? Did you learn them off by heart... By rote???
I know that when I did both sunday school and confirmation we did a little bit of rote memory stuff, but I saw it all as unimportant, and a waste of my time... I wonder if you ever felt this way?
My problem wasn't that I didn't enjoy these times learning from my pastor and sunday school teachers... The problem was, it really didn't make a lot of sense to me. I knew that it is not good to have other god’s... But why should I fear God? God is love! God isn't scary! He's a good bloke... Surely I shouldn't fear him.
So today lets look at the word “fear”. What is the fear of the Lord? How do we fear the Lord? And how is the Fear of the Lord so important to learning and keeping all the commandments of God?
In the scripture above we are presented with the picture of our Lord, Jesus Christ. He has come to the end of a busy day, doing his Father's work. He had spent the morning and afternoon teaching the multitude about the kingdom of heaven.
By the end of the day, Jesus would have been exhausted, he had been on a boat so the he would have some space between himself and the crowd, so he had not stretched out his tired bones for the duration of the day. Jesus and the disciples now decide to leave the crowd, so they set off, just as He was, (without having a stretch or anytime to refresh himself), towards the other side of the sea.
I wonder if you have ever traveled at night after a very long day at work? How hard is it to stay awake? Have you ever had to pull over and catch some zzz's before continuing the journey? Jesus did exactly that. He was tired, so he slept, laying his head on a cushion in the stern.
It was at this time that the wind picked up, and the waves began to burst over the sides of their boat. This wasn't just rough seas this was liquid death. The boat was beginning to fill up, the boat was beginning to sink. All the while, Jesus, exhausted from his days work, lays asleep.
I wonder what you would do if you were in the same position as the disciples? Would you sit down and rationally ponder the probability of your survival vs your death??? Would you have pulled up a table and chairs and wrote out a extensive list of the pro's and con's of your situation??? I wonder if you may have done what I see my self doing and run around yelling, I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die, hoping that against all odds the wind will cease and the boat begin to empty its self with out my own intervention???
I wonder if you would have the faith that Jesus expects of us, to trust Him above all things???
You see the disciples had lost their focus of who Jesus was, and that which He was teaching. He was teaching all those around him about the kingdom of God, He was telling them what it meant to fear, love and trust God above all things. But they had not yet understood what it was that he was saying. They were seeing but not perceiving, hearing but not understanding. Instead of focusing on Christ as one who was sent by God and who was God, they looked at what was happening around them. They saw the waves, they saw the wind. They no longer saw God. They feared the storm and stopped fearing the Lord.
And again we come to the point of fear. What is fear? What does it mean to fear the Lord? Why doesn't it come naturally to us?
Fear as it is defined in the collins dictionary is: an unpleasant emotion caused by coming danger, to be afraid, to regard with fear, to revere. But the greek word used in this text is Pho be ow which means to be in awe of, to be frightened and to revere. The fear of the Lord is not just emotional but also a rational reaction to a situation. The amazing thing about the fear of the Lord is that you can not be taught it by mere words but by being shown the awesomeness, majesty and the gloriousness of God. And this is what happened to the disciples. They were taught all day with words about the kingdom of God, but it is while they are on the boat that they witnessed the awesome authority of Christ. They were given the fear of the Lord.
I wonder if you’ve ever had a similar experience? Where the storms in your life became so strong that you felt like you were sinking? Like you were about to drown? If you became afraid of all that was going on around you?
At this moment what did you do?
Did you write a list? Did you run around yelling? Or did you just go into your shell becoming more and more depressed about your situation? I wonder if you finally went to Christ, and asked him if he cared that you were up to your neck? That you were drowning? I wonder if you accused him of being asleep to your situation???
And I wonder if you remember what happened next?
Did you continue to sink? or; did you, all of a sudden, look back and notice that everything around you was calm and peaceful? That Jesus did care, that he had told all around you to stop, to be still, and it was.
Maybe you are in this place at the moment. Maybe you will be in this place in the coming weeks or months. Maybe you feel like you are in the middle of a storm, that you are sinking further and further into despair, and that you are going to drown.
Go to Christ. Tell Him your problems. Tell Him how you are feeling. He cares. Jesus the Christ is not sleeping. He knows exactly where you are, and what you are going through. He wants you to trust him. He wants you to go to him for help. And because He cares, because He loves you, he will protect you, and he will not let you perish. Rather, he will show you that he is trustworthy. And through this you will experience his majesty, power and authority. So that you can truly fear Him in every true meaning of the word.
And then, when you look back on what Christ has done for you. Don't stop and think for even one moment that it was by your own doing that it all got better. Or, that there is a logical explanation for your survival. The disciples a few days, months and years later didn't stop and say that the storm ran it self out, nor did they say that they managed to steer themselves clear of the waves. They stood firm in the knowledge that Christ cared for them that he loved them, and so they gave God the glory that he deserved. They were awed by God and so they came to truly Fear God, in the way that He is to be feared.
Allow yourself to be awed by God, and give him the glory He deserves. Get back into the teachings of the faith, back into the 10 Commandments, the creed and the Lord's prayer. Allow God to show you what it means to Fear, Love and Trust Him, so that you can see, hear and taste that the Lord is good, and that His mercy endures forever. AMEN.
And the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. AMEN.
No comments:
Post a Comment