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Be Not Afraid

A father and son went on a round the world sailing trip. Because there were just the two of them they each had to take twelve hour shifts - one on deck, one underneath. After they successfully completed their voyage the father told the son: "Son, when you were on deck and it was my turn to sleep, I could barely sleep for fear that you would be washed overboard. Only the knowledge that your harness would save you enabled me to rest. The son replied, "Dad, I never wore the harness."

A ship on the waters is a vessel of safety and security from the dark depths and potential death that swirl all around it. It is but a point of stability and viability on a vast expanse that spreads out around it in every direction.

But the waters always are a threat; a catastrophic descent into those unfathomable depths and death is never more than a footstep or two away. The waters have played a powerful role in the human imagination. This is why the Creation myths and stories of most cultures speak of a time at the beginning when all was engulfed in waters – a Primeval chaos out of which ordered creation emerged.

Genesis tells us: "And the earth was without form and void, darkness was on the face of the deep. And the spirit of God hovered on the face of the waters." The Great and Historic fear of mankind is to be swallowed up again in those chaotic waters; not only the Bible, but the myths of all human cultures speak of a great flood that once engulfed the world and wiped away every living thing. The waters represent all the forces of death, destruction, and chaos that impinge upon human life and enterprise; forces not yet subjected to the will of God.

So in our gospel this morning, we find the disciples huddling in their boat, beaten by the waves and wind, struggling to survive. Then in the midst of the darkness, they perceive a luminous figure hovering above the waters and seemingly moving toward them. As the moments race by, it becomes unmistakable: the figure is indeed heading toward the boat. The disciples fly into a panic; it is a ghost!

But no, it is Christ.

We here in church this morning are like the disciples in the boat. Seeming safe and secure while all around us, outside, darkness, death, and chaos swirl. Abortions are being performed regularly and methodically. Murderous street gangs roam the streets gunning down their opponents and the innocent alike. Friends and loved ones - even our own - are in hospitals stricken with various forms of disease, distress, and agony. Immorality of all kinds is rampant.

And here we are in a vessel of safety and security; but the vessel is being battered by the winds and the waves. It seems that moral tides are against us, as if the Church is continually being beaten by wave after wave of falsehood, immorality, heresy and wickedness. How long can we stay afloat in this moral environment, we wonder?

Additionally, in our own lives, it sometimes may seem that the waters are about to engulf us, that all hope is nearly lost, that what we considered safe and secure is heading for shipwreck and destruction.

And yet, as we ponder such worrisome considerations, we realize that a luminous figure is with us on these dark waters. This is a figure, we recognize, that does not fit with these surroundings; a figure whose strange power is terrifying and yet whose beauty is supremely attractive.

It is Christ; he is with us, and he calls out to us: "Be of good cheer! It is I! Be not afraid!"

There are two possible responses:

One is to stay safely in the ship and wait for Christ to come to us; this is what 11 of the 12 did. Most of us are the same: we wish to insulate and protect ourselves as much as possible from dangerous waters. It is enough that Christ come and comfort us.

Peter was different; he ventured out onto the dark waters: Why??

- Faith - Peter had the faith that he could walk with Christ in the midst of dark and troubled waters, that he would be upheld by Christ in dangerous and fearsome circumstances; so with great boldness he undertook this serious risk, because he was persuaded that walking with Christ on the waters was a more profound way of knowing him than just staying in the ship and watching him.

The same is true of every great witness to our faith; Whether Abraham setting out for an unknown land under the guidance of God; Moses leading his people into the midst of the Red Sea and beyond; John the Baptist leaving his family and heading for the desert alone; The Apostles venturing into unknown lands preaching the gospel; The martyrs boldly confessing Christ in the face of unspeakable tortures; St. Herman defending the Aleuts from murderous exploitation; Mother Teresa wiping filth from the face of the poorest of the poor.

Will we be content to stay safely in the ship and watch, or rather to walk into dangerous waters bearing the light of Christ?

The truth is: It is dangerous. For all the boldness he started with, Peter eventually began to sink. And yet in his moment of greatest desperation, as he reached out and cried with all his might, a firm hand was there to raise him up.

Eventually, we all must venture into the darkness None of us will escape our own end; each one of us will come to that moment when there is no more hope for us in this world. Yet we will not be alone. The same Christ will be with us as we venture out into the supreme mystery.

The same Christ will be there even as our body sinks into the depths of death. The same Christ will be there, mighty to save, if we only will cry out, like Peter, "Lord, save me!" Then, we too, like Peter, will hear that reassuring voice: "Be of good cheer, it is I. Be not afraid."

Brothers and sisters in Christ, whether in life or in death, there are times when we will find ourselves in dangerous and uncharted waters, if we have accepted the challenge to walk with Christ. Yet as dark and foreboding as those circumstances may seem, we have his assurance that he always walks with us. We can be confident that his firm hand is always ready to reach out to us when we sense that we are beginning to sink. There is no need for us to collapse into fear. Rather, those reassuring words are spoken to us as much as they were to Peter: "Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid."

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