Passing On Courage

Jesus' long day, teaching in the school of love, is over.  The crowds have heard Him, but have they understood Him?  It is one thing to hear everything explained, but it is another to 'get it', and integrate it into our life.  Jesus gives personal tuition to those closest to Him.  He invites His disciples to "cross over", and, as the story unfolds they will understand what He means.  
 
The disciples do not hesitate to begin the crossing.  They take Him in their boat, thinking they will be steering the ship.  Also, they take Jesus "just as He was",  a teacher, who sets out to catch people.  "Just as He was", means He is still teaching and the lesson is how to let go of fear and fall into trust!  The other boats, tell us that this is a teaching all disciples will have to hear, and make their own.
 
But, they cannot do it.  They cannot make the crossing from fear to trust.  The storm terrifies them and fills them with doubt.  So, they awaken the Teacher. He seems not to notice the storm and asks them to look instead at themselves.  They seem not to hear his question.  They just keep puzzling over Him.  We know this place so well. We are daily ambushed by physical and social dangers.  It is so hard not to identify with what threatens us.  This is our personal version of the 'wind and the waves'.   When we are frightened we cannot make the Wisdom of Jesus our own.
 
But  look  at  Jesus,  asleep  with  His  Head  on  a  cushion!   A  picture  of  peace  in  the  heart  of  the  storm.   The windswept disciples ask Him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" The danger makes them wonder if all this talk about the Fathers love is just talk.  Danger makes them uncertain of His Love.  The storm has split them in two.  And so the awakened Teacher shows them how to cross over.  He rebukes the power of fear.  He commands  silence  and  Peace  into  the  air  His  disciples  breath.   Does  God  care?  His  answer  is a  resounding
YES!   But this truth cannot unfold in the doubting mind.  The Teacher directs them to this task.  "Why are you afraid?  Have you still no faith? (v.40)
 
But now a new fear grips them. They are filled with 'awe'.  The literal Greek text says, 'they feared a great fear'. But even awe can work against faith.  It pushes disciples to talk about Jesus and his abilities.  What Jesus wanted was for them to talk about how their fear evicted their faith.  When Jesus the Teacher cannot be received, Jesus the Saviour is born!  And that is the  nub of the dilemma.  It is much easier to worship Jesus than to follow Him.  We have to make His Wisdom our own.  As Evelyn Underhill admitted, "It is far easier, though not very
easy, to develop  and preserve a spiritual outlook on life, than it is to make our everyday actions harmonise with
that spiritual outlook." (The Spiritual Life, p,60)
 
Fear and Faith  are big code words in Saint Mark's Gospel.  They are the constant and daily challenge to everyone who wants to walk with Jesus and cross over to the other side.  In the four Gospels, the disciples do not seem to be able to move into a deeper trust.  It is written that they even fled 'in fear and amazement' from the empty tomb! But here's the thing.  I believe it is impossible to walk with Jesus and not be afraid.  And this argues for a daily commitment to find what He had found.  The love that is stronger than death.  The love that does not fail.  The love that has no end.  The love that loves to breaking point.
 
"My friend isn't back from the battlefield, sir.  Request permission to go out and get him".
 
"Permission refused," said the officer. "I don't want you to risk your life for a man who is probably dead."
 
The soldier went, all the same, and, an hour later, came back mortally wounded, carrying the corpse of his friend.
 
The officer was furious. "I told you he was dead.  Now I've lost both of you.  Tell me, was it worth going out there to bring in a corpse?"
 
The dying man replied, "Oh, it was sir.  When I got to him, he was still alive.  And he said to me, 'Jack, I was sure you'd come.'"

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