Courage in the Face of Danger
Scripture Mark “Jesus Calms the Storm”
Isn’t it interesting what frightens us as human beings? It seems like most people
have some sort of unjustifiable fear or phobia. Some of us are afraid of spiders or
insects, some of us are afraid of failure or criticism. I grew up with a mother who is
deathly afraid snakes. We would play tricks on her with fake snakes as a kid.
Sometimes we develop fears later in life. I’ve never been afraid of heights. I loved
climbing things in my youth and as a young adult. As a kid I would climb trees, later I
began rock climbing. When my old house on Rural Street needed to be painted I
climbed a 40 foot ladder without a problem, it was fun! Just a couple weeks ago I
climbed up onto my roof to check out a leak. I found the leak a few days later got
some tar to patch it up. I honestly can’t explain what happened but as soon as I got
onto the roof the second time I nearly froze with fear. I’ve never been afraid of
heights, but this time something happened that I can’t explain. I got the tar on the
roof, but had to take several deep breaths to calm down my breathing and try to
relax. When it came time to climb back onto the ladder I couldn’t do it. No matter
how much I tried to go to the edge of that roof and get onto the ladder I could not.
This was one of the strangest experiences I’ve ever had. Finally, with limbs shaking,
I inched toward the ladder and tried to turn around as I neared the edge of the roof.
Again I couldn’t do it. I had to back up the steep roof again and just sit there for a
moment. Finally I tried again and successfully got onto the ladder and climbed
down. I honestly have no idea why, out of nowhere, I became so afraid of falling off
that roof! Isn’t it interesting what fear can do to us, how it can freeze us and keep us
from doing what we want to do. There are many things that fear can keep us from
doing. Sometimes fear can keep us from living into the fullness of who God created
us to be. Fear can keep us from trusting in God and can keep us from following in the
way that Jesus has set before us. While fear can paralyze us, courage is what God
gives to us to allow us to do great things. Courage is uncommon and yet average
everyday people can overcome fear and do great things because of their will and
courage. Today we’ll look at a few different biblical examples of courage and fear
and how God uses average people to bring about God’s will.
In our Gospel reading today we read that the disciples became extremely frightened
that they would lose their lives in the waters of Galilee. I remember hearing this
story as a child and imagining Jesus somewhere inside a big ship sleeping and a vast
ocean outside with giant waves. Neither of those images is quite realistic. In 2007 I
was invited to go to Israel with my uncle who teaches and leads pilgrimages there.
I’ve talked about that trip before, it was an amazing experience. My favorite place in
Israel was most definitely the Galilee region. It was immensely beautiful and
peaceful all around Galilee. A few days into the trip I had the opportunity to teach
this passage while on a small replica of a 2000 year old boat. The sea was perfectly
still when we boarded the boat and made our way out to the center of the lake. The
water looked like glass and the air was still. As I prepared to give my lesson on
trusting in Jesus I saw small waves forming in the water coming toward our boat.
The waves were coming from wind that was sweeping in between two mountains.
As I saw the waves moving closer to the boat it was easy to imagine a larger storm
roaring across the lake, bringing larger waves and easily rocking the small wooden
boat we were in. Jesus and his disciples experienced just such a storm. While Jesus
slept his disciples were overcome with fear that they would drown. The men on the
boat were unable to take appropriate action to save themselves. Sometimes the only
thing that keeps us from doing what needs to be done is fear. Maybe the disciples
could have devised a plan to get the boat to shore if they weren’t overcome with the
fear of death.
Likewise, in the Old Testament, we are given an epic story of fear, courage and the
ability to take action in the face of Danger.
Read 1 Samuel “David and Goliath”
Much like Jesus’ disciples the supposed warriors of Israel were scared out of their
minds in the face of fighting a warrior like Goliath. This extremely large man must
have been trained in war since he was young. My guess is that the Israelites had
faced him in battle before, or they knew of him and his immense size. No one, not
even the king’s most skilled fighters, would face this formidable enemy. Goliath
wanted to engage in hand to hand fighting, using only weapons close at hand that
could be used to pummel the enemy.
The measurements in this chapter are interesting, how big was Goliath? His height is
not given in the text, but according to the Dead Sea Scrolls and the ancient historian
Josephus he was 6’ 9”, that’s very tall for any ancient person, but not unrealistic
Many of you know Mark Hockley, Goliath was about an inch taller than Mark!
As we enter into this narrative it becomes clear that Israel has a void in the courage
department. I mean, Goliath is big and probably a very good fighter, but Israel had
no one even willing to take up the fight! Saul, with all of his armor and all of his
warriors, would not face Goliath and could not develop a plan to defeat the
Philistines. It is very interesting that earlier in 1 Samuel we also read of Saul’s
height. Saul was in fact a very large man, a head taller than everyone else. So Saul
was probably between 6’ and 6’6”! Sure, Goliath is bigger and maybe stronger, but
king Saul is plenty man enough to develop a plan and defeat Goliath, but he can’t,
Saul is paralyzed with fear. The narrative we’ve read first makes clear that king Saul
is not fit to be king. He is so unfit that he’s willing to strap his armor to a child and
send the kid into certain death. Well, in Saul’s scared mind, it’s certain death, but
David has a plan.
The story of David and Goliath accomplishes another major literary theme in the
greater narrative of 1 Samuel, it defines David as the future leader of Israel. This
young man has courage beyond any other person and is able to use his mind to
develop a plan and execute that plan.
David entered this battle knowing exactly how he could defeat Goliath because he’d
used similar weapons and fought similar battles. He was prepared, willing and able
to accomplish the task. I think we usually think of David as entering this battle with
blind faith and beginner’s luck. That’s really not the case. David was a hard worker, a
good shepherd, a young man who knew how to protect himself and his animals in
the wilderness. David’s courage was built on experience and know how, not blind
faith or naiveté.
David also had a steadfast trust in God. It seems the disciples did not. Jesus just
seemed annoyed with them when they woke him up, all in a panic, over a little
storm. Unlike the disciples, David stays calm and puts his trust in God, that God’s
will would be done.