Where have you put your fear?

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?”
Mark 4:35-41

Jesus woke from a sound sleep in the front of a boat to the sight of twelve grown men in a panic over a storm. “Teacher, don’t you care that we are perishing?”--you can sense the desperation in this question. After stilling the waves, he asks them, “Why are you so afraid?” Mark doesn’t tell us what or if they even responded to his question, but it’s not hard to imagine. The obvious answer would be – drowning. Fear is the natural response to power, real or imagined. Fear moves us to action to take steps to preserve our wellbeing. In fear of drowning the disciples got to work trying to save the boat from sinking. And when the boat started to flood, they woke up Jesus for help. Fear of death drove them to confront a real threat.

The disciples were afraid of drowning and they asked Jesus for help. But after the calm, they were more afraid. Mark records, “And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ‘Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey him?’” (emphasis added)

Once the boat landed Jesus cleansed a demoniac who’d been terrorizing the locals. When word reached the locals that Jesus had cast out the demons, the locals came to find the man fully clothed and in his right mind. How did they respond to the deliverance? They were afraid (Mark 5:15).

It seems that there are greater things to fear than drowning or demons. Jesus had the ability to control the things they feared which demonstrated his lordship over all creation–and this [rightly] made them afraid. So, have you put your fear in the right place?

Take a moment to tell Jesus what you fear. Then tell him you know he’s greater than it.