Year B Proper 7 1 Samuel 17: (1a, 4-11, 19-23), 32-49 Mark 4:35-41

Anyone who watches television is accustomed to commercials. Some are mediocre and you sort of notice them, some are terrible and you turn off the sound or leave the room to get a snack, but some are quite good. In that last category is, at least in my opinion, a Geico commercial in which a group of teenagers, outside a spooky old house during an electrical storm, look for shelter. Instead of heading for the safety of their running car and getting out of there, one youngster suggests, “Let’s hide behind the chainsaws”. Even the villain, the serial killer, of the piece, who appears just at the end of the commercial, shakes his head in disbelief.

We laugh at this commercial because 1) we know all about that kind of fear, it is the chilling, creepy fear that enthralls us when we begin a novel that starts, “It was a dark and stormy night”, and 2) because, well, the decision to hide behind the chainsaws is so completely silly. No matter how scared or how muddle by fear our thinking might be, we reckon we would never walk straight into such a terrifyingly dangerous situation.

In today’s first reading we hear the well know, and much loved, story of David and Goliath. As the reading begins, we immediately find out that Saul… and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. The Philistines have a huge advantage in one of their men named Goliath. He is gigantic in size, a true warrior and killer, and he’s challenged the Israelites, “Today I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together.” [But] When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

Last Sunday we heard how God chose David to be king of Israel, but at this point, in our reading today, Saul is still king, and David is still keeping sheep. As the story continues, David leaves these sheep for a brief moment in the care of a keeper so that he, David, can run up to the army and greet his older brothers. Thus, David hears the challenge from Goliath, and what does he do? David said to Saul, “Let no one’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” Yup! Let’s hide behind the chainsaws. What can David possibly be thinking, or perhaps not thinking?

The poet Patrick Overton writes:

“When you come to the edge of all the light you have And take the first step into the darkness of the unknown, You must believe one of two things will happen: There will be something solid for you to stand upon, or you will be taught how to fly.”

David marches out to go one on one with this gigantic, deadly Philistine, who is, of course, in no way impressed by this seemingly foolish young man. In fact, Goliath, by his pagan gods, curses David – but David responds, I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

Does it work? If we were hearing this story for the first time we’d certainly expect the worst for David. But, When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

Small things are important to God. Compared to Goliath, David is small, and young, but he is filled with something great and powerful. David has faith in God!

When evening had come, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go across to the other side.”

Mark starts this Gospel reading with, “When evening had come.” There’s always a growing darkness in this type of story – it sets us up for the terrifying experience to follow. “It was a dark and stormy night….”

In todays’ Gospel reading Jesus and the disciples are at the end of a long and exhausting day. They must have shared many of these, as crowds flocked to see and hear Jesus while the disciples listened and did some crowd control. By the end of such a day all of them would certainly have wanted some quiet time, time away from the endless mobs pressing in on Jesus. He certainly wishes for this, so He suggests they all get in the boat and head for the other side – away from the crowd.

There isn’t anything unusual about this – it is routine – to seek some quiet time for rest and prayer. Even on the water other boats were with them, but at least Jesus and the disciples have distance from them. Jesus would have been worn out, drained, so it’s no surprise that He lies down on cushions in the back of the boat and falls asleep.

And then that for which the disciples are unprepared occurs. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. The storm has no effect on Jesus. He doesn’t even wake up. But the disciples certainly panic and they rouse Him from His much needed sleep, asking Him as they do so, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

How like us they sound. When calamity, illness, injury, financial disaster, or any of life’s more threatening situations occur in our lives, we tend not to take them lying down. In fact, we can’t sleep at all. We lie awake at night going over facts and figures in our head. When we finally realize that we can speak directly to Jesus, i.e. when we finally remember to pray, we often ask the same thing the disciples did, “Do you not care that we are perishing?”

The cry of the disciples in our Gospel has been the ultimate cry of fear, of doubt, and abandonment. It is a cry repeated in so many ways in the midst of the terrors and distresses of our world today, sometimes even by us. Where is God in the midst of my distress? We listen to the news and wonder, has God abandoned His people? If God is so great and powerful, if God really cares about this world, then why do events in the world and in my life go so badly? The ready response: either God has no power, or God does not care for us or the creation.

We are such sinners. We doubt and despair so easily. Fortunately us and for the disciples, such desperation has no foundation in the Truth. God is always there. Jesus woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. It is a very humbling moment for those filled with doubt and fear.

The miracle accomplished and the storm stilled, Jesus has shown His friends how much He loves them. Now He turns from the sea and speaks to them and to us. There are no words of rebuke, only two questions. “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”

We who hear these questions today, and who recognize we too have doubts and fears as did the disciples, are called to recognize the two vastly different worlds that we might live in. As Jesus’ followers we are called to acknowledge the Kingdom of God, the presence and rule of God in our midst, but we have another choice. We can continue to live in the world of fear and chaos, seeing ourselves, when hard times come, as orphaned or alone without the power of God, living in a world controlled by the power of evil. It really is up to us.

The St. Louis Jesuits set Jesus’ invitation to us, His I invitation to follow Him in faith, to music. The verse to one of their hymns simply says:

Be not afraid I go before you always Come, follow me and I will give you rest

Let us pray:

O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what You would have us do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices and fear, and that in Your light we may see light, and in thy straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.