Many years ago, there was a class of Navy ships that were built with a flaw. The flaw caused one of the ships in that class to begin to break-up in a storm off the coast of Oregon. The men worked all night to keep the vessel afloat and finally the next day after the storm they were able to navigate the crippled warship back to port and into dry dock where the flaw was repaired. All the ships in the class had to have that flaw repaired before it happened to another one.

I was with a Navy Chief Boatswain’s Mate in another port where one of those ships were undergoing the necessary corrections. I was giving him a ride back to our ship which was a different class. He was screaming in my car, not at me, at the situation that had caused those sailors to almost lose their lives

“These people today do not know what they are doing. They designed a ship with [that flaw] that was stupid. Don’t they know that the sea is the most powerful natural force on the Earth. Those poor men had to work tirelessly all night to stay alive because of those stupid engineers who designed the ship.”

Yes, the sea in all its forms is powerful and must be treated in that way.

This is why today’s story is so important. The apostles are in a boat, but when the sea is acting up any boat is not a great refuge. Even aircraft carriers get tossed around like toys in a bathtub. So this small fishing boat is taking on water over the gunwales. It is being tossed from side to side, the men are soaked, probably cold. Highly stressed and worried if they are going to make it back to shore. Assume there are others who in the past have lost their lives in similar situations and that is on their minds. Even if the apostles survive, they could lose their catch to the weather making the journey a waste of time and energy but in the back there is Jesus sleeping soundly.

Now the Gospel tells us that the Apostles ask him kind of nicely while waking Him up if he is concerned they are are perishing. We live in a fishing town, in those conditions what fisherman talks like that. None that I know of. I won’t even talk like that under those conditions. So I assume none of the apostles did either. They probably used language that was not published in the Gospel and that I won’t use now, but you get my drift. They are in total physical, mental, spiritual stress and they let Jesus know it.

We see that He calms the storm, but notice something else. He asks an important question. Why were you afraid? The answer is obvious, but what He is really saying is, why do you not trust me that even in these conditions I am with you.

Remember, He is teaching them a lesson that they will have to use in the future. Trust in Him, even when all seems to go wrong. That message needs to be also your message.

Two things that are important to know about fear:
One is that it can actually cripple you. Fear can take the most physically strongest person and turn them into statues. Fear can completely shut you down and make you literally unable to move. Fear can plant you in a chair in front of a TV for the rest of your life. Fear can kill you physically, but it can also virtually kill you by paralyzing you.

Second, people use fear to manipulate you. “If you do not do what I say, I will destroy your life.” Will I destroy your life? Can I even destroy your life, that is at best debatable, but if you allow yourself to be afraid of me, you will do what I say.

Jesus is aware of what fear can do to us. He also knows that the only remedy to fear is loving trust. In the First Letter of John the apostle writes that perfect love drives out fear.

Do a search of the word fear in the Gospels and you will find that all the enemies of Jesus are manipulated by their fears. Go read them and see how often their fears dictate their actions. Even Herod, as vicious as he was, beheads John out of fear. The crucifixion of Jesus is the product of fear that He will cause the wrath of the Romans to come upon the Judah. Fear drives them, fear of losing their status, their finances, their nation.

Jesus shows fear once: when He foresees in the garden what he will encounter in the next twenty four hours, but perfect love casts our fear. He turns obeys the Father, out of that perfect love for the Father and us. Everyone else is driven by their fears and are unable to serve  God, including the apostles.

Jesus is teaching them that when they trust in Him, they can do great things in doing His will. If they allow themselves to be afraid, they will run away in fear. Which is what happens with both Judas and Peter. Peter, however, learned to trust. Judas never did.

So now we have the same message for you. What do you fear the most? Is there anything that is crippling you? Maybe you are afraid of losing your job, or you lost your job. Maybe its a financial situation, a problem at work. You are afraid about your children’s future. Maybe it is a disease. Maybe others are manipulating you by spreading rumors to make you afraid about the parish or your work or the community.

Go back to that Gospel verse and hear Jesus saying to you: “Why were you afraid?” How about people at home? How many people are afraid to go to confession because they are afraid of what they priest is going to think of them. I’ve heard too many confession to even have the slightest concern about that. If that is keeping a loved one from church or confession go back to those words: “Why were you afraid?”

Why were you afraid? Doing the Lord’s work means living the words of perfect love casting out all fear, which can only happen wewhen remember His words to us: “Why were you afraid?”