Tempest Rain 1899

Levitan created this amazing painting in 1899, the year before his death. He had been told by his doctors a few years earlier that his heart would not last much longer. Here, a great tree-bending storm is rolling in over a clearing where men have been stacking firewood. Perhaps they have run for cover as the sky darkens and the wind picks up. Can you feel it?

The Christian might think of the synoptic Gospel accounts of Jesus calming the tempestuous sea. Here is St. Mark's telling:

With the coming of evening that same day, he said to them, 'Let us cross over to the other side.' And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. Then it began to blow a great gale and the waves were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped. But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, 'Master, do you not care? We are lost!' And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Quiet now! Be calm!' And the wind dropped, and there followed a great calm. Then he said to them, 'Why are you so frightened? Have you still no faith?' They were overcome with awe and said to one another, 'Who can this be? Even the wind and sea obey him.'  Mark 4:35-41

It's dawned on me, we never address the question Jesus raises in this boat: "Why are you so frightened?" We often think Jesus is being stern when asking questions like this. Could he have been smiling or laughing a little at our worrying so much? Maybe the disciples were afraid of losing the fishing boat they needed for their livelihood or afraid the sea monsters would get them and then their wives would have no support and they'd lose the house and, and, and...

"Why are you so frightened?" Maybe we don't allude to the question because it unnerves us.  Fear is one of the four emotions: happy, sad, angry, afraid.  We spend a lot of our life being afraid. Some of the fears are laughably silly; others quite serious. 

I'm afraid of losing my money

afraid I won't have enough for my retirement -

  the TV commercial says I'll need a million dollars
afraid of losing control

  of my temper

  of my teenage kids

afraid of bad weather

  black ice

  heavy snow

  fog

  thunderstorms and

  lightening

afraid of other drivers who might be on drugs

afraid of losing sobriety

afraid of the E.coli in the bag of lettuce

afraid of being ripped off by the contractor

afraid of being lied to

afraid of failing
  or falling

afraid of having to admit a mistake

afraid of the loss of my health

afraid of the loss of a loved one

afraid I'll lose the job

afraid I'll lose my hair

  good looks

  figure

  sex appeal

  eye-sight

  teeth

  strength

afraid of the sun's rays
afraid the surgery won't work
afraid of losing the best parking space

afraid of the people who are supposed to be leading us

afraid of other countries

afraid of terrorists
afraid of war

afraid if the electric goes out I'll lose what's in the freezer

afraid these meds won't work "forever"

afraid of losing my mind

YIKES!

I'm thinking three things: 1) Answering Jesus' question truthfully, I have to admit I am a very earthbound person. My affections and energies are essentially tied up with this life on earth. 2) Jesus must know something I don't know - how a person can live, freed of so much earthbound fear. 3) The AA saying comes to mind: Fear is the darkroom where negatives are developed.

Can I imagine standing out in Levitan's Tempest looking up at the sky with arms outstretched and smiling? Someone might say, "You're nuts." Maybe. But Jesus' question remains.

And if I take Jesus seriously then I have to answer honestly, trying to discover his secret for living in inner freedom. AA also says: "Let go and let God." Anyone who follows the Twelve Steps will likely acknowledge how difficult it can be to live this way. That's why I suggest Jesus was smiling (not frowning) when he asked the disciples "What are you afraid of?" He's understanding, not judging.

Here's a start: the only thing I really need to be afraid of is whatever could take me away from God.