Don't Panic

    

Here's another "solid" that Peter Leithart sent out on his email newsletter of the Theopolis Institute.

___________________________________

Friends of Theopolis,

A tempest rises while the disciples are crossing the Sea of Galilee, and they panic. Waves nearly engulf the boat. They think they're going to die.

Jesus, meanwhile, is asleep. How can He be so calm at a time like this? How dare He?

In the battle between the tempest and the disciples' faith, the tempest wins because, as Jesus later explains, they are "men of little faith."

The disciples' natural first response is to awaken Jesus. They want Him to help, but, as Anthony Bloom observes, they also "want him to be as anxious as they are." They can't imagine Jesus will help unless He too panics.

Jesus refuses to be caught up in their terror. He rebukes the disciples, calms the storm, and calls them into His peace, to become what Edwin Friedman calls a "nonanxious presence."

In our shrill and angry world, Jesus issues the same call to us. The church will do much good, will be light and life, will ride the high places of the earth, if we have enough faith to obey this simple command: Don't panic.

Peter Leithart

September 14, 2021