From the Pastor's Study
From the Pastor’s Study
Fight or Flight or Awe
June 15, 2022
There are two normal responses that result from being a fearsome/threatening situation: fight or flight. If the one who is afraid believes that they will be conquered, and if they have the opportunity, they will run. If, however, running is not an option, or if they feel that they can defeat their opponent, they will confront the one who is threatening them, and they will fight. Fight or flight: those seem to be the two options available to us in a threatening situation.
Yesterday I attended a meeting, and the chair opened the meeting with devotions from Mark 4, the story of Jesus calming the storm. The storm that took the Sea of Galilee by surprise was raging around the small boat, and the disciples, experienced fishermen, knew that their lives were in danger. They were afraid. Unfortunately, flight was not an option, and the only alternative was to fight the storm. Perhaps with their skills that they had developed from the time that they were children accompanying their fathers on fishing trips, they could face the storm and defeat it. It was uncertain, but they had no other options open to them.
As they realize that they must fight that which made them afraid, they find Jesus asleep in the back of the boat, in a place that was protected from the drenching waves. They wake Jesus, and they shout to him, “Don’t you care if we drown?” We can hear in their voices a sense of frustration, for Jesus was not helping them in the battle.
We know the story about what happened next: Jesus rose up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet, be still.” Immediately the danger was past, for the sea had become calm again. The one who was leading the devotions for the meeting I was attending noted that at this point the disciples went from being afraid of the wind and the waves to being terrified of Jesus. It should be noted that the words in the Greek for “fear/afraid” are different here. The response of the disciples to the waves was a kind of fear that has a sense of cowardice to it. The disciples were afraid of something they didn’t need of, and Jesus indicates this very thing with his words. The word that is used of the disciples’ response to Jesus after he calmed the wind and waves was more akin to terror. They truly were afraid of him.
Again, with Jesus, they could not flee, although, if they could have, they may have. They simply did not know what to do with Jesus, for he had the ability to change the weather with a word. They were afraid of Jesus because they did not understand him, for they did not know who he was. Over time their fear turned to awe as they came to know who he was.
It is often pointed out that there is a continuum that extends from abject terror to awe and wonder. That which is both dangerous and powerful will result in abject terror. A man-eating lion on the prowl or a drug-crazed dictator will evoke feelings of terror. However, if we encounter someone who is powerful and good, our feelings of terror turn to awe. The disciples were terrified when they saw what Jesus could do, and their terror was justified. They may have had the ability to fight against the wind and the waves and perhaps win, but they knew that if Jesus turned against them, he, being more powerful than the wind and the waves, would leave them defenseless. At this point, early in their relationship with Jesus, they discovered he was powerful, but they were not yet sure that he was good.
Over time, however, their fear was turned to awe, leaving them with only one option, and that was to bow down and worship the one who was both powerful and good.
If fear leaves us with two options: fight or flight, awe does not. When we encounter someone who is powerful but good, we do not want to fight, and we do not want to flee. Rather, we are drawn into his presence, and we long to know him better. As the months passed and as the disciples came to know Jesus better, there were times when they were afraid still because they did not know him well enough. When, for example, Jesus appeared to them after he had risen, they were afraid. Jesus cast their fears aside as he showed himself to them and reassured them that he was for them and not against them. For the rest of their lives, the disciples lived with that sense of awe because of who Jesus was, and they were drawn to him. Fight or flight is replaced with trust and worship when we come to understand who Jesus is.
It seems to me that in our current cultural climate we neither fear Jesus nor are we in awe of him. We are not impressed by his power such as was exhibited when he calmed the wind and waves and we do not give much thought to the implications of someone who has such power being present in our world and in our lives. Somehow, and we can attribute this to the deceptive lies of the devil, we have minimal understanding of who Jesus is and, thus, do not respond with either fear or awe. Jesus has become a buddy or pal instead of being known as the Lord of all.
But in that, we do lose something as well. In the devotions at the beginning of the meeting, we talked about how there is an increasing culture of fear today. There are many terrible things out there (guns and crazy people who have them, viruses, drug-addicted neighbours, fear of economic collapse, and the list continues), and we can become so terribly afraid. Do we flee to somewhere else, somewhere we hope things are a little better, or do we stand up and fight, demanding that something be done and invoking our rights? Flight or fight? Which is better in the face of danger?
Knowing who Jesus is presents a third option, trust. If we truly know who Jesus is, that he is greater than the wind and the waves or any other threatening force, we do not need to be afraid, for he is on our side. Being in awe of the one who is powerful and good gives us every reason to trust him as well. There is a third option besides fight or flight when confronted with something that is threatening and fearsome: trusting that Jesus is powerful and good enough that we can depend on him. Fight or flight? Or trust in the one who is powerful yet cares for us?
Pastor Gary
