Matthew 14:26-27, “But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke the them, saying, ‘Take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid.’”
The disciples see what they think is a restless spirit rising up out of the abyss beneath their boat….But then, at the height of terror, out of the mouth of the very thing they so greatly feared came these words, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”
The entity that—moments ago—embodied their terror, now speaks a word of familiarity, self-identification, and comfort to them. What they perceived as the approach of their great fear was in truth the approach of Christ Himself. And is this not true of all terrors in the life of a disciple of Christ? How can I say this? Two reasons:
First, Jesus has experientially borne all sufferings, sorrows, and horrors that can or will enter our lives (Is 53:4-6), so that when we enter into any of those sufferings, sorrows, or horrors, we enter into a place where He already is. With His incarnation, obedience, suffering, and death, God in Christ has invaded the trenches of our fear so that we cannot now enter into a place of darkness in which He is not already waiting to embrace us.
Second, since God in Christ—as the supreme act of love—bore all of our sufferings and terrors as expressions of the wrath that we deserve, those same sufferings and terrors—now experienced in Christ—have been transfigured for us into expressions of love. God is now FOR US in all these things.
With these two truths in mind, I don’t think it’s fanciful to conclude that every fearful situation is—at root—the approach of Christ in our lives. God is working all things for our good, and what is our good? It is to know and enjoy God in Christ such that we be conformed to God in Christ to the glory of God in Christ. And if ALL THINGS are achieving this end, then ALL THINGS are—in one way or another—the lovingly authored approach of more of Christ.
So….when the eyes of fear see the specter of cancer, or loss, or uncertainty, or death itself approaching through the storm….the ears of faith hear, in that very terror, the voice of the approaching Beloved, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”
