Fear or Faith

By Engr. Carlos V. Cornejo

In the Gospel of St. Matthew, we encounter the episode of Jesus walking on water.  “Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.  After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.  Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost,’ they said, and cried out in fear.  But Jesus immediately said to them: ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’ ‘Lord, if it’s you,’ Peter replied, ‘Tell me to come to you on the water.’ ‘Come,’ he said.  Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’  Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’ And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.  Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’” (Matthew 14:22-33)

Many times, in the Gospels, our Lord repeats the phrase: “Fear not” or “Do not be afraid”.  Why does He repeat it often?  Because it is all about faith.  Fear is the opposite of faith.  Both are beliefs.  It is said that whichever of the two you feed, it will grow, and it will make us either fearful persons or men or women of faith.  Fear is a feeling we would have when we are uncertain of the outcome.  In the case of Peter, he was not sure if Jesus could keep him above water.  It was a lack of trust.  The Gospel tells us what caused this fear or lack of trust, “But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink…” (Mt 14:31) He paid more attention to the wind instead of focusing on Christ.  The key in growing our faith and banish our fears is focusing more on Christ instead of the obstacles or the difficulties of our plans, goals or situations in life.  It would mean praying constantly and not giving up while at the same time working hard on the solution to our problems.  It is putting into practice the saying, “Do your best and God will do the rest.”

 

Christ said in another Gospel passage, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea, and it will be done.’”  (Matthew 21:21) In interpreting Scripture, if it’s an eye witness account of an event happening, we are to interpret it literally.  In this case our Lord did not make a mountain move so it is a figurative speech.  But in another Gospel passage Jesus made the fig tree wither (Mark 11:12-14).  Therefore, the fig tree ought to be taken literally but the moving of a mountain should be taken figuratively.  Our Lord meant that if we have a big faith, we can overcome big obstacles.  Bigger obstacles need bigger faith.  If you are currently having those big obstacles in your life, and feel that your faith seems to weaken facing those obstacles, you can learn from another Gospel incident when the father of a boy possessed by a mute diabolic spirit felt that his faith was not enough from what Christ demanded of him, and thus he asked Jesus, “I believe but help my unbelief!”  (Mark 9:24) What a beautiful prayer we can regularly pray to ask God for more faith in Him.  This is one of the beautiful things of the Christian life.  That if you feel you lack a virtue such as courage, faith, humility, charity, patience, then simply ask God for it and you will gradually acquire it because those who ask will always receive (Matthew 7:7) provided it is asked with faith.