Proper 14, Yr C

The Rev. G. Hendree Harrison, Jr.

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Fear causes

            Fear makes people do funny things. A lot of people enjoy fear.  For instance, a lot of people actually enjoy the terror of careening down the tracks of amusement park roller coasters.

            You know how it works - the roller coaster car creeps to a stop at the top of a mountain of steel and wood, and then it lets loose, barreling down an incline of track so steep, it’s almost a sheer drop -straight down.

            The people in the cars are scared out of their minds, their stomachs drop out of their bodies, and, gripped by fear, they inevitably do three things.  They close their eyes, scream at the top of their lungs, and they wave their hands wildly, like lunatics, above their heads.

            Fear makes people do irrational things. 

            Years ago I was on a camping trip with my Boy Scout troop.  We were on a three-day canoe trip down the Etowah River.  It rained for two full days on our trip, and by the time we were halfway through our journey, some of the boys in our group were nearly too tired, wet, and worn out to go on.  But, of course, we had to go on because we were in the middle of a vast wilderness, and we were miles and miles from our cars and any means of communication.

            As we made our way down the river, we periodically paddled to shore to rest and bail the water out of our boats.  One of the times we pulled into shore, one of our young scouts jumped out of his canoe and started hiking quickly up the steep bank into the woods.  We called after him, and he turned and with tears in his eyes and the saddest quivering voice he said, “I can’t go any further, I am scared and tired, and I am going to walk home.”

            A couple of us had to run after him, and beg him, to get back into his boat because, of course, there was no way he could possibly walk home.  We were hours from his home by car, and he had no map, no food, and no chance of getting home walking.

            Fear makes men fight.  When I see the all too frequent stories of crimes and murders on the news and in the paper, I often wonder if fear had a part         in motivating the perpetrators.

            It does not seem too much of a stretch to suppose that Fear has been a driving force behind the wars that nations have waged against each other since the beginning of civilization.  When men are frightened that what they have will be taken from them or that their security will be compromised, for better or for worse, we take up arms, and we fight to the death if we must.  I have heard people say that fear beaten into them by angry owners makes animals mean.

            Families and individuals that fear change often close themselves off from their neighbors, circling the wagons as they say, to form a tight knit and narrow minded cluster with no expression in or exposure to the outside world.

            Fear causes panic.  Crowds of people and animals that are lit up with fear give way to panic and stampedes, and it almost always follows that someone or something is trampled and wrecked.

            Of all of the things that fear causes, the most damaging case of fear is fear of God.

Fear of God leads to hardness of heart.  Fear of God leads folks to            focus on going (or not going) to hell.  Fear of God robs us, like a thief in the night, of our sense of the joy of God.

            But…in the first words of this morning’s Gospel, Jesus wrecks all the hellfire and brimstone sermons that have ever been preached, and Jesus banishes Fear from the hearts and minds of his disciples.  As clearly as he can, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.”

            This is a liberating commandment to the people of Jesus’ time who have been governed by fear.  That is, governed and guided by fear of God, fear of persecution, fear of famine,   fear of failure, fear of             death, and perhaps even fear of life.

            Jesus says, “Do not fear.”  And that, good friends, is a liberating commandment for us also because surely our culture is soaked through with fear too.

            What follows “do not be afraid” is news even more joyful and promising.

            Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, dear ones, for it is God’s great desire to give you the kingdom.”

            Put another way, this means that God wants for all of us to have good, rich, lives brimming full with hope and joy.  And the scriptures would have us believe that there will come a day when God will make this happen.

            There is a day coming when sorrow will be drowned out by laughter, when hunger will be defeated by abundance, when injustice will be made right by heaven’s glory, and fear will be changed into assurance and strength by God’s grace and healing love.

            The image that Jesus uses to describe all of this, and make it real to his listeners is the image of the powerful and wealthy master (who serves no one!) dressing up in servants clothes, seating his slaves around his own dining room table and then serving the slaves himself.

            “Do not be afraid,” says Jesus, “your God and master does not seek to punish and destroy you; rather it is God’s great delight to serve you.”

            Most people think that this gospel passage is at least in part about the second coming of Christ.  Jesus is trying to convey the importance of a sense of readiness to his disciples and the people gathered around him.

            I think this passage is likely making reference to the promised second coming of Jesus, but I don’t think that Jesus intends us to wait weighed down with anxiety and fear.

            We Christian folk are not intended to be scared of the return of Christ; rather Jesus intends that we wait joyfully expectant of the surprising Grace that will rain down upon our world when the gates to God’s Kingdom crash open.

            So live, says Jesus, like it’s going to happen anytime.  Live prepared, ready, like you would be for an emergency because who wouldn’t want to be ready to experience unbridled joy and truth.

            We do not need to be frightened of God.  Jesus says just that in the plainest language.  “Do not be afraid.”

            I wonder--if we stripped fear             from our image of God, and if we chipped away at the fear that has our culture so firmly in its grip, would justice, joy, and health begin to steal into our lives like thieves in the night coming to bestow God’s gift of Grace upon our worried worked up world? 

            Maybe--If only we weren’t so scared.