Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
August 12, 2007
Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
Psalm 50:1-8, 23-24
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Luke 12:32-40
And Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Why is it that throughout his ministry Jesus is constantly telling us not to be afraid. We hear over and over again, “Do not fear,” as Jesus attempts to teach us how to live into the kingdom God promises to us even as we live on this earth. This frightening and fearful earth. Where nothing we have, nothing we own, and nothing that we are or do in life is guaranteed to us, despite our feverish desire to have them and protect them.
It doesn’t help that we are constantly reminded of how our life, our money, our possessions, our good report or reputation, and so much else are so fragile that we always fear for them. News stories over the last few days have reported miners who may never come out alive from the mine which provided them and their families with a secure and comfortable living. Three young college students, who were beating the odds against them that they might succeed in this world, are gunned down execution style in a school yard. The stock market becomes wildly volatile, placing investors, big and small, in a panic and people like myself fearful of the impact on pension systems which have guaranteed us a modest income for the rest of their life. And here in the Berkshires, where people can expect to live in relative comfort and safety, the threat of violence becomes ever more real as gang members bring themselves, their drugs and their weapons to our area.
Need I go on. Yes, the world is a fearful place. But not more fearful than it was throughout biblical times, or during any era of human history for that matter. Different in some ways, perhaps, but no less fearful. And no less fearful to Jesus’ disciples as he tries to comfort their fears and give them some good advice on how they might live in this world until God’s reign is established in it. And, of course, Jesus gives advice all believers in every generation need to live by; advice that lets us know that fear does not have to rule our life.
“Do not be afraid,” Jesus says. “Do not fear.” Jesus makes this request of his disciples and of us because he knows that it is impossible for us to live completely into the fullness of life God promises if we are always fearful and afraid. Jesus shows us, and Paul teaches us that we are ruled by only two motives in our life, and they cannot rule equally or together. They are love and fear. Each thought we think and each action we take is prompted by either love or fear; we can only live by one of them at any given time. If we are not living our lives in love, then we are living them in fear. When we are living in our fear mode, we think and act defensively, protecting ourselves from the things which can harm or hurt us; things which can take our money and possessions and our very life from us. And fear can be so irrational and debilitating we are unable to live our life in the fullness of the life God has given us. Fear causes us to be worried and anxious, and worry and anxiety keep us from knowing and having the peace that only God can give, and the hope and promise for our future that only God can provide.
Jesus tells us not to be afraid. Not to fear. But do you know how difficult his request is. I’m sure you do. Do you remember when you were a small child and you woke up from a nightmare. Your mom or dad ran to your bedroom, and I’ll bet I know what they said to you. Don’t be afraid. And, of course, you immediately stopped being afraid. I think not. In fact, you probably found it difficult to go back to sleep. Perhaps mom and dad let you sleep in their room. Until you were no longer afraid. Modern psychology only recently discovered an ancient truth; the truth Jesus understands when he explains to his disciples why they need not be afraid. You can’t just tell people what they should feel. If you want to change feelings, you need to change the things which cause the feelings. It is useless for us to tell people how they should feel. The best we can do is to allow people to express what they are feeling in the hope that they can begin to deal with the thing which is making them afraid and fearful.
Well, for certain in today’s gospel account, the disciples are feeling afraid. And dealing with their fear is precisely what Jesus sets out to do when he tells them not to be afraid. Jesus knows, however, that he must approach his disciples in a way which will help them receive his message. So he softens them up, so to speak, so they won’t become defensive when he tells them not to fear. Jesus often addresses his disciples, “Little children,” or in this case, “little flock.” That gives them permission to have their fear and to express it. The particular fear the disciples have comes from being afraid that Jesus might not return to them as he promises he will after he leaves this earth to go to God. The disciples have obvious issues of abandonment. And their level of fear only heightens as Jesus’ journey with them in his ministry takes him closer to Jerusalem and closer to the cross.
Abandonment is a real and common fear for all of God’s human creatures. It is the fear of a baby who emerges from the womb. Abandonment is the fear every child has of a parent and every parent has of a child. Abandonment is what we fear in any relationship, especially in the bonds of marriage and deep friendship. Abandonment is our greatest fear in death. We not only fear being snatched away from our loved ones; we fear there might not be anyone waiting for us on the other side. All of these examples get at the relationship between having fear and being afraid, but there is an important difference between them.
Things that make us afraid are real events which happen in real time. Fear, on the other hand, is a deep, underlying and enduring feeling which we may or may not realize we have until we become afraid. The things that make us afraid can show us what we fear, but only if we are willing to face our fear. Only if we are willing to ask in that moment, what is that I am really I afraid of? For example, married couples are afraid of infidelity because they fear being abandoned by their partner. Children are afraid of the dark because they fear a kind of dying in it. Investors are afraid of a volatile stock market because they fear losing the very thing which guarantees their security. People are afraid of strangers on the street, intruders in their home, or safety on their job because they fear losing their lives and property. The disciples are afraid of Jesus’ dying because they fear ultimate abandonment by God.
Jesus knew long before modern psychology that in order to move out of the fear which keeps us anxious, or depressed, ever watchful or overly cautious, angry or resentful, we need to remove ourselves from the things which make us afraid. We need to invest our emotional energy in something other than our fear. Jesus tells us we need to replace the energy of fear in our heart with the energy of love. And the only way we can do that is by replacing the treasures of our life with the “unfailing treasures of the heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.” Jesus knows that “where our treasure is, our heart will be also.” He knows that if we treasure the things of this earth more than the treasures of heaven, our heart will always be afraid of losing them and we will live our lives in perpetual fear, in continual worry and anxiety. On the other hand, one can never lose the “unfailing treasures of heaven.” They are always available to us if we will choose them, and when we allow them to take the place of our fear, we begin to know what Paul calls perfect freedom.
And what are the unfailing treasures of heaven? They are faith, and hope, and love, and these treasures permeate all of our scripture readings today. And there is a reason for that. All three are necessary for conquering fear. Just think about it. Think about how faith and hope and love can conquer our fear of abandonment and death. A person who does not fear death will not be afraid of anyone who could take his life from him. A person who does not fear abandonment will not be afraid of being left alone. A person who does not fear scarcity or loss of their abundance will not be afraid of volatile stock markets. Anytime we are able to come to the place in our life where we do not fear we stop being afraid. It is then that we can get on with living our life into the fullness God intended for us. Peace begins to take the place of anxiety. The treasures of heaven begin to take priority over the treasures we invest our hearts in on this earth. And we begin to live on this earth in ways which demonstrate that the kingdom of God has truly come to us.
Nothing we treasure on this earth, including our life, can ever bring us to fear when we live into the promises of God’s kingdom. Faith is a treasure which makes us free to live in the safety and security of knowing that whatever evil and death exists in the world around us, goodness and life will prevail. Faith makes us free to live in the promises of hope; our hope in God’s future for us and for all creation. Faith and hope make us free to risk love in the face of all that we encounter in this life.
The fear that enslaves us, and these heavenly treasures that can make us free, makes me think of the bird who believed he needed a parachute in order to fly. He believes the parachute will save him from any catastrophe which would cause his wings to fail and make him plummet to earth. Having the parachute, however, only makes him afraid that it will not open when he needs it. And he was sure that he will need it. In fact, he is sure he cannot do without it. This is a bird who places his heart and his faith in an earthly treasure he believes is essential to his being a bird. But his treasure, this parachute, only causes him worry and anxiety. He does not realize the parachute will not only NOT give him the courage he needs to be a bird, it isn’t even necessary. All he has to do is be the bird God made him to be. Only faith can set this bird free to fly; only hope can chart God’s future for him, and only love can give him the heart he needs to lay aside his parachute so that he can live into the promises of faith and hope.
It should come as no surprise that the awful news events which have such power to prompt such fear in us have also shown us the power of faith and hope and love in such tragedy. A community of friends and neighbors and strangers, in and beyond the city of Newark, have come together in love to witness to the fact that tragedy cannot damage their faith and fear will not rule their lives as they seek to heal the hurt and create a safe and caring community. A community of people are gathering at the mine site in Utah to conquer their fear by placing lighted candles in a large dark space which spell out “HOPE,” knowing that regardless of what happens, hope will bring them into God’s future for their lives. On the other hand, economic experts keep trying to assure us we have nothing to fear in the volatile behavior of the marketplace. But they don’t speak of hope in their assurances—only cautious optimism. Which gives me reason to know why we cannot put our hope in earthly treasure. Because when we give our heart only to our earthly treasure, the most we can be is optimistic about the ways they will serve us; while we continue to be a slave to them and fear continues to rule our heart.
“Little flock,” says Jesus. “Do not fear.” Because fear will keep you from living into the fullness of your life, and into the joy of God’s kingdom on this earth. Put your treasure where your heart is, but be sure your heart is firmly fixed in the treasures of heaven. Let faith show you the way to those treasures; let hope lead you into God’s future; let love give you the courage which sets you free from all that you fear, so that you can become the person God created you to be—like a bird without a parachute.