“Do not be afraid”

Matthew 10:24-31

Pastor Tom Johnson, June 22, 2014

Last Sunday about this time, Johanna and I were woken up at six in the morning by the cathedral bells across the street from us in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Every fifteen minutes there was a very joy-filled hymn played by the same carillon. The bells seem to promise good stuff if you get out of bed and come to worship.

As we sat in the hotel lobby eating breakfast and drinking coffee, a well-known preacher was on the large television broadcasting his sermon:

“Heaven is a warehouse full of unopened gifts from God,” said the televangelist. “The reason you are not healthy is that you do not have faith. The reason you are driving that old, beat up car is because you don’t believe. You haven’t written that book, gotten that promotion, or have birthed a child because you still haven’t made up your mind to trust God. And until you have faith, all those boxes of treasure in heaven with your name on it will remain unclaimed, unopened, and unappreciated. You are the only one standing in the way of getting what you always dreamed of. Just say, ‘Lord, I believe and trust you’ and he will deliver.” Just name it and claim it.

Each of our readings this morning seem to point us in a very different direction. They warn us of inevitable adversity to the one who believes—not prosperity. Even the prayer of they day today seems to name and claim struggle and difficulty in this life of faith: “O God, our defender, storms rage about us and cause us to be afraid. Rescue your people from despair, deliver your sons and daughters from fear, and preserve us all from unbelief.” Jesus also seems to want to “keep things real” and give us a sober reality check: “A student should not expect better treatment than his or her teacher. If they call your mentor the devil, what do you think they’ll say about you?”

We live in a broken world. We are weighed down by our own sin. We are victimized by the sin of others. Jesus does not offer us a pain-free, disease-free, poverty-free, doubt-free life. He offers us a fear-free life. It is fear that robs us of our joy. It is fear that causes us to be anxious. It is fear that can cause spiritual paralysis. It is fear that keeps us from living in the present because we are so fixated on what may or may not happen in the future. We live in fear when our imagination is overwhelmed with all the different possible scenarios that we face—each of them terrifying, lonesome, and cold. We live in fear when our thoughts are held captive by the threat of evil, death, or a life without God.

There are no easy answers that will make fear go away. Jesus himself does not answer the question of why we have to experience evil or death. He does not try to resolve the age old question of why God may at times seem either powerless or unwilling to confront evil.  And I feel it is very important to say that Jesus also affirms our need to cry out to God —to be completely honest to God in prayer and unload our deepest fears upon him just as he does on the cross when he prays, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In our Gospel today, Jesus gives us the tools we need to live. He helps us navigate difficulty, doubt, persecution, and our worst fears. “Have no fear of them,” he says. “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” “Do not be afraid.” Three times he calls us out of fear. And each time he tells us to not be afraid, he gives us some assurance of his grace. He doesn’t just tell us to stop worrying or living in the paralysis of fear. Jesus gives us reasons to let go of our anxiety and live with peace and joy.

First, a disciple is not above the teacher. We do not trust in a god who merely permits our mistreatment. We have God who goes through persecution himself in the Person and work of his Son Jesus Christ. He is demonized and maligned. He is falsely accused and put through a mock trial. He experiences our suffering.

Second, although evil is a formidable adversary and can even result in death, its power is limited. Death is the worst it can do. God’s power is greater. And, we have a God who lays down his life for us, experiencing death, and on the third day rises in victory over death. In Christ, we have overcome our greatest enemy.

Third, we are God’s treasured possession. Even the sparrows that we consider practically worthless are part of God’s treasured Kingdom. He keeps watch over the sparrows. He keeps watch over us. He even knows the number of hairs on our head. He knows us intimately. And our relationship with him transcends time, space, and creation itself.

Learn from the Master to not live in bondage to fear. You are a child of God. Jesus himself says we are part of his household. We are citizens of a far greater country. We are members of God’s holy family. Don’t let fear get the best of you. “…neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38,39). Do not be afraid. You are forever under the watchful eye of your Creator who loves and values you as the most beautiful jewel in the crown of his creation. He has loved you since the foundation of the world. He loves you to the most intimate detail now. his love transcends time and space. He will love you into all eternity.