Fear is “a distressing emotion aroused
by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined;
the feeling or condition of being afraid.”
It was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who said, “The only thing we
have to fear is fear itself.” I don’t
think that FDR ever drove down Highway 212 during a Montana snow storm—especially
this weekend! If he had I doubt if he
would be saying such things. Actually, I
think that FDR was using that phrase as rhetoric in hopes of soothing the fears
of the American people at the start of his first term as president during the
big 1933 bank panic and the Depression.
Americans were scared . . .
. . . and, we still are.
As Bob Dylan said way back there in
the early 1960s, the times they are a changing.
We worry and are fearful of what the future holds for us as
Americans. We worry about whether or not
we will have enough income and resources to live comfortably in
retirement. We worry about whether or
not we will have good health insurance to cover our rising health concerns that
come with aging. We worry about our
government and its inability to truly function together and deal with the real
people that they are elected to serve.
We worry about the rising costs of living . . . about the economy . . .
about a lot of things. We worry about a
future that none of knows what it will carry for each of us as we journey
through this life. The times are
changing and hang over us like a cloud that won’t go away. None of us knows what tomorrow will bring . .
. we only know, realistically or imaginatively, that fear is a part of our
lives.
And, that is the problem with fear . .
. we just don’t know. If we knew . . .
well, if we knew, we would all jump on FDR’s bandwagon about having nothing to
fear but fear itself. But, we don’t know
and the unknown is scary. I know that it
effects and affects all of us . . . I know because I have sat down and listened
to many of you as you talk about the present and the future . . . there is a
tinge of fear in the worlds I hear as I listen to you share your concerns,
hopes, and dreams for the future for yourselves and your families . . . you
just do not know what tomorrow will bring . . . and, that scares you. It scares me, too . . . that is fear.
Today is the last Sunday of the season
of Epiphany . . . the season of revelation of the Holy to all of God’s
children. It is the end of the season in
which we celebrate God’s presence being revealed to all people in all places .
. . that God desires a relationship with all of God’s creation . . . that Jesus
did not come for a select group of people, but all people . . . that God’s love
and grace is for everyone. And, to cap
off the season of Epiphany we have heard the story of the Transfiguration.
The Transfiguration takes places on a
mountain top that Jesus has retreated to in order to pray. With him are three of his disciples who
witness quite a scene. In their presence
Jesus is transfigured in dazzling light and whiteness . . . then he is joined
by Moses and Elijah much to the astonishment of the three disciples. One of the disciples, Peter—always wanting to
please Jesus—offers to build shelter for the three dignitaries, but is stopped
short as a booming voice proclaims, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am
well pleased. Listen to him!” Which, if we are speaking plainly, scared the
bejeebers out of them . . . so scared were they that they fell face down on the
ground terrified.
I think that most of us would have
probably been lying on the ground with them if we had just experienced the same
thing. We would have been fearful of
what we were witnessing, what we were experiencing . . . why? Because it is unknown. And, because it is unknown to us, we really
don’t know what is going to happen . . . and, we cannot control it. In our helplessness we experience fear.
But the story did not end there . . . Jesus
came and touched them. “Get up,” he
said. “Don’t be afraid.” Little did the disciples realize that this
was the prelude of Jesus’ message to them . . . do not be afraid . . . of, as
FDR put it, “There is nothing to fear but fear itself.” I say that this is the prelude because I do
not think that at this point the disciples realized the magnitude of the
journey ahead of them as Jesus’ disciples and the carriers of the Good News of
God’s desires for creation. If they had,
I doubt if they would have gotten up off of the ground. Over two thousand years of Christian history
can attest to the scary magnitude of the mission to bring all people to a
relationship with God . . . and, it continues today as we read our daily
newspapers, watch our televisions, and listen to the radio. These are scary times to be a follower of
Jesus . . . why? Because we do not know.
When I shared this sense of unknowing
with another once, I was confronted with a statement that I lacked faith. “Well,” said this astute individual, “You
just don’t have enough faith.” That
individual’s statement made me feel guilty that I did not have enough faith and
here I was a preacher! Not a good
combination for one who wants to exhort others to be faithful. But, I have gotten over it . . . and, I still
have this sense of unknowing about what the future is going to bring on many
levels of my life—including my faith.
And, I truly think that that is okay with God . . . that God can handle
my fear.
Despite having the divine revealed to
them with heavenly extras and booming sound effects, the disciples were not
without their fears when it came to their faith. They believed, but never did they know what
the results of their words or actions would bring. In the beginning, their words and actions
brought disastrous results . . . many were martyred through gruesome
deaths. Even the Apostle Paul admitted
that he did not what the results of his words or actions would be, only that
they would get reactions. Yet, as
faithful people they all stepped out in faith . . . in the hope that all things
would turn out for God’s will . . . and did what they had to do.
They did so because they knew that
they were not alone. They did not know
what tomorrow held, even though they knew what they hoped for, but they knew
that they were not alone. Jesus would be
with them. God would be with them. Jesus touched them . . . assured them . . .
and, told them to not be afraid . . . to not be afraid to live life in love and
grace whether they knew what the results would be. This did not mean that they would be without
fear . . . it meant that the one they loved would be with them no matter what
happened.
FDR spoke his famous words about fear
to a nation that was becoming immobilized with the fear of doing anything in a
time of great national and international crisis. He encouraged the nation to step up and do
something . . . anything . . . before all was lost . . . and, to do it
together. That no one was alone in this
journey.
I think that the greatest fear of all
is the fear to be alone . . . to be all alone without anyone else there. It does not matter the situation, but to have
to face and endure life by one’s self is a scary thought . . . and, I think
that it is our greatest fear. But, as
the followers of Jesus, we are not alone.
Jesus is with us in the journey . . . through thick and thin, good and
bad . . . Jesus is with us. Yet, this
does not mean we are without fear . . . to admit we have no fear; well, I think
that practically makes us deny our creation of God’s children. Fear is a part of life, especially when it
comes to living the radical lifestyle of grace and love spoken and lived by
Jesus. It is not of this world and
because it is not of this world we never know what sort of reaction we will get
. . . and, as we have seen throughout the history of the movement of Jesus,
death has been the reaction to those who are scared of such radical love and
grace.
But, we are not to be afraid. We are to listen to Jesus who repeatedly
tells us that we are not alone . . . that he is with us. With such knowledge let us step out into the
unknown and live lives that share the Good News to all people in all
places. Amen.
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