If you were to visit the Sistine Chapel in Rome you would see this figure, surrounded by angels, coming in on a cloud from heaven. Beardless, he doesn't look like Jesus. But He is Jesus - at least, according to His painter, Michelangelo. The painting in that part of the chapel is called, "The Last Judgment," which is what God put Jesus in charge of. I was reminded of this scene when I read part of the Gospel for today, in which Jesus says, "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (see Matthew 10:24-39) Perhaps a shiver runs down our spine when we think about that. Does Jesus want us to be afraid of God. Be ‘fraidy cats'? Does Jesus want us to be afraid of Him? What is the proper role of FEAR in my life, in anyone's life?
Well, there's a kind of fear that's not helpful and a kind of fear that's most helpful. What David wrote in Psalm 34 kind of sums it up: "I sought the Lord," sang David, "and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears." Then, later, in the same Psalm 34, he says, "O fear the Lord, you His holy ones, for those who fear Him have no want." Now at first glance this may be confusing. What are you saying, David? - We may ask him. First you are saying that God gets rid of our fears, and then you say that we should fear God. So is fear good or bad? And David will answer - as will all of Scripture answer - that "our fear of God will overcome our fear of the world." Our fear of God will overcome our fear of the world.
We see this throughout all of biblical history, and it starts at the very beginning. When Adam and Eve commit the first sin, and realize they are naked, they hide. God asks them why they are hiding, and Adam admits, "I heard the sound of You [God] in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." (Genesis 3:10) Now, this is not the fear of God that God wants us to have. He wants us to have the kind of reverent fear and awe of Him that keeps us from eating the forbidden fruit - a love for God that keeps us from violating His laws - not a fear of what God will do to punish us FOR eating the forbidden fruit!
Three times in our Gospel passage today Jesus tells us not to be afraid. He says that just as He was persecuted for His faithful actions, so will we be, if we are His faithful disciples. People will persecute us, Jesus says, but "have no fear of them," He says. "Do not fear those who kill the body," He says. He compares us to sparrows, and concludes: "So do not be afraid; you are of more value [in God's eyes] than many sparrows." (Matt. 10:24-31)
Just a few days earlier, Jesus and the disciples had been in a boat on the Sea of Galilee when a storm came up and threatened to overturn the boat. The scared disciples awakened their Master, who calmed the storm and said to them, "Why are you afraid, you of little faith?" Jesus is saying that fear is the sworn enemy of faith in God. If God has promised to make you part of his salvation plan in this life and for eternity, than what do have, spiritually, to be afraid of? - Now notice I didn't say that God has promised to protect you. Jesus says in our Gospel today that we must be willing to have serious family squabbles over our faith - because we should never deny our faith before others - even those we would hate to risk alienating a loved one. But Jesus tells us that we, like Him, have a cross to bear and, He says, "whoever does not take up the cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me."
Throughout Scripture we see that battle between fear and faith. Abraham stands out as the first to overcome His fears and admit that there is one God and only one God to have faith in. He tells Sarah this, but at one point she doesn't seem to believe it. When an angel tells her that she is a pregnant old lady, she laughs, and then she denies laughing. We read: "But Sarah denied, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid. [The angel] said, "Oh yes, you did laugh." (Gen. 18:15) You see, her derisive laughter - laughter she denied making - was evidence both of her fear and her lack of faith.
But when this son of theirs, Isaac, was born and grew to boyhood, God told Abraham to sacrifice his son. When Abraham was about to do it, God said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy...for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." (Gen.22:12) Abraham's fear of God overcame his fear of losing his only son. This fear of God steeled his faith, so that he could do all that God would ask of him in the future. And notice this: God only asks us to sacrifice as He does - for just as Abraham was willing to give up his only son, God would eventually give up HIS only son, on the cross, in order to save us all.
You know, at all the great moments of Scriptural witness, God tells His people not to be afraid. When Moses wanted to show everyone the Ten Commandments, there was thunder and lightning coming from Mt. Sinai, and, we read, the people "were afraid, and trembled and stood at a distance" from Moses. Moses said, "Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you, and to put the fear of Him upon you so that you do not sin." (Exodus 20:20) The right fear - the fear of God - reverence for His commands - keeps us from the clutches of sinfulness.
All the great Bible moments: The Annunciation! When the angel Gabriel appears before Mary, almost the first thing He says is, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God." (Luke 1:30) Overcoming her fears she accepts her important spiritual role - which is what we are all called to do. The Transfiguration! Matthew says that when the disciples saw the brilliantly lit Jesus and heard God, "they fell to the ground and were overcome with fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Get up, and do not be afraid." (Matt. 17:6-7) The Resurrection! The very first thing the angel said to the women was "Do not be afraid." Then, as they ran to tell the men, Jesus stopped them and said, "Do not be afraid." (Matt. 28:5-10) And then Jesus came and appeared to the men in that upper room - a room locked because of "fear of the Jews." And they never locked those doors again.
The apostles and prophets were told by God what Satan's main weapon was - and still is: FEAR. So they warned us: Peter says - "Do not fear what they fear," he said, "and do not be intimidated." (1 Peter 3:14) Peter knew that we can be incapacitated by our fears, stoked as they constantly are by the media, the internet, screaming emails, and the like. When people have told me that they are afraid of something I have often said, "Don't be afraid, be concerned; don't let this thing gain control over you, so that you act recklessly and irrationally, for that is what Satan wants you to do."
It's the Spirit versus Satan, and our hearts and minds are often the chief battleground between them. As St. Paul said, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry ‘Abba! Father!' it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and, if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ - if, in fact, we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him." (Romans 8:14-17) You see, to "fall back into fear" is to forget two things - first, that we are children of God, and God will eternally take care of us; and second, that if we let fear shackle us, impede us, and we fall into a "spirit of slavery," then we don't "suffer with Jesus" like we are supposed to, and we don't live in His glory in this world. Like David said in the 23rd Psalm, "I fear no evil, for You, God, are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." So why are we so afraid? We've got God!
I'm reminded of a time in the Old Testament when the nation of Israel felt weak, and, thus, afraid. They went to the leading prophet of that time, Samuel, and said, "We need a king! Everyone else has strong kingdoms! Tell God to get us a king, or King Nahash of the Ammonites with his army will kill us!" So Samuel, with God's reluctant blessing, gave them a king, Saul, even though, as Samuel said to them, "God was your king." (see 1st Samuel 12:12-15) So Saul tried to be king, but at one point he listened to what the people of Israel wanted instead of what God wanted, and Samuel chastised him for it. Saul replied, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice" instead of God's voice. (1 Samuel 15:24) You see, yet again, Saul - like each of us, so many times - was more afraid of people than he was of God...and it got him - and it often gets us - in big trouble.
You know, you and I were always taught that love is important - and it is - but love as defined by God, not the world. And we were always taught that the opposite of love is hate, but that is not exactly true. Only God has ever told us the deeper truth on this - that the opposite of love is - you guessed it - fear. Through the Apostle John God tells us, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punish-ment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love." (1 John 4:18) You see, fear causes many bad things that are the opposite of love: hate, yes, but also cowardice, apathy, laziness, stubbornness, pride, anger, and so on. Fear is at the root of it all. Also, John is saying that we must allow our love for others to grow ever deeper every day - even if we've been married to someone 50 years, there's more we can learn in how to love someone, more to change, in order to love more completely.
And that's why I want to return to David in the end, because we're being confronted with a lot of changes in this world and around King of Glory, and I found a passage that kind of sums up what I'm saying, as it applies to you and me at this crucial time in our lives together. In Psalm 55, verse 19, David says, "God... will hear and will humble them - because they do not change, and do not fear God." Here we see that, when we fear God instead of the world, we are not afraid of the changes in our lives that God feels we must go through. We are not afraid of the change to our intersection out here, or how it affects our preschool, or how it challenges us to be more of a front porch ministry to the community; we are not afraid of having elders and deacons and governing ourselves in a more biblical manner; we are not afraid of what happens to oil prices, or to the housing market or stock market, nor are we afraid of the future of this country, or of the world. For to be afraid is to be paralyzed - to be in no position to change for the better; but, freed from fear, we can adapt to being an even better tool in God's hands. To properly fear God - to want to please Him, not be afraid OF Him - to properly fear God is to place our bad spiritual fears in His hands, knowing that He is already taking care of them, for, as Jesus says today, He loves us far more than sparrows or anything else in this world. For, as King Solomon said, so many, many years ago, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" ( Proverbs 9:10) - the start to gaining the wisdom of God, which is the only wisdom that will give us true joy on earth. Amen.
