What are we afraid of?

Second Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 7 – Year A

June 22, 2014

Matthew 10:24-39
[Jesus said:]
"A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!
"So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. 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. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.
"Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
"For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one's foes will be members of one's own household.
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it."

What are you afraid of? There are lots of things that people are afraid of. Some people are terrified of spiders or snakes. Some people are scared to death of heights. Some people are afraid of deep, open water. Others are afraid of being attacked by sharks (even in the Mississippi River). Some people are overly scared of being robbed in their homes. Some people are incapable of speaking in front of a crowd of people. All of us are afraid of different things; sometimes really afraid, and sometimes just a little bit uneasy. Now, don't tell my kids (who think I'm pretty brave), but there are things that make me really uncomfortable, there are things that freak me out more than a little bit, and there are things that I'm downright afraid of. Me, I'm afraid of heights. I really, really don't like roller coasters. One of my biggest fears is being paralyzed, the thought of not being able to use my arms or legs scares me to no end.

Those are the fears we are willing to share with others. Then there are the fears we keep to ourselves. The fear of people finding out our deepest secrets, the things we fight hardest to keep from being seen. We don't want people to see how uncomfortable we are in crowded rooms. We don't want people to know how depressed we are. We don't want people to know our confidence is actually a cover for our feelings of inadequacy. We don't want people to know about how our kids are doing in school. We don't want people to know the things we did when we were in college. We don't want people to know how rocky our marriage really is. We don't want people to know how unhappy we are. And, we are terrified of people knowing the truth.

Fear is a powerful and controlling emotion. All of us from birth on are essentially taught to fear. Worry about our survival, worry about how the actions of others will impact our ability to survive and live the way we want. Fear is used by politicians to manipulate us. Fear is often used by parents to control their children, and by children to control their parents.

Pretty much every fear we have is in some way related to dying. Often it has to do with truly dying; like being shot, or falling off a cliff, or drowning. But, often it has to do with somehow losing the life we are so attached to. Losing the friendships we have cultivated, the job we have had for years, the status in our community, the love and respect of our families. We're scared to death that if they were to find out what we have so carefully hidden away, our lives as we have come to know them would come to an end. Fear can be a powerful thing.

Our text from Matthew talks about fear. It talks about the fear that was being experienced in the early church by the first Christians. No one knows for sure if these words were truly spoken by Jesus, or if they were put in Jesus' mouth by Matthew so that the early church would hear a word of comfort in the midst of the persecution they were experiencing. Whether Jesus spoke the words or not, doesn't matter as much as the message that is delivered: why are you afraid of what others say, of even death itself, your lives have been bought and paid for, salvation is yours. As children of God heaven is your destiny, do not be afraid, stand strong and be of good faith.

How often are you in fear because of your faith? For us in this country, fear that comes from what you believe, from what church you go to isn't common. That is, unless you happen to be a member of a minority faith within a community that is far from welcoming. Think about the Islamic communities that have had their mosques burned down around this country. Think about the hate that was directed at churches in the south that opened their doors to non-whites only 50 years ago. Think about the messages of hate that were received by our own denomination because of our willingness to allow congregations to follow their conscience in matters of sexuality and gender.

Taking a stand for what you believe can indeed be scary. Are you fearful of because of your faith? How often when your asked about the weekend you had do you mention you were in church on Sunday? How often when you are out on Saturday night, do you excuse yourself early letting people know you have to be up for church in the morning? How often when you are asked do you proudly declare the church you attend? How often do you duck your head and try to hide when the conversation of religion comes up? I know I sometimes find myself trying to avoid having to say or admit that I go to church every Sunday, that I am a pastor. What am I afraid of? What are you afraid of?

I know that I'm afraid of being lumped into some generic category that the public has created for Christians and pastors. A category that declares that we all must believe the same things, act in the same way, think the same things about the Bible, about the church, about our sisters and brothers in faith and in other faiths; and if we don't hold to those same beliefs and standards we are not really pastors. I'm scared that if the truth were known I would have to stick my neck out and defend myself, defend my faith, get into a theological fight over doctrine or polity; maybe it's safer for people to simply assume I'm just some guy sitting in a coffee shop working on “The Great American Novel”.

It's not that I'm ashamed of my faith, or my church. To the contrary, I love the church I'm a member of, I appreciate the stances that have been taken by the United Church of Christ. I can easily defend why I hold the positions I do on divisive issues. What I'm afraid of is being judged, being excluded, losing a status (real or perceived) because I don't fit into someone else's nice little box they have created. I'm not afraid they will literally stone me, or drive me out of town; I'm in fear of what could happen to my position of importance in their mind. It's not something I'm proud of, and something I am working to change.

Jesus declares that he didn't come to bring peace, but a sword. That faith in him brings division. Is it division that must separate us though? Is it possible that when Jesus speaks of how he has come to set parents and children against one another, how families will be divided, that he does not want it to be understood as division meaning hate? There are lots of things that my wife and I are divided on: I like beer, she doesn't. She loves to go to concerts, I don't. I like to sleep with the ceiling fan off, she wants it on. We are divided, we both know the differences we have. We respect each other for those differences, and we would never say that either one of us was more right than the other.

Pretty much everyone in the world likes music. We like to hum along with songs, sing along with the radio, we all have our favorite hymns. We all like music, in that we are united. But, we all have our favorite types of music, our favorite groups, our favorite songs, our favorite radio stations. If there was only one station to listen to on the radio, there would be a lot of people who would be upset. Our faith is like music. Regardless of the specific shape it takes, our belief in God is common, just like our love of music. It's in the specifics that things begin to be different. It's in the rhythms, the melodies, the harmonies, the words, the instruments played that we are differentiated, we are divided. To not be true to our love of a specific type of music would likely make most of us more than a little depressed. God desires us to sing the song of faith that is deepest in our hearts.

Jesus wants us all to take a stand for what we believe, for the faith that we have. And in so doing we will be divided, we will declare our differences of opinion between ourselves and others. But, we will also be being true to ourselves and the personal revelation and understanding of God that we each have. Jesus desires that our faith be something that is an active, powerful, influencing part of our lives. Jesus wants us to declare our faith as the reason we do the the things we do, hold the positions we do. Not, so we can declare ourselves as different, or better than others. No, but that we may be more fully who we are, allow God to be more active in our lives. In that there will be division, but the divisions need not divide. As sisters and brothers in Christ, we are not all alike, but we are still united as family. We do not, and we need not all agree on everything, but we agree on what is most important: that in Jesus, God acted in a unique and powerful way that has transformed our lives both here in this world and in the world to come.

Jesus does not bring peace because he calls into question all the allegiances we have and are controlled by: the families we were raised in, the churches we came to faith in, the communities we have come to call home. Do we trust in those powers or in Jesus? Which controls us? Are we controlled by what others have told us is right or wrong? What others have told us a good Christian believes, how they act? Are we controlled by the interpretations of scripture by others (including the pastor), or do we trust in Jesus? Do we trust in the Bible, or do we trust in Jesus? Where is our trust? What are we so afraid of? What are you so afraid of? Listen for the song of faith God has placed in your heart, and sing it out. Amen.