2 Lent C
Transcribed from a sermon given on
February 28, 2010
At St. Barnabas Episcopal Church
By the Rev. Valerie Ann Hart
What are you afraid of? We’re all afraid of something. What are you afraid of? Are you afraid of the dark? Are you afraid of spiders? Are you afraid of snakes? Maybe you’re afraid of earthquakes. No, you probably wouldn’t be living here if you were afraid of earthquakes, but you might be afraid of hurricanes, which is why you’re not living in Florida. And your friends in Florida probably can’t understand how you can live in California with all those earthquakes. We’re all afraid of something.
Abram, who is later named Abraham, was afraid. He was afraid that he was going to die and have no one to carry on. He had worked hard. He was rich and powerful. And his wife had had no children. All that he had was going to go either to a slave or to some relative that lived in a far off city, and his name and his tradition and his life would die away and no one would remember. It was all for naught. That was his fear. That’s what he was afraid of.
He had a vision and that vision starts as many visions and visits by angels begin, “Do not be afraid.” “Do not be afraid.” That’s the phrase that comes up more than any other phrase in all of scripture. If you read the bible you’re going to find lots of places where an angel or someone says, “Do not be afraid,” and yet we are afraid. We’re all afraid of something. We all live in some fear, but God says to us, “Do not be afraid.”
What are you afraid of? Are you afraid you’re going to lose your job or maybe afraid you’ll never find one if you’re looking right now? Or maybe you’re afraid you’re going to be stuck in the job you have forever. Are you afraid that you’re not going to have enough money to retire or are you retired and afraid you’re not going to have enough money to last? If you’re a youth, are you afraid that your parents are going to embarrass you? If you’re a parent, are you afraid that your youth is going to embarrass you? We all have our fears. We’re all afraid of something.
Herod was afraid. Herod was afraid of Jesus. Herod was afraid because he was a puppet king; he didn’t have any real power. He was a king just because he was serving the Romans. He knew that if someone inspired the people, there could easily be a rebellion because the people didn’t like him very much. He didn’t have any power from the support of the people. He was afraid. He was afraid that he would lose his authority. He was afraid he would lose his palace. He was afraid he would lose all the perks that came from power and he knew that he wasn’t standing on a solid foundation.
What he was afraid of is what leaders in Jerusalem and all over the world are really afraid of - he was afraid of the truth. You see, Jerusalem killed its prophets because Jerusalem represented not just where the temple was, but also it the temporal material power center, the political power center. Those who have power, most of the time, are afraid of one thing and that’s the truth. Now prophets don’t predict the future, they tell the truth. Usually people who are comfortable and in positions of power and authority don’t particularly like the truth. There are things they would rather not have said, and we know that today.
Look what happens to the people we call “whistleblowers” – the ones who speak the truth about a company, or an agency in the government, or what’s happening in Congress, or what’s happening at a school. What happens to the one that speaks out and says the truth that everybody else can see but won’t speak? They usually end up, maybe not being physically killed, but they certainly are feared and an attempt is made to silence them.
The prophets spoke the truth to Jerusalem. A prophet speaks the truth to power and authority, so that’s why the prophets were killed in Jerusalem. Jesus was speaking the truth to people. Jesus was telling them about God’s love. Jesus was teaching them to care for one another. Jesus was teaching them that the people in the temple were leading them astray. And Herod was afraid, but Jesus wasn’t afraid of Herod.
When we read that the Pharisees come and tell Jesus, “Herod’s out to get you,” we need to remember that first of all the Pharisees were not Jesus’ friends so they probably had another agenda to be saying that. Secondly, Jesus already knew Herod wanted him dead. Herod had killed John the Baptist, and Jesus at this point in Luke’s Gospel, is on His journey to Jerusalem. He’s made it very clear to the people around him that He’s on His way to Jerusalem and that He’s going to die there. What the Pharisees are doing is presenting a temptation. They say, “Be afraid and respond to your fear. Live out of your fear.” But Jesus wasn’t afraid. Jesus looked at this artificial power of Herod’s and said, “That fox.”
Fox, huh. A fox can be annoying. A fox might even grab one of your chickens and kill it, but a fox is not really dangerous to a human being. They might be wily and clever, but they’re not really to be feared. Jesus knew that Herod had no power and when the time came for Jesus to be arrested and He was brought before Herod, He wouldn’t even respond to him. He said nothing. And Herod could do nothing to Jesus and had to pass Him on to Pilate. But even to Pilate who looked at Jesus and said, “I have the power to have you killed,” Jesus responded, “You have no power unless God is giving it to you.”
Now we do know that in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus had fear. Jesus knew what fear was, but that didn’t keep Him from doing what God called Him to do. And when we read about the saints and when we hear about great heroes who have risked or given their lives, we have to know that they had fear, but the fear did not keep them from following God’s call. The fear did not keep them from telling the truth.
Are you afraid of telling the truth? Is there some truth that you need to say that you’re afraid to say because of how someone might respond? Perhaps there’s a friend that you might want to tell about God’s love, but you’re afraid that they’ll think that you’re one of those. What would they think of you? Or perhaps there’s a family member that you know who needs to be told they’re going in the wrong direction, but you don’t want to cause any problems in the family? Perhaps there’s a friend who needs that kind of truth? Perhaps you need to tell the truth at your work or your school or your neighborhood. Are you afraid? I know I get afraid. We all get afraid.
I’ve just been watching the Winter Olympics, every one of those sports terrifies me. I can’t imagine being at the top of a hill and going down and then up over a ramp 30 feet up in the air, and twisting around with my head down and crash into the bottom, because I know I would crash into the bottom if I try that. Or going down the bobsled run after someone has already died on that whistler course, flying down at 90 miles an hour head first, I’d be terrified. I’d be terrified to get on that fast track if I actually could skate. I’d be terrified to be out there. And I’d be terrified to be skating up in front of thousands of people who are watching your every move and just waiting for you to fall down. But the Olympic athletes, I’m sure they’re afraid sometimes, but that doesn’t keep them from doing what they feel they need to do.
So how is it that we’re to get over our fear and not give in to the very real fears that we have? That’s where this wonderful psalm comes in. And if you memorize one verse in scripture to hold onto in your life make it this one. The first verse of Psalm 27, “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom then shall I fear.” “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom then shall I fear.” Remember that. Hold on to that. And when you feel afraid and when you feel there’s some truth you need to speak or some action that God is calling you take, and you feel that fear come up in you, remember, “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom then shall I fear.” Amen.
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