Do not be afraid.
Sunday, June 21st, 2020
If there is one characteristic of our postmodern atheistic society it is fear. The world around us is not short of examples. In any kind of crisis, for example, many media companies pump out an almost exclusive message of fear: that every crisis, small or large, is the worst possible thing that could have possibly happened. It is no wonder that many who watch too much news are very stressed people, that our young people and teenagers are some of the most stressed and anxious in all of history, and that so many people now prefer to do something more worthwhile than watch the evening news. The drama of many of our movies work in this way as well: many of them are built around desperately trying to avoid something terrible happening. And in a society of people now bathing deeply in online media daily - it is having a more serious effect on us than I think we appreciate. There is even that pressure, that fear of not knowing what is happening.
Part of this fear is also linked to our fear of being excluded and of being different. Teenagers struggle with this - but it is like many of us have not grown out of that fundamental insecurity and search for identity. This pressure to make sure we know what everyone else knows, to live as everyone else lives, to have what everyone else has - is this really good for us? This continual comparison of ourselves with others. One thing is for sure: there is no quicker way to guarantee a miserable life.
Christians don’t have this problem. Christians are free of fear, and free of these fears. Partly because they choose that. Jesus today, for example, says: “Do not be afraid.” Its important to recognise here that Jesus makes it very clear that he believes - and he knows - that we have a choice. He doesn’t say “Don’t feel afraid.”: there are always times when we will feel fear. He says “Do not”: this means that, when we feel fear, we then have a choice. He tells us in fact that we are not our reactions, and we are not slaves to our reactions: we are free. And we can choose how we react to fear. And that choice can be to not fear. This, already, is real good news.
Yet there is even more good news. Firstly that there will be justice. Sometimes we feel crushed and wounded by the injustices done to us. Secular atheism tells us that maybe I will receive justice. Jesus says: there will be certain justice. “For everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear.” When he comes back, and that will be soon, all will be revealed to everyone: all those nasty knifestabbers and manipulative secretists, those who have been cruel and heartless. We will all be judged soon. That is Christian certainty. Jesus will do, he has already started, justice on our behalf.
The most important reason we need not fear, Jesus tells us, is because we are loved. The Father loves us so much, he is so interested - that even every hair on our head is known to him. “Why, every hair on your head has been counted. So there is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.”
Praise God we are Christian! Praise God he is so good to us! Amen, amen!
