Pentecost Three

3^rd Sunday a. Pentecost – 21 June 2020 | Sermon on Matthew 10:24-39 | by Brad Everett |

“Don’t be afraid”. Like every other commandment of our Lord, it’s given to us as a blessing, but just like every other blessing, we have a hard time receiving it let alone keeping it.

Jesus uses some form of this phrase three times in today’s gospel as he gives the 12 instructions concerning what they can expect as they go to take the gospel and healing of God to the lost sheep of Israel. He then goes on to describe two of the horrors they can expect to face—hostility from religious authorities and from family. In this, Jesus has just told the disciples they can expect the two main pillars of their lives, their faith community and family, to actively oppose their efforts to follow him.

That’s how it goes with “Don’t be afraid”— it sounds wonderful, until we realize that it only applies to situations potentially fraught with fear. The more we need to hear it, the worse the conditions we may very well find ourselves in. I suspect many would rather avoid the need for this particular commandment of Christ’s i.e. just spare me the situations where I’ll need this word. Or worse, some mistakenly understand “don’t be afraid” to mean “you’ll never find yourself in a fearful circumstance”. Neither is promised us by Christ.

In fact, he says that if he as the master has suffered, then the disciples, and us as his servants, can expect the same. Because we live in this fallen world, we can expect scary things to happen to us and those we love. And perhaps we might even experience those things more often because we are followers of Christ. Suffice to say we are going to find ourselves in the midst of fearful situations—you might be in one now—which is why we need to hear again and often Jesus’ words “don’t be afraid”.

This isn’t a command to ignore your circumstances or to cut off your feelings. Nor is it Jesus telling the disciples and us like an impatient parent to “just stop it”. Rather it’s a command, an invitation, a plea to keep our hearts and minds directed towards the love of God and the promises he made to us as his children in baptism.

This fear is what happens when our attention is directed primarily to the situation, rather than toward Christ. The truly insidious thing is that we may be focusing our attention on the situation with the best of intentions—trying to sort out what is the best course of action for ourselves or for others, believing on some level that it is our responsibility to find a satisfactory resolution, but questioning if we have the wisdom, strength or time to make it happen, and having a deep-seated sense of dread that we don’t.

Or to put it in the language of another commandment, fear is what happens when we love and honor something or someone more than God. Again, the deceptive part is that often it is something or someone that would be considered good, but it is part of creation and is just as broken, frail and fallible as we are. It can’t and won’t hold the full weight of our hope and trust, and when we realize how fragile our personal god is, we become scared for its eventual collapse, and subsequently ours.

For the disciples there was a very real danger that they had, with arguably the best of intentions and perhaps without even realizing it, made idols out of the religious institution of the day, or of their families. Jesus is warning them of this potential danger. He’s warning us of this danger—maybe we aren’t as invested in our religious institutions, but chances are there is something or someone that we intentionally or unintentionally have placed above God. Maybe it is our family, the need for a sense of safety and security, or perhaps our hope is in our health or our wealth.

In our worst moments, when faced with this fact, we double down on our idolatry and work even harder, filled with fear for the inevitable collapse. In our best moments, when faced with this fact, we repent i.e. we turn back towards God and his grace, placing our hope and trust as best we can by the help of the Spirit in him.

“Don’t be afraid” is a command, an exhortation, an invitation, even a plea for us to place our hope and trust in the God who created us, called us, redeemed us—who has saved, is saving and will save us.

It’s not a promise that because of faith we will be spared every frightening experience this life has to inflict. Rather it’s a promise that we will be spared believing the deceit that anything other Christ is the source of our salvation or has the last word over us and our lives. It’s a promise that no matter what we might find ourselves in that we are Christ’s and his promises to us are trustworthy and true.

Thus, the scriptural phrase “don’t be afraid” is a call to trust and to the peace of God that passes all understanding. It’s a declaration that no matter what we might encounter in this life, we can trust that as we follow Christ, he is before, beside and behind us, keeping our lives in his.

Pr. Brad Everett

Ascension Lutheran Church, Calgary