Bob Woods, in Pulpit Digest, tells the story of a couple who took their son, 11, and daughter, 7 to Carlsbad Caverns. As always, when the tour reached the deepest point in the cavern, the guide turned off all the lights to dramatize how completely dark and silent it is below the earth’s surface. I don’t know about you, but I think being in that dark place would be pretty scary. You don’t have to go far to learn that our world can also be a pretty dark place. All we have to do is check the news and we know. Is it any wonder we struggle to find peace? Is it any wonder that peace seems so elusive in our society? In our passage for today, Jesus shows us that through our darkened world, there is indeed a path to peace.
The first step on our path to peace is to recognize that fear is very natural for humans. We, humans, are wired for fear. In some situations, fear helps us—it keeps us from doing something dangerous, or helps us know when flee a dangerous situation, or gives us an adrenaline rush to help us focus in a critical moment. God knows this about us, so one of the first things God usually says when God shows up is, “Do not be afraid!” According to Jim Wallis, in 365 verses of the Bible tell us not to fear.[1] In our passage for today, Jesus doesn’t criticize His disciples for being fearful. He recognizes they will be fearful, and He says, “It is I—do not be afraid.” For us to be fearful is perfectly natural.
The second step on our path to peace is to recognize that the presence of Jesus breaks the power of fear. He says to the disciples, “It is I—do not be afraid,” and it’s not just the fact that Jesus is familiar, but that they know how much He loves them. They are safe in His presence. I remember when she was little, Morgan broke some glass and then picked up a broken piece and cut herself badly enough that we had to go to get some stitches. At first, she was freaked out that she was bleeding, but I wasn’t all that anxious, and she calmed down too. Before long, we were off to the ER and everything worked out. In the same way, every day we run into all sorts of situations that could be freaky or anxiety-producing. “Marcie Rahill…describes how fear can create a ‘spiritual amnesia’ where we forget who God is and forget God’s promise to always be with us.”[2] In the moment when fear is speaking loudly in our lives, Jesus says, “It is I—do not be afraid.” Fear and its powerful cousins, anxiety and worry, want to have their way with us, but Jesus is not freaked out, and in His calm presence we know we can take a deep breath. God is with us! The Psalm says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” And Jesus adds, “It is I—do not be afraid.”
The third step on the path to peace is to understand that love is the antidote to fear. John writes in his first letter, “God is love…There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”[3] In Jesus’ time, people legitimately feared leprosy. These days we have medicines that can cure leprosy, but back then, if you developed one of these dreaded diseases, you had to leave your family, never to touch them or get a hug again. And when folks with leprosy found their way to Jesus, He could have made sure they stayed away, but instead He would talk with them, and to heal them, He often actually touched them. Fear shuts us down and closes us off. Love winds us up and opens us up. Perfect love—God’s love—casts out fear, because we can look to God, to find that we are safe, that God has got our backs, that God will walk with us. The Psalm says, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear, for You are with me, Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.” Paul wrote Timothy, his son in the faith, “For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-control.”[4] And Jesus says, “It is I—do not be afraid.”
Our dark times are scary, and many people play on our fears. Advertisers play on our fears of aging, of not being cool, even our Fear of Missing Out. Politicians play on our fears of those who are immigrants, of crime, of rights being taken, and elections being stolen. Jim Wallis writes, “In this situation we need to ask, ‘Who are we being made to be afraid of and why?’ And as the gospels remind us, bringing the presence of God into our divided communities helps to heal the fears that some seek to put in our hearts and in our public policies.” Fear motivates people, but trust makes community. We cannot buy our way out of fear, and we cannot fear our way to the lives and the world we want. Let us not listen too much to voices of fear that only add to the darkness. Jesus stands outside of our boats, outside of all the systems of fear, and says, “It is I—do not be afraid.” Will we invite him into our boat, and into our lives?
One of the darkest times we ever have in our lives is when someone we love dies. Whatever the relationship, the things we used to do together will not be the same, the patterns and routines of our lives have an empty spot where they used to be, and the dreams we shared together can seem broken. The pain of loss and grief is real—and we may even wonder how we are going to make it through those dark times, if we will ever be able to smile again. Fear leads us to dark places, but into our emptiness and sadness comes Jesus, and he says, “It is I—do not be afraid.” And we know Jesus will walk with us all the way through.
Dark places can indeed be scary. The little girl, suddenly enveloped in the utter darkness of the Carlsbad Caverns, was frightened and she started to cry. Immediately her brother comforted her: “Don’t cry. Somebody here knows how to turn on the lights.” We are the people who know God, and God knows how to turn on the Light! We are the ones who know God is truth and love, and when we focus on the truth found in love and grace, fear is displaced by love, like the emptiness of a cup is displaced as liquid is poured in. God knows how to turn on the Light! God knows how to drive out the fear! We are the people who try to live in the light of love, to let love seep into our pores, fill our hearts and change our lives. We are a people called together—young and old, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, regardless of race and ethnicity—called to shine like stars in the darkness. Jesus said of us, “You are the light of the world.” And here we are today, people of love, empowered by love, the Spirit filling us so we can bring healing and hope to a darkened world. Can you feel it? So let us be the church on the hill, and in the darkness, let us shine like stars reflecting the grace of Jesus Christ. Through us, may fearful, hurting people hear Jesus say, “It is I—do not be afraid.”
[1]Jim Wallis, Christ in Crisis: Why We Need to Reclaim Jesus (NY: HarperOne, 2019), p. 135.
[2]Ibid, p. 144
[3]1 John 4:16, 18 (NIV)
[4]2 Timothy 1:7 (my translation)