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Blogging the Bible: Be Not Afraid (Matthew 10)

Posted June 18, 2008

One of the clearest messages in the bible is “be not afraid.” God says it repeatedly in the Hebrew Scriptures. The Angels say it to poor, unmarried Mary when she discovers her terrifyingly inconvenient pregnancy. Jesus says it over and over again to the disciples and anyone else within earshot.

The problem with being afraid is that it makes loving, Christ-like actions nearly impossible. If you are living in fear, anxiety, terror, you cannot be an effective disciple of Christ. In fear, we commit terrible errors. In fear, we justify hatred. In fear, we start pre-emptive wars and kill untold innocent people. That’s why God calls us to “be not afraid.” Instead of being afraid, we are told to “love one another.”

In fact, Jesus tells us to “love our enemy.” You know why? Because when we start to love our enemy, they stop being an enemy and become a neighbor. Let’s say our enemy is, oh, I don’t know, a terrorist. As soon as we begin to concern ourselves with that enemy’s well-being, they can no longer achieve their dark goal (i.e. to terrorize us, make us afraid). Be not afraid.

Just in case we still don’t get it, John finally gives us the keys to the kingdom of God when he says, “Perfect love casts out fear.” (This passage always reminds me of its inverse. I saw it on a protest sign at a national church assembly when a certain group was excluded from being ordained: “Perfect fear casts out love!” Clever! And true.)

So, in the gospel passage for this week, we should not be surprised to hear Christ saying, “Have no fear of them,” and again, “Be not afraid.” In the second instance, we are reminded of God’s care for all creation, even little sparrows. Therefore, we can rest assured—without fear—that we too are the recipients of God’s providential care.

That’s the easy part of this passage. And it’ll preach. But then Jesus seems to turn all this upside down by saying, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Yikes! I think I’ll save that for the next blog entry. In the meantime, “Be not afraid!”