It’s an understatement to say we live in an age of great fear. The language of terror has become part and parcel of our daily living. In your spare time try and Google the word fear and see what you come up with. There is even a word for the fear of sermons known as Homilophobia. I believe we all have our own phobia list and top of mine is poverty and darkness. In the Western world, some of our fears include the bad news on the state of the economy, the fear of domestic and international terrorism, the fear of a nuclear attack by rogue countries like North Korea or Iran, the fear of pandemics like Ebola and bird flu especially coming up to Christmas, fear of bad weather or a bad diagnosis from our GP. Add to that the politicians who use talk of terror to scare the population and Parliament into passing laws that suppress individual human rights. And then the media picks it up, hypes it and our society becomes fear-driven. Slowly but surely we develop a siege mentality. And into that maze of fear, we hear the words of the angel to Mary: Do not be afraid. The same words came to Joseph in a dream: Don’t be afraid. The same words came to Zechariah and Elizabeth: Fear not. The same word will ultimately come to shepherds in a field keeping watch over their flocks by night: Don’t be afraid, for behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy. These angelic greetings are repeated over and over again throughout the Advent story: Fear Not. And the logical, sensible first-century or twenty-first-century response is: Fear not? You must be kidding!
The command sounds perfectly absurd. Mary had every reason to be afraid. Try and imagine: an angel, no less, with word of an unexpected, unplanned and probably unwanted pregnancy. Put yourself in the place of this young Jewish teenager who hears the word: You’re going to have a baby. Feel the emotions, the shock, and the outright, incomprehensible fear this poor girl must have gone through. The first thing that must have raced to her innocent mind is, Oh my God, they are going to stone me! Because getting pregnant outside of marriage in the Jewish culture of Jesus’ time attracted a death penalty by stoning. And of course, if Mary is listening, it’s even more troubling than that. This child will not be a normal baby... this baby is to be the Son of God! What an awesome surrogate responsibility on one so young? And if she’s still listening, this child is coming to take over the throne of David, to challenge the existing order and to usher in the kingdom of God. All of a sudden this angelic assurance of fear not starts to sound like an overwhelming challenge of a lifetime. Mary had every right to be afraid, and she was. And so should we; today in the Western world, even though we are experiencing the safest time in recorded history, many people feel as though they have never been more afraid. Even when you cut through all the fear-mongering rhetoric and divisive politics of our day, there is still plenty of legitimate reason for fear and yet the message of the angel still comes. Do not be afraid. It is the most common command in the Bible, heard every time God’s word comes to his people. From wandering Jews in the desert to doubting New Testament disciples, the word comes: Fear not.
The angel Gabriel continues: Mary, don’t be afraid, because the Lord is with you. And there you have it; it’s so simple yet so profound. The Lord is with you. The cure for our fear begins with the knowledge that God is actively involved in our lives; that he is forever present. When I was young, even though we were poor and struggled like most people I knew in our village, every Sunday my uncle, a staunch Presbyterian deacon, dressed up in an old suit he had acquired from a white colonial farmer where he worked as a shamba boy and carried his worn-out old Bible to church with him. One day, a student minister came to visit our church. Seeing my uncle’s well-used Bible, he asked: What’s your favourite verse in the Bible? My uncle answered, Ah, that’s easy: And it came to pass. The seminary student responded: But that isn’t a complete verse. It’s just an opening prepositional phrase. There must be more to it than that. My uncle smiled and said: You see, every time trouble has come into the lives of most of God’s people you read in the Bible, it says: and it came to pass. And every time sorrow has come into my own life, I can say: And it came to pass. I now know trouble doesn’t last. It comes to pass. A proper response to fear begins by recognising it in all its reality, but also to know that in the end, fear does not have the last word... it only came to pass. Ultimately, our lives rest in the presence of an eternal God who is with us, who comes to us and who stands beside us. We know the end of the story and life is not so scary when you know how things will turn out. We know God keeps his promises and sends a Saviour. We know Jesus comes and his name is Emmanuel, meaning God with us. We know the Word has become flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth and better still, we know God promises that one day the lion will lie down with the lamb and a little child shall lead them. Life is not so scary when you know the end of the story.
To the shepherds, the angels sang: do not be afraid; to the women at the tomb, the angel said: do not be afraid. Do not be afraid, not because there is nothing fearsome, but because the fearsome things do not have the last word. Only God has. In these dark days of winter and of great fear, I invite you to hear the words of the angel again. Don’t be afraid, not because there is nothing to fear, but because God is still on the throne and he keeps his word. Be patient in your waiting and surely a child will be born among us — one who will redeem us. Amen.