Sermon- November 9, 2003
C. Douglas Simmons, D. Min.
Love, Fear and Death
In this morning's gospel
lesson from Mark, Jesus is talking with the disciples about a crucial
difference between the giving of the widow and that of the Scribes and
Pharisees. This passage from Mark
can be seen in a larger context then giving habits. In fact, it has a message about what drives people to do
what they do. In that regard it is
like many of the stories associated with the ministry of Jesus and that of the
Old Testament Prophets.
Each
time such stories are read from Scripture they bring a message to
us, either directly or implied, about life and two major forces that are at
work in our lives; Fear and Love.
These forces exert a powerful influence on the
way we experience
ourselves, each other, and the world.
Within each of us there is a conflict between these
two forces and in
fact, this conflict can be boiled down to a crucial difference, it is the
difference between life and death.
The noted observer of human behavior John MacMurray,
describes this
basic warfare in us as well as anyone.
He writes:
"There are two and I
think only two, emotional attitudes through which human life can be radically
determined. They are Love and Fear.
Love is the positive principle of life, while Fear
is the death
principle in us. I mean that
literally and would go on to explain it by saying that you can divide men and
women most fundamentally into two classes-- those who are Fear determined and
those who are Love determined.
The
former are not merely dead souls; they stand for death against life. They are
the people of whom Jesus said that they needed to be reborn. Whereas the Love
determined people have life in them, abundant life, and they turn towards life
and fight for life against the forces of death."
What Jesus is pointing out
to his Disciples is what Love leads people to do and what Fear leads people to
do. Fear and Love operate on us
and within us, in varying degrees all our lives- and their consequences are
worth noting. Before we do that
however, I'd like to share with you another noted individual's commentary on
the origins of Fear.
Paul Tillich, one of the
foremost theologians of this century has written of the basis of Fear- it's
worth our time to hear what he has to say, for it cuts through to the heart of
the matter he writes:
"The threat of death,
which shadows the whole road of our life, is a shaping force through our whole
being ...in every moment.
The face
of every person shows the trace of the presence of death in their life, of
their Fear of death, of their courage toward death, and of their resignation
toward death. So far as I stand in Fear, I stand not in freedom; I am not free
to act as the situation demands, but am bound to act as the pictures and
imaginations produced by my Fear, drive me to act.
It is not that we are
mortal which creates the ultimate Fear of death, but rather that we have lost
our eternity beyond our natural and inescapable mortality; that we have lost it
by sinful separation from the eternal; and that we are guilty of this
separation. We are slaves of Fear,
not because we have to die, but because we deserve to die!
Therefore, salvation is
not a magic procedure by which we lose our finiteness. It is rather a
judgment which declares
that we do not deserve to die, because we are justified- a judgment which is
not based on anything we have done, for then we would not have faith in it. But
it is based on something that eternity itself has done, that we can hear and
see, in the reality of a mortal man who by his own death has conquered him who
has the power of death."
Tillich has penetrated
through to a basic truth of human life- Fear is part and parcel of being human-
and, through the mighty gift of salvation, so is Love!
The question is- which of
the two determines the way we live?
The truth of it is that we all have moments of
Fear and times when Love
wins the field, and each day is filled with the see-saw battle within us and
around us as to which one will become the dominant force. No matter when
it comes, it isn't easy
to deal with Fear when something happens to make you afraid. To be sure, there
are levels of being
afraid and the more intense the Fear, the more intense all of the responses seem
to be. In short, what it does to
me emotionally is that I don't want to have to deal with anything else- I don't
want to have to make any decisions, or face any kind of change- Fear can shut
me down in a big hurry- it can dominate me and sometimes it does. A Fear determined
life lives this way
all of the time; it is a life pattern which refuses to acknowledge that Fear
has to happen, and builds a system of values and behavior that will help avoid
facing Fear. A Fear determined
life truly does fight against life, such things as growth and change and what
they will bring are fought against with energy and sometimes with real
violence.
I have been in that kind
of place at times in my life, when Fear just seems to run the show, and unless
I miss my guess, so have you.
This
isn't just depth psychology about which I'm speaking. It is a deeply religious concern, as Paul Tillich has so
aptly illustrated. Fear
determination finds its deepest roots in the realized or unrealized guilt, and
sense of deserving the worst which happens to us, that can deeply ingrain
itself in our hearts and minds.
On
the other hand there is the experience of God's Love, of learning , through the
actions and events of our lives and the people around us that we are deserving
and not worthless, no matter what past people and events have said. This is what Tillich
means by the word
justified. Fundamentally, it means
that we have somehow gotten the message that we are accepted without reservation. We are able to hear, through the static
and noise of life, God's declaration that we are deserving in God’s eyes and
that because of the action he has taken in Christ we no longer need to allow
guilt or Fear to control our lives.
This is the voice of Love, calling and inviting
us to become its partner
in the pursuit of life.
Fear determination is a
way of doing and being that locks us into fighting against such a call and all
that it can mean for us.
Ironically, we become locked into the very patterns
that we so deeply
Fear because of our Fear and what it does in and to us. These patterns
cannot be broken by
anything that we can do, they can only be broken by the power of Love. It is the kind
of Love clearly evident
in Jesus Christ. Only such a power
can break the domination of Fear.
In Jesus Christ we find this Love made personally
available by God for
you and me. Here was a human life,
which touched other human lives and helped them to break the bondage of
Fear. Moreover, that human life
was God's demonstration that the Love which Christ conveyed was not just for a
particular time and a few particular people. We understand this because of the Resurrection, that
in-breaking of God's grace from eternity into our dusty, tired, confused and
Fear ridden world of time.
It is
meant as a message for each one of us, just as if Christ himself was standing
here talking instead of me.
The
message is that Love does have the last word, if we will open our hearts to let
it have its healing way.
The disciples, who largely
wrote the gospels, had to have known that Love personally, and even though they
don't give us a set of directions on how to access it in specific situations,
they do show its promise in the ways in which it changed their fearful, limited
lives. Such expressions and
episodes as we find in the Gospels do not come from a theoretical base but
rather from life experience.
In
one place in the New Testament one of the early Christians wrote, "Perfect
Love casts out Fear," we can assume that he knew what he was talking
about.
I can personally testify
that Love, the real article from God, does what he says it does. The basis for my
saying so goes back to
my experience when I was diagnosed as having prostate cancer. Fear was a tangible
thing in those
moments.
The doctor was immensely kind, patient and reassuring about
what the future would hold, he presented the options for not having surgery and
for having it. I decided to opt for surgery, the other option was fraught with
real bad odds. The surgery came,
my wife was a constant source of support, and now 3 years later my medical
prognosis is as good as good as it can get, in short I’m cured.
Because of people who
care, people through whom God's Love can operate, we can discover that the New
Testament isn't an ancient document written to make us feel good, it is a
living story that happens day in and day out. Tragically, not everyone is a recipient of the Love and care
that I was privileged to receive.
For others the story is different and the difference
is very often
because of people who believe in the Love of God and act on that belief. For when our love
is freely given God
takes it and perfects it, and the result is that "Perfect Love casts out
Fear."
The summary of this is
found in Christ's life and his declaration to his disciples to Love one another
as he had loved them.
As advice
goes, you won't get any that's better, as a way of life you won't find one
that's much tougher to follow, because it doesn't take away the source of the
Fear, it only removes its dominance over your life.
What I've just given you is an explanation of what the Church is all
about. It's what we are supposed
to be doing for ourselves, each other and our world. Our dismissal from the Eucharist gives us our marching orders,
“Let us go in Peace to Love and serve the Lord.”
