Do Not Be Afraid; Just Say “Yes.”

The angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary…”  Luke 1:30

Early in the angel’s conversation with Mary the angel said, “Do not be afraid, Mary…” 

Do not fear!

This is not the only time we hear the decree “Do not fear” spoken in the Bible.  In fact we hear it a repeatedly. 

At the very beginning of the Bible in Genesis, God puts the finger on Abraham and calls Abraham to a whole new way of life, and one of the first words out of God's mouth was, "Do not be afraid!"

In Exodus, the people of God were fleeing the slavery of Egypt.  Pharaoh, having second thoughts, sent his army out to get them. Caught between a rock and hard place, backed-up against the sea on one side and Pharaoh's vicious army advancing on the other, Moses says to a panicking people, "Do not be afraid!"

Centuries later the people of God are languishing in despair in exile in Babylon, and the prophet Isaiah arrives, and speaking for the Lord he says to the people, "Do not be afraid!"

Youthful Jeremiah, shaking in his shoes, terrified at the prospect of being called by God to be God's messenger to a rebellious and sinful people hears the Lord say, "Do not be afraid!"

Peter, suddenly feeling totally inadequate and sinful in the presence of Jesus, falls to his knees in fear, and Jesus gently assures him by picking him up with the words, "Do not be afraid!"

Fussing about the importance of material things, Jesus talks to the disciples about the life-style he intends for his disciples, that is people who don't put their trust in material things. Jesus seeing the look of shock and fear on their faces says to them, "My friends; do not be afraid!"

The disciples are caught in a deathly squall in their vulnerable little fishing boat out on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus comes to them, walking on the water and first thing he says is, "Do not be afraid!"

Jesus, facing the inevitability of his death, is telling his disciples all about it.  He tells them he will soon be gone from them so assures them with the words, "Do not be afraid!"

Joseph, fearing public disgrace because of Mary's pregnancy, was about to dismiss her and leave her, until an angel appeared and said to Joseph, "Do not be afraid!"

These are only selected examples.  I have noticed more times than not that “Do not fear” was spoken at a crucial time when a great challenge or a risky mission was being delivered to a person or a people. 

Of course Mary had much to fear if she thought about it, and I am sure she did.  Mary risked much if she said yes to the angel and to God.   For sure, she faced the real and potential threat of dire social consequences: the end of her engagement, the shame of her family, quite possibly death by stoning according to the law. I imagine these fears occurred to her immediately upon hearing the angel's announcement, and lodged in the pit of her stomach.

Add to that the prospect of bearing and raising a child whose future was so entirely out of her hands: her dreams and plans, her visions of motherhood, all threatened. Then there was the weight her baby would carry; so tiny, so fragile, born to carry the hopes and fears of all the years. It was a heavy burden for her to carry as well.

I'm convinced that God said, "Do not be afraid!" so many times in the Bible because God knows how real and powerful fear is, and how easily we are controlled by fear; how easily we surrender to fear and are overwhelmed by fear.

Just think if Abraham would have surrendered to his fear? There may not have been a people of God?

What would salvation history look like, if at all, if Moses, or Isaiah or Jeremiah would have caved in to their fear?

Or what if the disciples, each facing persecution, would have been totally controlled by fear? Perhaps there would be no church!

Or what if Jesus, as he knelt in the garden the night before his crucifixion, would have been overwhelmed by his fears and disappeared into the darkness never to be seen and heard of again?

Or how about Mary and Joseph, overwhelmed by fear? Perhaps the Holy Spirit of God could not have blessed Mary in such a way, and Jesus would have never been born!

I don't know if you've noticed but there is a great ongoing struggle happening as we speak; a great war is being waged all around us, and it's been going on since the dawn of Biblical time: It is God’s war against fear!

Time and time again in the history of God's people, God or one of God spokespersons has announced the struggle by declaring "DO NOT BE AFRAID!"

You see, the one thing that can put up an almost impenetrable barrier keeping God's life-giving Spirit out and from flowing into our lives is FEAR! Fear has that kind of awesome power! Fear has the power to stifle a human life - your life! Fear has the negative energy to keep you from living fully in the present. Fear has the power to lock you up within yourself!

I ask you my friends! I ask you with all that is within me:

How many human dreams have died unrealized in the ashes of fear? How many of yours?

How many broken relationships have never been mended because of the power of fear? How many of yours?

How much forgiveness have you never asked for, and how much forgiveness have you withheld all because of fear?

How much pain has been inflicted because of fear? And how much pain has not been comforted all because of fear? How much with you?

How much hatred has been increased by the adrenalin of fear? How much prejudice has been passed from one generation to the next through the vehicle of fear?

How many conflicts and wars have been fought because of fear? 

My dear friends: It's the fourth Sunday of Advent! God in Jesus Christ is about to be born once again into a fearful world. God's struggle with fear continues on. It's not over because God is not done with the world. God has not given up on the world. God has not given up on you or me! The first little place God desires to win a victory over fear is in your heart and mine; your heart and mine; a victory that will allow your life to become a channel for His love to flow into the world.

Christmas declares that God has become personally involved in the world, personally involved with you and me. Ah ha! Maybe that's it. Maybe that's the thing you fear the most - that God wishes to become personally involved with you!   One thing you can count on when God gets personally involved, you life is never the same.  Just look at any of these biblical characters to whom God got personally involved and told to not be afraid. 

The only mangers left in this world in which he can be born are the mangers of our hearts. Don't let fear abort his birth in your life! Don't let fear seal you off from God's life-giving Spirit. Don't let fear prevent you from living your life fully in the embrace of God's incredible grace.  The bible doesn’t really say if Mary stopped being afraid.  But what it does say is that she trusted God’s promise more. 

Prepare yourself, and along with the angel and all the other of God's Biblical messengers I say to you, "Do not be afraid!" God is about to break in.  Things are going to be radically different. God is getting incredibly personal.   However, there is little room in the inn because so many are hesitant, even afraid, to make a place for him. I pray that the manger of your heart will provide for him a place! There is much going on around us and in us that causes to us tremble, but in providing him a place in the inn of your heart and allowing him to be born there, God will have won another victory against fear from controlling this world.

Consider just how much God places into fragile, human hands. The divine answer to all our longings and loneliness; God’s response to our torments past and present; God’s reply to our seemingly endless capacity to abuse and manipulate—is a baby, whose soft flesh might not have been, had not an unknown peasant girl risked everything and found the courage to say “yes.”

The bible doesn’t really say if Mary stopped being afraid.  I doubt that she did completely.  But what it does say is that she trusted God’s promise more.  She said “yes” to God’s promise in the face of her fear.

He is about to born again and desires to reside in the manger of your heart.  Do not be afraid!  Risk it.  Trust God’s promise.  Just say “yes.”