josephholubsermons


 

December 19, 2010   Advent 4

Luke 1:26-38

Power Struggle

Did you know there is a great power struggle going on all around us?  It’s a struggle that never stops, never sleeps and never ceases?  It is a power struggle, a conflict, that everyone of us here in this room this morning gets caught up in every day.  In fact, our lives, individually and corporately, are often the turf upon which this great struggle/conflict plays out and takes expression.  I would dare say that no one of us is exempt-no member of the human race escapes it.  In my view, it is the greatest power struggle of all – one that lies at the core of every other conflict and at the heart of the human experience.

What is this power struggle?  Who are the players in this great conflict? 

Some would say the conflict is essentially religious:  with religious extremists as one of the players and everyone else as the other.  

Some would say the conflict is essentially economic: with the disparity between the rich and poor in many countries and cultures, globally speaking, growing wider and wider. 

Some would say the conflict is essentially political: with polarization between rival political entities all striving for power becoming more pronounced and characterized by harsh judgments and mean-spiritedness. 

Some would say the conflict is essentially social: with people lining up on opposite sides on a whole host of social issues often accompanied by the rhetoric of demonization of those on the opposite side.

These and more are among the great conflicts of our time.  But yet, there is another conflict at a deeper level that lies at the heart of each of these, and like gasoline on a fire, provides incendiary energy.   

It is the power struggle/conflict between LOVE AND FEAR.   

Matthew and Luke give us two very different versions of the Christmas story, but both stories have one thing in common.  They are told not to fear.  Joseph is told not to fear in Matthew’s version, and Mary and the shepherds are told not to fear in Luke’s version. 

As a matter of fact, “Fear not” and “Do not be afraid!" are among the most common and repeated mandates in the Bible.  Over and over again we hear the mandate, “Do not be afraid!” “Fear not.”

At the beginning of the Bible, God puts the finger on Abraham and calls Abraham and Sarah to a whole new way of life, a new purpose, a new beginning with the words, "Do not be afraid!"

In Exodus, the Israelites were fleeing the slavery of Egypt. Pharaoh, having second thoughts, sent his army after them. Caught between a rock and a hard place, the sea on one side and Pharaoh's vicious advancing army on the other, Moses stands up and audaciously said to a panicked people, "Do not be afraid!"

Youthful Jeremiah, shaking in his shoes, terrified at the prospect of being called  to be a spokesperson for the divine to a cantankerous and complaining people somehow heard the Sacred One, "Do not be afraid!"

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

The disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee on their way, following Jesus,  to the “other side of the lake.”  Of course, the “other side” was foreign territory, the land of the unclean; foreign religiously, racially, socially and ethnically.  The “storm” they encountered while crossing serves as a metaphorical representation of the fear the disciples felt in crossing that boundary.  Seeing their fear, Jesus asked them, “Why are you afraid?”  He then conveyed his peace upon them, and they continued across that boundary and interacted with the people on the “other side.”  Who are those  for you who live on the other side of some boundary that fear has erected in your life?

Fussing about the importance of material things, Jesus talks to his disciples about the life-style he intends for them - that is people who don't place their primary trust in material abundance and security.  Seeing the look of total anxiety on their faces Jesus spoke into their anxiety, perhaps with a wry smile, and said, "Do not be
afraid!"

Facing the inevitability of his own death, Jesus told his disciples that he would soon be gone from their midst but assured them with the words, "Do not be afraid!"

These are but a few examples of the biblical mandate to not be controlled and possessed by fear – to not live your life standing on the foundation of fear - to not assume a posture of fear as your default setting as you navigate through life – to not be disfigured and distorted and dehumanized by fear.

Now fear isn't all bad!  There is such a thing as healthy fear of real dangers.  But, it is in the nature of fear to want to go far beyond that – to go as far as it can go - to take over - to dominate - to strangulate - to manipulate - and we so often capitulate - and in so doing we lose a great measure of our humanity, become closed within ourselves, failing to realize our true human potential – and most significantly we give up on LOVE.

The one thing that can put up an almost impenetrable barrier keeping the life-giving Spirit out; blocking divne love from welling up in our lives and taking bold outward expression is FEAR!  Fear has that kind of awesome power!  Fear has the power to stifle a human 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 and throw away the key and prevent you from embracing and connecting with others! 

How many human dreams have died unrealized in the cold 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 has never been asked for and given all because of fear? How much with you?

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

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

How much social injustice has continued unabated in this world because of fear? 

How much compassion has ever been withheld because of fear?

How much lack of in-depth understanding, and how many half-truths and lies have been mistaken for the truth all because of fear?

Fear is everywhere.  It is a powerful tool used by many.  Fear is used cleverly, subtly and sometimes not-so-subtly, everyday as a marketing ploy to sell us things, or in political persuasion to sway us, or in religion to motivate and manipulate.

We are about to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  In Galatians Paul said, he was “born of a woman.”  That’s Paul’s way of emphasizing that Jesus was like you and me - a human being.  There was nothing  that gave him an advantage over anybody else, because if he had an advantage his life would not be credible.  That’s what makes his life so remarkable – the most remarkable life ever lived – because he lived it without any advantage, and he lived it without being controlled by fear.

When we follow Jesus through the gospels we see a most remarkable thing - that time and again he reached through boundaries of fear that were impassible barriers for everyone else – forbidden religious barriers, ethnic barriers, racial barriers, gender barriers, economic barriers, social barriers - the most formidable barriers of his time-each which dehumanized, marginalized and demonized.

I pray that this Christmas we will not only worship the child in the manger, but we will express a deeper reverence with the commitment of our lives in following the man he grew to be. 

The power struggle between fear and love reached a crescendo and was resolved in the life of Jesus.  He never surrendered or sold his soul to fear-even when it meant a cross.  His life is what a human life can be without fear. 

The same power struggle of fear and love can be resolved enduringly in our lives as we leave fear behind - take up our cross – let his love win and rule as we follow in his way.