There’s Hope for Every Fear

I asked this week on social media “What are you afraid of?” along with an invitation to message me privately if they didn’t want to post publicly. The answers I got ranged from frogs to dying alone. Everything in between was covered. Fears about relationships: fears about failures in relationships, one person shared fear that their mental struggles have negatively impacted their family, fear that they will never by happy with a partner, and fears for our loved ones, fear of them dying, fear of something bad happening to them, fear of losing them. Then there were the fears of the stuff of life: fears of flying, falling, and heights, thunderstorms and lightening, needles, bees, rats, snakes, dentists, clowns. Finally, there were the fears for self: fears of cancer recurrence, eye stroke, career/life change, dying too soon, not accomplishing what God envisions for us, not fulfilling our purpose, time, silence.

Mary’s life is filled with the things of a young girl of 12 or 13 preparing for marriage. Her father and Joseph and his family have come to an agreement. She has been engaged, the first of the two-step marriage process in 1st Century Jewish culture. During the engagement period, for about a year, the young girl would still live in her father’s household. Then, there would be a formal transfer of property and she would go and live with in her husband’s household. Soon, Mary was to leave her father’s household and belong to Joseph’s household and family.

Without any warning, an angel appeared to her. “Greetings, favored one!” The root meaning of the word that we translate “greetings” is “Rejoice!” The status of a “favored one” culturally was that of a patron who supported someone whose work they admired. A rich person might be a patron of an artist or of a performing arts group. In return, recipients are to honor their patrons. “Rejoice, God has seen something special in you!” is what the angel Gabriel is saying. “May the Lord be with you.”

Fear surely bubbled up. That anxious feeling, too much unknown. Disturbed. Just moments before her life was settled, sure. Distressed. She was marrying Joseph, the carpenter. They wouldn’t be wealthy, but he was a tradesman, which offered a certain amount of stability. He could provide food on the table and a tent over their heads. Agitated. What is this about? The Lord? Something special? Me? Afraid.

“Do not be afraid, Mary. You are in God’s favor. You are in God’s good graces. You haven’t done anything to deserve it, and yet you are beloved of God. God has purpose for you. This is why I am here.” The plan is extraordinary – and dangerous. The law will require that Mary be stoned to death if she is found expecting a child before her marriage to Joseph, and the wedding is months off still. Surely, the more the angel talked, the more afraid she became. Even if she ran away, she would have no place to stay, no way to support herself, in the desert heat of the day, in the cold night winds, and with a BABY.

Mary’s response? “How can this be?” Mary responds in fear. “How can this be?”

We’ve all found ourselves with Mary-like fear. The situation is larger that we are, out of our control, life hangs in the balance, things have not gone the way we expected. “How can this be?” How can my child be gone? How can I have cancer? How can my marriage be over? How can my mom be sick? How can my security be gone? How can my expectations be erased? How can THIS be? The weight is almost crushing. Your mind is racing, your heart is pounding. How can this BE?

The angel replies with an assurance, a sign, and an affirmation. This is the assurance,“The Holy Spirit will come down to you, and God’s power will come over you. So your child will be called the holy Son of God.” You are not on your own. When you are answering God’s call in your life, when you are living God’s purposes, when you are doing God’s will, fear is an obstacle that will block you from the potential that God wants to do through you. And hope is the antidote. Hope that along the treacherous path you are called to walk, God walks with us. Hope that God is in the midst of the darkness of the struggle of the pit, God sits with us. Hope that God can use every risky move toward justice, every stand for righteousness, every step on the treacherous path toward God’s Kingdom. Hope that God can use every pain and grief, every tragedy, every loss for good – not because it is good, but because God is good and God sits down with us in the dark pit and doesn’t leave. When we find ourselves crying out “How can this be?” We are assured, “The Holy Spirit comes down to us.” God accompanies us. “God’s power comes over us.” God And the result of the birth pangs will be called holy. This is the assurance. This is our hope for every fear.

And then, the angel gives her a sign. “Your relative Elizabeth is also going to have a son, even though she is old. No one thought she could ever have a baby, but in three months she will have a son.” We are not alone. When the challenge seems too great, the news too terrible, the reality too much to bear, we meet people. We meet people who understand our treacherous path and our fear. We meet people who understand our dark pit and our distress. We meet people who have walked similar paths and who have sat in similar pits. They accompany us, reassure us that in the darkness now, new life is growing that will emerge holy, and sit with us. They are a sign to us, giving us hope in the midst of every fear.

Finally, the angel gives her an affirmation. I think the translation is really important. The literal translation is “For nothing will be impossible with God, every declaration.” Every word that God speaks is possible. The will of God is not impossible. The kingdom of God is not impossible. It is, in the words of Rev. Dr. Fred Craddock, “the creed behind all creeds.” This is the same affirmation Abraham and Sarah were given when they doubted they could possibly have a child. Mary, of course, (and we) know how that turned out. Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90.

Too often, this affirmation gets shortened to “Nothing is impossible, with God.” This is not affirmation that God will give us super power to do anything. This is a statement of our faith, “God’s Word is able to overcome every obstacle to being accomplished.” This is the hope for all our fears. It is not hope that we won’t struggle. It is not hope that we won’t grieve. It is not hope that we will be successful in every endeavor we choose. It is hope that when God speaks, nothing is impossible.

And we have heard God speak. “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard and the goat will lie down together….They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him.” “Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.” “They are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

“For nothing will be impossible with God, every declaration.”

Her fear dethroned by hope, Mary bowed in humble obedience to the word of God, “Let it me, with me, according to your word.” Amen.