Luke 1:26-38
Isaiah 11:1-10
“From Generation to Generation…God Meets Us in Our Fear”
Preached Sunday, December 4, 2022
My two-year old daughter is at the age where she recently gained the ability to feel fear and even to have bad dreams. She was afraid of Halloween decorations - I don’t blame her. Sometimes she is reluctant to go into a dark room on her own. She gets nervous at the scary parts in Disney movies and will scramble onto our laps. And still other times she is afraid or nervous of things I’d think she’d enjoy - a bouncy house, playing with other kids, a big slide, a new environment - even if it’s fun.
So often our gut reaction as parents, or grandparents, or just general caretakers of small children is to say. “Don’t be afraid - the decorations are just plastic.” “There is no need to be afraid - you’ve seen this movie, you know Moana turns out okay.” “It’s not scary - it’ll be fun! Go play!”
But! Child development experts, especially those who adhere to what’s called “gentle parenting” or “positive discipline” which focuses on empathy, understanding, respect, and boundaries - those voices say that that’s not the way to approach a fearful child. Instead you narrate the situation of what’s happening, you okay the feeling and offer support.
So what does this look like:
“Oh yes, I see the Halloween decorations at that house. There’s a bunch of skeletons. I know you’re scared of them, it’s okay. I am right here. I will hold you and be with you until we’re passed.”
Or “Wow! Look how tall that slides is! Oh, look at that girl go down. There’s she goes. And now it’s his turn. There he goes! I know you’re scared and that’s okay. I will sit here and watch with you until you’re ready to go play.”
Because let’s be honest - whether you are two or 92 when has someone dismissing your fear or just saying “Oh, don’t be afraid” ever worked for you to get over your fear? Let’s look at those things listed today in our Advent wreath lighting:
“Get over your fear of war.”
“Don’t be afraid of school shootings.”
“No need to be afraid of losing your income.”
Oh boy! We’re cured! We’re no longer afraid! Thank you! Uhhh, no. That’s not how it works.
And so let’s look at the pronouncement of the Angel Gabriel to Mary in a new way.
“The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.’”
“Do not be afraid.” is used multiple times in the Christmas story and it’s the most common phrase in the Bible. However, I would like to propose something that requires us to use our Biblical imaginations: What if we took this narrative for what it is, a retelling of an encounter that the writer of the Gospel would have heard secondhand if not more removed? What if we realized that this narrative of the angel Gabriel talking to Mary is wrapped up nicely in a bow to be a succinct way to share it widely but it's not the actual dialogue used between Mary and Gabriel?
Hear me out - in my Biblical imagination, and seeing the text here today, I can envision the Angel Gabriel, and we’ll go ahead and say, the presence of God through the angel, doing a gentle parenting approach to Mary’s fear at God’s ask for her to become surrogate mother of God-in-Flesh.
In the text we hear Gabriel tell Mary to not be afraid.
He then stays with her and answers her questions, “Well, how can this be?”
He then gives her an example of someone she loves and trusts who is going through something similar - your cousin Elizabeth has conceived a child in her old age - something that we thought was impossible is happening with her through God.
And it is only then that Mary gives her yes. That she says, “Here I am. Let it be.”
What we see is Gabriel acknowledging Mary’s fear.
We see him sitting with her in her fear, answering her questions.
We see him pointing her toward a trusted person, someone who would be going through something similar to her.
And it is only then that Mary moves beyond her fear.
But again - using our Biblical imaginations, we can wonder at how much time passed between “Do not be afraid, you are most favored” to “let it be.” How many more questions did Mary have? How long did the presence of God sit with her in her fear? How else did the voice of God say, “I know you’re afraid. It’s a scary thing to be asked to birth the Son of God. I will sit with you until you’re ready to give me an answer. I’m here.”
And while Mary moved beyond her initial fear and did consent to be the mother of God, Mary’s process of understanding what God was doing with and through her wasn’t over when she said “I am here. Let it be.” We see this as Mary meets Elizabeth, feels the child within her leap for joy in her womb, and she sings the Magnificat. We see this as she holds the newborn Jesus in her arms as she “pondered all these things in her heart.” We see this as she goes to meet Jesus with her other children and ask him to come home. We see this as she is at the foot of the cross, weeping. We see this as she stands before an empty tomb in amazement.
I would say that it’s not that Mary never had fear again. It’s just that she didn’t let her fear hold her back from the amazing things that God was doing.
She turned from a phobos fear to a yirah fear. Hear me out here. The word used for Mary’s fear in our Gospel reading is phobos - we recognize it from our word phobic - right, fear as we know fear. But in our reading of the peaceable Kingdom from Isaiah today we get this line:
“The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”
“The fear of the Lord.” - what does this mean? This doesn’t mean a phobic fear of the Lord - not a fear of nightmares and shaking in boots and a fear that holds you back. The Hebrew word used for fear here is “yirah” which means deep reverence and awe. I would define that as a healthy quote-on-quote “fear” of God - a recognition that God is so much bigger than us and is at work in ways we cannot ever fully comprehend or understand - that is fear of the Lord.
So Mary moves from phobos - a fear that would have held her back to saying yes to God - to yirah - which means not that she was never afraid again, not that she suddenly understood what God was doing through her and Jesus - as we already said, we see Biblical evidence she spent her whole life pondering that - but a fear that is stepping out into the unknown in faith. To let this God that you are in awe of, that you are fearful of, lead you into the unknown for something greater that you do not yet understand.
It’s a fear or wonder of healthy pushing, of growth, of going into the unknown, knowing that God will be with you just as God was with you and sat with you in your fear.
This Advent and Christmas, how can we move beyond fear that holds us back and move toward telling God, “Here I am. Let it be.” and stepping out in faith, knowing God goes with us.
What are you afraid of? What fear in your life is keeping you back from giving God a yes? Yes to change your heart toward inclusion of all of God’s children. Yes to serving in a new way. Yes to sharing your faith with others. Yes to…? Hear the presence of God saying to you:
“I know you’re scared. It’s a big thing I’m asking of you. I’m here with you, I’ll stay here until you’re ready to give me an answer - and even then, I will always be with you.”
May it be so. Amen.
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