"Have No Fear...Do Not Fear...Fear Not..." Matthew 10: 21-33

You remember in last week’s Gospel lesson, Jesus sent out the disciples into the world to do His continued work of compassion, healing the sick, driving out demons, and doing all things in His name.

You might imagine their excitement. They’ve been with Jesus for a year or so. They’ve seen and heard the incredible things Jesus has done: healing the sick, raising the dead, calming the Sea of Galilee. Truly, this was God who dwelled among them and His power, wisdom, and strength were phenomenal. And, now He was giving His authority to the disciples to distribute His compassion to the shepherd-less people of Israel and deliver the news that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. What could go wrong?

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves… Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them and the gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour...” “Brother will deliver brother over to death and the father his child and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake.”

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It’s a cup of cold water to the face, isn’t it? He gives a double-barrel blast of harsh reality to the disciples as they prepare to leave. Jesus knows what will happen to His disciples – immediately, these things will happen to a certain degree, but even more so after He ascends. Jesus knows that His disciples will be facing every type of persecution from His message being passively ignored, to the men physically thrown out of town, to being beaten, eventually even being martyred --- all because they will dare to preach Jesus.

In the midst of these warnings, Jesus speaks a very clear word of assurance: Do not be afraid. Three times, Jesus speaks against fear: have no fear, do not fear, fear not.

“Have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known.” The disciples are armed with His Gospel message, and it will both cut like a razor into the infection of sin and bind up the hearts that have been cut deeply by the burden of guilt. His Word is powerful and it will not be stopped, no matter what the devil might throw against the disciples.

He says it again. “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”  The worst that can be taken from you is your physical death, yet you have the promise of eternity by grace through faith. Do you believe the Father’s wrath that lasts for eternity for those who deny Him? Do you trust the Father’s eternal care for those whom live under His grace? Their deepest fear, love and trust is directed to the Father – reflective in the First Commandment – not anyone else.

Jesus’ third word, “fear not,” acts as a final end to all excuses. Jesus uses a sparrow as his object lesson: two for a penny, Jesus says – that’s all they’re worth on the market. Yet, the Father knows when one of these little birds falls to the ground. If that’s true of a two-for-a-penny deal, how much more will he care for you? Do you think He doesn’t know about your family? Your house? Your business? Of course He does! And He will provide for you, both now and into eternity, so that not even the hairs on your head will be lost. Jesus never says that evil won’t come to His disciples. In fact, if anything, Jesus promises that suffering, difficulty, persecution, and even martyrdom will come for those who follow Him. But, out of the Father’s loving care, He will be with the disciples even if, even when they are suffering and dying.

Do we really believe that? Last week, in Bible class, the question was raised about when we are persecuted, when push comes to shove and it’s deny the name of Jesus or be killed, what is the Christian to do? What if it’s our loved ones who will be killed if we don’t deny Jesus, or our business destroyed, or our home taken? Can we pretend, lie, and say we deny Jesus while secretly still believing? Would such an act be forgiven? Would we still receive eternal salvation or would we be damned because of our public denial? 

Let’s dial the intensity down from life and death and see what we do with that, first. As a modern North American society, Christians have bought into the false dichotomy, “I’m afraid I’ll offend someone if I tell them about Jesus.” I suspect that the truth is much closer to this: we’re afraid of what people will think, say, or do towards me.

Think about it: we confess loudly on Sunday mornings, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth,” but on Tuesday at work when the discussion turns to evolution and how “Everyone knows it is true that the world evolved from a spec of dust and a cosmic electrostatic charge…”, we remain mum instead of defending the 7 day creation account of the Bible because we don’t want to be laughed at. On Thursday, sitting in the hair salon, a television show has a so-called expert saying that all religions basically believe the same thing and we are intolerant if we don’t accept that, and we don’t speak against that lie because we don’t want to be branded as a religious freak. After a discussion with a son or daughter that Jesus is the only way to eternal life becomes an out-right war of words, you back down and say, “Well, that’s what Pastor said in Bible class, but you know him…besides, that’s his opinion.” Do not be afraid…but we are.

So, what are we to do?

Repent. Repentance means turning away from what was done, being sorry and sad for what was done in the past, and vowing to return in faith to Jesus. Repent of the times we have been too afraid to speak. Turn away from that fear. Repent of the times we have been afraid to confess Jesus. Turn away from that fear. Repent of the times we have taken the easy way out instead of engaging those who need to hear. Turn away from that fear. Repent of the times we have loved our own comfort and earthly safety and first article gifts more than the eternal gifts Christ died to give us. Turn away from that fear and turn to Jesus, instead, clinging to His promises even when it seems impossible.

So, back to last Sunday’s Bible class discussion, repent - repent of the idea that we can pre-plan our sins banking that it’ll be OK because Jesus died for those sins, too. Our Epistle lesson is from Romans 6 – I would encourage you to read the whole chapter today. Paul speaks to the very truth that because Jesus died for us, we are forgiven, yes, baptized into His death and resurrection, but it does not excuse sinful behavior. Doing so cheapens grace, cheapens Jesus’ death and resurrection. “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? May it not be so!” Paul writes. Our old self is crucified, remember, and not to be brought back to life. If the old self denies Jesus and discards the cross, it’s as if it is also disposing of the resurrection, as if saying “I don’t need Jesus because I can save myself by doing this terrible thing.”

“But, wait… It’s not like I am really denying Jesus. I’m just saying it – I’m lying to the authorities to preserve my life, or the lives of those whom I love.” It’s still a first commandment issue, placing yourself in God’s place, and a second commandment issue, lying by His name, that you have to save yourself or those whom you love because God’s not doing it in the way you want. “But it’s just this once – I won’t do it again!” Deliberate, intentional sin weakens the soul’s fight against temptation. Deny Jesus once, even under the guise of a lie, and when the temptation comes again, what’s the likely result? What happens when the lie becomes the truth?

Repent. And believe Jesus’ words: do not be afraid. And be His apostles. Remember, Jesus doesn’t say “Don’t be afraid, I was just kidding about going out into the world.” No, even with His words of prophetic warning, He still sends them out into the world, armed with His Word, His Spirit, and His comfort: do not be afraid.

Jesus can say that to the Twelve because He knows He will face worse than anyone can ever imagine. What the disciples will experience at the hands of the wicked and sinful men will be multiplied against Jesus as He is seized, beaten, convicted of a capitol crime and sentenced to death by one of the cruelest instruments of torture the world has ever devised. There, separated from both heaven and earth, He experiences hell on earth, taking into and onto Himself the entire, eternal, damnable punishment that our sins deserve. In that moment on the cross, Jesus died for all of the times in the weakness of our flesh that we were too afraid, in our weakness, to speak His name, to embarrassed to say He is the only way to eternal salvation, too “afraid to offend” by living the Christian faith, too afraid to be compassionate.

In the years ahead, Jesus’ words about persecution would take on truth that none of them could imagine. With the exception of St. John, all would die terrible, physical deaths for the name of Jesus, refusing to deny or denigrate Jesus’ name. In the centuries since then, Christians have followed in the footsteps of Jesus, and the Twelve, and the generations that went before, confessing the name of Jesus with their dying breath. Some such confessions are famous: Joan of Arc, the students at Columbine High School, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Others, the world will not know their names this side of heaven, like the martyrs in Iraq, the Christians in the Sudan, or the church in China.

The same baptismal water that washes away our sins and joins us to Christ’s death and resurrection also tattoos a spiritual target on our foreheads and hearts. So, to last Sunday’s Bible class question: if you were to have that life-or-death question put to you, do you deny Jesus and live, or confess Him and die, what do you do, what can you do? As a Christian, we are called to confess the name of Jesus, even if the option is horrific and terrifying. The follow-up question was, “what if the threat is against my kids, my spouse, other Christians – that if I deny Jesus, they would live?” The same truth holds. It is “Far better to be rejected and killed by enemies who themselves are mortal than to find out that, because of your unbelief and apostasy, the Father had become your eternal enemy,” (Gibbs, Matthew 1:1-11:1: 529). Remember, Jesus says three times – not once or twice, but three times – fear not! Do not fear your opponents, do not fear those who kill, do not fear your worth in the eyes of the Lord, for He loves you deeply and fully, even more than the sparrows in the air.

That promise is true for us, the saints of God in this place. In His compassion, Christ Jesus strengthens us as He sends us from this corner sanctuary to the perilous world around us. You have all of His gifts: He made you His in baptismal waters. He strengthens us with body and blood, given and shed for you. He reminds you over and over that you have been forgiven all of your sins in His name. He joins you with brothers and sisters in Christ to encourage each other and remind each other, “do not be afraid.” And then he places you in your vocation where He works through you in Christian service and witness to those around you.

In that vocation, you will have God-given opportunities to speak to others who do not know, believe in, and have eternal salvation in Christ Jesus. It might be happen with the contractor who comes to your house and asks about the crosses hanging on your wall, or the mechanic who asks you about what you did over the weekend, or the server who brings you your plate of food this afternoon, or the surgeon who asks how you can be so calm. Do not be afraid. Take a deep breath. On this Father’s Day, model that faith to your children. Be bold to stand, speak, and confess Christ, even when it is hard, difficult, and uncomfortable. And you, empowered by the Spirit of Christ, given His Word and His promise and His blessing of “Do not be afraid,” you open your mouth and you begin to speak. In the name of Jesus. Amen.