FEAR
April 3, 2011
Rev. Barry W. Szymanski, J.D.
Minister of Pastoral Care
First Congregational Church of Wauwatosa

THE GOSPEL
John 9:1-41 NRSV

As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, ‘Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?’ Some were saying, ‘It is he.’ Others were saying, ‘No, but it is someone like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the man.’ But they kept asking him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’ He answered, ‘The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, “Go to Siloam and wash.” Then I went and washed and received my sight.’ They said to him, ‘Where is he?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, ‘He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.’ Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath.’ But others said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?’ And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, ‘What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.’ He said, ‘He is a prophet.’ The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, ‘Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?’ His parents answered, ‘We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.’ His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, ‘He is of age; ask him.’ So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, ‘Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.’ He answered, ‘I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’ They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?’ He answered them, ‘I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?’ Then they reviled him, saying, ‘You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.’ The man answered, ‘Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.’ They answered him, ‘You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?’ And they drove him out. Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, Jesus said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ The man answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.’ The man said, ‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshipped Jesus. Jesus said, ‘I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.’ Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to Jesus, ‘Surely we are not blind, are we?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, “We see”, your sin remains.

FEAR

Fear is always with us, but since we do not live in 1890, or 747 B.C., or 368 A.D. those ancient times are not important to us. What is important to us is that today we fear. We fear that our children will be harmed.

The earthquake and nuclear disaster in Japan are fresh in our minds. We have concern about the untold number of Iraqi and Afghanistan citizens killed in car bombs and wonder if, and when, that will happen here - in this country. On the economic scene some tell us that Medicare will be bankrupt within 20 years, and Social Security is shaky. One pundit remarked that in 15 years the age of retirement would be moved to 95!

We fear loss of limb or life caused by a catastrophic automobile accident. We are apprehensive about our future as we move into our 70’s, 80’s and 90’s because of the rising costs of medical care and nursing homes.

Watching the news on TV creates alarm. While that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t watch news shows or read the newspapers and news-magazines, what it does mean, is that we have to look at life in perspective.

What is fear? It is terror, and dread, anxiety and panic, alarm and apprehension. Are there rational fears? The answer is yes, there are rational fears. Are there irrational fears? And the answer is yes, there are irrational fears. For they are fears that are unfounded in reality, but, based on our perspective, very real to us.

Some fear spiders. Others fear snakes. Many fear being trapped in an elevator especially with a person who has a cell phone and is a loud talker and needs to go to the bathroom. If, because of fear, we began to stop moving around to go shopping; or if we are afraid to go downtown; or afraid of the future, then we have to really take a hard look at our trust in God.

Today’s Gospel is a great study in fear. We can imagine the fear of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the technical people of Mosaic Law. They observed the Mosaic Law to the nth degree. As is shown in today’s Gospel, they insisted that absolutely no activity be undertaken on the Sabbath for the Commandment is that the Sabbath is sacred – it is God’s day. Totally. Absolutely. Therefore, not even curing a person was allowed!

We become witnesses to the fear of the parents of the young man who was born blind. The fear of the parents was to be excluded from the social life of their community. When the Pharisees interviewed the parents, they acknowledged that their son was born blind. BUT, in true human fashion they refused to admit to anything more - their own words were to “ASK HIM.” The Gospel clearly says they were AFRAID of being put out of the synagogue. They were afraid of not being a part of the community. That is where their friends were. They went shopping together. That is where they prayed together. They had their potluck suppers together. Their kids played basketball together – or whatever sport was popular then.

The key is that they wanted to remain within their circle of friends. They did not want to be excluded. They did not want to be lonely – or, even worse, laughed at. So the parents told the Pharisees to “ASK HIM.” ‘Leave us alone.’

Let’s go back to the Pharisees. They were anxious about what was going on because of this Jesus. They were apprehensive about the change this Jesus was bringing about. Simply stated, they feared him and what he was doing – and how the people responded to him.

Jesus was popular, not only because of His miracles, but also because of His insightful preaching on justice, on love, and about the Kingdom of God.

So, what did the Pharisees fear? Now, before I list what I think were their fears, I want to say that they had legitimate fears. Their fears are not to be taken lightly. If we put ourselves in their shoes, we would most probably have their same fears. They were human. Just as we are human. Our human condition worries about what the Pharisees were anxious about. They feared their loss of theological power, of political importance, of prestige, of being upstaged of being replaced by this itinerant preacher, this Jesus, who had no home, no money, no TV show, no talk radio show. They wondered why he had authority – and theirs was eroding!

However, they also had other, perhaps more personal, legitimate fears: of losing their faith in Mosaic law, of having their view of their world turned upside down. How many of us are afraid of change? How many of us are troubled by the thought of the world that is close to us, changing?

Isn’t that what anxiety is all about? Fear of the unknown?

We can announce that we are tolerant. Yet if a person comes into our radar who is very different from us, how do we respond? Let us look at a theological stance? Do some people avoid theology because they feel it is like hammering a nail into a cloud? Do others take zealous theological positions for the uncomplicated reason that they want to hang their clothes on a nail in a cloud – in order to feel comfortable?

Do some individuals buy into trite cultural phrases and repeat them often enough so that they convince themselves that they are right? How often do we hear the phrase, “THOSE PEOPLE are all like . . .” Or: “My experience with Those People is that.” Is it possible that even we take on philosophies, and repeat philosophical phrases often enough so that we convince ourselves that we are right?

What is comes down to is that the fear of change may be one of the strongest of fears. It has been said that the only person who wants change is a baby with a wet diaper. We often say that a person who does not bend like a young tree is petrified. In other words, the person becomes like a rock. There is no movement, just dead weight. But carefully note the word petrified. Not only does it mean that a living thing has become a mineral-like rock, but petrified is also defined as great fear! A person can be so petrified when a gun is pointed at them that they wet their pants. By the way, that is not necessarily a fear response of a coward. What really happens is that the body, physiologically, places all of the blood of the body where it is needed – and the muscles that control those bodily functions are not important at that time. What is needed is blood in the brain and the system to make us run. And since movement is important, losing our ballast as dead weight becomes crucially important. That is why over half of the soldiers that landed at Normandy admitted to ‘losing ballast’.

I bring that out to show that fear is real. Bodily fear is real. Emotional fear is real. Intellectual fear is real. Fear is nothing to be ashamed of. Not to fear may actually be abnormal.

Let’s return to the Gospel story today. The fear of the parents of that blind man was real. The fear of the Pharisees was real. Now: what to do with our fears? How do we handle fear? Before we return to the Gospel reading today, I want to address one addition question which was asked at the beginning of this long Gospel which is very crucial -- both then and now:

The disciples asked Jesus: Because this man is blind, is it because he sinned? Or did his parents sin? This is a variation of the question: ‘did a something awful happen to a person because he or she sinned?’ Jesus’ answered his disciple’s questions, both then and now,

after he cured the young man, when he told them – and us: “This occurred so that God’s works can be revealed.” “This occurred so that God’s works can be revealed.” In this Gospel, Jesus cured the blind man; in today’s world, our Christ remains to help to heal the hurts of the world.

and, as Christ’ Body, we, here today, in this church, members of the Body of Christ are to help heal the hurts of the world.

Let’s get back to the Pharisees. When the Pharisees interviewed the now-cured blind man, their first attack was on Jesus because He healed on the Sabbath! But the cured man responded to the Pharisees by telling him that God does not listen to sinners.” The fearful Pharisees retorted by calling him a sinner by telling him he was born in sin. Verse 35 says Jesus heard he was driven out – and I think this refers to the synagogue of which his parents were still members. The cured man was excluded from his local society. He was kicked out of the gang! While he had his sight restored by this miracle worker from God the father; in contrast the religious leaders excluded him from their society. What does the cured man do when he and Jesus meet up again? He tells Jesus that he believes that He is the Son of Man.

The Pharisees, still uneasy and worried, turned to Jesus [recognizing his power] and asked [with some trepidation], “We are not blind, are we?” Jesus told them that now that they saw what they saw, and now that they heard the truth, they were indeed missing the point, and because of that, they were in sin. In other words, they were missing the point of Jesus’ miracle to announce the Kingdom of God!

On one hand, it is easy to want to forgive the Pharisees in this incident. Their world was falling apart. Their paradigm was changing. They were alarmed. Jesus’ mission of bringing the Kingdom of God to our world was making them fearful. Jesus was beginning to shake up the world.

In this Gospel passage, we learned that neither the parents nor the Pharisees wanted their world to be shaken up. We don’t like our world being shaken up. It doesn’t make any difference what the year or what the culture. It seems that the entire Middle East, not just Iraq and Egypt and Libya, is in turmoil. In our lives, we know that change is difficult. Often, when there is change in a person’s life, people experience violence.

We have all seen families, marriages, and relationships with children, broken up because one person refuses to change. How did that person became petrified?

In our own lives, what are our personal FEARS? Do we fear people talking behind our back? Do we fear poverty? Death? Do we fear letting ourselves go in order to live fully? Do we fear loss of control? Are we afraid of too much emotional attachment? Or of not being loved? Being ridiculed? Of being made a fool of? Of not having our way? Of not being forgiven? Of forgiving? Of letting go of haunting memories?

We have to ask ourselves if our fears are real or made-by-us? Or by the news media? And, if we decide that it is an irrational fear, we must confront it. We must place that fear on top of a table and then look at it in bright light – the light of daylight. In his letter to the Ephesians, at chapter 5, Paul reminds us that our behavior should be that of the children of the light. That is how we are to test ourselves.

In verse 13, Paul reminds us that the quality of all things is made clear by the light. Once we look at our fears in the daylight, we need to put them into the perspective of the Gospel. Jesus told us, as recorded in Matthew’s Gospel in chapter 10, “Do not FEAR, for you are of more value than many sparrows.” We can trust in God. Obviously we need some money in the bank – or at least a credit card with a decent loan limit!!! The key is to know that life is a series of problems. And our good God knows this.

Our life is temporary. Crises prove that – what happened in Japan proves it. We are rational human beings – we are, indeed, created in the image of God. We are to use our intelligence to plan for the present and the future. But, we must also understand that as life and time move on, death occurs. We attend funerals. We attend baptisms, graduation, and weddings.

Suffering and death, joy and delight, all of these are part of the warp and woof of life, which is the weave we live. God is the golden thread in our weave. If we live in the light, we are closer to God’s presence. To be sure, often His presence is somewhat hidden, but I can tell you that in my life, I have experienced God’s presence – and I have also experienced the lack of God’s presence. As time passes, I have realized that God was there – that Jesus was holding my hand that the Holy Spirit was working – and often working very hard!!

And I have talked with many people who have had the same experiences!!! Therefore I invite you to bring your fears out and look at them in the light. To confront them! Why? Because it is difficult to pray when our souls are clouded by FEARS.

Michael Ignatieff, a historian, wrote that, “Living fearlessly is not the same thing as never being afraid. It’s good to be afraid occasionally. Fear is a great teacher. What’s not good is living in fear, allowing fear to define who you are. Living fearlessly means standing up to fear, taking its measure, refusing to let it shape and define your life.”

LET US PRAY,

Lord, you have shaken up the world over 2,000 years ago. Yet, Lord, we realize that you are not finished yet for you continue to shake us up. Lord, let us not be afraid of change for we pray that the Holy Spirit guide us through change. Amen.