There are only two feelings; love, and fear.
There are only two longings; love, and fear.
There are only two activities; love, and fear.
Only two motives, only two procedures, two frameworks, two results.
Love, and fear.
This little poem is found in a short collection of prayers from Australia. There is a lot in my life to fear. I know that it is likely that someone I love will die. I know that it is likely that I will get sick. I will become frail. I know that it is definite that I will die.
I worry that even though I have money now, I might not have money in the future. What if the economy declines? We bought our house at the top of the housing market; what if the housing bubble bursts? Will I be able to afford my children’s college education?
Now, those are just the personal fears I have; those are the fears I get to entertain before I open the newspaper! Then, page one of the Bee—now I need to fear spinach! To say nothing of the next terrorist attack.
I know what it is like to be afraid. I know how fear closes me down, how it shrinks my horizons, how it makes my world small and isolated. I know what it is like to crave security, to crave safety, which is why it’s always good to have a Messiah.
The Messiah’s job is to make us safe. In Jesus’ day, they were waiting for such a Messiah. They were waiting for someone to make their world OK, to make it safe, to bring back the glory days. I wasn’t alive in the ‘50’s, so I don’t know if the ‘50’s were the glory days, but in my mind they were. In Jesus’ day, the glory days were the reign of King David. They were waiting for someone to bring back the good old days, back like it was when David was king. And Jesus was a likely candidate; he walked in on the scene, and not only did he have miraculous power to cure—he made the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers were cleansed—but he also had the charisma. Jesus was able to just push the religious authorities, who were in the oppression business, right out of the spotlight. They knew that Jesus was going to go to Jerusalem, and when Jesus went to Jerusalem he would kick the Romans out. Life finally would be safe. The new era would be ushered in, the Messiah would wipe away every tear.
That’s what Peter was thinking in today’s Gospel lesson. When Jesus asked the question, “Well, what do you think?” and Peter said, “You’re the Messiah!”, what Peter was thinking was, you’re the one who is going to make life safe and comfortable. With you, the price of gasoline will finally come down! We won’t have to worry about being attacked. But Jesus says, “Not quite. I’m going to go to Jerusalem, and there I’m going to be killed. That’s the good news.”
Now, for Peter, there is no good news in that. If that’s Jesus’ plan, it’s a bad plan. So Peter tries to correct Jesus—“No, no, you’re going to go to Jerusalem, and you’re going to bring down the price of gasoline, and you’re going to make our world safe!”
Jesus’ reply? “No, you’re putting your mind on human things, not on divine things.” Human things means, in order for me to be OK in this world, I have to be safe. But guess what? You will never, ever, ever be safe. As far as I know, the death rate is 100%; there is no avoiding it.
Jesus goes to Jerusalem and endures everything we’re afraid of, everything that is not safe. He is beaten; he is stripped naked; he is impoverished; he is killed. Why? To try to show us a different way. For Jesus, the way to abundant life is not safety; it is not turning safety into our idol, to which we will sacrifice everything in our lives; because if safety is your idol, you will have to live in fear. You can’t ever be completely safe.
Jesus walked into everything we are afraid of, everything that makes us not safe. But he was not afraid, because instead of fear, he chose love. Jesus knew a love that held him; a love that was stronger than death, a love that was stronger than pain. A love that gave him courage and hope, even in the midst of all the scary things that were swirling around him. There were only two feelings, two actions, two motives, two results. Either fear, or love. Jesus knew this love that pulsed through him, and through creation.
From Jesus’ perspective, our problem is not a lack of safety. It is a lack of awe; a lack of awareness. A lack of awareness of the love that is right here, right now, flowing through us. A lack of awe of the beauty of this creation; the fact that you woke up this morning, that you’re breathing, right now, this amazing air! You are surrounded by people to love. Right here, right now. Wake up! Let go of that fear about what might happen tomorrow or next week or next year and start living your life! Because a life lived in fear is not a life lived! That is why Jesus went to the Cross, to show us not to be afraid. All will be well; it’s well right now! Start living.
If Jesus went to Jerusalem to protect us, to make us safe, to guarantee that nothing would ever happen to us, he would have been a false Messiah. The only true way is the way of loving freely, authentically, and creating a life that is so deep and so true that nothing can extinguish it, even when you die. The love we have is stronger than death. It is stronger than terrorism.
When I was preparing for this sermon, I came across a poem from a woman named Donna Markova. She struggled with cancer for twenty years, and wrote a book about it. In it she called cancer her “unwelcome teacher.” It was living with cancer, her death looming all the time, that taught her to let go of the fear of death, and to start just living and loving. The title of her poem is “I Will Not Die An Unlived Life.”
I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear of falling or of catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days;
To allow my living to open me
To make me less afraid, more accessible.
To loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance
To live, so that which came to me as a seed
Goes to the next as a blossom,
And that which came to me as a blossom goes on as fruit.
There are only two feelings; two longings, two activities, two motives. You can live in fear, which is not living at all, or you can live in love. You can spend your life freely and tap into this love that flows so deeply that it conquers death and wipes away all fear. It is your choice.