Sermon for 3rd Pentecost
Have no fear
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
Have No Fear, Sermon for 3rd Pentecost, “A,” June 21, 2020, Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, Santa Monica:
Of all the experiences I have had in my visits to Jerusalem and the West Bank, this one sticks in my mind the most:
It was a February Sunday. Kris and I were traveling with a group of US Lutheran communicators in the West Bank, the area of biblical Palestine occupied by Israel since 1967. We were scheduled to worship at Reformation Lutheran Church in Beit Jala, a town next to Bethlehem. But that Sunday the entire area was under Israeli army curfew. This meant that no one was allowed out of their homes, no one. If anyone ventured out, they risked being arrested by the Israeli army, or worse.
At the military checkpoint from Jerusalem into the occupied territories, the Rev. Munib Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, with whom we were traveling to Beit Jala that day, Bishop Younan got out of his car and spoke with the Israeli army officer at the checkpoint. Soon, somehow, we were able to get through that checkpoint and into the occupied territories.
This was a surreal experience – our two Lutheran World Federation vans following the bishop’s car into the Beit Jala area. Our three vehicles, with hazard lights blinking, were the only ones on the road that Sunday morning. All businesses, schools and homes were closed and even boarded up. Normally on a Sunday morning, a work day for the majority Muslim population, the streets would have been teaming with people. Not this day. The streets and sidewalks were completely vacant and quiet except for an occasional stray dog. I remember even seeing tumbleweed blowing across one of the main streets we travelled. That is how deserted it was. The Israeli curfew kept everyone at home and off the streets. Those who ventured out did so illegally, under the threat of arrest and prison. We motored on, aware that we, too, might encounter Israeli soldiers who would not be happy to see us out and about. Fortunately, we did not encounter any Israeli soldiers.
The church bells were ringing as we approached Reformation Lutheran Church in Beit Jala. We wondered if anyone would be there.
Reformation Church is surrounded by a wall. As we approached, they opened the gates for us. And there, waiting for the bishop’s arrival and worship were hundreds of people who greeted us warmly.
Surprised by their bravery, bravery I thought might be fool-hartiness, I asked one of our hosts why he had violated the curfew and risked imprisonment to come to worship that day.
“If God calls us, we’re coming,” was all he said or needed to say.
In today’s Gospel lesson from St. Matthew Jesus tells his disciples, Jesus tells us, “Have no fear.” The people of Reformation Lutheran Church in Beit Jala know what it is like not to live in fear. “If God calls us” even in the midst of an army curfew, “If God calls us,” the man at Reformation Church in Beit Jala told me that day, “If God calls us, we’re coming.” Have no fear.
We live in fearful times. COVID-19, the evils of racism and White Supremacy, the highest unemployment since the Great Depression, environmental degradation. And those are just the first fears that came to my mind. You could add to this list I am sure.
In the face of this today’s Gospel lesson still tells us several times that we can, we should, always live in hope, without fear, because of God’s constant love for us. The text tells us how God is always watching over us:
- “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.” Luke, in a similar text, says “no sparrow is forgotten before God.” In Jesus’ day, sparrows were considered the lowliest of birds (not much different than today!) Luke even says “five sparrows for two pennies.” Almost worthless. They were one of the cheapest animals available for sale for animal sacrifice in the Temple courtyard. As cheap as they were, they were still important to God. Matthew’s and Luke’s point is that God does not forget us as individual human beings.
- “And even the hairs of your head are all counted.” God cares for us so much that God even knows the number of hairs we have! God knows the smallest details of our lives. That’s how much God cares for us. No sparrow or hair is forgotten by our all-knowing and all loving God. A metaphor, of course, but such a good one.
- “Have no fear;” “Do not fear;” “Do not be afraid.” At least three times in this text alone.
In other words, Matthew is telling us in all situations, no matter how bad they may seem to us, in any and all situations, we can live without fear. We have a God who cares for the lowliest of creatures and cares all the more for us, so much that God even can count our individual hairs!
We can live without fear. Perhaps even more importantly, in all of our lives, no matter how good or bad they may be, we can live in hope.
Civilla Martin writes of a time early in the spring of 1905 when she and her husband were living in Elmira, New York. While there, they became good friends with a couple, Mr. & Mrs. Doolittle, who Martin called “true saints of God.” Mrs. Doolittle had been bedridden for twenty years. Her husband was a paraplegic and used a wheel chair to get around. Despite their afflictions, they lived what Martin called “happy Christian lives, bringing inspiration and comfort to all who knew them.”
Martin writes that one day while she and her husband were visiting with the Doolittles, her husband commented on their hopeful nature, despite their disabilities. He asked the Doolittles for the secret of it. Mrs. Doolittle’s reply was simple: “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.”
From this experience, Martin wrote the hymn His Eye is on the Sparrow in which she wrote, “I sing because I'm happy, I sing because I'm free, For His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He watches me.”
I don’t know about you, but I do get discouraged at times. Thus, the assurance in today’s text is very important to me. It is easy, at least for me, at times, in these times especially, it is sometimes easy for me to get overwhelmed by doubt and fear. But this text and this hymn provide reassurance in those times.
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
God is so concerned about you and me that God even knows how many hairs we have! That’s such a wonderful metaphor for God’s love for us – complete, continuing, and even detailed. God gets us through the tough times. And when we are tempted to become hopeless God even draws us closer. Or, as His Eye is on the Sparrow says,
“Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
Some time ago I read of a pastor who asked his grade school age daughter what she thought of his sermons. The pastor’s daughter smiled and said, “Daddy they all go something like this – blah, blah, blah, love.” The pastor related that he rather liked that summary of his preaching – other themes and topics at times, but love as the theme always.
I like that too. And, that’s where Jesus ends up always, also. With constant love and care for us no matter where we find ourselves, even, or, perhaps, especially, when we find ourselves in fearful situations.
If God’s eye is even on the seemingly worthless sparrow, then we know that God is always watching out for us, loving us, caring for us, in these turbulent times, in all times, good and bad.
Have no fear; do not be afraid. For God is with us always and we know God is watching and caring for us.
With such assurance, we can live in hope today and always.
Amen.
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sermon for:
June 21, 2020
