“Do Not Fear”
Isaiah 35; Luke 1:26-38
Rev. Dr. Deborah L. Clark
December 21, 2014
“Do not fear! Be strong!” The prophet Isaiah challenges a people whose hearts are fearful, so fearful their hands become weak and their knees feeble.
The people have good reason to be afraid. Some scholars date this chapter to the 8th century BCE, when Isaiah’s people are living in Judea, surrounded by powerful enemies, under constant threat of annihilation. Others attribute it to 2nd Isaiah almost 200 years later, when they are living in exile, strangers in a strange land, still grieving the destruction of their temple, their holy city and their homes. Either way, of course they are afraid.
With his glorious poetry, Isaiah offers a series of promises to ease the people’s fear. He begins with the natural world–the desert blossoming like a crocus; water breaking forth in the wilderness. After all the devastation wrought by war and by abuse of the land, God will bring new life, re-creation of the natural world.
Isaiah moves on to describe the transformation of human beings: “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.” Read out of context, this seems to be a promise of miraculous healing of physical infirmity. Throughout the book of Isaiah, though, the prophet uses blindness and deafness not to refer to physical limitations but as metaphors for the people’s inability–or unwillingness–to see or hear the truth.
Isaiah promises a miracle of insight. You will see and hear the truth, he declares. Given the danger and loss that surround his people, that hardly seems like an antidote to fear. Isaiah, though, is talking about a different kind of vision–vision that looks deep within what is to see the seeds of what could be, insight that awakens to God’s healing presence at work even in a horrible time. “Here is your God,” Isaiah promises. When your eyes and ears are open to that truth, he predicts, you will leap like a deer and sing for joy.
Isaiah makes another promise. God has created a highway, a Holy Way, for the people. When you open your eyes to see clearly, you will find the path that leads you home, the path to joy that is more powerful even than your fear.
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“Do not be afraid,” the angel whispers. At first Mary is just perplexed, pondering the meaning of the angel’s appearance. When Gabriel goes on to explain what is about to happen, she realizes she has good reason to fear. Mary is a young girl, engaged to be married to an older man, and she is going to have a baby. She could be stoned to death for adultery. At the very least, she will be ostracized, condemned to a life of shame. Of course Mary is afraid.
Like the prophet, the angel accompanies his exhortation to courage with a promise. He doesn’t promise that everything will be all right or that God will protect her from harm. He doesn’t even promise that God will reward her in heaven for her obedience. Gabriel promises something much more wonderful than security or reward. Have courage, the angel declares, for God is going to work through you to do an amazing thing.
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“Do not fear!” The prophet and the angel cry out across the centuries, calling out to us. Like the Judean people, like Mary, we have plenty of reasons to be paralyzed by fear: terror threats, school shootings, climate change, persistent racism, an eroding middle class, cyber attacks, cancer….the list goes on and on. Of course we are afraid.
In the face of all the reasons we can list for our fears, Isaiah and Gabriel don’t promise us that God will fix everything or give us some grand victory on earth and some glorious reward in heaven. Instead, they promise us what they promise Mary and the Judean people:
If you open your eyes and your ears, God will bless you with vision and understanding. You will see and hear the truth in all its terrifying manifestations, and you will see a deeper truth: God’s loving, healing spirit at work in the midst of it all.
With your eyes opened, you will discover the Holy Way, a pathway to guide you on your life-long journey toward wholeness, purpose, and joy.
God is going to work through you–through us– to do amazing things.
Do not be afraid! The prophet and the angel call to us. Strengthen your weak hands. Make firm your feeble knees. Leap like a deer. Sing for joy. Believe the promises of God. Amen.