Fear is the Path to the Dark Side

Rev. Brian Weinberger

NL Year 2 • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

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I want to thank you for the time away to do some continuing education, and since it was in Anaheim, being the Disney family that I told you we are, we spent a few days at Disneyland. One of my favorite moments was being able to go to Galaxy’s Edge, also known as Star Wars Land, the new part of the Disneyland theme park. I have been a big Star Wars fan for most of my life and being able to just walk around and feel like you were on a planet in the Star Wars universe was incredible, let alone being able to pilot the Millennium Falcon as one of the rides.

One of the most memorable and influential characters from Star Wars is Yoda. Maybe it’s the way he talks or the wisdom he imparts. One of the best quotes from Yoda for me is his conversation with young Anakin Skywalker in Episode I.

Yoda and the Jedi council meet with Anakin about whether to train him as a Jedi or not and Yoda tells Anakin that he fears losing his mother, and when Anakin asks what that has to do with anything Yoda tells him it has everything to do with it. Then he says this famous quote, “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.”

I think that fear has everything to do with our text today from Jesus in his hometown to the death of John the Baptist. In previous parts of the Gospel where we hear people are amazed at Jesus words and deeds of power, that doesn’t happen in his hometown. It starts out like they are amazed with phrases like, “where did this man get all this?” and “What deeds of power are being done with his hands!” But then they begin to remember that he is the same boy that used to run around town and spent his days learning carpentry from his father. This man can’t be a prophet doing deeds of power he is Mary’s son and the brother to the rest of his brothers and sisters.

I don’t believe that these people in his hometown were bad or evil people, but were simply people who instead of being driven by the Spirit and open to God’s work through anyone, they were instead driven by fear and disbelief. It was that fear that Jesus was something other than what they knew him to be that caused Jesus to only be able to cure a few people. It was fear that hindered the work of God in that place. Now it still seems incredible that Jesus was able to cure people who were sick, but imagine what he might have been able to do had the faith been there. Last week, even though I wasn’t with you, was the story of the woman who had been bleeding and Jairus’ daughter and the importance that faith played in that. Faith and trust in Jesus and his power instead of fear and disbelief that he was more than he seemed to be as a child.

Which may be why when Jesus sends out the twelve he tells them to stay where welcomed and leave where not welcomed because their acceptance of their work and mission in the world depends partly on people’s faith not their fear. What a joy it is to see that they were at least mostly welcomed because the text tells us that they cast out many demons and anointed many who were sick and cured them.

Then the story of John the Baptist is all about fear. King Herod seems to be fearful of his wife and wants to keep her happy so he arrests John. Herodias is afraid of John’s words of conviction that he is proclaiming to her husband and to the people in the streets. Fear also kept John alive since it was the fear of his righteousness that prevented Herod from allowing his wife Herodias from killing him. But then fear was also what finally made the opportunity for John to be killed. Herod had publicly professed that he would do whatever his daughter asked of him and she asked for the one thing that he didn’t want to give. But since it was a public proclamation he feared going back on his word and feared what that might look like and mean to the guests that were there Fear drove him to do something he felt was wrong.

I believe that is a truth that we live with each and every day. Fear drives us to do things we shouldn’t do. Fear leads to anger and hate which does eventually lead to suffering for ourselves and others. People aren’t bad necessarily by the acts they do, but they do bad acts because of the fear that drives them to do it.

There was a man in a congregation who was very upset that the church had decided to switch from using bulletins to using screens. He told the pastors that he didn’t like it. The pastors tried to explain to him that it would save on the cost of printing paper, it would save trees, there were meetings all about it and why the change was happening. The pastors also reminded him that the majority of the church supported the decision. The man didn’t care. Week after week he continued to voice his rejection of the screens to the pastors and others. He told the pastors he was going to do something about it. He didn’t know if that meant without tithing or finding another church that agreed with him. One of the pastors was really concerned, not because of this man’s drastic measures about how he was going about the issue, but that it seemed very uncharacteristic of this man. The one pastor was able to have a long conversation about the screens and during the conversation expressed concern and re-explained that they were not able to roll back all the changes they had made. Final the upset man blurted out, “I can’t read the fonts on the screens so I can’t follow along with the liturgy anymore!”

AH! The truth came out. It was never about the physical bulletins, but the fact that this man could not read the type of font on the screens. The man was afraid and that fear drove him to act out to the point of leaving the church he loved and had attended for so long. The media team spent the next weeks and beyond changing the fonts of all the songs and media for their services so that anyone who may have had trouble reading the screens, like this man, could now read them.

Jesus knew the people from his hometown and knew they weren’t bad people, they were afraid that life and the world was different from what they knew and wanted it to be which drove them to essentially drive away Jesus. Herod may not have been a bad person, but fear of his family getting along, fear of his guests perception and the perception of his rule caused him to kill a man whom he had great respect for.

We then, as children of God, as followers of Christ, and as holders of the Spirit, are called to do the work of Christ not out of fear but out of love. Love for one another, love for our community and love for those who do live in fear and act out of fear. We are called, as were the disciples, to go out into the towns and cities and neighborhoods proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. That we should cast aside our fear that can lead to so many unwanted and unhelpful things in life and instead live out a life of love. Love of God and of one another. A love that heals the brokenhearted and unites instead of divides. A love that was first shown to us. A love that knows no bounds and can conquer any fear that we may face in our lives. Do not live in fear ever, but live in the light of the love that God gives to us all. Amen.