Shaking off fear’s influence

Two 9-year-old cousins were playing make-believe Texas Rangers on the family ranch. John Henry and Billy were the scourge of all bandits, robbers and desperadoes as they rode their trusty stick horses on the “range” between the kitchen door and the corn crib.

One day, John Henry’s mother sent them out to investigate a commotion in the henhouse. The chickens were squawking and fluttering around for no apparent reason, so the boys began to examine the nests. As they peered into one nest, a black snake raised its head about six inches from their noses — and the boys quickly made a new door in the side of the henhouse.

John Henry’s mother questioned them about the incident, wondering aloud how the two bravest lawmen in East Texas could be afraid of a harmless black snake.

“After all,” she said, “everybody knows a black snake can’t hurt nobody.”

“Yes, ma’am, but they sure can cause you to hurt yourself,” young Billy replied as he rubbed head and shoulders left bruised from his crash through the henhouse wall.

Fear can be a powerful influence in our lives and in our world. Fear can cause us not only to hurt ourselves, but to hurt others in unintentional, senseless and often destructive ways. It was Robert Frost who wrote, “The people I am most afraid of are the people who are scared.”

There is certainly no shortage of scared, fear-filled people today — nor has there been a scarcity in decades and centuries past. Economic uncertainties, political machinations, terrorism, warfare, racial tensions, societal changes and religious differences have all played varying roles in creating cultures of fear throughout human history. Each new generation seems to explore fresh ways of exploiting and massaging the insecurities and self-centeredness of others so that we become programmed to live by our fears and not by our hopes.

We become prisoners to our fears.

However, as Peter J. Gomes, Harvard University professor and chaplain, states in his book, “The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus:”

“Fear is no policy; it represents the absence of courage and a poverty of imagination. To be defined by our fears is to accept as normal the lowest possible level of emotional intelligence.”

Gomes goes on to say that compassion is the opposite of fear, that “we cannot fear that which we love,” for, as we read in 1 John, “perfect love casts out fear.”

“Compassion leaves no room for fear;” writes Gomes. “We are too busy doing what we can, what we must, and what God wishes us to do, to take time to fear the consequences.”

Think of the Good Samaritan. He would have done nothing at all if he had given into his fears about what dangers might be lurking at the side of the road or what others might think of his behavior.

“Compassion has to do with the exercise of that inner strength that allows us power in the face of powerlessness and of the powers-that-be,” says Gomes. “The good news that Jesus came to proclaim always calls us beyond the conventional wisdom and into dangerous, uncharted waters.”

The words from 1 John, “We love because God first loved us, ” have the power to liberate us from our fears as we transform that love into acts of compassion. Our Lord chose not to be defined by his fears as he demonstrated compassion from the cross and forgave his enemies.

In the face of any number of fear-provoking “snakes” in our lives today, the strength of God’s love is present for those who care for others. While fear seeks safety, love seeks truth and service.