[AI translation] You remember a few weeks ago, when I was talking about love in the sermon, I said that it is the most important and unfortunately very rare vitamin, without which there is no healthy life. Now I would like to talk about the "number one world power", of which there is most in the world: fear. Fear has indeed become a world power and a world phenomenon in this land threatened by all dangers. When people talk about something very good, some great achievement, they think of the promise and realisation of a life without fear. This is very good indeed and a great achievement if it is achieved. But can it be achieved? Does it exist in the world? Let us look into the depth of this problem! Let us try to understand what fear is and whether there is a way out of it!Fear is one of humanity's most acute and current emotions. It is the most human, the most ancient and the most modern feeling we have, that we are afraid! Often we do not even know what we are afraid of, we have no object to fear. It is just fear of something, something uncertain, something scary. Anyway, everything in the world can cause human fear, life as well as death. The future as well as the past or the present. One can fear failing in school, in one's profession, or being ridiculed by people. Some fear war, some fear the night, others fear the day. We instinctively fear illness, suffering, material problems. Some are afraid because they feel alone, others because they are not alone even in the middle of a desert, because they feel that God sees them there. Fear of God! I know someone who waits anxiously for his relatives to come home from work every day. He is constantly afraid that something might happen to them. Who can list all the many fears that grip people's hearts? It's true, as someone once said: life is always in danger! Life is life-threatening at every moment! No wonder fear is the constant companion of life!
How much trouble fear causes! It ruins the lives of most people! Because let us understand: it is often not the actual trouble, the suffering, that spoils life and upsets the balance, but rather the fear of it! Doctors know that one of the most dangerous illnesses is the fear of illness! It is the most difficult to cure someone of. Axel Munthe tells an interesting, sad story from his own practice. A Scandinavian animal painter had his hand bitten by his pet dog, a giant bulldog. The painter was sick to his stomach with the thought that if the dog had rabies, he would now get the disease. He began to study the symptoms of rabies from specialist books, refused to eat or drink anything, kept wiping his saliva on the side of his mouth and talked about rabies all the time. Then he complained desperately that he could not swallow, his muscles stiffened, he began to tremble and collapsed with a desperate cry. By the time the test results came back from the authorities that the dog was perfectly healthy, the painter was in such a state that he had to be taken to the madhouse. This is one example among many of the terrible havoc that can be wreaked by the 'number one world power', fear!
What does science say about it? Philosophy has established that fear is the engine of humanity. An intellectual statement, but it does not solve the problem. The doctor says that there are many diseases that are directly or indirectly related to man's sense of fear. Internal, secret fears affect the body, the organism. For all fears end up in the adrenal glands by way of the nerve fibres, whose glands at the same time release a substance called adrenaline into the blood. This adrenaline then causes the heart to beat faster, the skin to sweat, the blood vessels to constrict and, after a long time, organic damage can occur. Such is the close connection between body and soul. Interestingly, this does not solve the problem of fear. The constant subject of psychology is the sense of fear in man. We know from psychological research that we bring many of these fears with us from childhood, which influence our actions even in adulthood. Such fears, often unconscious, cause us to feel bound and inhibited. Psychology seeks to uncover these hidden, latent fears and to find solutions.
What does the Bible say about it? God's Word says that fear is ultimately related to God. Ever since man was cast out into a world of thorns and thistles because of his disobedience to God, he has known fear. In fact, fear began even earlier: immediately after man committed the act of disobedience to God. It was after Adam ate the forbidden fruit and hid himself and Eve from God among the trees of the garden that he first uttered the dreadful word: "I will fear" (Genesis 3:10). The instinctive suspicion that a wrathful God may strike me down. He has a reason to be angry with me, he will catch up with me and punish me. So the basis of fear is that man fears God, the One whom he has hurt, offended, the One to whom he owes a debt.
Since fear is related to God, the solution is only possible in relation to God! So all other attempts are in vain! Even if medical science, pharmacy, entertainment industry and even world politics unite to overcome fear, the "number one world power" cannot be easily dealt with. It is in vain to say that one is not afraid, but often heroism and recklessness are nothing more than well-disguised, hidden fear. Even the dog is the bravest and most daring in his fear! Once fear has attacked someone, it cannot be overcome by strong will, by self-suggestion, by saying to oneself: 'I am not afraid, I am not afraid! It doesn't help much if someone encourages you: don't be afraid! Maybe you can hide it, muffle it with noise, analyse it psychologically, soothe it a little with medication, and that is also a big result. But primal fear cannot be conquered by man or human science.
I said: fear is related to God, therefore the solution to fear is only possible with God! How? By telling frightened people: trust me, I am, do not be afraid! It is Jesus who says this, who took up the fight against this world power, fear. There, in the Garden of Gethsemane, when, sweating blood, He cried out in His agony: "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me". (Mt 26,39) And there, on the cross, when He cried out in the terror of the gathering darkness, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mt 27,46) If anyone, He knew best what fear was, what primordial fear was. But He also knew who God is! That's why He could continue His prayer: 'Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will' (Mt 26,39): "Father, into your hands I commend my soul" (Lk 23,46).
This means that the wrathful God has had mercy on you. He does not want to punish you, but to have mercy on you. I am - it means that whatever you have done wrong, there is forgiveness for you. As much as you deserve to be struck down by God, He loves you! We are left to do what He said in our fears, "Trust! It is I! Do not be afraid" (Mt 14,27) We can trust in One who is more powerful than the "number one world power"! Who has overcome this power, fear, and has conquered it forever! He says, "Trust! I am." As if to say: Remember that I exist! Do not let the frightening phenomena of life obscure from you, make you forget the otherwise invisible reality that I am! So do not be afraid! And when He says do not be afraid, it is essentially different from anyone else saying it. At His word the storm is calmed both out at sea and in the heart. So it was on the Sea of Galilee, and so it has been ever since! Today, in your life too!
I don't know who is bound by fear, but I do know that this grip is only truly loosened once God Himself - the One we ultimately fear - says personally: 'Do not be afraid! But God is really saying this: Do not be afraid! The cross of Calvary also proclaims: "Do not be afraid! The spilling of precious blood cries out, "Fear not! The many sufferings, the terrible deaths, all encourage us: Fear not! If you let the two wonderful arms of God's forgiveness and redemption, reaching out to you on the cross, embrace you and wrap themselves around your life, you will fear nothing and no one!
Indeed: if God is no longer to be feared, then nothing and no one is to be feared! This is how I understand the psalmist King David, who in the face of mortal danger, in hiding from his enemies, could say and do: 'I will lie down and sleep; I will awake, for the Lord will sustain me. (Psa 3:6-7) "I will lie down in peace, and sleep in the night: for thou, O LORD, alone givest me a dwelling place of courage." (Psa 4:9) David did not need a good sleeping pill, as we do when nervousness keeps sleep from coming over our eyes. The best sleeping pill is knowing that there is Someone who loves and watches over me while I sleep!
"Trust! It's me! Fear not!" says our Word. Oh, how peacefully one can sleep even in the midst of mortal peril! Or even to suffer, even to die! The apostle Paul was in a difficult situation, in prison, with his hands and feet in irons. On a stormy sea, with no hope of survival, and in the midst of raging men, in a shower of stones. Perhaps these are the experiences he recalls when he writes in his letter. (Rom 8:38-39) This is not a matter of temperament, but of trust in the One who is Lord greater than fear, the "number one power"! If you have been released by the grace of forgiveness and no longer need to fear God, you too can say in any worrisome situation, in the words of the psalmist, "When I should fear, I will trust in You!" (Psalm 56:4)
Amen
Date: 21 June 1959.
Lesson
Mt 14,22-33