On Being Afraid

By: Asa Holly

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. John 14:27 (NRSV)

Do not be afraid… so you know how often this term or variation appears in the Bible? It is a lot, just google “do not be afraid in the Bible” and you will get a results with names like, 40 Bible verses about fear or 33 Bible verses about fear and anxiety, I am sure you get the idea.

The verse above come from the Gospel of John is between the washing of the feet and Jesus’s betrayal. Peter has asked Jesus where he is going, to which Jesus replies, “you can not follow me.” I can imagine the Peters and the other disciples world just got shattered, their teacher is going away and they can’t go with him, what are they gonna do? I think fear is not an inappropriate response. So Jesus goes on to tell them about the Holy Spirit and that they should not be afraid.

I didn’t notice it until recently, but this election season is riddled with fear. People are afraid of Trump as a potential President so they will vote for whoever runs against him. People are afraid of terrorism, immigration, socialism and refugees so they are voting for Trump. Priest and preaching about the end times, as soon as we flip on a tv, or computer we are bombarded with news and image that only reinforce our fears.

In moments of fear we turn to verses like the one in John 14:27 to know that things will be ok, “Do no be afraid,” Jesus tells us. It is as if fear were a bad thing, something that keeps us from relating with God. The Disciples are human and fear is, well natural, “we are built, by God to experience the emotion of fear.”¹ I am sure Jesus knew and understood this. So if Jesus isn’t telling them to completely remove their fear, than what is he saying? What if Jesus is simple telling them not to succumb to fear, to not be manipulated by fear.

This is where the issue is with this year’s Presidential election: manipulations. We are being manipulated by fear. Trumps campaigning is shouting, “Make America Great Again.” Playing on the fears of those who believe this country has forgotten what it means to be be American. So many people fear Trump as President that they will vote for whoever runs against him. People fear what Bernie Sanders would do, if he became president with his Democratic Socialism ideas.

We are a people who fear, there is no denying that. Even I have succumbed to fear this election season, but we can not let it manipulate us any more. As we continue our journey to November 8th we need to make our own decisions and “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” and manipulated by fear.

^{1 Whitehead, Jason C. Redeeming Fear: A Constructive Theology for Living into Hope. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2013. Page 38.}