God or Luck? Faith or Fear?

Matthew 1:18-25

 

Angels are all over the nativity passages. With stunning frequency we hear a divine herald declare the message to the human audience: Be not afraid. Today is one of those times when an angel speaks God’s message to our human fear: "Be not afraid, Joseph, to take Mary as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit." Be not afraid, Joseph, for your betrothed Mary's name, that it will be dragged through the mud for the truth is she has not associated with another man. Be not afraid, Joseph, for yourself and your own good name, that it will be dragged through the same good mud for you are a righteous man and your righteousness will bear witness to itself over the long haul. Be not afraid, Joseph, for God’s people Israel, for Immanuel will come, God will be with us all just as the Lord said through the prophet. And Joseph, most especially, be not afraid for the little child, that his identity will be unknown, that his future will be uncertain, that his name will be unloved for he will be called Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. Be not afraid, Joseph. Be not afraid.

 

Joseph had every human right to fear for many of the same reasons Mary had the right to be afraid. Joseph was probably older than Mary, but still a young man. From an exclusively human vantage point, it is easy to imagine why Joseph might be afraid to take Mary as his wife. Responsible for supporting a child not his own and the child's mother. Required to ignore the stares and whispers of friends and family as he went about his day's work and night's leisure. Rebuking his young wife for her actions and himself for receiving her back. From Joseph's human vantage point, he had every right to fear.

 

Joseph's world is not foreign territory to us. Granted, we have not been called to be surrogate father to God the Son, but each of us knows a reason to fear. We all have been in a situation that, from an exclusively human vantage point, was just cause to fill us with fear. We have experienced what appeared to us as a lose-lose option where any direction we turned turned us into trouble, where any decision we made posed a problem, where whatever we did would be “wrong.” Some of us may know Joseph better than we care to admit.

 

Our world lends itself to fear. If we live long enough we are bound to encounter a health situation where, from an exclusively human vantage point, we are justifiably afraid. When a doctor uses the words cancer, or stroke, or bypass, or even simply surgery, such is a situation where one is justifiably afraid. When parents look out into the world and see all the danger set before their children, the soullessness of society, such is a situation where one is justifiably afraid. When young people look forward to ask what the job market will look like, what will become of the national debt, will there be a social security system when they retire, such is a situation where one is justifiably afraid. In all of these situations, the angel’s words ring out to us: be not afraid, people of God, be not afraid. The angel’s words call us to answer the question: in whom do we choose to put our trust? In God? Or in Luck? How we answer this question will dictate whether we stand in faith or sit in fear.

 

*****

It may seem silly for me to suggest that some folks put there trust in luck, yet it is a reality of our culture that luck or chance or fate or probability or whatever one wants to call it is a kind of secular faith. In his book Luck: A Secular Faith Wayne Oates tells of a situation in which a man put his faith in luck. The nurses at a hospital at which Oates was chaplain called him to see a patient on their floor. The nurses said that the patient was to have heart bypass surgery and was extremely anxious. When Oates went to the bedside, the man was indeed severely panic stricken. He said: "I am scared to death! It's what these nurses said. They told me that the surgeon who is going to work on me has operated on over a thousand other patients and all of them lived and have done well. Now, Reverend, you know that nobody is perfect. He's got to lose sometime, and I'm going to be the time he loses!" Evidently, the man felt the "odds" were against him. This is a luck/probability statement. This man chose to put his trust in luck, and his choice led to fear.

 

Pat Day is a horse jockey and a born-again Christian. Pat Day won the Kentucky Derby riding a little known horse named Lil E. Tee. When he entered the winner's circle Pat Day said two things: first, he said, "I knew there was a Derby out there with my name on it." This is a luck/fate statement. The second thing he said was "All things work together for the good of those who love the Lord Jesus," which is a paraphrase of Romans 8:28. Well, the question to Pat Day is in whom do you choose to put your trust: God or luck?

 

The newspaper where I lived in Texas once reported a story about a man who was driving along a county road on a cold, miserable day when he came upon a mother with four small children walking on the side of the road. It turns out the man, in conjunction with local churches, was able to help this mother and her children with some desperately needed groceries and clothing and help her apply for government assistance. The story said that we "sometimes find needy people through what seems to be a little divine intervention," but the story was headlined "Fate Lends Helping Hand." The question to this writer is once again: in whom do you choose to put your trust: God or luck?

 

There is a sense in which there is commingled in all of us a belief in God and a belief in luck. Our language suggests this commingling. It is not uncommon for us to say to a friend, "Good luck." Some of us will say, "I guess it was just meant to be." Or, 'Today's just not my day." No one shouts out to their friend, “Have faith.” What we say to an actor about to perform is “Break a leg,” not, “Go out there and have your trust in Almighty God fall apart.”

 

Physicians tell us that the probability of cure differs for different kinds of cancers: 80% for bladder cancer, 60% for colon cancer, still less for some others. Who among us would not rather have the kind of cancer located in the place where the probability of a cure is higher? But even here, in such a situation, we have a choice. We can choose to put our faith in the probability rate or we can trust that our lives are in the hands of the Living God. Either way the probability rate is present. But the way of faith in God through Jesus Christ is the only path able to transform us in the midst of whatever comes. The path of faith in God through Jesus Christ is the only path that leads to the hope of the Holy Spirit and the joy of Jesus Christ come good or come bad, come life or come death.

*****

 

In any and every situation, we have a choice. To choose to put our trust in luck is to be alone. To believe that life is one big game of chance is to never know what will happen next, whether tomorrow will be good or bad. To believe that our life is dictated by fate is to never know if we have a hope or a prayer in the world. To believe in the power of probability is to trust that our own skill at calculating the odds will enable us to overcome whatever happens to us. Such a faith is a lonely, impersonal faith.

 

In any and every situation, we have a choice. To choose to put our trust in God is to be never alone. To believe in God is to know that we may not know what tomorrow will bring, but we know that God is at work for the good of those who love him. To believe that God is in our life is to know that we do have a hope and a prayer in the world; in fact, many prayers: our own and other's. To believe in God is to trust that no matter what happens to us we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Such a faith is a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ. Be not afraid.

 

Evidently, Joseph heeded the angel’s command; he was not afraid. Joseph took Mary as his wife. Joseph celebrated the birth of Mary's sweet, little baby. No doubt Joseph knew some fear for Jesus from an exclusively human vantage point: a Jewish lad growing up in a nation occupied by the Roman army. What parent would not be concerned? But Joseph had been given a glimpse into the world from God's perspective. Joseph had seen that this sweet, little baby was not just any sweet, little baby. This child was Immanuel: God with us. Joseph believed this.

 

And he was not afraid.

 

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