A Faith Stronger Than Our Anxieties

June 25, 2023

Rev. Mary Erickson

Eleva Lutheran Church

Romans 6:1b-11; Matthew 10:24-39

A Faith Stronger than Our Anxieties

Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.

It is good to be with you today! I bring you greetings from your sisters and brothers in faith at Hope Lutheran in Eau Claire. Pastor Karen and I are excited to engage in a pulpit exchange this morning.

Tea comes in many varieties. There are black teas and green teas. You can drink it hot or chilled. Some teas are more floral, like jasmine tea. Others have exotic qualities, like Earl Grey with its oil of bergamot. There are herbal teas and chai teas. There’s a tea for just about everybody. But there’s one kind of tea that nobody likes: anxiety.

Worry, worry, what have you brewed,

In your anxiety?

Worry, fear, anxiety – in our reading from Matthew, Jesus addresses these emotions. It’s part of Jesus’ pep talk to his disciples. He’s preparing them for the mission he’s sending them on. He’s giving them a very realistic picture of all the perils they’ll face. In the verses just prior to our reading, he says, “I’m sending you out like sheep in the midst of wolves.” Not a rosy picture!

Jesus lets his disciples know that as they go about their mission of proclaiming the kingdom of God and acting in Christ’s compassion, they will face opposition. They’ll be vilified and demonized. And being his followers will cause division and conflict – even within family systems.

Then he tells his disciples, “But do not fear these things.” Jesus calls us to a faith stronger than our anxieties.

As biblical scholars read Matthew’s gospel, they ponder who Matthew wrote these words for. Was he merely recording the dialogue between Jesus and his disciples? Was the main audience Jesus’ disciples? Or was Matthew’s main objective to deliver these words to the young church of Matthew’s readers? There was a whole lot of conflict going in in the first-generation church.

Matthew wrote primarily for a Jewish-Christian audience, not a Gentile-Christian audience. As Jewish people came to faith in Christ, it caused division within their Jewish families. Those who remained Jewish were at odds with these family members who were getting involved in this Jesus movement. And at the same time, the Roman Empire wasn’t too pleased with Christianity, either. Christians were facing persecution, even death.

So Jesus’ words to his disciples as he set them out in mission took on a heightened poignancy to Matthew’s readers. And Jesus’ words continue still to speak through the centuries and inspire us. Jesus is addressing the fears and anxieties we experience as we strive to live out our faith.

When I was at my first call, many moons ago in Illinois, I remember a conversation I had with a certain gentleman. We were discussing baptism. His little child was going to be baptized, so we were considering the purpose of baptism. This man believed that baptism would endow his child with a protective bubble. God’s love and blessing would surround his child and create a shield from trouble.

Well, I had to be the bearer of bad news to this young father and tell him that baptism doesn’t operate like that. In fact, baptism is a kind of death! In our passage today from Romans, Paul goes into detail about that. As we dive into the waters of baptism, we’re being buried with him in his grave.

Interestingly, in ancient Greek texts, the verb “baptize” frequently refers to drownings. There’ll be a report of a ship going down at sea. The report will note, “and all aboard were baptized.” Well, the reporter didn’t mean they’d all participated in the Christian sacrament of Baptism before the ship went down. They meant that everyone drowned.

Baptism is associated with death. St. Paul states that, as we go down into the waters of baptism, we die with Christ. And then as we rise out of the waters, we are joined in his resurrection. We die to sin and death, and we rise to new life in Christ.

With that death, sin loses its grip on us. We’re set free from sin. Our old self has been drowned, “baptized.” And now, through that same baptism, we have been born anew in the power of Jesus’ resurrection. Sin and death no longer have a hold on us. Paul says, “So consider yourself alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Baptism is a death. But it’s a good death in the power of Christ. This death doesn’t only release us from the powers of sin and death. It also frees us from fear and anxiety. WE KNOW that we have been made right with God! WE KNOW that, no matter the messaging or the vilifying or the demonizing the world my hurl at us, baptism tells us that God’s love accepts us and has declared us good. And this, this is our true identity. No matter what the world may say, we hold firm to our identity in Christ. It is a faith stronger than our anxieties.