I was browsing around another church the other day (the rector looking for ideas etc etc), when I noticed a series of pictures. They had been done by the Sunday school and were pictures of things that made them afraid. One child, rather than drawing a picture had simply written “I am afraid of nothing.”
Such confidence! My lists of “afraids” is quite long, including snakes and injections. I am not afraid, though, of ghosts in churchyards and, in my former Jersey churchyard research, spent many a happy hour in the middle of the night with a torch deciphering ancient graves. I did meet a couple of young adults, slightly the worse for wear, who did slightly unnerve me.
There is a temptation for all of us to live in the fantasy world of that child thinking we are afraid of nothing. On Good Friday we remembered the story of Peter who had a fantasy that he was afraid of nothing: he tells Jesus he will stick with him to the end, even if everyone else deserts him. We know how that story ended – Peter denying Jesus three times to a maid servant and then bursting into tears when he realised his betrayal. Yet that wasn’t the end of that story: it was only when Peter had gone through the hard journey of learning who he really was, weaknesses and all, that he could be a real follower of Jesus. Quite strong Christian tradition has it that he died for his faith on a cross nailed upside down.
But, the young Sunday school child’s words, unintentionally I suspect, have another meaning: “I am afraid of nothing”. That is precisely what we are most afraid of: nothingness. Macbeth’s conclusion, after putting ambition above all else and seeing the consequences, is that life “is a tale full of sound and fury signifying nothing.” There is plenty of evidence that much that is unhealthy in our modern society has its roots in purposelessness. Surveys consistently show that the aim of the many is now either for fame or wealth. As if either of those on their own can bring happiness or fulfilment! Jesus says what does it profit a man if he wins the whole world but lose his soul? Hmm.
Easter reminds us that life is not about nothingness, not a chasing after wealth or fame to fill up the hole; but is potentially full of purpose. The Christian claim is that Jesus rose from the dead. It is an extraordinary claim: but the subsequent lives of the disciples, with many of them dying martyrs’ deaths, shows they had no doubt that they had met the risen Jesus. God’s love is stronger than death and offers us new life, meaning and fulfilment in the here and now.
Peter