Baxter is a scaredy cat. He hides under the bed when the vacuum cleaner turns on. He is easily startled by any loud noise. When I hold him in my arms and take him out-side on a sunny day, he gets easily spooked and tries to hide his head in the crook of my arm for safety. Anything unusual, unfamiliar or unexpected can raise a fright for him who likes to pose as my ferocious feline. Although he is bulky like a lion and likes to make threatening hisses when it’s safe to do so, under all this bravado, Baxter truly is a pussy cat—the cowardly lion wishing he were more but, when the test comes, failing to find it.
He is so much like us, isn’t he? We pose our courage in words and gestures when we know we can escape if a real test comes. We think of ourselves as strong and resolute in our beliefs and values, until they come into conflict with our self-interest and comfort-able life style. We use back room tactics to criticize others, but back off from directly facing them with our concerns and the reason for them. We take the course of least resis-tance to avoid hassles. It sometimes becomes ―live and let live‖ not out of respect for others, but out of convenience for ourselves. The price of peace becomes our passivity and apathy. We walk away from the problem or difficulty, hoping it won’t be there when we re-turn. We are afraid of what might happen if we deal with each other honestly, directly, and freely. If they won’t do what I say or do or want, where do we go from there? Is the only alternative to give in or force our way?
The Risen Lord speaks a few key messages to His first disciples. The first is "Fear not," and the reason He gives for relinquishing fear is "It is I." A relationship with the Lord Jesus overcomes fear. We are not left on our own to figure out the unknown and the dilemmas it creates. We have the wisdom, the care, and the strength that come from faith, and the support and shared insight that come from the community of disciples to which we belong. We are not alone, but we live bound to God through the mark of baptism and bound to all the baptized through the Spirit that was poured out on us. The Lord Jesus is the hub of the wheel, and attached to Him we are connected to all oth-ers who claim to be His disciples. What’s there to fear with such a united force?
That is why the second message of the Risen Lord is "Peace." We know we are free from fear when we speak and act with a sense of confidence and resolve that is not easily shaken or stubbornly stuck in one way -- my way! That is the case because our confidence is not solely in ourselves. We trust that the power of God is available to us who seek it and that this power is effective through us. This creates a certain detachment from our efforts. We don’t need to control every as-pect of everything in life. We don’t need to be successful all the time. We don’t need to do it only our way. We just need to serve. God’s power is a force for service, and if people are being served with the respect due fellow disciples, then we can relax about how it is done, who does it, or what the final outcome may look like. We work and live in peace.
Poor Baxter doesn’t have the benefit of baptism in the risen life of Christ. He has to make it on his instincts alone. No wonder he is so easily frightened. No need for us to be scaredy cats though. We share discipleship in a community of the baptized. We are not alone. Peace.
