Without Fear
Christopher B. Harbin
John 11:1-45
Fear impedes making good decisions. It shuts down our higher order thought processes. Fear has little relationship to the rational. The monsters that used to live under my bed only existed during the dark of night. I was not about to let my arm hang off the bed only to be bitten by some creature from the shadows. Never once did I wonder what happened to them all when the lights came back on. Our fears are irrational. I knew there were no monsters even as I feared them. The monsters we imagine confronting us in the future never seem to measure up to our internal descriptions of them. Meanwhile, there are those who would wield our fear to manipulate us. Is it possible to face an uncertain future without allowing fear to drive our actions, attitudes, and decisions?
Thomas gets a bad rap. We know him best as Doubting Thomas. We associate his name almost exclusively with that resurrection appearance at which he doubted that Jesus could possibly be alive. Today's passage paints him in a very different light. It is so different, that we tend to forget this is the same Thomas in both passages. In both cases, what does stand out is his penchant for realism. He assesses what is in front of him in a rather deterministic way. "We know how life works. What is before us is just what we should expect. Accept it. Go with it."
On the other hand, Thomas' words here are a far cry from what we would expect of anyone other than the very bravest. We should expect that Thomas and the other disciples should attempt to keep Jesus from heading to Bethany. That was near Jerusalem and it would not be a safe direction for Jesus to travel. We have already seen there was a move to kill Jesus. That point is made once more at the end of this chapter, too. It would be reckless for Jesus to go to Bethany. It would be foolish for him to do so. If his friend there had died, what was the point in goin ...
Christopher B. Harbin
John 11:1-45
Fear impedes making good decisions. It shuts down our higher order thought processes. Fear has little relationship to the rational. The monsters that used to live under my bed only existed during the dark of night. I was not about to let my arm hang off the bed only to be bitten by some creature from the shadows. Never once did I wonder what happened to them all when the lights came back on. Our fears are irrational. I knew there were no monsters even as I feared them. The monsters we imagine confronting us in the future never seem to measure up to our internal descriptions of them. Meanwhile, there are those who would wield our fear to manipulate us. Is it possible to face an uncertain future without allowing fear to drive our actions, attitudes, and decisions?
Thomas gets a bad rap. We know him best as Doubting Thomas. We associate his name almost exclusively with that resurrection appearance at which he doubted that Jesus could possibly be alive. Today's passage paints him in a very different light. It is so different, that we tend to forget this is the same Thomas in both passages. In both cases, what does stand out is his penchant for realism. He assesses what is in front of him in a rather deterministic way. "We know how life works. What is before us is just what we should expect. Accept it. Go with it."
On the other hand, Thomas' words here are a far cry from what we would expect of anyone other than the very bravest. We should expect that Thomas and the other disciples should attempt to keep Jesus from heading to Bethany. That was near Jerusalem and it would not be a safe direction for Jesus to travel. We have already seen there was a move to kill Jesus. That point is made once more at the end of this chapter, too. It would be reckless for Jesus to go to Bethany. It would be foolish for him to do so. If his friend there had died, what was the point in goin ...
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