Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16, Romans 4:13-25, Mark 8:31-38
What Was I Scared Of? By Dr. Seuss
(The Sneetches and Other Stories, New York: Random House, 1961)
Well…I was walking in the night and I saw nothing scary.
For I have never been afraid of anything. Not very.
Then I was deep within the woods when, suddenly, I spied them.
I saw a pair of pale green pants with nobody inside them!
I wasn’t scared. But, yet, I stopped. What could those pants be there for?
What could a pair of pants at night be standing in the air for?
And then they moved! Those empty pants! They kind of started jumping.
And then my heart, I must admit, it kind of started thumping.
So I got out. I got out fast, as fast as I could go, sir.
I wasn’t scared. But pants like that I did not care for. No, sir.
After that, a week went by. Then one dark night in Grin-itch
(I had to do an errand there and fetch some Grin-itch spinach)…
Well, I had fetched the spinach. I was starting back through town
When those pants raced round a corner and they almost knocked me down!
I lost my Grin-itch spinach but I didn’t even care.
I ran for home! Believe me, I had really had a scare!
Now, bicycles were never made for pale green pants to ride ‘em
Especially spooky pale green pants with nobody inside ‘em!
And the NEXT night, I was fishing for doubt-trout on Roover River
When those pants came rowing toward me! Well, I started in to shiver.
And by now I was SO frightened that, I’ll tell you, but I hate to…
I screamed and rowed away and lost my hook and line and bait, too!
I ran and found a Brickel bush. I hid myself away.
I got brickels in my britches but I stayed there anyway.
I stayed all night. The next night, too. I’d be there still, no doubt,
But I had to do an errand so, the next night, I went out.
I had to do an errand, had to pick a peck of Snide
In a dark and gloomy Snide-field that was almost nine miles wide.
I said, “I do not fear those pants with nobody inside them.”
I said, and said, and said those words. I said them. But I lied them.
Then I reached inside a Snide bush and the next thing that I knew,
I felt my hand touch someone! And I’ll bet that you know who.
And there I was! Caught in the Snide! And in that dreadful place
Those spooky, empty pants and I were standing face to face!
I yelled for help. I screamed. I shrieked. I howled. I yowled. I cried,
“Oh, save me from these pale green pants with nobody inside!”
But then a strange thing happened. Why, those pants began to cry!
Those pants began to tremble. They were just as scared as I!
I never heard such whimpering and I began to see
That I was just as strange to them as they were strange to me!
I put my arm around their waist and sat right down beside them.
I calmed them down. Poor empty pants with nobody inside them.
And, now, we meet quite often, those empty pants and I,
And we never shake or tremble. We both smile and we say “Hi!”
What Was I Scared Of? By Dr. Seuss is a light-hearted, whimsical tale. However, as with so many of Dr. Seuss’s stories, this tale teaches a serious truth. We need to face fear. Facing our fears is the first step towards survival, towards healing, towards progress. We see fear in our Gospel lesson today: “Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’” The news is too much for Peter. In the verses just preceding today’s Gospel lesson, Peter identifies Jesus as the Messiah. “(Jesus) asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah’” (Mark 8:27-29). Peter recognizes Jesus as the Messiah, and then, Jesus tells him that “the Son of Man must undergo great suffering…and be killed.” The very thought that their friend, their teacher, their Messiah will be taken from them and will endure such suffering is horrible. Peter rebukes Jesus; Peter wants it to not be so. But, Jesus rebukes Peter. Jesus tells Peter to face the news, to face his fears, to face a broader understanding of life.
We are living through a fearful time. The stock market is tumbling, people are losing their jobs, and any sort of turnaround seems a little farther off every day. We fear for our financial security. This parish community and our surrounding community have recently experienced grievous death. We fear the loss of family and friends. I wish I could tell you that everything is going to be okay, that the financial crisis is most certainly going to end in six months, or even a year, that your jobs will be safe, that you will recover your financial losses. I wish I could tell you that your loved ones will be safe and that nothing is going to happen to them. I wish I could tell you these things, but I can’t. What I can tell you is this…that integral to our faith is hope, hope in eternal life, hope in all that is good. What I can tell you is that you are surrounded by and held by a community of faith that lives in hope.
When we face our fears, we take stock of our life. A friend recently sent me a video clip from Conan O’Brien (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus). Conan is interviewing a comedian who is talking about how the recession might help us to appreciate a simpler way of life. The comedian talks about how we used to have rotary phones…that we had to stand next to…that we complained about phone numbers with 0’s because we had to dial all the way around…that we did not have answering machines to take a message when we were not at home. He talked about having to go into a bank when we needed money, and when we ran out of cash, we were done for the day. He talked about high speed internet now being available on airplanes. He was on a plane when this was first introduced and was marveling over the capability when the internet went down. The person next to him started complaining. The comedian mused about how quickly we think the world owes us something, how quickly we are complaining about something to which we were just introduced. Again, the comedian is amusing, but he does speak a truth. Perhaps there is some good in a simpler way of life. When we face our fears and take stock of our life, we understand what is most important to us, we move forward knowing what it is that we can control and what it is that we can not control, and we move forward in hope that all that we can not control will ultimately be set right. Most profoundly and most reassuringly, our faith proclaims “…that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39). Amen.
