Luke 12:22: Therefore I tell you, don’t worry about your life…vs 32 and Don’t be afraid little flock.

A seminary student at one of our seminaries was relaying the story of how, one evening he was sitting at his computer, deep in thought and working on a term paper, when his 2 year old son, Jack, climbed in his lap and demanded that he tell him a bunny story. WHAT’S THAT? He said. “Daddy, I want to hear a bunny story”. A BUNNY STORY? “Yeah, with a truck in it.” A BUNNY STORY WITH A TRUCK IN IT…  So Matt spun a tale of how this ornery bunny gets into all kinds of mischief as he tears around town in his 4 wheel drive truck. And then, because every good story needs a bad guy who has to be contended with, he begins to describe this bad, old wolf, who was out to get the bunny. But as soon as he introduced and described the wolf, his little two year old reached up and put his hand over his dad’s mouth and said, “NO. NO WOLF, DADDY.”  His dad explained that he needn’t worry. The wolf wasn’t going to win. He assured little Jack that the story would have a happy ending. Not good enough. The boy gave dad his sternest look and said, “NO WOLF.”

So Matt spun a tale of how this ornery bunny gets into all kinds of mischief as he tears around town in his 4 wheel drive truck. And then, because every good story needs a bad guy who has to be contended with, he begins to describe this bad, old wolf, who was out to get the bunny. But as soon as he introduced and described the wolf, his little two year old reached up and put his hand over his dad’s mouth and said, “NO. NO WOLF, DADDY.”  His dad explained that he needn’t worry. The wolf wasn’t going to win. He assured little Jack that the story would have a happy ending. Not good enough. The boy gave dad his sternest look and said, “NO WOLF.”

It occurred to this seminary student, immersed as he was in studying theology and learning how to differentiate between the Law and Gospel that, already at the ripe old age of 2, this little one has an understanding of evil. Otherwise, he would not have feared the bad wolf. Even at 2 years old, we have sense of the evil in the world, and the evil even within ourselves. Little Jack logically wants to edit the story – that’s his right after all – and make the evil disappear. That would be a nice power to have, wouldn’t it? Be able to make the evil in the stories that are our lives disappear. A world you can control. A world with no big bad wolf.

The fact is, though, our Christian faith admits to the very real existence of evil. And there isn’t any place on earth that evil and suffering and heartache cannot access. A lot of us were coasting along through life prior to September 11, 2001, believing that evil may be in the world, but that we were insulated from its power. Afterward, we all worked out a new comfort zone in our lives that we felt prepared us for what might come next. But the recent frequency of violent acts and mass shootings certainly tests our ability to function without the fear and worry Jesus talks about in the Gospel lesson.

It’s interesting what we equate with evil. For instance, none of us thinks automobiles are evil. But last year automobiles killed 35,000 people in our country alone! That’s 100 people every day! Hundreds of thousands more live with lifelong chronic pain because of automobile accidents. Many of us don’t care for guns and believe they should be better controlled. But few of us believe guns are evil. Yet guns killed another 30,000 people last year, including over 6000 children! That’s nearly 20 children a day. Not only are guns and cars not our picture of evil, they are a necessity apparently, and so this is an acceptable loss of life for having the convenience of cars or the self-confidence supplied by owning weapons.

No, the mass shootings carried out by a very few demented individuals is our picture of evil simply because of the randomness of these events. For instance, we know cars and guns can be dangerous, but we rationalize that if we drive defensively and stay out of dangerous neighborhoods late at night or practice gun safety, that we needn’t be fearful. How can we defend ourselves against random acts of murderous violence, though? We can’t and so fear overtakes us.

Yet, deep down we know that no matter how many precautions we take, that even death itself is somewhat random. After all, not everyone lives a long life. In fact, the only thing not random about death is that it will happen to everyone of us. No one escapes!  I was 7 years old when I learned that we all will die one day. My grandfather growled, “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!” I wasn’t even talking to him. I was just trying to blow out my candles.

No, we will not escape the anguish of loved ones dying and leaving us here to fend for ourselves.  That’s plenty to worry about right there. It’s a frightening thought so we usually try not to think about it. Is that what Jesus had in mind when He encourages us in this sermon which serves as our Gospel lesson, “Don’t be afraid my little flock of sheep”? Is our Lord’s advice, “just don’t think about it and then you won’t be afraid?”

We can try to rewrite the story and fold arms and defiantly scream NO WOLF NO WOLF. But then, when we least expect it, suddenly there it is in the room with us is. From a terrifying medical diagnosis to an unexpected car accident – suddenly, there it is and there’s no place to hide.

Back in November of 1963, a 17 year old girl named Laura Welch borrowed the family car to attend a party with some friends. A few hours later, the Welches got the phone call every parent dreads. The hospital called to tell them Laura had been in an accident.  She didn’t see a stop sign and plowed into another car at an intersection. Laura escaped with only bruises. But the driver of the other car was a boy from her school, a track star who was also a good friend of Laura’s. He was killed on impact.

Laura would later say that this tragedy shaped her perspective on life at a young age. She later became the wife of our 41^st president, George W. Bush and she still reminds her first family repeatedly – there but by the grace of God go I.

This can be a very cruel world. And no one is exempt. Wealth cannot exempt us. Good works cannot protect us. Saints and sinners alike eventually have to acknowledge that a wolf is loose in our world – a wolf that brings heartache and suffering in a pretty indiscriminate fashion.

Why does God allow suffering? Entire books have been written trying to answer that question.  When bad things happen to us, it is our human nature to ask ourselves, “What did I do to deserve this?” I do it, too. I do it every time! We are willing to accept that God is not the cause of these tragic events in our lives. But we rationalize that God allowing them to come into our lives is the same as God intentionally sending them our way. That’s a pretty ridiculous supposition, though. According to that line of reasoning, a parent who allows his teenager to obtain a driver’s license and drive a car is responsible for her death in case of a fatal car accident.

We know from His Word what God wants to do more than anything else. He wants to hold us close. He wants to enable us to survive what the world can throw our way. And most of all, He wants to take us heaven to live with Him there. So, are we destined to be a fearful people until we get there? Are we destined to live our lives as if there is a wolf behind every door? You know, God seems to think that our first thought when we get to heaven will very likely be, WHAT WAS I SO SCARED OF ALL THAT TIME?

When Jesus tells us in this Scripture reading for today, “Don’t worry about the future. In fact, don’t even worry about tomorrow” – this isn’t just some “Don’t sweat the small stuff” philosophy. This is coming from the very One who intended to lay down His life for us willingly. This is your Savior who doesn’t want you to face each day fearful and burdened with worry. Much of life is indeed random. But God has a plan. Pretty simple plan, really. He wants to save us, and he wants us to KNOW we are saved! Will that knowledge silence all your fears and take away all your worries? No,of course not. Not yet! AMEN