In the old movie The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy meets three characters: the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion, each looking for something missing in his life. For the Tin Man, it was a heart. For the Scarecrow, it was a brain. And for the Lion, it was courage. So, they joined Dorothy on the journey to the Wizard of Oz to see if he could provide these things to them.

How many of us are searching for these things as well? As for the heart, maybe it is to be more lovable or to love more. For the brain, maybe you want more knowledge to understand the world that we live in. And for courage, maybe it is for you to be stronger in your convictions and not be so afraid.

Fear is a strong emotion. We don’t like not knowing what will happen next or where we are going. We can be in a room that is very familiar to us, and with the light on, we see everything and are comfortable.  But turn off the light, and we can be scared that if we move, we might trip over something or run into a wall. 

Our world today seems to be focused on fear, making everyone afraid of each other and emphasizing all the bad in the world. If you say something that is counter to the culture, you get shouted down and marginalized. We become afraid of people, afraid to speak, judgmental, and divided.

That’s the goal of the Evil One: to play on your fears so that you are so focused on them and yourself that you don’t have time for good in the world and the people around you. And you don’t have time for God.

Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” But in the Gospel, Jesus says, “Fear no one.” So, which is it? Well, there is good fear.

Fear of the Lord is actually one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, along with wisdom and fortitude (courage). But it’s not the type of fear where you are afraid of God punishing you if you do something wrong.  

Fear of the Lord comes from love. You love God so much, knowing that all you have and are comes from Him, that you are afraid to disappoint Him. You want to do what is right. So, the wisdom we gain from this fear shows us how to live the way God calls us to. And from this wisdom, we get courage.

And what God asks us to do is to spread the Good News that salvation is available to us when we turn away from sin and follow His commands. That is the focus of our readings today: to not be afraid to proclaim this message to those we meet.

That’s what the prophet Jeremiah was doing. But he was afraid of those around him. He feared for his safety because the people did not like his message. It hit too close to home and challenged them. But Jeremiah’s fear of people and the physical harm they could do to him was not stronger than his trust in the Lord. His trust gave him the courage, or fortitude, to continue to proclaim God’s message.

Like Jeremiah, we must balance our fear with hope and trust in God. It’s all about our response to fear. Do we allow it to control us, or do we acknowledge it and keep it where it belongs, trusting in God’s plan?

When the emotion of fear comes over us, it can make us doubt many things. Like our faith in God, or the talents He has given us, or decisions we make. We can become like the cowardly lion that was even spooked by his own tail. Again, that is what the evil one wants. 

But take comfort in Jesus and His words in the Gospel. All will be revealed. The Father knows every hair on your head. Everything is precious to Him, even the smallest birds. So, if He takes care of those little birds, how much more will He take care of you, someone made in His image and loved so much that He sent Jesus to rescue you?

It is easy to be courageous when life is easy. It’s when things are not so good that fear can creep in. So, how can we overcome it when it shows up? The first thing is to continue to improve your relationship with Jesus. The better that relationship is, the easier it is to share with others the impact Jesus has on us.

And we don’t have to be standing in the middle of town with a loudspeaker, proclaiming the Gospel. Most of the time, it’s going to be a one-on-one conversation. Jesus wants us to be courageous enough to talk about Him. You won’t know how the Holy Spirit will use that conversation to move the person closer to Him.

Many times in the Gospels, Jesus gives us a reward for following Him and a warning when we don’t. When we are fearless and acknowledge Jesus to others, Jesus will acknowledge us to the Father. There is no better reward than that.

But His warning is also powerful. When we let fear overtake us, keeping us from proclaiming the Good News, we are not acknowledged to the Father.

So, we don’t need to look for some man behind a curtain with a lot of smoke and gadgets. We only need to look to Jesus and follow the path He has for us.

Look to the cross and see the courage Jesus models for us. With faith, love, and trust in Jesus, we can overcome fear, glorifying God in our words and actions.

Be happy for the people who accept it, and courageous against those who don’t. Pray for them. That’s what God wants. That’s why we are here, in this place and this time. That’s why we were created. Don’t be afraid, you have the Father that loves you, Jesus to guide you, and the Holy Spirit to support you.

Be happy for the people who accept it, and be courageous with those who don’t. Pray for them. That’s what God wants. That’s why we are here, in this place and this time. That’s why we were created. Don’t be afraid; you have the Father who loves you, Jesus to guide you, and the Holy Spirit to support you.