Were you aware that there are entire Web sites dedicated to phobias? Some of the phobias on those lists are familiar: agoraphobia (fear of open spaces) and its opposite claustrophobia. Some I’d never heard of but were easy to figure out: arithmophobia (fear of numbers); olfactophobia (fear of smells). Several phobias are related to matters of faith: papaphobia (fear of the Pope) and homilophobia (fear of sermons) are among my favorites in this category. Some phobias are just downright strange: arachibutyrophobia (fear of peanut butter) and genuphobia (fear of knees) seem particularly odd.

My all-time favorite, however, is sesquipedalophobia—fear of long words. Every time the doctor diagnoses you, it throws you into a panic attack!

So many ways to be afraid. So many things that have the power to cripple and terrify and paralyze. It’s not easy to live courageously in a world fraught with fear.

Jesus could have been intimidated by life. He faced threats that would have paralyzed most of us: constant and vicious attacks from Satan; the ridicule and rejection of the crowds; the ever-present knowledge of when and how his life would end. Jesus had all manner of reasons to fear.

Instead, Jesus lived a life defined by courage. He wasn’t just a good man or a wise man or a caring man. Jesus was a brave man.

You catch glimpses of a raw, physical kind of courage on occasion in the Gospels. It takes courage to rebuke a storm, or walk through the middle of a threatening crowd, or touch a leper. Throw the worst at Jesus and he always managed to stay calm.

But there is another kind of courage we see in Jesus that is especially noteworthy. It wasn’t an incidental courage, something that just happened. It was a deliberate courage, a chosen courage. When kingdom matters were at stake, when principle was on the line, Jesus always responded courageously. You see this when Jesus “set his face” toward Jerusalem. You see it in the final debates with the Pharisees in the temple.

But there is one instance, early in Jesus’ ministry, when Jesus shows this particular kind of courage. I’m thinking about the healing of the man with a withered hand (Mark 3:1-6).

It was the Sabbath and, as usual, Jesus was at the synagogue. A man who’d heard Jesus could do miracles, a man who needed a miracle in the worst way, came there in hope.

Others were at the synagogue that day, and they were watching. What would Jesus do? It was the Sabbath when no work, even healing work, could be done. There was no “Call for Curing” on the Order of Worship for that morning. Their eyes shifted from Jesus to the cripple and back again. What would he do?

Jesus didn’t have to make an issue of this. He could have made an appointment for the next day. “I’ll heal you then.” He could have whispered, “Meet me outside in five minutes,” and restored the man’s hand in private.

But Jesus did make an issue of it. There were kingdom matters at stake: a man in need; God’s character in question; religion more concerned with creed than compassion. He stood the man in front of them all. He asked the Pharisees a pointed question: “What do faithful people do on holy days? Does the spirit of the Law ever trump the letter of it?” He was angry, distressed over their stubborn hearts.

And so Jesus did something that took courage. “Stretch out your hand!” The man did so and was healed. His enemies saw it, and decided then and there Jesus must die.

If we are not very careful, we will find a way to practice a Christianity that requires no courage. A “get along” brand of Christianity. A Christianity that involves no boldness, no daring. It is possible to so civilize faith, domesticate it, that its characteristic trait becomes politeness rather than courage, being nice rather than being brave. Armed with such a faith, we need never say “No” to the world or cause offense or take a stand.

And yet we are living in times that cry out for courageous faith, for the kind of bravery that causes us to live against our culture, to value things our culture does not cherish, to stand up for matters that matter to God. God has not called us to be pleasant. He has called us to be faithful. And there are times when faithfulness demands courage of us.

So this week, choose courage. Risk a friendship by speaking about faith. Break a rule for compassion’s sake. Have the broken and hurting and neglected stand up and then stand beside them. It’s what Jesus would do. Brave Jesus. |L

OTHER COLUMNS:
November 8, 2009 - Why I believe in God
October 25, 2009 - Commuting in days of evil
October 11, 2009 - Poets and don’t know it
September 27, 2009 - How Hollywood proves abortion is wrong
September 13, 2009 - Significance
August 30, 2009 - Dance alternatives
August 16, 2009 - Gluttons for gossip
August 2, 2009 - Truth from Twilight
July 19, 2009 - Visitor-friendly churches
July 5, 2009 - The Shack
June 21, 2009 - When forgiveness fails
June 7, 2009 - Re-imagining Education (Part Six)
May 24, 2009 - We are not alone
May 3, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part five)
April 26, 2009 - Conviction
April 12, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part four)
March 29, 2009 - An evangelistic proposal
March 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part three)
March 1, 2009 - He makes me sick
February 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (Part Two)
February 1, 2009 - Spiritual insecurity
January 18, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part one)
January 4, 2009 - Church and politics
December 21, 2008 - Heaven’s music
December 7, 2008 - The church and marriage
November 23, 2008 - God and the president
October 26, 2008 - Likes and dislikes: the Prince Caspian movie
October 12, 2008 - What’s that noise?
September 28, 2008 - Modesty matters (part two)
September 14, 2008 - All it takes is some TLC
August 31, 2008 - Modesty matters (part one)
August 17, 2008 - What would you fight for?
August 3, 2008 - Staying through the credits
July 20, 2008 - Honor to whom honor
July 6, 2008 - Tyler Perry and the movies you’re missing
June 22, 2008 - The peaceable kingdom
May 25, 2008 - Another generation grew up
May 25, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part two)
May 11, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part one)
April 27, 2008 - What is truth?
April 13, 2008 - And the geek shall inherit the earth
March 30, 2008 - A charactered God
March 16, 2008 - The college choice (part two)
March 2, 2008 - Good news can be hard to hear
February 17, 2008 - The college choice (part one)
February 5, 2008 - Ten suggestions for a godly standard of living
January 20, 2008 - Expelled: that “Bueller” guy’s pro-God movie
January 6, 2008 - Choosing a lifestyle
December 23, 2007 - Teachable TV?
December 9, 2007 - Owners or stewards?
November 25, 2007 - Christians teaching Christians to change TV and film
November 11, 2007 - My money is God’s business
October 28, 2007 - Navigating under the radar
October 14, 2007 - The things God values
September 30, 2007 - Movie moments
September 16, 2007 - God’s economics
September 2, 2007 - The best books to read
August 19, 2007 - There’s a rat in ‘separate’
August 5, 2007 - The art of reading
July 22, 2007 - Atheist chic
July 8, 2007 - Why books matter: the sequel
June 10, 2007 - Books: why they matter
June 3, 2007 - The non-impact of “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”
May 27, 2007 - The universal gospel
May 13, 2007 - Loving Muslims through culture
April 29, 2007 - Hope
April 15, 2007 - God in the dark
April 1, 2007 - The gospel goes to the movies
March 18, 2007 - What the Bible movies can teach us
March 4, 2007 - What will you hurt for?
February 18, 2007 - Why Heroes . . .
February 4, 2007 - Give peace a chance
January 21, 2007 - When fairy tales are true
January 7, 2007 - WYSIWYG lives
December 31, 2006 - What’s coming next?
December 17, 2006 - Mercy, mercy
December 3, 2006 - Proof of evolution!
November 19, 2006 - Hungering for God
November 5, 2006 - Violence and government, war and peace
October 22, 2006 - The mighty meek
October 8, 2006 - The Battlestar and the Bible
September 24, 2006 - Soap for the soul
September 10, 2006 - Right vs. cool
August 27, 2006 - The painful truth
August 13, 2006 - More Lies Hollywood Tells
July 30, 2006 - Christian counter culture
July 16, 2006 - The lies Hollywood tells