Something that stands out to me in the account of the Savior's birth is that on four separate
occasions an angel appears with the message "fear not." When the angel Gabriel appeared
to Zacharias with news that his wife would bear a son, the Forerunner of the Messiah, he said,
"Fear not, for thy prayer is heard." Later, the same angel visited beautiful and fair Mary to tell
her that she would be the mother of the Son of God, assuring her with similar words: "Fear not,
Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. Shortly thereafter an angel appeared to Joseph,
the carpenter, in a dream and said, "Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife. And then on that
Holy Night as all eternity watched in reverent silence, the angel came upon humble Shepherds
keeping watch over their flock. The shepherds who were sore afraid heard the angel proclaim,
"fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. So much
of what happened during those pivotal moments in the Nativity narrative depended upon the courage
of people like Zacharias, Mary, Joseph, and the Shepherds. God had a monumental task for each of
them. Their lives were about to change forever. Imagine if they had let fear overcome them. What
if they had pulled back, doubted, and failed to do what God needed them to do? I don't know what
your fears are. You may have fears about your family like Zacharias who feared that he would
never have children. Or maybe your fear isn't that you won't have children, but that you will have
children whom you have to raise in a toxic world, increasingly hostile to families. Like Mary,
you may have an assignment or responsibility that seems far beyond your abilities.
Like Joseph you may fear getting married or that you will never get married. Like the Shepherds
you may be sore afraid when your peaceful, simple life is disrupted. Because God has plans for you
that are bigger than what you had for yourself, life presents endless opportunities to fear.
The Lord's message to you today is the same message he sent through his angels so long ago:
fear not. He can say that because He knows more than we do. He sees what we cannot see, He knows
what's coming and in the Eternal scheme of things it's not as bad as we may think. He knows that we
can handle it with His help because he knows how to strengthen and succor us. Satan wants us to
give in to fear. God wants us to hold on to hope. I testify that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and
because "unto us was born that day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ, the Lord,"
we have no need to fear for he has indeed brought with him "peace on Earth at good will toward men."