In the fall of 2022 I hit a deer with my motorcycle. I was leading a group of about 10 people and as I checked my mirror to see how everyone was doing, a fur missal crossed the road directly in front of me. I had no time to react. I clipped the deer in the hind end which sent me tumbling across the pavement in one direction and the bike toppling over in the other. OK…to answer the question that everyone I know is having right at this moment…the deer was fine. Ran off into the woods seemingly unscathed. As for me? Some bumps and bruises but nothing serious. Except about an hour or so later when nature called and the expectant golden yellow liquid had a more pinkish to red tinge. Now my response was to say, “guess I will have a little more water and see how things “go” a little later. One of the guys in the group was aghast. He was like, “if that was me I would be having a helicopter in here right now to haul me to a hospital”. But everything was fine. Scrapes healed and bodily fluids returned to the hue that God intended.
Now since that event I have had maybe a half a dozen more close calls with wildlife. 3 more deer getting within a few feet of my front tire. A sheep trying to sacrifice itself for my benefit by emerging suddenly from behind a barn. Turkeys, vultures and a goat have all strayed into my path on the edge of becoming that night’s dinner. I believe most people, if they had this record of near misses (though I would contend that these are actually near HITS) and one actual strike, would have given up the two-wheeled sport forever. But, for some reason, fear has not entered into the equation. Elise and I just returned from a trip on the motorcycle to Rhode Island and a Bambi-impersonator passed fairly close to us. She was shaking and had to think twice about continuing on with my at the throttle…especially considering my history. But I just continued on figuring when my time is up, it will be up.
I have read that as we age our levels of adrenaline go down sharply. As a result the sweating, heart racing reaction to typical fear inducing circumstances fail to occur. And without that physiological feedback, we are less likely to experience classic fear. For me, aging has produced a more primal fear of being too far from a public restroom at inopportune moments…but let’s leave the details of that one for another day. The point is, fear changes. Maybe more like, the things that induce fear in us changes. But I would contend that it may not just be aging that alters our response to situations that may have caused trembling in our younger days.
In today’s Gospel, we read the familiar story of the beheading of John the Baptist. Herod the Tetrarch had John arrested and then beheaded when he made an ill-advised promise to the daughter of Herodias, who had just performed a seductive dance during one of Herod’s banquets. He promised he would grant any wish she had and Mom requested an extra course to the meal…John’s head on a platter. During this time, Jesus’ exploits were becoming more widely known and they reached the attention of Herod. He became deathly afraid that Jesus was actually John returning from the dead. And, of course, having his mind set on extracting revenge on Herod. His fear encompassed a concern for his own safety as well as a fear of losing his “kingdom”. I can only guess that these all-pervasive concerns clouded his judgement and haunted his rule.
Contrast that with Jeremiah from today’s first reading. The result of his prophesizing about the Lord’s bringing destruction on Judah for all their sins and lack of repentance was that the priests and prophets conspired on his death. Jeremiah knew this but it did not stop him from continuing to speak the truth. Even when a contemporary of Jeremiah, Uriah, was killed for preaching the very same predictions as did Jeremiah.
Franklin D. Roosevelt said the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. But Matthew said it best as he relayed Jesus’ words on fear:
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)
Hitting wildlife and sprawling head first across a country road is obviously no fun. Though I will say that coming up with a proper story to convey the incident in the most favorable light to a loving spouse did inspire imagination and creativity. But, as Matthew states, it is a loss of our soul that should make us quake in our boots. It is losing touch with the Creator and the one who died for our sins that threatens not just the temporary state we have here. But the eternity we have waiting for us. I think fear takes more of a back seat when we are more secure in our relationship with Jesus. Now, of course, that does not mean that I will be looking for herds of antlered hooligans to aimlessly wander through. But it does mean that I will not shy away from preaching the truth of the Gospel to anyone who wants to hear it. Now how do you recite John 3:16 in Deer language?
