How can God’s great love teach us to live without fear?
It’s not by chance that one of the most commonly repeated phrases in the Bible is, Do not be afraid. The prophet Jeremiah knows better than to fear as he prophesies the coming enslavement of the people of Israel in Babylon. Even his friends denounce him, refusing to believe that the terror on every side – the siege of Jerusalem – of which Jeremiah speaks is imminent. But Jeremiah entrusts his cause to the Lord, confident, as Psalm 69 states, that the Lord, in his great love, will answer the prophet’s prayer. The psalmist himself is persecuted because zeal for the Lord’s house consumes him, yet he knows that fidelity to God is the only possible path for one who is committed to a relationship of great love with the Lord.
In Matthew’s Gospel, having warned the disciples that they too will need to maintain their courage under persecution, Jesus tells the Twelve to fear no one. The kingdom of God cannot be taken from them, and so all that Jesus says to them in the darkness, they are to speak in the light, without fear. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, Jesus says. It is not fear but love that must be the deciding factor in their life decisions. That love is what Paul, writing to the Romans, calls the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ, a gift of grace that overflows for the many.
Our struggle in life is often to turn away from fear and to turn toward the love God has for us, that we might live for God. Jesus makes this possible for us, because his love overflows for the many, and the love of God is the promise of eternal life. Perfect love knows no boundaries, neither of time nor of space. If we truly embrace that love, we can indeed fear no one as we face the trials of the world and even those of our own sinfulness. For, in the eyes of God, we are worth more than many sparrows, and to whom we can always entrust our cause.
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
No comments:
Post a Comment