Do not be afraid

28th Week in Ordinary Time - Friday (19 October 2018)

Ephesians 1:11-14

Luke 12:1-7

“Every hair on your head has been counted. There is no need to be afraid: you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.”

It was common in our families that parents and elders frighten the children in many ways, sometimes even unnecessarily. Darkness, strangers, fire, water, devil, evil spirits, and the world itself were all to be feared. Our culture teaches us that everything out there is hostile. Even God was to be feared. God in our minds was always angry or vengeful or hateful if we did the wrong things. He was good only to those who were good and worthy. He was always a punishing cop or judge; a book-keeper of our wrongdoings. God was seen to be fearful. People have always been afraid of God, and as a result they have been afraid of themselves. God was not usually "nice," and we were not too sure about ourselves either. For most of human history God was not a likeable or a lovable character. As we read in the Bible, when God appeared on the scene, it was not felt to be good news by most people; it was bad news.

We can say that some amount of initial fear is necessary, it is part of a path towards change. It is a recognition of the terrible risks involved in meeting the Other, in which we accept that in encountering the stranger we are willing to be unhinged, shaken up, scared, and—most importantly—changed. When the angel appeared to Mary, it was absolutely essential that she was afraid. Yet through her fear, she pronounced her “Yes!” to the angel, and Christ became humanly incarnate in that moment. This meeting, with one so very different from us, can at times be terrifying. In fact it must be terrifying, for to be afraid is to take seriously the fact that so much in our lives is at stake in the meeting. Yet when we say Yes! to the Other, then Christ becomes incarnate in that moment.

That's why every revelation in the Bible (an event where God breaks through into history) begins with the same words, "Do not be afraid!" It is the most common one-liner in the Bible; it appears 365 times in the Bible (isn't the number itself significant?). Whenever an angel or God breaks into human life, the first words are invariably, "Do not be afraid!"

Today's gospel reading is one of those instances where Jesus says, "Do not be afraid!" Jesus says we don't have to be anxious of anything, everything is taken care of by God, who is our Parent. We live in a benevolent universe, and it is on our side as God is on our side. He is not against, He is only and completely for us. The universe is God's. The universe is radical grace. "Be not afraid."

We need to move from a "fear" worldview to a "love" worldview. We need to move from being afraid of God and His world, to loving God and His world. Everything is perfectly arranged for us. This moment is as perfect as it can be. Let us know that things are okay as they are. Let us stop pushing ourselves and others around. God cares for us, and for everything. Perhaps knowing this is the secret to happiness.