"The right thing to do never
requires any subterfuge; it is always simple and direct." - Calvin
Coolidge: (1872 –1933: was the 30th President of the United States (1923–29). A
Republican lawyer from Vermont)
Gospel
Text: (LK 12:1-7)
At that time:
So many people were crowding together
that they were trampling one another
underfoot.
Jesus began to speak, first to his
disciples,
“Beware of the leaven–that is, the
hypocrisy–of the Pharisees.
“There is nothing concealed that will
not be revealed,
nor secret that will not be known.
Therefore whatever you have said in
the darkness
will be heard in the light,
and what you have whispered behind
closed doors
will be proclaimed on the housetops.
I tell you, my friends,
do not be afraid of those who kill the
body
but after that can do no more.
I shall show you whom to fear.
Be afraid of the one who after killing
has the power to cast into Gehenna;
yes, I tell you, be afraid of that
one.
Are not five sparrows sold for two
small coins?
Yet not one of them has escaped the
notice of God.
Even the hairs of your head have all
been counted.
Do not be afraid.
You are worth more than many
sparrows.”
In the secular culture that surrounds
modern Western man, the only image of Jesus that is acceptable is that of a
spiritual teddy bear. The idea that Jesus makes demands or sets boundaries is
incompatible with modern secularism.
What to make of today’s Gospel
passage, then? Jesus declares: “I shall show you whom to fear. Be afraid of the
one who after killing has the power to cast into Gehenna; yes, I tell you, be
afraid of that one.”
Still, just three sentences later
Jesus demands: “Do not be afraid.” There seems to be a contradiction. Jesus
tells us to be afraid, and then not to be afraid.
Jesus insists that we have a
fully-rounded, rather than two-dimensional, view of God. “Holy Fear”, or
rather, “Fear of the Lord” can give direction to our days on this earth and to
each day’s choices. But guided by love, we can trust God who guides us to
Himself.
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