Get Up and Do Not Be Afraid

One would not guess that fear is a common emotion in the Bible. It certainly doesn’t show up in many forms of contemporary Christianity, at least not in the West. We are too busy trying to figure out what will bring people through our doors to consider anything as negative as fear. It doesn’t fit into the Jesus’n’me theology that’s so well suited to our individualistic culture. Like death, fear is something we’d rather not think about.

It’s not like fear is absent in our lives. Some people have reasonable fears, for their health or economic well-being. Some live in circumstances where they are physically afraid. And then there are the vague fears, such as the future of the economy or the direction of the country. Those are the fears that get whipped up in elections, because political campaigners know that people will vote their fears, even if they are based on misleading information.

Fear in the Bible is different. It mostly seems to be fear of God, a concept that doesn’t sit well with us. Yet there it is – every time someone encounters the living God, they are terrified. Moses at the burning bush, the Israelites at the mountain, Isaiah in the temple, Mary and the angel Gabriel, Peter at the voice from heaven, the disciples at the appearance of the resurrected Christ. One gets the impression that they were ready to leap out of their skin. If they aren’t completely shocked into a trembling silence, they ask God to find someone else.

But God never does! Instead, there is a word of comfort before God describes what’s going to happen next. Take Peter, for instance. Having just given the right answer about who Jesus is (the Messiah, the Son of the living God), and finding himself among an elite group that Jesus took up a high mountain, Peter must have been feeling pretty good about himself. So good, in fact, that when Jesus lit up and Moses and Elijah showed up, Peter offered to provide them all a place to stay so the show could go on.

Suddenly God showed up with a speaking part. “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” That wasn’t in Peter’s script, and he fell to the ground, terrified. When Jesus touched him, he probably jumped. But Jesus did not berate him; instead, he said, “Get up and do not be afraid.” It’s a foretaste of what Jesus will say after the resurrection to the disciples who abandoned him: “Peace be with you.”

Get up and do not be afraid. How often do we need to hear that? How often has fear paralyzed us, thrown us down, caused us to make poor choices? And who except God offers words of comfort after first making us afraid? And who except God invites us to become the persons God knows us to be: Moses, lead my people. Isaiah, preach my words. Mary, bear my Son. Peter, feed my sheep.

Get up and do not be afraid. That’s the invitation God gives, day by day, week by week. I will give you the strength to go on, God says. I will be present with you. I will lead you up the mountain and down again, but I will not leave you. So get up and do not be afraid.

[Last Epiphany: Exodus 24:12-18; Psalm 2; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9.]