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Do not be Afraid
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“We live in fear about so many things” We live in fear of terrorism. We’re anxious about asylum seekers and refugees. We worry about migrant workers. It seems to many people that society is crashing down around our ears. We live in fear for our children and about our futures. At a personal level many people are afraid that we’re not good enough, that we don’t measure up to the expectation that society has of us. We’re afraid to be honest with ourselves, afraid of our emotions and feelings. Sometimes we’re afraid to be human in case we make a mess of it. It’s no surprise to me that in the Scriptures the Lord has to begin each encounter with his people with the same phrase, ‘do not be afraid.’ Over and over again the Scriptures are saying to us don’t be frightened, trust in the God who gives you life. Allow God to overshadow you, overwhelm you, to catch you up in the power of love so that your fear can be calmed. “If God is present, why be afraid?” One of the great personalities of Advent is Mary. We hear each year the passage from Luke’s Gospel that we call the Annunciation. The angel Gabriel visits Mary and tells her that she is to be the mother of the Messiah. He begins to share his message and obviously Mary’s afraid. So the angel utters the age old words ‘do not be afraid.’ And she believed it, believed that there was no need to be afraid. If God is present why be afraid? Just as the angel said to Mary “don’t be afraid” so the Lord says the same to us. The season of Advent invites us to listen to what God is saying in the depths of our being. Often it’s an invitation to let go of our fear so that the presence of the Lord can be seen in the world. “Mary puts her faith completely in God” Mary hears the words “do not be afraid”. She allows the words to transform her life. She puts her faith completely in this God who wants her to trust and not allow fear to conquer. She obviously didn’t know what it would mean and couldn’t have known where it would lead. She stands as a symbol for all of us who journey in faith, a symbol of humanity that says “yes” to God and allows the overshadowing of the Spirit to free us from fear and to trust that God is with us. History is full of people who have managed to respond to the Lord’s word not to be afraid. Mother Teresa left her comfortable convent and lived with the poor on the streets of Calcutta because she was able to listen and respond to the God who conquered her fear. Martin Luther King was able to fight for the rights of those who were discriminated against because of the power of the presence of Jesus with him. Oscar Romero gave his life for the victims of oppression in El Salvador because he had been overshadowed by the Spirit of God. “Are we going to be open to the Spirit of God?” They trusted in the presence of the Spirit. They heard deep within themselves the call “don’t be afraid, the Holy Spirit will overshadow you.” It’s that same spirit that Mary experienced that can conquer our fears. Are we going be open and receptive to the overshadowing of the Spirit? Are we going to hear the word of God ‘do not be afraid?’ Are we willing to allow the word to become flesh within us and through us so that the fear that is all around us can be dissipated? Unless we do, the world is not going to hear the words that God has whispered throughout the ages ‘Do not be afraid.’
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Just
recently I went to help a Moslem woman who had been knocked off her
feet by two young people on bikes. They had hurled abuse at her and
rode away laughing as she lay on the ground. I went and knelt down next
to her. The poor woman looked terrified as though I were going to attack
her because of the faith she practiced. It struck me very forcibly just
how much of a role fear plays in our lives. The two boys were afraid
of the Moslem woman. She was afraid of them and of me. It seems to be
part of the human condition and despite how supposedly civilised we’ve
become we never seem to be able to vanquish fear. Fear is at the root
of much of the violence in society and causes us to hate, to blame and
to scapegoat.