Readings: Deuteronomy 28:9-14, and Luke 17:7-10
‘Then all peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you.’
When we think of fear, we most likely think of being frightened or afraid – the divine command ‘do not fear or be afraid’ is the most common command in the bible, and we would automatically think perhaps of an emotion, perhaps an experience of something that we do not like – we might think of the presence of a thing like a spider or a snake as the cause of a fear. But counterintuitively fear is actually caused within us, it is not the thing outside of us that is terrifying in itself and the cause of fear, but it is generated within, a response conditioned socially by experience – a habit or a predictive way of thinking about the world that is automatic and often not thought through. But deeper still, fear is actually the opposite of love, where love is presence and light, fear is absence or emptiness – it is fear that leads to hate, to retaliation and revenge – Nelson Mandela famously said: “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
So, we must ask, why are we told to fear the Lord, or for God’s Holy people to be feared? If God is love and ‘perfect love drives out all fear’, (1 John 4:18) – what does it mean to fear God?
As finite beings it is not possible for us to be in every place or at all times, therefore we are surrounded by gaps, it is not possible from a finite set of observations to determine an absolute knowledge – as yet we cannot fully comprehend the ocean depths or the edges of our universe, the extent of our consciousness is often limited by location or experience – as Elon Musk says: “It is time to go forth, be out there among the stars, expand the scope and scale of human consciousness.”
Human consciousness stands always at the edge of time, at the edge of now and wonders about these mysteries – therefore imagination is not unnatural and drives us into shaping our shared futures. So, this fear of the Lord is an unknowing – an unknowing that requires a letting go of any judgement, of others or of our standing in the world. A letting go even of our perception of time – to be still – to be empty of our own words is to listen to God, to receive from Him by turning towards and listening without words – in silence, in a wordless awe and wonder.
Therefore, to have a Holy fear is that silent reverence, is an awe and wonder of what we do not always know or understand. God’s Holy people are witnesses to the wonder of God, do our lives make people wonder about God’s goodness – do the fruits of the Spirit within us and made manifest tell people that God is alive and in our hearts?
God makes Himself known through His Word, through the person of Jesus Christ, yet He also remains a mystery of our unknowing. Though I wonder, how often do we build walls between us with knowledge? How often do the walls or laws act as barriers between us and those in need?
In the parable of a master and his servant, Jesus makes the point that the law tells us what we ought to do, and if we do that, we have only done our duty. That duty is likened to work – the work that is outside in the world and the interior work in our hearts. Jesus points out that this is work done in preparation – it is before the harvest before the planting and growth – it is the work done before His sacrifice on the cross.
The abundant prosperity of the Lord is likened to the fruitfulness of fertile ground and the fruit of the womb – this was the inheritance of life that passed on from generation to generation.
Life is in itself sacred and with love the greatest good. If we accept that nothing within creation is intrinsically evil, that the movement of order and disorder, the bees and the flies, work together as particulars within an intuited whole – then even what has the appearance of chaos still has pattern and a purpose within the whole that is not yet seen.
The servant ploughs the field and tends to the sheep and then serves at the masters table – yet Jesus said when he washed the disciples’ feet – He came not as a King to be served, but to serve.
We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19.
For in every gift there is one who gives and one who receives. Freely we have received; now freely we are to give. (Matthew 10:8). If we have been freed from the law, we have been freed from the duty of the law, which means God has restored the privilege of life by His grace.
Saint Paul writes ‘Give to everyone what you owe,’ but ‘let no debt remain outstanding, except that we love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.’ (Romans 13:7-8).
Before the new covenant was established there was a veil between man and God (2 Corinthians 3:15-6). Now, Jesus says ‘I no longer call you servants, … Instead, I have called you friends, …. (John 15:15).
If we now live by the Spirit, we surrender our sovereignty to a heavenly judge (1 Corinthians 15:27), so that in our weakness He is made strong.
In modern times, as distance increases between what was then and what is now somethings are lost – only to be rediscovered, as God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, what was a moment past remains forever true in His memory if not ours – though the past still has a physical presence not just in the fossils and scars upon the dust and the earth, but in our Churches too.
For us, as Christians we are called to remembrance in worship, just as we are now. Jesus paid the price of our fallenness, and in the eucharist, which means thanksgiving, we recall this gift of grace given to us. ‘You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none’, for it is ‘the Lord Who Provides’. (Genesis 22:14). Now, we are invited to sit and eat at the table where ‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus’ (Galatians 3:28). The table is the altar, and the Church is the nation without borders where Jesus calls, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.’ (Matthew 11:28-30).
We have been adopted into a new family, as children and as friends. Every movement we make together in worship affords each of us a fundamental equality – we stand together, we sit together, we eat and drink together – as we sing, we also breathe together.
The love we have been given is now what we ought to do, that is we owe it forward to others, for love is perfect and good. We may not have chosen our circumstances, but life is a gift, love is a gift so beautiful and yet so fragile. In taking from God, it is borrowed for a time and like the talents it is not to be buried, or squandered in wild living like the Prodigal Son.
We cannot however assign a measure of dignity according to the worldly measures of appearances or acts alone for then we might suppose that a person who acts a certain way or has less means less dignity, and Jesus said whatever ‘you do for the least, you do for me’ (Matthew 25:40), therefore the dignity of Christ is in persons not related to their circumstance. As we cannot see the end of another, we cannot judge the limits to the dignity of a person, all judgment lay solely with God, therefore it is helpful for us to recognise the other as a soul, rather than an object.
When we begin to see souls and love them – we ought to contemplate how this might change us. Might this bring us closer together? Speaking face to face – or breath to breath – is a form of intimacy that is the brave honesty of I love you too when we speak from the heart, and true beauty lies in the thoughtfulness of our hearts. Therefore, intimacy is vulnerable in the fragility of that potential and finite being, in the stillness of that unknowing – of uncertainty – of all our hopes and dreams, joys and laughter held in the finitude of life and death.
Sounds dramatic, but how often do we dismiss the impact we have upon others – all those around us – how often do we see the other and not ourselves? Love is deep in our conscience, the small still voice that speaks of beauty – He wants us to see who we are, sacred and precious – God speaks over and over again of love, like an echo, so that we may listen again, and again – to inwardly digest and learn that we are freely loved – and now with creativity and wonder we pass on this prosperity in the soul as an inheritance to the future we hold within our hearts.
Amen.