Living Without Fear

𝐎𝐂𝐓. 𝟏𝟕, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐒𝐓. 𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐔𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐂𝐇, 𝐁𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲𝐫

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝐑𝐨𝐦 𝟒:𝟏-𝟖

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟑𝟐:𝟏-𝟐, 𝟓, 𝟏𝟏 “𝐈 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.” 

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐊 𝟏𝟐: 𝟏-𝟕

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “… 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒔” (𝒗.7)

         Worry, anxiety, depression, aggression, boredom, pride, arrogance, humility and oftentimes fear, these are some of the attributes that define man’s character and at times these have been referred to in our Christian faith as sinful tendencies that separate us from the source of Grace who is God.

         Sometimes you may ask how these characteristics were acquired by man if we are to look at man in the context of Genesis 1 wherein we know of God being pleased at what he had created. This is where our Christian formation on original sin will come in but man will always be by nature a unit that consists of body, soul and spirit.

         Among these attributes, Jesus in today’s Gospel reading talked of fear in reference to the misguided instructions on worship that were being passed on by the Pharisees which instead of bringing the people closer to God have created a burden that men have literally lost their lifeline to God.

         As Jesus gained prominence as a preacher and we can see this right at the beginning in 𝐋𝐤 𝟏𝟐:𝟏 when the Evangelist wrote that a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another as Jesus began to speak first to his disciples.

         This opening verse is significant in that notwithstanding the multitude that came to listen to him, Jesus addressed his disciples first and what he said must have publicly embarrassed the Pharisees. Jesus looks at his disciples as his friends and as such they are privileged to first hear what he had to say.

         And Jesus began with a warning, (𝒗.1) “𝑩𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒚𝒑𝒐𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒚.” In 𝐋𝐤 𝟏𝟏:𝟑𝟗, Jesus used the words greed and wickedness in criticizing the Pharisees and in this narrative the mere mention of the yeast in reference to the hypocrisy of the Pharisees must have caused a lot of undercurrents among the religious leaders at the time.

         This was because the Jews consider the leaven as a symbol of evil. The leaven is a piece of dough from left-over bread which if left exposed to the elements gets rotten and if not disposed properly will infect other food that it gets in contact with. For Jesus to use leaven as an example only shows how Jesus regards the Pharisees.

         The mere fact that he accused the Pharisees of hypocrisy shows that Jesus regard the Pharisees as nothing but mere actors who makes a good appearance and outward display of their religiosity but keeping from the public eye what they don’t want the people to see.

         But hypocrisy as what Jesus was referring to was not exclusive to the Pharisees in the time of Jesus because even today there exists the same kind of leaven that Jesus warned his disciples against and this is one of the reasons why churches, religious organizations and or communities divide and scatter.

         Indeed like leaven, hypocrites normally lie hidden and cannot easily be identified especially in a democratic setting. Their agenda and influence are known only to them. But as time passes, they begin to infect and corrupt the whole environment political, social or otherwise. And this also happens in a religious setting especially if programs and agenda replace the more important objective of evangelism which is to lead others to Christ.

         Jesus assures us, however, that (𝒗.2) “𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒅” and that he will provide us with his Grace to empower us to deal with any form of leaven that we will come in contact with. But Our Lord also requires that when his Grace has been revealed to us, we have a duty to proclaim his message of salvation to others. This means that we have to get involved in evangelizing the world around us. It is not enough that we dip into our pockets and give to the poor without telling the poor he has an opportunity to rise up from his poverty.

         As Jesus likened the distorted teachings of the Pharisees to a leaven that brings spiritual death to the people, he now tells his disciples and the people (𝒗.4) “𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅” and that fear of losing one’s life can be overcome by a holy fear of God.

         Many times in our lives we allow fear to dominate our senses and emotions. There are many things that we are fearful about. We fear losing our possessions. We fear about our image and what others say about us. We also fear being exposed for the times we may have lied about certain things. 

         To please man, we resort to play-acting out of fear of what other people think, and we desperately try to look good before the world. But if we care about what God thinks of us, we will try to avoid getting caught in the trap of pretending to live up to the expectations of the people around us.

         The sad part is that there is no secret that will not be revealed. We cannot live a double life, and God sees and knows all things and everything we say and do will ultimately be judged by Him in accordance to His righteousness. The true and authentic fear is the fear of God. So, if anyone among us is living a double life, it will ultimately be revealed at some point in time.

         Oftentimes we disguise ourselves because we fear what people will say. What we must not forget is we must fear God above anyone or anything else because unlike man God alone has the power to cast judgment on man whom He had created. We may fear man but man can only destroy our body. If there is anyone we should fear, it is God who can destroy our body and our soul and say our soul into Gehenna.

         But God who is good, kind and forgiving will always leave the door open through which we can come in and be one with Him regardless of the sins we may have committed for as long as we repent of our sins. What God really want is for us to simply trust in His love for us and in His goodness, He pours out graces for each one of us that we may also find our way to love Him and serve Him.

         Fear is a powerful force that could lead us to doing things irrationally. But fear of God puts us to an advantage as it brings us into a position that prepares us to receive the Grace of God because fear of God leads to spiritual maturity.

         Fear of God will provide us the kind of wisdom that helps us discern the spiritual deception we may be faced with and it also breaks the chains of sinful pride that we may have acquired from the world.

         The fact that he began by saying “𝑰 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔” gave away what was inside the heart of Jesus and I consider this to be the most significant part of this Gospel today because Jesus not only referred to his disciples as friends but as he also speaks to us now we too are among those he calls “my friends.” This personal salutation brings us to the very heart of Jesus because Jesus only treats as friends those who believe and trusts in him.

         How he values us can be seen in 𝒗.7 “𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒔.” Indeed, we all have nothing to fear because God considers us as his friends and we are blessed in having Christ not only as our friend but a friend on whom we can depend on.

         In the meantime, may I enjoin you to start praying for our loved ones whom God has called ahead of us. As we approach the month of November, let us all do so with great expectation knowing that our good and gracious God has given our loved ones a sanctuary in his Heavenly Kingdom. Pray too for the members of our Community who are now basking in the presence of our Almighty God in the company of all the Angels and Saints. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘖𝘤𝘵. 17, 2025)