From the Gospel: Fear: fight, flight, or faith?
Three sources of fear that must be overcome by the Lord’s disciples
12th Sunday in ordinary time, Cycle A. Today’s readings: Jeremiah 20:10-13; Romans 5:12-15; Matthew 10:26-33
Evolutionary psychology tells us that fear is a natural response to the dangers around us. Its purpose is to promote survival; over the millennia, those who feared the right things (wild animals, treacherous terrain, or marauding enemies, to name a few) survived to pass on their genes to later generations. Our brain engages in a “fight or flight” response when faced with a threat, setting in motion the appropriate reactions that may help us overcome the source of that fear.
Yet in today’s gospel, Jesus enjoins his followers to “fear not”. In fact, he repeats it various times, echoing what we might reasonably call the refrain running throughout all of Scripture: “Do not be afraid.” It is said that variations of this phrase occur 365 times in the bible, one for every day of the year.
Evidently, “be not afraid” is not an invitation to be foolhardy, or to purposely risk one’s life for frivolous reasons. Consider the tragic case of the man who lowered himself into the lions’ enclosure in Kyiv Zoo in 2008, shouting “God will save me, if he exists”. Not surprisingly, he was not saved. Perhaps the lioness who mauled him to death was not a believer! Or perhaps she knew the passage: “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” (Luke 4:12).
Faith reminds us that despite our external circumstances, God remains in control
Rather, in a teaching from 2020, Pope Francis identifies in today’s gospel three sources of fear which must be overcome by the Lord’s disciples.
The first is “the hostility of those who would like to stifle the Word of God, by sugar-coating it, watering it down, or by silencing those who proclaim it.” This fear can be countered by a bold proclamation of the Good News in a way that brings forth its true saving power and does not reduce it to the false “gospel of nice” espoused by so many today.
The second source of fear identified by Pope Francis stems from the first – attacks on the Gospel and those who proclaim it through open persecution. This should not surprise us; martyrdom has been a constant in the Church’s life since its inception. To this threat, the pope responds thus: “We should not allow ourselves to be frightened by those who seek to extinguish evangelising power with arrogance and violence. Indeed, they can do nothing against the soul, that is, against communion with God: no one can take this away from disciples, because it is a gift from God.”
In fact, the only fear that a disciple should have, according to the pope, is that of losing this divine gift of closeness and friendship with God, of not living according to the Gospel, thereby acquiring moral death, which is the effect of sin.
A third source of fear implicit in today’s gospel is that of not being cared for by God, the dread of being abandoned. Here too, however, “Jesus exhorts them not to fear, because... the life of disciples lies firmly in the hands of God who loves us and looks after us”. Jesus assures his disciples that if even the life of a sparrow does not go unnoticed by God, how much more will their lives be held precious by their heavenly Father.
The Christian response to fear, therefore, is neither fight nor flight, but faith. Faith reminds us that despite our external circumstances, God remains in control. A popular Italian epigram goes: Dio c’è, ma non sei tu; rilassati! (God exists, but you are not him: relax!) Or in the nobler words of the prophet Jeremiah (in the first reading), who knew a thing or two about persecution, “the Lord is with me, like a mighty champion”.
bgatt@maltachurchtribunals.org