Refugees entering Macedonia, 2015
Be Not Afraid by Tim Deveney, Precious Blood Volunteers Director
“ While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said,‘ This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’ When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate and were very much afraid. But Jesus came and touched them, saying,‘ Rise, and do not be afraid.’ And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone”( Matthew 17:5-8).
I remember vividly the big deal my school and church made of our first reconciliation in second grade. I remember my fear of messing up the Act of Contrition we were forced to memorize and having to come up with a list of serious enough sins that would show my confessor I was taking this confessing stuff with enough gravitas, but not bad enough that the priest would think I was a horrible person. That’ s a fine line on which to balance for a seven year-old.
The part of that service that still sticks with me, besides the tightrope of sin that my seven year-old self was navigating, was the song“ Be Not Afraid.” This is a common enough hymn and the main theme of the song is a phrase used with great regularity in Scripture, including many references in the Old Testament, Gospels, and Epistles. It’ s almost as if God knows what holds us back!
The disciples in this reading are terrified of the bright cloud and a voice. The disciples have a great deal of fear. I do not blame them. I would be petrified with fear with a voice coming out of a cloud! The disciples are us. They are always us. In good and bad, they are always us. They cower. They fall to the ground. They lock themselves in a room after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.
We, like them, prostrate ourselves— not in humility, but in fear. Fear that the call of God will open us up to the sacrifice of everything we are attached to. Fear of being hurt. Fear of changing who we are. Fear of our ideologies being wrong. Fear of being open to a new world beyond us. Fear of losing our livelihoods and the possessions that so often own us. Fear of
6 • The New Wine Press • March 2017