What Are You Afraid Of?

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What are you afraid of?

In the reading today from the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, we hear the story of our Lord walking on the water in the midst of a storm, coming to His disciples in a boat being tossed by the wind and the waves.  They don’t recognize Him until He speaks to them; and then Peter, still not quite sure, says, “Lord, if it is you, command me to walk on the water.”  Then he does something amazing.  He gets out of the boat, and walks on the water – as long as his eyes are on the Lord.  Once he is distracted by the storm around him, he begins to sink, and must be saved by the Lord.

We know what the disciples were afraid of in that story.  They were afraid of the storm; and remember, there were experienced fishermen in the boat, who had been in storms before.  They were afraid they had seen a ghost – is that really the Lord?  Finally, except for Peter, they were afraid to get out of the boat because they were afraid of dying.  So: what are you afraid of?

Most of us are afraid of death.  We hear about the martyrs, and wonder if we could do what they did, doubting that we can do so.  We hear about those who are given a sentence of death, and who are able to meet it peacefully, and wonder if we could do what they did, doubting that we can do so.  Really, we fear death because, like the disciples, our faith is weak and imperfect.  We sing, “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death”; but like the disciples in the boat, we ask, “Is it really the Lord?”  We don’t believe; and so we sink.  As long as his eyes remained on the Lord, Peter walked on the water.  When we allow ourselves to be distracted by the winds and the waves of the cares of this life, and when we focus on them, and not the Lord, we sink, and are perishing.  If we truly believed, we would not fear death.  If we truly believed, we would walk confidently by faith.  If we truly believed, we could walk on water, if need be.

So:  What do we do?  We should live in the way we should even if we do not yet have faith sufficient for us to get out of the boat.  We may never walk on water; but trust in the love of God, and in His mercy, remembering that with a word He calmed the wind and the waves, and brought His disciples out of the storm.  Live as a disciple: praying and fasting, giving, and forgiving; seeking humility, and honoring Christ in everyone you meet – do these things, and we will know that the One walking with us in the midst of the storms of life is truly the Lord; and He will bring us safely to harbor in His kingdom, where death has been conquered, and live does not end.

What are you afraid of?  Live as a disciple; trust in God’s love; and there is no reason for us to fear death.

The Beginning of the End

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The most powerful nation on the face of the earth has ordered that a census be taken, so that everyone who a subject of that nation could be taxed.  Little did they know that at that very moment in time something was taking place that was going to transform the world; and they were powerless to stop it.  Truth was, they never saw it coming; and once it was underway, there was nothing they could do about it, although they certainly tried their best to eliminate it.  In the end, they were defeated; their empire crumbled into nothing; but what started then continues today, and the world remains powerless against it.

This is the scene for us in the reading of the birth of our Lord as described in the Gospel according to St. Luke, and today, from the Gospel according to St. Matthew.  The nation, of course, was Rome; and St. Luke tells us that Augustus had ordered the taking of a census as a prelude to the story of our Lord’s birth.  There is that stark contrast between the two stories.  On the one hand, the might and power of Rome, symbolized in their Emperor; on the other, a newborn baby, of humble parents, for whom there was no room at the inn, and so he was born in a cave that was being used as a stable.  One the one hand, a military power that had conquered much of the world, against whom few other nations dared to stand; on the other, one helpless child who possesses all the power in heaven and on earth.

In one part of that world, a province of that Empire, someone did recognize that something was happening, and he did his best to destroy it.  Herod, made king by the Romans, did all he could to destroy this new power coming into the world.  But his efforts failed, though the battle was costly: the innocent young boys slain in his attempt to retain his title, the King of the Jews.  These were but the first of the hundreds, and then thousands, and then millions who would be killed for their allegiance to this child, rather than to the princes and powers of the world. 

Now we live in what is arguably the most powerful nation on the face of the earth, one against whom few dare stand.  That nation, in ways far more subtle than those of Herod, does not seek to destroy those who today proclaim their loyalty to the King born in a stable by killing them outright.  Rather, it seduces, it teases, it promises, and it misleads – and any of the flowers of this newborn King must battle their own passions, lest these be turned against them and lead them to degradation and destruction.  Yet the world remains powerless to those who embrace the life of this King, for He has defeated the last enemy – death – something no power in the world can achieve.  He promises the victory to those who will stand with Him in faith, even at the passing away of the world.

Brothers and sisters, with the birth of the Son of God wrapped in our humanity as He was wrapped in his body with swaddling clothes, our victory is assured; but the battle must be fought, and the battleground is within us, in our hearts and minds and souls and bodies.  To succeed, we need only follow what the victors who have gone before us have done:  pray; fast; give from the wealth God has entrusted to us; love; forgive, being patient and humble, and seeking heavenly things rather than earthly gains.  The time of our liberation is at hand; and if we will live as Orthodox Christians, the world is powerless to stop us.

Christ is born!