Jesus is
walking on the water, approaching the disciples as they are being tossed about
by the rough seas. Rather than
being comforted, the disciples are seized with anxiety. They think he is a ghost. They don't really know what to make of him. Jesus tells
them – “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid.” This is
echoed in what we hear in the first letter of John – that God is love, and
whoever remains in love remain in us, and his love is brought to perfection in
us. We are told
that there is no fear in love, because perfect love drives out fear. Yet, the
world we live in can be very frightening, can’t it? We can fear
for the future. We can fear for the
values of our faith that are being disrespected in our world today. But Jesus
tells us not to be afraid. Even though
our Christmas season is supposed to bring joy into our lives, and on a
spiritual level it probably does, our lives during this time of the year may
also be filled with great stress, conflicts, and unmet expectations. And yet we
are to bring all of that to God, to face it, to let our faith interact with our
problems, our struggles, the reality of our lives. And if we do that and if we place our hope in
God, then truly we have nothing to fear.
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