Why was Elijah at Horeb in the first place? What was he doing there? He fessed up: “Israel has forsaken Your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. Now I’m the only one left, and they’re trying to kill me.” Which is to say: I’m
afraid, Yahweh, because I don’t want to die, and You don’t seem to be doing a very good job of keeping Your servants alive these days! And what kind of an answer does the prophet receive? “Go back; I’ve got more work for you to do, and more faithful people than you know about.”
Those to whom Peter wrote in today’s epistle knew something about fear too. Newly baptized into Christ, they faced some serious persecution, even the threat of death. But Peter filled with Gospel joy basically says: So what? Death should frighten the baptized? I
don’t think so! So he writes: “Even if you suffer because you are righteous, you are happy. Never let others terrify or trouble you. But give your hearts completely to Christ as Lord and always be ready to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have.”
The hope you have. That’s the hope that has chased away the fears. The hope that came from Baptism into Christ, into Him who both died and rose again, and so all who are baptized into Him are given over to a death they need not fear because they know that death is not the end, but that Death itself is an enemy that Christ has conquered and destroyed. Joined to Him, they have a share in His endless life. The only thing they need fear now is coming disconnected from Him, drifting away from Him who is the conqueror of death.
The same Peter who wrote today’s epistle, knew another kind of fear in today’s Gospel. The miraculous catch of fish opened his eyes about who was in front of him. Suddenly he knew that to be in the company of Jesus was to be in the presence of God Himself, and that
terrified him. He got down on his knees amid all those flopping fish and begged Jesus to go away and leave him, “for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
The holiness of God is terrifying. It’s what led Adam and Eve to run and hide in the trees of the garden, trying to get away from that horrific holiness, that very presence that condemned and damned them by its light, beauty, and purity. It’s what led Isaiah the prophet to cry out in terror in the temple when he caught a glimpse of the thrice Holy One upon His throne, praised by the burning spirits, the seraphim. “Woe is me! I am destroyed! I am a man with unclean lips, living among a people with unclean lips, and I’ve seen the
King, the Lord of armies.” Or like Job when he came face to face with God at the end and had to confess: “I had heard about You, but now I see You. So I detest myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
To have the presence of God suddenly unloosed on you, is to strike terror in the heart. And then the response of Peter is the inevitable one: O Lord, go away! But the Eternal Son of the Father did not come among us to terrify us and to go away and leave us poor sinners in our sin and fears. It was because the Father loved us that He sent His Son into our flesh and it is because the Son loves us that He took on our nature in the Womb of the Virgin. It is
because the Holy Spirit loves us that He consistently speaks through the Scriptures a message that we all need to hear: Don’t be afraid.
Don’t be afraid. Your God has come to you not to destroy you, but to save you. How did our Lord Himself put it? “You see, God didn’t send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him.” So don’t fear! Your God is not against you; He
is for you.
And that’s why He hates the sin so much in your life. Because He’s for you, and He wants you to be freed from that tyranny and to live forever with Him in freedom as a child of the heavenly Father. He hates the sin because of what the sin does to you, the child He
loves. And so He sends His Son into the flesh to free you from sin. He takes your every sin upon Himself on Gologotha’s tree to blot out the hand-writing that was against you. In Baptism, He rescued us from the tyranny of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of
the Son He loves, Who paid the ransom to forgive our sins and set us free. He sets you in His Holy Church and provides you with the armor of light to fight against all sin and darkness.
You see, as sinners you can only think of God as the enemy, as the one who is out to get you. But that’s merely the sinner projecting upon God a demonic fear of the sinner’s heart. It’s not the case. Rather: “Once you were strangers to God and in your hearts His enemies (not that He was ever your enemy!), doing wicked things, but now by dying in His human body He has made you friends in order to have you stand before Him without sin or fault or blame.” (Col. 1:21,22)
Fear. Are you afraid of the holiness of God on the Day of Judgment? Rejoice! Because you are baptized into Christ and hold to Him in faith, you need not be! Fear not! The judgment that was against you, fell on Him. He has wrapped His own perfect life around you and
clothed you in Himself. He puts His own life into you in the Eucharist, strengthening you in the battle against everything that would enslave you.
Are you afraid of death? Fear not! Christ has trampled down death by death and upon those in the tomb bestowing life! Into that tomb of Christ you went in Baptism and so you life under the promise of resurrection.
Are you afraid of loneliness? Fear not! Your God has provided you a home. You have a Father that loves you forever, a Brother who shares your own flesh and blood and who also happens to be King of the universe, a holy Mother in the Church, who provides you with
countless brothers and sisters to surround you and rejoice with you as you journey to the Kingdom– not to mention your servants are the holy angels!
Fear not! It is the cry of God from start to finish in the Sacred Scriptures. Fear not, Elijah, I’ve got more work for you to do! Fear not, Peter, I will make you a fisher of men! Fear not, baptized Christians, what any can do to you? Just give your hearts to Christ and always be ready to answer any who ask about your hope! And what a hope it is, my friends! What a hope it is!
Amen.
