The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary continue
to explore the manifestation of God in the person of Jesus Christ as initiated
this week by the feast of the Epiphany. The process whereby John in the text
from his first letter declares that we are able to recognize God is through the
indwelling Holy Spirit. As we confess our understanding that Jesus is the Son
of God we are aware that we abide in Love and God abides in us. The heresy
which John was combating in this letter is identified by in the comments today
from Friar Jude Winkler as one which denied the Divinity of Jesus. The
manifestation of the Divine can be a source of fear. Friar Jude notes that we
fear punishment. The “fear of God” which is positive and not related to punishment
is better expressed as awe. It is the reaction which stops us in our tracks as “God
passes by” in our lives. This fear is mingled with the fear we experience in difficult
times of life in the account from the Gospel of Mark of Jesus walking on the
water to the disciples who experience the Psalm 23 like action of being led to
still waters. The immediate action of Jesus and how that reveals His Divinity
to His disciples, who are slow to comprehend, is identified by Don Schwager as
a typical theme in the Gospel from Mark. Our fear for loved ones may also be
tied to the possibility that we may lose them from our lives through death or
separation. Love which is the evidence of our communion with God survives
eternally. Our Love of others builds the confidence we have in the hope of
eternal connection to Love and diminishes our fears of separation.
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