Moses
Last week I considered verse 5 from Matthew Chapter 17, and the voice from the cloud exhorting us to “Listen to him.”
This week, I want to spend a little time with verses 6 and 7:
“When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Do not be afraid.”
When you place yourself in the scene, do you react the same way the disciples did?
Its difficult to imagine what it would be like to actually hear the voice of God. As much as I have longed for such an experience, I don’t think I can know how I would react. In the moment, I might find myself just as afraid as the disciples.
But when I have time to consider God, fear is not one of my reactions. I am too convinced of His deep abiding love for me to be afraid of Him. I don’t think that He would ever harm me. Its just the opposite. If anything, I am comforted by the thought of God. I hope, given the chance, that I would not cower away from Him, but rush to Him.
In this passage, Jesus is in the act of bringing the new covenant to bear. The fear of the disciples is an “old testament” reaction. They only know how to relate to God according to the example of Moses in Exodus 3.
“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
This is understandable. Their world is still rooted in the old testament. The new testament, with its message of God as love above all else, has not yet come into being.
It is not just the words of Jesus that represent the new covenant. It is his actions as well. Note that he doesn’t speak first. First, he goes over and touches them. Dwell on that for a moment. Do you recognize the extreme intimacy and love in His touch? And the juxtaposition with God’s instruction to Moses to not come any closer?
Then come the words “Do not be afraid.” There is nothing equivalent to this in Exodus.
First, God instructs us to listen to Jesus. Then, within two verses, Jesus instructs us not to be afraid.
In a moment, the old passes, and the new takes its place.
Love displaces fear.
And I become responsible for that love, for sustaining it, for nurturing it, for following the example of Jesus and doing my part to reach out and touch my fellows, to assure them, to make sure love expands, so that some day, everyone might dwell in the comfort of love, as opposed to the oppression of fear.
Is it unequivocally clear to anyone who crosses my path that love, not fear, is my credo?
I doubt it.
But maybe, someday, I will be able to say yes to that question on a regular basis.