Living in Faith, not Fear

	Fr. Roger Vermalen Karban

The readings for Sunday, June 23, 2002, the Twelfth Sunday of the Year, are Jeremiah 20:10-13, Romans 5:12-15, Matthew 10:26-33.

I always warn the clinically depressed never to read chapter 20 of Jeremiah. Today’s pericope introduces one of Scripture’s most emotionally draining sections. As poignant as these verses are, they’ll actually get worse.

Reflecting on his prophetic ministry, Jeremiah gradually comes to the conclusion that Yahweh isn’t going to save him from the turmoil his prophesying has created. Though he ends these few lines by reminding us of Yahweh’s track record — “He has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked.” — he’s fairly certain that his life isn’t going to be rescued from anyone.

As a believing Jew, Jeremiah’s convinced that Yahweh eventually will punish his persecutors — “They will stumble, they will not triumph.” But as a believing Jew of the sixth century, B.C.E., he’s also convinced that there’s no afterlife as we know it today: no heaven, no hell. All rewards and punishments have to be given and received in this life. That’s why he prays, “Let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause.” According to Jeremiah’s theology, dying before Yahweh punishes his persecutors is a punishment, not a reward.

Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t share Jeremiah’s belief about an afterlife. As a believing Pharisee of the first century, C.E., he’s convinced there’s a life beyond the one we’re presently living. So when his followers in Matthew’s community find themselves in turmoil because of their prophetic words and lifestyle, he can assure them, “Do not fear those who deprive the body of life but cannot destroy the soul. . . . Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven . . . .”

Jesus knows that, for many of his followers, fear of what other people will do to them when they live their faith is reason enough not to live their faith. That’s why he’s quick to tell them, “Do not let anyone intimidate you. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nothing hidden that will not become known. What I tell you in darkness, speak in the light. What you hear in private, proclaim from the housetops.”

According to our early Christian authors, the pain Jesus’ disciples experience can never compare to the life Jesus’ disciples experience.

That’s why Paul spends so much time in his letter to the Romans contrasting a person’s life without Jesus to a person’s life with Jesus. As a practicing Jew — someone whose daily existence revolves around obeying each of the 613 precepts in the Mosaic Law — he’s now able to see that real life comes only when people integrate the faith of Jesus into their life.

Paul even starts to regard his old path to salvation — the law — in a completely different way than he looked at it before Jesus entered his life on the road to Damascus. He actually makes the statement, “Sin is not imputed when there is no law.”

Though he personally seems to have still followed much of the Mosaic Law even after his conversion to Christianity, Paul no longer believes that he’s going to “get into heaven” just by adhering to those regulations.

On the contrary, he believes heaven is already starting here on earth for those who, unlike Adam, die for the right reason. Adam, the “first man,” died because of his “offense.” We, on the other hand, live because we have the courage to die with Jesus. As Paul puts it, “Much more does the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound for all.”

It would be a complete waste to never step into the life Jesus offers only because we’re afraid of what people can do to us in this life. Not even a lack of belief in an afterlife stopped Jeremiah from doing what Yahweh wanted him to do.

What is it that we can’t do with such a belief?