Matthew under the arm 127
I began to sense days ago that this journey, this pilgrimage was nearly over. What next in my life? There are circumstances back home which I left many months ago and which I had forgotten until recently. A fellow pilgrim had brought me news that my own region was suffering from starvation and disease, particularly among the poor. Here was I on pilgrimage while those that I loved would be suffering and perhaps even resentful that I was in easy circumstances. I became afraid of returning home. Had the pilgrimage become an escape for me?
Matthew 26:36-46
In recent productions of the Oberammergau Passion play, the two acutely traumatic scenes to watch were Jesus with his intimate friends in the Garden of Gethsemane and, of course, the Crucifixion. Any comparison would be absurd. The agonising sense of abandonment in the Garden was for me almost impossible to watch. ‘My soul is sorrowful to the point of death’ is one of the sayings of Christ in this scene, that is often overlooked. Perhaps the sheer pressure on Christ’s heart was getting dangerous.. The clenched teeth can almost be felt as he then cries for the ‘cup that he has to drink to pass by’. The desolate and, perhaps, silent scream of the Son of God, can be pictured by imagining Eduard Munch’s famous painting: ‘The Scream’. This scene of Christ’s agony does not tell us of the conquering of fear. Rather, fear and dread are quite simply faced.
THAT YOU MAY BE AWARE OF MY PRESENCE IN YOUR DEEPEST MOMENTS OF ANGUISH AND LOSTNESS
Fear and one of its symptoms: anxiety, reveal the most vulnerable part of the human psyche. Most would do anything to avoid being seen to be fearful. Worse, to experience fear can be an intensely painful and isolating experience. One reaction is to fight; come out ‘punching’. Another reaction is to run away somehow. The difficulty is that to run away from fear is to assume wrongly that you don’t take it with you! The third reaction is to stand and acknowledge it. This is perhaps the most important moment in any inner life that is going to be entered upon with courage. The meditation sentence assumes the ‘voice’ of the Christ who knows desolation, is offered so that the fear you experience can be faced. But you would be well-advised to share it with someone who is a spiritual director or a listener whom you trust.
+Martin
Argyll and The Isles
Matthew 26:36-46
In recent productions of the Oberammergau Passion play, the two acutely traumatic scenes to watch were Jesus with his intimate friends in the Garden of Gethsemane and, of course, the Crucifixion. Any comparison would be absurd. The agonising sense of abandonment in the Garden was for me almost impossible to watch. ‘My soul is sorrowful to the point of death’ is one of the sayings of Christ in this scene, that is often overlooked. Perhaps the sheer pressure on Christ’s heart was getting dangerous.. The clenched teeth can almost be felt as he then cries for the ‘cup that he has to drink to pass by’. The desolate and, perhaps, silent scream of the Son of God, can be pictured by imagining Eduard Munch’s famous painting: ‘The Scream’. This scene of Christ’s agony does not tell us of the conquering of fear. Rather, fear and dread are quite simply faced.
THAT YOU MAY BE AWARE OF MY PRESENCE IN YOUR DEEPEST MOMENTS OF ANGUISH AND LOSTNESS
Fear and one of its symptoms: anxiety, reveal the most vulnerable part of the human psyche. Most would do anything to avoid being seen to be fearful. Worse, to experience fear can be an intensely painful and isolating experience. One reaction is to fight; come out ‘punching’. Another reaction is to run away somehow. The difficulty is that to run away from fear is to assume wrongly that you don’t take it with you! The third reaction is to stand and acknowledge it. This is perhaps the most important moment in any inner life that is going to be entered upon with courage. The meditation sentence assumes the ‘voice’ of the Christ who knows desolation, is offered so that the fear you experience can be faced. But you would be well-advised to share it with someone who is a spiritual director or a listener whom you trust.
+Martin
Argyll and The Isles
Labels: Fear and anxiety
posted by Martin at 7:41 pm
2 Comments:
God the Father never abandons anyone least of all His own dear Son our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus promises us this in John 14 v 18 “I will not leave you as orphans I will come to you”. If we abandon the bible or pick and choose what we believe then the sense of abandonment will creep in. Likewise the sense of fear (this is the 6th posting about fear i.e. 5% about fear). The answer to fear is faith and trust; after all “perfect Love (God’s Love) dismisses fear” 1 John 4 v 18 . If we dismiss the bible as the basis of faith and raise mans wisdom as supreme truth then you have nothing to offer. This is why the liberal wing of the church is dying; they have nothing to offer, no answer to fear. Jesus spoke about these people in Matthew 15 v 14, ” Don’t worry about them! They are blind leaders of the blind; and when one blind man leads another both will fall into the ditch!”
Jesus agony in the Garden was brought on as the Father had asked him to become the sacrifice for the sin of the whole world. The Father never abandoned Him, that was and is not possible because as Jesus said, “the father and I are one” John 10 v 30 . Our hearts are full of praise for what He did for us on the cross (believers are full of praise, liberals are full of fear). We do not fight out of fear but to honor the Lord, “ The weapons we use in our fight are not the worlds weapons but God’s powerful weapons which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments . . . . . . 2 Cor 10 v 4
The point for me is not simply standing and facing it but fighting in the power of the Spirit. To me standing and facing does nothing until I reach for the spiritual armour needed to stand, face then fight.
The Lord Jesus already faced much more than I or even most of us will ever experience through the trauma of the betrayal, crucifixion and resurrection. So Although I will have some fear to face, it can never be the total isolating, paralyzing fear that He suffered on my behalf and every other human beings behalf. But that is the point of resurrection life and life in the spirit.
Praise God that I do not have to go there alone when it is my lot to suffer. Jesus has already conquered it so I, living in with the privilege of hindsight, and the encouragement of the whole of the scriptures, might be ‘strong in the Lord and in His mighty power’! Ephesians 6: 10ff thus enabled to stand and face and banish the enemy (Fear) in the power of the Lord.
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