Sixth Sunday of Easter

“Do not let your hearts be … afraid.” Jn 14:27

We’re all afraid of something.

Whether it’s a fear of heights, or public speaking, or walking into a room filled with people, or of what might go “bump in the night” – whatever the fear, we often become terrified – even to the point of immobility in some cases.  

For me, it was the fear of flying. I would get on planes, but it was always a torturous experience. Petrifying. Hated every minute of it.

But notice that I used the past tense. I was fortunate enough to be successfully treated for my fear of flying by a counselor adept at the art of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) – an anxiety treatment easily researched online. Now I even enjoy flying … most of the time!

Fear, or as it is more technically referred to, anxiety, is a pervasive feature of the human condition. Its purpose is simple: to serve as a protective alarm system designed to alert us to danger and risk. To guard us, to keep us safe, we all need to have an adequate fear response built into our psyches.

The problem is that fear/anxiety, or what we more commonly call “worry,” can spiral out of control and overwhelm us to the point of seriously disrupting our lives. When that happens, we’re overwhelmed with “toxic worry” – the kind of worry that one psychiatrist calls a “disease of the imagination … which undermines our ability to work, to love, and to play – all because we now live in fear of what might go wrong.”

In today’s gospel, the disciples are afraid, maybe even terrified.

Their overriding fear was that Jesus was going to leave them, abandon them. And if that happened, not only would they lose him, but they were horrified at the thought of all kinds of other possibilities: Will the Romans crucify us as they did Jesus? How will the Jewish leaders treat us? What will happen to our tiny little community of believers? Will we be left all alone in a menacing world?

In other words, they were “scared to death,” as we say, of what “might go wrong.” Their hearts were burdened with unbridled anxiety.

And so, in that light, listen again to what Jesus says to his disciples: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”

The first thing Jesus does to calm their fears is make a promise – a guarantee that they – and each one of us – will never be abandoned. Quite the contrary!! “We” – the Father and Jesus – will not only not forget us or desert us, but will do the most intimate thing possible: “we will … make our dwelling with him.”

God takes up residence in, makes a home in our hearts!

What could possibly be more intimate? What could be more reassuring and comforting?

And, there’s more!

Jesus goes even further to calm their fears – and ours as well. He assures them that not only will they not be abandoned, not only will they become a home in which Jesus and the Father will dwell, but he introduces them to a Third Person of their Godhead: the Holy Spirit. “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”

The Holy Spirit will serve as our personal aide, our defender, our helper. What this tells us is how well Jesus understood the reality of fear and anxiety that we humans experience. It tells us how intimately connected Jesus is with all the many terrors that disturb and worry us. It tells us how deeply committed he is to make certain we understand that in times of stress and loss and grief and heartaches of whatever kind, we have a personal representative, a champion speaking on our behalf.

We are not abandoned. We are not left to fend for ourselves. We are not alone.

Instead we have been given the richest of all blessings: a God who is on our side; a God who wants more than anything to make his home in our hearts; a God who has assigned to each of us an Advocate who will represent us and remind us “of all that I told you.”

And if this weren’t enough, Jesus gives us another gift, a final gift: peace.

Not fear. Not anxiety. Not worry. Not apprehension.

Peace.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”

A peace that “surpasses … all understanding,” as St. Paul tells us. A peace that the world cannot give. A peace that assures us that whatever trouble we go through in our lives, God is there with us. A peace that rests in God’s irrevocable promise to make his home in our hearts.

The gift that Jesus bestows on each of those who love him is a peace that knows the Holy Spirit our God is not just with us, but for us, pledged to lead us forward to a place free of fear and filled instead with – what the Book of Revelation calls – “the glory of God.”  

And it’s in that sense of “peace” that Jesus can say with confidence to his disciples – and to each of us:

“Do not let your hearts be … afraid.”

Ted Wolgamot, Psy.D.

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4/28/16

NOTE: If interested, there are several recent articles concerning some of the latest developments in the life of the church on my website: drtedsweb.com  

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