Hey everybody this is Steve and I thought we were supposed to love God?
If you've ever been to a Divine Liturgy, you've heard the presbyter or deacon mention fear
of God.
For instance, in the Litanies, we hear "For this holy house and for those who enter it
with faith, reverence, and the fear of God, let us pray to the Lord."
And then later, as Communion is being offered, we hear "With the fear of God, faith, and
love, draw near."
Yet what exactly does "fear of God" mean?
Are we supposed to be terrified of God, like we'd be afraid of a monster or axe murderer?
And if we are, how are we supposed to love Him?
To think through this question with me, I'm excited to welcome my friend, popular podcaster
Elissa Bjeletich.
You may know her from the "Raising Saints" podcast and blog, and from her great talk
at YCC17.
She's also the author of three books.
The links to all of that are down in the doobly do.
Thanks Elissa for joining me!
Thanks for having me, Steve!
This question of "fear" is an interesting one, because I've seen the consequences of
a mistaken or unhealthy fear of God.
For example, some Christians have a tendency to see God as a cruel, heavenly judge.
Someone who's waiting to condemn us for our mistakes and cast us into hellfire.
But, as Steve has covered before, we're not sinners in the hands of an angry God, we're
sinners in the embrace of a loving God.
Salvation is really better framed as our response to God's unconditional love, not God's response
to our good or bad conduct.
To dig a little deeper, let's look at what the word "fear" actually means.
The Greek word for fear is φόβος.
And that doesn't simply mean terror when something is scary.
Instead, it literally means to withdraw, to move away from.
Of course, we can definitely run away from things in a panic, when we're afraid.
But that's only one kind of fear, a negative kind.
But there's a different kind of fear, one that comes from awe and reverence rather than
terror.
For example, in Luke chapter 5, we read about when Christ first approached His soon-to-be apostles.
They were exhausted, tired after a long night of fishing.
And what's worse, they hadn't caught anything.
But Jesus told them to cast their nets, and they did.
And they caught so many fish that their nets almost tore from the heavy load.
That's when Peter, overcome by wonder, said something powerful.
"Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!"
Peter had just witnessed an amazing miracle.
He knew he was in the presence of someone holy, someone amazing.
And his first response was to be aware of his own sinfulness and to ask that person to go
away.
Just like heaven and hell aren't different places, but rather the consequences of the
two ways we can react to God, the fear of God can actually be a healthy (and humble) reaction
to an encounter with the Lord.
The truth is, we're all sinners.
As far as we're each concerned, we're each *the* sinner, the chief among sinners.
Encountering God Himself, the only Holy One, the only Sinless One, will naturally provoke
a reaction.
Hopefully not terror, not guilt, but awe.
And wonder.
And a sense of our profound unworthiness.
This is actually why the prayers that Steve read at the beginning of the episode are so
beautiful.
Let's consider them each, keeping in mind that fear is, not terror, it's
a sense of humble withdrawal, like Peter by the side of his fishing boat.
So in the Liturgy, when the presbyter or deacon prays "For this holy house and for those who
enter it with faith, reverence, and the fear of God, let us pray to the Lord," they're
pointing out a beautiful tension: that we can enter this holy house while we're wrestling
with the desire to withdraw from His presence, because of our sins and shortcomings.
We feel unprepared, unworthy, and yet we enter anyway.
And later, as Holy Communion is being offered, when we hear "With the fear of God, faith,
and love, draw near," and the clergy are pointing to another beautiful tension: that we can
approach the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, that we can become a part of the Body of Christ
And yet at the same time be totally aware of our unworthiness.
If we think about it this way, then we begin to see why King Solomon would say "the fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."
Because, when we stand before God in awe, with reverence, and with the knowledge of
our own unworthiness, the depths of God's love and wisdom are open to us.
So let's be the bee, and with the fear of God with faith and love draw near.
Be the Bee, and Live Orthodoxy.
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I'll see you all next week.
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