One of the unpleasant experiences of life is when a friendship turns sour. Not only friendships can turn sour, but a friend can also turn into an enemy over a trivial matter. But for an enemy to turn into friend, that is certainly not easy to come by.
In the gospel, it seems that some Pharisees came to warn Jesus of the hostile intentions of Herod. “Go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you.” Were their intentions good, or were there other hidden motives that only those Pharisees know about?
Whatever it might be, Jesus was not too concerned. He knows that friends can easily turn into enemies, and it is not that easy for enemies to become friends. Whatever the case might be, Jesus is undeterred. He knows that the Father’s will is for him to go to Jerusalem and surrender his life on the cross.
He doesn’t hide nor escape from his Father’s will. Jesus knows that he would suffer the same fate as the prophets who came before him. He knows that the cross lies ahead of him, but he also knows that death and the cross are not the end. Beyond death is the Resurrection.
Beyond Death
What can we learn from this courageous act of Jesus? Jesus’ example should give us confidence to move forward in the face of our own difficulties, fears, and struggles.
Being a disciple and missioner of Jesus nowadays is a huge challenge, the menace is more subtle, but no less insidious – the tyranny of moral relativism and widespread secularism. God is absolutely eclipsed by false beliefs and ideology. Yet the key to becoming effective missioners for Christ is to defeat fear with faith. But human as we are, we often times succumb to fear most especially if we are in the line of fire. If we have this mindset what will happen now to the propagation of the faith that was started by Jesus?
Defeat Fear with Faith
If Jesus, the apostles, and the saints allowed fear to conquer them, then we have no Christian faith to practice and speak of right now. We would be faithless wanderers in this world, but we have our faith, and we owe this to the undeterred courage of Jesus and His followers.
Let us, therefore, emulate Christ, let us not be deterred by the obstacles before us. For obstacles are meant to be conquered by the strength of our faith in Him. Face your fears and creatively live your Baptismal mission to evangelize.
Grant me courage, Lord, to do what I must to proclaim and defend my faith, Your truth, and Your Church.
Reflection Question:
Is there a situation in your life right now that’s calling you to stand up and defend your faith and values? What’s keeping you from doing so?
