It is something to think about isn’t it, although we probably don’t want to go there. And here it must be acknowledged that a little bit of fear is a good thing-it can help to keep us safe and even alive. Fear can be a very logical reaction to a situation at hand. But a point that St. Matthew is making is although fear may be a reasonable response and is indeed something to which we should pay attention, we must not let fear by itself control us. We should not let fear prevent us from living as the disciple that Jesus calls us to be. Ultimately, he makes the point that fear can actually lead us to hell. He urged the disciples of 2000 years ago to not let fear prevent them from living their faith in the daylight, even in the face of persecution. He urges us to do the same. He tells us that there truly is no reason to prevent us from living as Jesus commands because He is always there with us and will be through the end of time as long as we keep His commands. And Matthew’s teaching goes farther even than that. He basically tells us that when it comes to the time of our judgment we will not be able to use even our legitimate fears as an excuse for not fulfilling the will of God. Jesus says that if we acknowledge Him before others, He will acknowledge us before God, but if we deny Him before others, He will deny us before God. Very sobering, indeed, isn’t it? Fear might keep us from doing a lot of things, getting on planes, public speaking, going over bridges, going through tunnels etc. and all this can be very sad indeed. But the ultimate tragedy would be if we let our fear keep us from getting to heaven.
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