PROMISE AND
TERROR
To live without
hope is a terrible thing. Life imprisonment without a possibility of release,
tedious physical work from morning to night, incurable illness and a whole
range of other human experiences – all can crush the human spirit. Viktor Frankl
survived a Nazi concentration camp and later wrote, in Man’s Search for
Meaning, “Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost
any 'how'.” If you can see a meaning in what you are living day after day, your
will survive and even relish your experience.
Abram (later Abraham) was plucked out of his routine
in Ur, an ancient city in Iraq, by being given a startling promise by God. ‘You
will have descendants as many as the starts of heaven.’ He questions God and
there follows a strange ritual which ends with Abram falling into a deep sleep
‘and terror seized him’. Fast forward, and we find Jesus in the garden of
Olives, with his companions in a deep sleep around him, and he is ‘filled with
terror’. There was a prelude to this; Luke has told us earlier about those same
companions on a mountain, drowsy and afraid.
As we go deeper into Lent, we see the promise to
Abraham fulfilled in the offering of Jesus. The Son of Man knew that promise
would cost him a cruel death - and it terrified him. The disciples did not know
what was going on. It was a mercy, really, that they didn’t. They could not
have taken it in. They continued confused and fearful to the end. It was only
when he showed himself to them after he rose from the death, that they realised
and ‘they stood there dumbfounded’.
Lent is laced through with this promise – and terror.
It is like an explosion to end all explosions. We know the experience in our
own small - and not so small – ways. We might have been promised a place at
secondary school or university. We are delighted but there is some ‘terror’.
What will it be like? Will I manage? Or we are given a demanding job. It can be
frightening. When Augustine became bishop of Hippo, he tells us he was
terrified. A responsible position is not something to ‘enjoy’ – though many fall
for its allure. It should fill us with terror. Can I rise to this call? Can I
give all I have? Many people’s happiness depends on my answer.
16 March
2025 Sunday 2 C
Gen 15:5...18 Ph 3:17-4:1 Lk 9:28-36
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