Fear can paralyze us. It can freeze us and make us immobile. It can prevent us from both thinking and acting according to our Christian convictions. A particularly detrimental form of fear comes from intimidation. It is that kind of fear which is the concern of Jesus in today’s Gospel. When Jesus said, “Do not let anyone intimidate you,” he was perhaps thinking of the great prophet, Jeremiah. This man of God refused to be intimidated by attacks upon his character and plots against his life, and so he was not afraid to speak out in the name of the Lord. Jeremiah accused his people of sins against their covenant with God and warned of God’s judgment upon them. He insisted that their crimes against each other were crimes against God. He condemned reliance on military pacts rather than on God, and he predicted the destruction of Jerusalem (which occurred in 587 B.C.). Jeremiah was forced into exile in Egypt by his enemies. According to one tradition he was murdered there by some of his own countrymen. These evil men are no longer remembered, but Jeremiah is. He lives not only in the pages of Sacred Scripture but with Jesus in heaven, the Messiah whom he never knew on this earth but to whom he was faithful without realizing it!
These days we are in danger of being intimidated by movements in our society. Pro-choice advocates would make us feel that we violate women’s rights when we insist that abortion is an unspeakable crime. Corrosive individualism militates against our concern for the poor, the homeless and the hungry. Xenophobia and greed would bring wrath upon the immigrants whom the Church insists have human rights. Jesus says to us gathered in worship: ‘’I see you here in church as the People of God. I will continue to acknowledge you before my Father in heaven as long as you continue to follow my teachings and not those of the people who oppose the Gospel. Do not let them intimidate you.’’