Thursday Thirteen No. 11: No Fear

The Gospel, the story of Jesus's life, is a lesson in how to live together--how to take care of each other. It's not for us to find fault but to find beauty and to wonder. After all, it is the story of a Teacher who summed up his life's work with the command: "love one another." Reading the Christmas story as Luke tells it, I was struck by the number of times he uses the word "fear"--a word that can mean reverence when it does not mean dread. Here are 13 references to fear in the Gospel written for all people everywhere:

1. The angel addresses Zechariah in the temple: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.You will have joy and gladness...."

2. Gabriel to Mary: "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now...you will bear a son..."

3. Mary's Song of Praise: "the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation."
4. The response of the people following John's birth, when Zechariah could again speak: "Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea." What will this child become?

5. Zechariah's prophecy following the birth of John: "Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear...."

6. The angel to the shepherds following the birth of Jesus: "Do not be afraid, for see--I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people; to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the messiah, the Lord."

7. Jesus to Simon at the lake of Gennesaret: "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people."

8. After Jesus heals a paralytic: "Amazement filled all of them, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, 'We have seen strange things today.'" (more)

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22 Comments

  1. Cool, TT!

    Those are some wonderful verses to remember.

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  2. Some of these are quite beautiful. Thanks for sharing (and visiting my TT)

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  3. Great Thursday post! Come see mine before everyone drinks it!

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  4. Great Thursday post! Come see mine before everyone drinks it!

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  5. That's a wonderful share.

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  6. Thanks for sharing! Happy TT!

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  7. Beautiful verses. I've tried to subscribe to your blog before but couldn't for some reason. This time I was able to. Hip hip hurrah!!

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  8. That is soo great! Bless you!!!

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  9. Anonymous9:52 PM

    Absolutely beautiful!

    Mine's a fun one, today.. Even if you don't believe in it, it's still fun to read.


    Mine's Up Here!

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  10. Very good. I did a Pink Flamingo post on the life of St. Nicholas today - fits a little with your TT.

    The Pink Flamingo
    http://thepinkflamingo.blogharbor.com/blog

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  11. What wonderful information...thanks for sharing. Happy TT.

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  12. I know it sounds illogical because I celebrate Christmas but I am not so for the religous side. But I like to hear the Christmas story.

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  13. Those are wonderful, thanks for sharing!!

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  14. Nice post. It's good to think about God being on our side. It gives us reason to follow his advise and "Fear Not." I like your TT's a lot. Thanks.

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  15. Yes, this was a beautiful post. Thank you! :) How appropriate, too, for Advent.

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  16. Thank you! I needed those today...here's a link to my # 19
    http://katskrackerbox.wordpress.com/2007/12/06/thursday-thirteen-19-things-i-need-to-do-today/

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  17. I'm a person who fights living/responding out of fear. I heard somewhere there are 366 references to not fearing in scripture. That's one per day plus one for leap year!

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  18. Wonderful! And you're the lucky winner of the Yankees banner!
    diaryof1.com

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  19. Anonymous4:38 PM

    I love the beautiful music you have selected. What a lovely post!
    www.mamapj.com

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  20. The Advent is a time of prayer and meditation. Thanks for sharing these words with us!

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  21. I always found it kind of odd that there's so much "fear not" being said and then good people are refered to as "God fearing"... your idea about fear sometimes refering to faith is a good one.

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Thanks for being here.