Is there any tension between the goodness of God and the fear of Him?
“Oh, how abundant is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you
and worked for those who take refuge in you,
in the sight of the children of mankind!” (Psalm 31:19)
The Hebrew word that is often translated as “fear” in much of scripture can also mean “revere”.
A couple weeks back I preached on Luke 4:23-30 where Jesus visits Nazareth. I took my theme from the final verse in the chapter, “But passing through their midst he went away.” What a tragedy when Jesus is so close we can touch Him, yet because of our unbelief he passes by and moves on.
In the sermon I focused on three of the townspeople’s actions that demonstrated their unbelief. The first was over familiarity. Jesus had grown up among them. They knew his parents. His siblings played with their kids. He should have known them and what good people they were. Instead he preached to them, calling them to repentance just like they had heard he was doing elsewhere. They wanted him to perform some great miracles and signs as an honor to them, His people. When he pointed out the shallowness of their thinking, they were upset.
Familiarity breeds contempt. I see so many today who view Jesus as a buddy but not as Lord. Luther, in the Small Catechism, defines all Ten Commandments as beginning with the Fear of The Lord. “We are to Fear and Trust God so that . . . ” When we think God should honor us for all we’ve done and our great faith rather than us honoring our creator, Jesus passes through our midst and goes away.