When do fear and ignorance cause deafness in me?
Fear is the anticipation of the possibility that something unpleasant will occur. Some types are actually due to ignorance or a lack of knowledge or understanding”.
For some of us, the way we were raised may have promoted social fears within us. We may have never had the opportunity to get to know someone who is of another race, from another country, faith background, political affiliation or economic status and find ourselves being uncomfortable or even fearful of an encounter. We can choose to allow this fear to paralyze us into deafness and an inability to seek knowledge.
When have you taken the time to try to get to know and understand someone different? Challenge yourself to say “hello”. You might find that person is really not as fearful as you thought. If we could take the time to actually listen more and speak less, we might be able to get to a peaceful point of understanding, even if that means agreeing to disagree.
In Mark’s Gospel from last Sunday, Jesus said, “Nothing that enters one from the outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.” (Mark 7:15)
Fear can enter us at any moment and we can allow it to prevent us from growing in the knowledge that will help us get over that same fear. Jesus was all about relationships. Are we all about nurturing new relationships or are we living in a small box defined by our fears?