Today’s first reading references the “God-fearing” to whom the message of salvation had been sent.  The disposition of one’s heart matters.  A disposition of reverence, respect, and humility provides openness that permits the Word to penetrate and work effectively.  A contrary disposition of closed self-satisfaction makes our hearts hard and impermeable to the Word and even the works of God in our midst.  In the economy of heaven, wonder and humility beats certainty and self-sufficiency every time, as we deceive ourselves when we fail to recognize the condition of our need for God and all His gifts, particularly His mercy.

Today’s psalm includes a couplet that also riffs on this theme:
And now, O kings, give heed;
take warning, you rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice before him;
with trembling rejoice.

To our modern ears, we recoil from “fear” and “trembling”.  We prefer comfort, security, and familiarity, which is reflected in our manner of dress and in the way we relate to others, including those in authority.  But the Psalmist here was addressing the highest level of ancient society – kings and rulers – who were presumably used to deference, respect, and honor from others.  This respected cohort is being told how to behave before an even greater Lord than they are: serving with fear and trembling, yet still rejoicing.

Is it possible to rejoice while trembling?  Perhaps we can find deep truths within this apparent contradiction.  God is transcendent, not common and familiar.  Until the appearance of our Savior, God’s immanence was largely hidden.  John’s gospel proclaims, “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.” (John 1:18).   By entering our world in the flesh, born of the Virgin Mary, God was able to show love and mercy in ways that were extraordinary and unfamiliar.  Loving one’s enemies, enduring injustice, embracing the stranger and outcast, showed us that God’s ways are different from our own.  As we are taught in the Nicene Creed, Jesus was consubstantial with the Father.  Despite emptying himself to become a servant (Phil. 2:7), Jesus possessed the fullness of the divine nature.  His life and words testified to this otherwise ineffable nature and related it to us in a way that we might grasp it, albeit imperfectly.

The reading from John 14 reminds us that Jesus is the bridge to the Father, allowing us to cross the chasm to the transcendent and going ahead to prepare a place in that transcendent reality for us to dwell.  Jesus tells his followers that they will dwell in the Father’s house, with the implication is that this house will be our Father’s house, too.

Lord, help us to live in a state of holy respect and awe for your name, rejoicing in the love, goodness, and mercy that you have so liberally administered to each of us, and which we celebrate in this holy Easter season.  Thanks be to God.