“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more.  But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!  Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight.  But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.  And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.  When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.”

– Luke 12:4-12 (NRSV)

            “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more.  But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!  Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight.  But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.  And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.  When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.”

– Luke 12:4-12 (NRSV)

Bernard Mizeki died on June 18, 1896. He was pulled out from his home and was speared.  Today, the Anglican Church commemorates his life of service as a missionary, catechist, and martyr.

Of Mozambique origin and trained in Zonnebloem College, South Africa, Mizeki was working as a lay Anglican Catechist among the Shona people in Zimbabwe. He had settled in the kraal of Mangwende Mungati, where he developed a mission compound with a school.  Southern African people were starving, the region was suffering from drought and locust plagues, and unrest  turned against the British South Africa Company and their heavy tax system.  Mizeki was killed during the Matebeleland Rebellion. The story tells us that his wife found him still alive and when she went for help, she saw “a great white light”, and a loud noise “like many wings of great birds”. Mizeki’s body could not be found. One source says that a supporter of the Mangwende witch doctors was “found to be responsible for the murder and the removal of the body, as well as the destruction of the mission settlement”. Whether Mizeki died because nationalists considered all missionaries as working for the colonial governments, or because he opposed the head religious chiefs and their local traditions, the fact is that there was an uprising and he was warned to escape. He chose to stay.

It is said that he refused to leave, because he was taking care of an incapacitated elderly man, and “since he did not regard himself as working for anyone but Christ, and he would not desert his converts or his post”. It is also said that he believed that “his absent Bishop’s orders to stay could not be overruled’. These are some rationalizations of his decision-making. Nonetheless, facing danger he chose to stay.

In Luke’s gospel, Jesus tells his disciples: “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.” (12:4)  We don’t know if Mizeki was afraid of dying or not.   We don’t know if in his decision-making, he just took Jesus’ instructions at heart. But in Luke’s passage, Jesus wants his disciples to not be afraid of death. There is nothing more common to our humanity than to be afraid of death, even when we know as Christians that we have eternal life in Him (John 3:16). Jesus is asking to be prepared for physical death trusting in His promise. But at the same time, Jesus seems to imply that we also need to be prepared for God’s justice, and that that thought should be the only ‘fear’ in our lives. This ‘fear of God’ means respect, awe, and submission to God’s steadfast love, because we are valuable in God’s eyes to the point that “even the hairs of your head are all counted”. This is the only ‘fear’ that we should use to weight our risks and decision-makings.

When Jesus says “don’t be afraid,” “don’t fear those who kill the body”, it does not mean that we should not care or take precautions. When we are in a situation where we need to activate our cognitive processes for decision-making, we focus on relevant information and we leave out what we categorize as irrelevant at that moment. When the mind is not occupied fighting the fear of death, it can use other areas of the brain to resource innovative ideas, along with different emotions that will foster a variety of possibilities and outcomes. Not fearing death should empower us to value our life and the stewardship entrusted in us; it should empower us to value our here and now to act, and take measured risks.  We are not talking about taking crazy risks in ignorance. We need to understand and weigh all the risks to make an informed decision. We also need to understand which kind of risks are opportunities to enact the love of God, and to show our love to our neighbor. That is the relevant information we need to focus on.

Mizeki made an informed decision, and he chose to take a measured risk. He chose to stay.

Our present pandemic conditions have allowed us to somehow face the presence of death, and therefore it has allowed us to think about what is important and what is not important in our lives. The longer the duration of the ‘confinement’ and ‘distancing’, the greater is the significance of the standards by which we weigh our risks. Jesus tells us that when we are weighing risks, we need to add into the equation God’s love and make it our priority. Along with the pandemic, this past month’s rise of public awareness regarding discrimination has opened another set of opportunities to us as individuals, but also collectively as Christ’s church, for decision-making in our lives to bring the kingdom’s love on earth.

So, now, what kind of decisions are we willing to make? And what kind of weighed risks are we willing to take?

– Fresia Saborio

Source: Dictionary of African Christian Biography, at URL:  https://dacb.org/stories/zimbabwe/mizeki-bernard/

Pictures from URL: https://alchetron.com/Bernard-Mizeki

Source: Dictionary of African Christian Biography, at URL:  https://dacb.org/stories/zimbabwe/mizeki-bernard/

Pictures from URL: https://alchetron.com/Bernard-Mizeki