REFLECTION

Gospel   

Jesus said to the Twelve: "Fear no one. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.

And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge.

Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny it before my heavenly Father."                                                                                                     Matthew 10:26-33  

Reflection

Fear and being afraid are featured prominently in today’s gospel. God and Jesus are well acquainted with the human capacity for fear. So much so, that fear is mentioned about 350 times in the bible. God knows how we can sometimes get so overwhelmed by fear that we can become paralysed or silenced or willing to go along with something we know is so very wrong. Perhaps that is what is behind Jesus’ question: 

“Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.Even all the hairs on your head are counted.So do not be afraid: you are worth more than many sparrows.”

Jesus and God do not want us to live our lives in fear. Today’s gospel is trying to encourage people to move beyond their fears.

So often I have wondered why it is so easy to incite fear and hate, yet so difficult to foster compassion and love. Is it our propensity towards fear that drives the willingness to be suspicious of and/or fear the ‘other’? As long as we are oblivious and so separated, we cannot know about each other's lives. And that not knowing, not being connected makes it easier to judge others or to fall prey to our fears.

When you start to become fearful or feel afraid of someone based on how society has labelled them, that’s when Jesus is calling on us to remember the sparrows in Matthew’s gospel. Jesus wants to remind us that, as each one of us is a child of God, we are all worth more than hundreds of sparrows.  

Julie Leonard Religious Education Leader/Wellbeing Leader