“So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matt. 10:31).
Fear figures large in our Gospel today: in fact it’s mentioned three times by Jesus, as he sends out his disciples in mission. They have a lot to be fearful about: as Jesus has said just a little bit before, “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matt. 10:16). Jesus adds, “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name” (Matt. 10:21-22). Or as he says in our Gospel today, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matt. 10:34). Being a follower of Jesus is serious stuff. There are some anxiety-provoking roadblocks along the way.
We stipulate at the beginning that, for Christians, fear may be well founded: ravenous wolves surround the flock; there’s the prospect of betrayal and the stab in the back; the glint of the drawn sword and the likelihood of war. Yet in the midst of all these threats comes the evangelical counsel, the good news itself: do not be afraid.
Jesus tells the twelve, “So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known” (Matt. 10:26). Fear is pointless, Jesus says, because God will do what God will do. Fretting about it won’t make a piece of difference. As Jesus says in the sermon on the mount, “Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?” (Matt. 6:27). Our heavenly Father is moving this project ahead, with or without the disciples. It’s all going to be made known and to be revealed. The good news of the coming of the kingdom is getting out whether or not Jesus’ disciples move a muscle.
The disciples may be stymied by fear, held back by their own hesitations, but God can’t be held back. The work is moving ahead, with or without them, but God in his wisdom has chosen to work through them. So they might as well get moving, stepping ahead, walking into the light and proclaiming the truth. “What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops” (Matt.10:27). Good things will come from the good news.
God is in control of the universe, and every so often he reminds us of it. He steps on to the stage and comes to grips with the world and with its fears. When the angels appeared to the shepherds outside of Bethlehem, and God’s glory was revealed, the message was, “Fear not!” (Lk. 2:10). As Jesus says today to the disciples, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28). God is a just judge, worthy of glory and reverence and awe; and to fear God is to fear nothing else!
When the heavenly court opens for business, Jesus will be there to represent his followers before his heavenly Father, and claim them for his own. As Jesus tells the parable of the sheep and goats, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34). In the face of these words there can be no fear, short of losing the promised inheritance.
“’So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matt. 10:31). Once again, Jesus is teaching them, and teaching us, the true ground of our confidence in the face of fear. God is trustworthy and reliable, for this life and the life to come. He’s put a high price on the numbered hairs of our head. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (Jo. 3:16). That’s the high price paid on the cross. Jesus gives his life, as he says in the Gospels, as “a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28).
In our eucharist this morning, we participate, in an outward and visible way, in Jesus’ own sacrifice of himself. Christ who gave himself for us then gives himself for us now, in this holy sacrament. We receive his body and blood as a token of our inheritance as his followers. God loves us, and will never let us slip from his grasp! So step forward into the light, and proclaim the good news of his death and resurrection, which means new life for the world.