Don´t be intimidated by humans, but by God alone!

Matthew 10:26-33

“Don’t be intimidated. Eventually everything is going to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are. So don’t hesitate to go public now. “Don’t be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands.

“Two sparrows are sold for a penny and yet not one of them falls to the ground without the knowledge of God. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries. “Stand up for me against world opinion and I’ll stand up for you before my Father in heaven. If you turn tail and run, do you think I’ll cover for you?

Food for thought!

This Sunday's Readings are timely; most of us, if not all, needed to hear and have the comfort that comes from the Reading from Jeremiah (1st Reading) and the Gospel Reading. Jesus is telling you and me not to be afraid because we are protected; we are covered; we are secured. He is telling us that we are known by God in and out. Jesus uses the image of sparrows. That two sparrows are sold for a penny and yet not one of them falls to the ground without the knowledge of God. Luke gives us that saying of Jesus in a slightly different form: "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God?" (Lk.12:6).

The point is this, two sparrows were sold for one penny. But if the purchaser was prepared to spend two pennies, he got, not four sparrows, but five. The extra one was thrown into the bargain, because it made little difference to the seller. Although this may happen, God cares even for the sparrow that is thrown into the bargain. If sparrows are dear to God, what will be the man that God made in his image and likeness?

So let's not fear. Why? Because life has a way of bringing us to places where there’s nowhere to run and no place to hide—where fear not only consumes us, but paralyzes us. If you’re facing insurmountable circumstances, surrounded by impossibilities, you’re in a “Red Sea” moment. And even if you’re not in one right now, you can rest assured you will be. It’s only a matter of time. Red Sea moments take us back to the biblical book of Exodus, where God proved that He can make a way when there seems to be no way. As put Charles H. Spurgeon it: “The Lord will make a way for you where no foot has been before. That which, like a sea, threatens to drown you, shall be a highway for your escape.” 

Some of us might be facing a Red Sea or entrapped in a desert right now; we might be consumed with fear from an encroaching enemy and we may be looking back at all that we’ve endured, knowing we must go forward, but overtaken and paralyzed with the fear of a future that looks impossible. We should know that God specializes in making a way when there appears to be no way. God will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19).

As you see in today's gospel, Jesus identifies two fears that we normally have: 1) fear of false accusation and conviction, and 2) fear of bodily harm and death. In either case Jesus teaches us that the way to overcome fear is by keeping one’s mind focussed not on the fear itself, but on the Lord. God wants you and me to focus on Him, not on the problem, not on the challenge, not on the enemy.

Whatever happens to us, we cannot drift beyond the love of God. We should know that our times are for ever in God's hands; that God will not leave us or forsake us because we are surrounded for ever by God's care. This does not mean that we are free of turbulance in our lives. No. Indeed, it means exactly that we are to get all kinds of troubles. 

The authorities that persecuted Jesus and his followers had their strategies for covering up the truth. They knew how to tamper with evidence, produce false witnesses and convict the innocent. They cover up the truth and celebrate a lie. The way to overcoming this fear is to remember God's promise: "Eventually everything is going to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are"; in the end every lie will be exposed, the truth will come to light and justice will again be just.

Like Jeremiah and Christ yesterday, so is with us today. Please Read the 1st Reading to get the point: 

Jeremiah 20:10-13

Jeremiah said: I hear people whispering against me. Everywhere, I hear things that frighten me.

    Even my friends are speaking against me.

People are just waiting for me to make a mistake.

    They are saying, “Let us lie and say that he did something bad.

Maybe we can trick Jeremiah.

    Then we will have him.

    We will finally be rid of him.

Then we will grab him

    and take our revenge on him.”

But the Lord is with me.

    He is like a strong soldier.

So those who are chasing me will fall.

    They will not defeat me.

They will fail.

    They will be disappointed.

They will be ashamed,

    and they will never forget that shame.

Lord All-Powerful, you test good people.

    You look deeply into a person’s mind.

I told you my arguments against these people.

    So let me see you give them the punishment they deserve.

Sing to the Lord!

    Praise the Lord!

He saves the lives of the poor!

    He saves them from the wicked!

(Jeremiah 20:10-13)