Readings: Jeremiah 20:10-13; Psalm 68; Romans 5:12-15; Matthew 10:26-33
Grace and peace to you dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
In the Gospel of today, Jesus instructs His disciples not to be afraid. Three times He repeats this. Let’s look at the context. He was sending them out to minister, He told them that they would be opposed and persecuted but that they should not be afraid of people, they should not shy away from witnessing to Him. He told them that He would be with them and nothing would happen to them without His knowledge – even the hairs on their head were counted.
Like the disciples, we all experience fear. We are afraid of many things such as:
I. Fear of failure
II. Fear of the future – the uncertainty, the possible changes in our circumstances, health, job, relationship, children, finance, etc.
III. Fear of people – their threat, what they can do to us, fear of being opposed, attacked, criticised, rejected, etc.
IV. Fear of death.
In all these, Jesus tells us that every hair on our heads has been counted. That is, God takes a personal interest in us. He has personal and intimate knowledge of us – He knows who we are and what we are going through. He knows our pains, weaknesses, strengths, doubts, and what we are afraid of. He knows our health status, our family situation, our financial status, our relationship, immigration problems, the situation at work, the hurt and our struggles, our problems, and burdens, etc.
He knows us more than we know ourselves.
When we pray, it is not to inform Him, He knows (Psalm 139).
He knows all about us and yet He loves us absolutely. Only God can know all about us and still love us completely.
He cares about every detail of our lives. He takes a personal interest in us (even the number of hairs on our heads).
Nothing can happen to us without His knowledge and permission.
Hence, like Jeremiah in today’s First Reading, let us commit our cause to Him, let us trust that He is in control, and let us rest in the assurance that He loves and cares about us. Let us refuse to give fear a chance.
If there is anything we should be afraid of at all, it should be:
I. Fear of sin – that is, of offending a God who loves and cares for us so much.
II. Dying without being in a state of friendship with Him.
III. Fear of being separated eternally from Him after we leave this world. Fear of being disowned by Him.
Let us pray that we may trust God with all our hearts, that we may not allow fear to rule and ruin our will, that we may live in such a way that nothing will come between us and Him in time and eternity.
Sermon preached by Fr Emmanuel Baraka-Gukena Okami on June 25, 2023