"Do not be afraid...I am with you," says the Lord.

“Are not two sparrow 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.”

In the first Scripture reading, the Prophet Jeremiah needed to hear those words of Jesus: “Do not be afraid.”   He was the reluctant prophet.  He knew what it was to be afraid.  Indeed, Jeremiah’s prophetic career was riddled with countless fearsome experiences.  When called by God, he feared he was too young.  He feared he would not know what to say or how to speak to his contemporaries in God’s name.  He feared facing others with the truth of their sinfulness.  He feared to speak God’s Word.  He feared not to speak it as well, and when he spoke it, he feared its consequences.  In the Scripture reading today, his hearers wanted to denounce Jeremiah and to lay a trap for him.  You didn’t have to tell Jeremiah about fear.  He was an expert on the subject.

To the first disciples, Jesus says:?  “Fear no one…What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light.  What you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops…Do not be afraid.” 

What does Jesus do after giving these awesome marching orders to his disciples?  Sell them life insurance.  Give them bullet-proof vests.  Teach them how to diffuse conflict.  No!  Jesus simply repeats:  “Do not be afraid.” 

What about ourselves and our fears.  Perhaps it’s all we can do to get here to Church on Sunday mornings and we’re supposed to be shouting the Word of God from the housetops?  No way.  I don’t want to be seen as a religious fanatic.  Yet, Jesus is telling us:  “God even knows every hair on your head.  So stop being afraid.  You are of much more value than any sparrow.’

Isn’t that amazing?  God knows everything we go through and nothing that happens to us escapes the Father.  Even if we die, it doesn’t happen apart from God.  Even if we seem totally abandoned, even if our prayers don’t seem to be answered, even if everything seems hopeless, God knows and God cares.  If that’s the case, we can stop being afraid.

How can we really stop being afraid. Is there something we can do to stop being afraid?  No.  The only way we can stop being afraid if we trust in God’s promise to us.  The God who watches over even the commonest of birds will take care of us.   Our best response to God’s promise is simply to celebrate, rejoice, and give thanks.

Yes, but…Who can believe this?  Who can live without fear?  We are suspicious even of promises.  We are always hearing of promises that aren’t kept.  Our grandparents may promise to leave us the farm when they die, but who’s to say they won’t go bankrupt and lose the farm before that?  Even the promises made on one’s wedding are not always kept.  Regrettably the life experience of many of us have taught us to be suspicious of promises.

                                                                                                                                           

Yet Jesus made many incredible far-reaching promises:  not only about God knowing every hair on our heads and promising to care for us, but also remember some of the other promises of Jesus:  “Today, you will be with me in paradise.”  “I go to prepare a place for you.”  “I am with you always.”  “ I tell you, your sins are forgiven.”  From the Beatitudes:  those who mourn will be comforted; the meek will inherit the earth; the pure in heart will see God.”

But when Jesus was crucified, these promises seemed to be all cancelled out.  He had failed.  He was just a dreamer.  Even his disciples no longer followed.  In the accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they are nowhere to be seen at the crucifixion.  All of them deserted and fled.  Pete denied even knowing Jesus.

Thanks be to God.  Jesus’ death was not the end of the story.  God raised Jesus.  God made sure that Jesus could keep his promises.  Even death will not keep Jesus from keeping the promises He has made to us, because we die with Him and we will be raised with Him.  That’s a promise.  And it’s the basis for our hope in all the other promises.  Even the sparrows don’t fall to the ground apart from God the Father, and we are of greater value than many sparrows.

From the Gospel, Jesus says that “Everyone who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven.  That’s a promise.

What is so important in our spiritual journey is that when we are limited to be suspicious of promises, based on our old eyes of experience where we have been hurt, we are not able to embrace the promises of the one who lived and died and rose again so that we no longer have to be afraid.

Today’s readings call us to re-consider our Christian vocation.   Each of us was baptized to share in Christ’s prophetic ministry.  We need to stop and ask ourselves if we are willing to step into the space where the way to the world contradicts the Gospel and say:  “It doesn’t have to be this way.”  It means we must love our world enough to be part of making it what God created it to be.  When I can live without fear, I trust in the talents that God has given me and can freely share the joy and hope of the Gospel with one and all.  I truly believe that my future and your future is full of hope.  Why?  Because God who is a God of love promises to be with us all day until the end of time.

What about you?  What will it take for you to live without fear?  Are you willing to trust in God’s word to you?  “Do not be afraid.  I am with you.  I know full well the plans I have in mind for you – a future full of hope.’

Today that same crucified and risen Lord is in our midst, allowing us to stop being afraid because of the powerful love of God on which the promise is based:  “Even the hairs of your head are counted; you are of more value than many sparrows.”  The promise continues in the mystery of the Eucharist as we hear Jesus say that “this bread is my body, given for you,” and “this wine is my blood, shed for you.”  We receive Christ in the bread and wine because He promises to meet us there.  In this sacrament the promise is visible and touchable.  “Take and eat; take and drink.”  As we do this in remembrance of Him, we can stop being afraid.  Amen.

Have a Blessed day.