The coming Sunday is the 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time in Liturgical Year A and continues to explore verses in the “Missionary Discourse” of Matthew’s gospel. Last week, in discussing the 12th Sunday passage (Mt 10:26-33) we noted that Jesus had sent the disciples on mission: we learn the names of the Twelve, hear of their commission (vv. 5-15), and, also, we hear warnings of the persecutions they will face (vv.16-25). It is after this warning that last week’s gospel, ominously opens with: “Therefore do not be afraid of them.” Yes, as Jesus warns, they will share in the life, mission, and suffering as will their Teacher. But, they are to trust the One who cares for the even smallest of creatures. The sparrows, which can be purchased for a pittance, are cared for by God (v.31) during their lifetime alive, but even their death is within the Creator’s care. All happens with “your Father’s knowledge” – and so the disciples are to trust.

The gospel for the 12th Sunday ends with a promise of salvation on the last day for those who acknowledge Jesus. The gospel for the 13th Sunday is almost like a “pep talk” encouraging the Twelve (who are still the audience for this discourse). Between the 12th and 13th Sundays, we do not cover several verses, important to the context of the reading:

“‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man ‘against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household.’” (Mt 10:34-36)

While Jesus is often referred to as the Prince of Peace and his teachings promote peace and reconciliation, he clarifies that his arrival and message may have a disruptive impact on societal and familial relationships. Jesus is simply stating a reality that may occur as a result of his message and the choices individuals make in response to it.

These verses also add a new dimension. The hostilities the Twelve will face is not some  byproduct of the mission, it seems to be an intention of the mission. The purpose of Jesus’ coming, in part, is “not peace but the sword.” We should not be surprised. When a new kingdom is announced, the “old” kingdom does not go quietly into the night. It was the experience of the OT prophets and these NT apostles should not expect a different reception.

All this is asking for a radical loyalty – not just obedience to the teachings, but to witness to Him before the world. The text reflects a real situation in Matthew’s church, where people sometimes had to choose between their family and their faith. In some apocalyptic views, the breakdown of family structures is part of the terrors preceding the eschaton. Matthew finds this a meaningful framework within which to interpret the experience of his own church.

The gospels have already introduced the idea of the “true family” of Jesus, those who are already members of “his household” in v.25.  There Jesus had alluded to the community of disciples as Christ’s true family against the charge of possession by Beelzebul and the disruptions of the ties of natural kinship. It is Jesus’ affirmation of the Christian community as the family of God where ties are closer and more demanding than natural family ties.

Image credit: Sermon on the Mount (1877) by Carl Heinrich Bloch, Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle, Public Domain

“Do not fear!”  has been repeated throughout this passage of the gospel for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time. They serve to encourage the disciples to fearless confession in the face of opposition. Each saying is introduced by “Do not be afraid” (vv. 26, 28, 31) and attacks the fears that could cause the disciples to abandon their mission. The first saying (vv. 26–27) appeals to the inevitability of the coming of God’s kingdom and Jesus’ witness to it. Then the hypocrisy of the disciples’ opponents will be revealed. The second saying (vv. 28–30) appeals to God’s care for Jesus’ disciples. Their opponents can destroy the body but not the soul. The third saying (vv. 31–33) appeals to the final judgment before God, which will be based on the disciples’ faithfulness to Jesus during the conflicts that are part of their mission.

Jesus acknowledges the reality of fear, but asks that trust in God as loving Father outweigh the fear of the child.

Image credit: Image credit: The Sacrament of Ordination (Christ Presenting the Keys to Saint Peter), c. 1636-40, by Nicholas Poussin, Public Domain

This coming weekend is the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time.  In previous posts we have been exploring the human reaction of fear in the context of the divine mission. Jesus has given them assurances for their time in the mission, reason to not be afraid. Now He provides eternal assurances: 32 Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.33 But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”  

There is the old expression, “fish or cut bait.” One has to choose to move forward and take action (fish) or simply be back on shore “cutting bait.” So too, the question of priorities – who to fear – is asking a radical loyalty and fidelity to Jesus.

The previous mention of judgment before God gives added urgency to the choice. You can play for the short-term benefit and garner human approval or the long play of maintaining a prior loyalty to Jesus in the face of human opposition. The issue is not merely obedience to Jesus’ teaching, but the explicit “acknowledgement” of him as Lord before a hostile world. The demand is for faithful witness to Jesus even when it means suffering in Jesus’ name.

It is not without basis that one suggests that Jesus’ verdict will be on a reciprocal basis: acknowledgement or denial depending on whether they have acknowledged or denied him. In this it is a matter of final judgment. But it is also a “long play.” Consider the story of Peter and his denials of Jesus (26:69–75). He denied Jesus under the pressure of public opinion, but Peter’s subsequent rehabilitation suggests that the stark verdict of this saying allows for a temporary lapse under pressure.

Image credit: Image credit: The Sacrament of Ordination (Christ Presenting the Keys to Saint Peter), c. 1636-40, by Nicholas Poussin, Public Domain

This coming weekend is the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time.  In previous posts we have been exploring Jesus’ admonitions to not be afraid during the course of the evangelizing mission. In this post, Jesus begins to offer reasons and assurances to support the admonitions: 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. 

The Greek text literally translates as “without your Father.” Most translations include “knowledge,” “consent,” “will,” or “care” as the English seems to demand a clarification from the expression. But depending on the view of the reader it simply offers up more questions of divine sovereignty and providence: “does God simply know about the death of the birds (and therefore also of his people), or does he allow it, or does it happen because he has decided on it, or is the point that even in their death they are not outside his loving concern?” (France, 404).

This section does not try to sketch a misleading picture of a God. Sparrows fall to earth and disciples of Jesus are slain, and Jesus never says that it hardly matters. “What these sayings assert is that God is indeed God, that he is above success and failure, help and isolation, weal and woe, holding them in hands that Jesus says are the hands of the Father.” (Schweizter, as found in France, 404)

Where these verses begin with the repeated message not to fear, this verse reminds the reader that fear in general and fear of God (v.28) is balanced by trust in God as one’s heavenly Father. The God who can destroy in Gehenna is also the One who cares for the smallest of creatures. The sparrows, which can be purchased for a pittance, are cared for by God (v.31) while alive, but even their death is within the Creator’s care. How much more true is it of the children of a loving Father.

30 Even all the hairs of your head are counted. 31So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 

Some things are impossible to count: the stars in the heavens, the grains of sand on the shore, and the hairs on your head (baldness aside!) The impossibility of counting the hairs of the head is proverbial (Ps 40:12; 69:4), but even the impossible is not impossible to God who made them. The Creator’s intimate knowledge of those he has made is expressed movingly in other imagery in Ps 139:1–18. Equally proverbial is the saying “not a hair of his head will fall to the ground” to express a person’s total security (1 Sam 14:45; 2 Sam 14:11; 1 Kgs 1:52; cf Dan 3:27, Luke 21:18; Acts 27:34.22) The Father who knows the number of each disciple’s hairs will make sure none of them are lost.

As we learned in v.29, the small sparrow matters to the Creator, and so (for the third time) the disciples are told not to be afraid. All of God’s creatures are important to Him, none more so than humanity.

Image credit: Image credit: The Sacrament of Ordination (Christ Presenting the Keys to Saint Peter), c. 1636-40, by Nicholas Poussin, Public Domain

This coming weekend is the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time. In the previous post we discussed that there will be all manner of people who will not receive the evangelizing message, but may actively threatened your safety. Jesus tells them not to be afraid (v.26) and now He repeats this message: 28 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.

The possibility of martyrdom in the cause of Jesus, already raised in v. 21, is now addressed head-on. The body/soul contrast, when used in relation to execution, presupposes that there is a true life which goes beyond mere physical existence, so that the real “self” is untouched by the death of the body alone. And that is all that human opponents can touch. But both body and “soul” are subject to God’s power, and therefore also to his judgment. Under that judgment, it is not only the body but the true life of the person which is liable to destruction in hell.

“Hell” (Gehenna) that was already referenced in 5:29-30, is again referenced in 10:28 (and will be again in 18:9; 23:15, 33) is the place of final destruction of the wicked. This use is well-attested in Jewish apocalyptic literature. It is not the same as Hades, the place of the dead, which is not usually understood as a place of punishment or destruction but rather of shadowy existence. The name Gehenna derives from the Valley of Hinnom (Hebrew gê hinnōm) outside Jerusalem which had once been the site of human sacrifice by fire to Molech (2 Kings 23:10; Jer 7:31). There is a later tradition that the city’s rubbish was dumped and burned in this valley, which if true would provide a vivid image of “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

Image credit: Image credit: The Sacrament of Ordination (Christ Presenting the Keys to Saint Peter), c. 1636-40, by Nicholas Poussin, Public Domain

This coming weekend is the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Our gospel reading opens with the ominous, “Therefore do not be afraid of them.” Of course that just raises the question about the identity of “them.” There are verses that are not included in the Sunday gospels, notably Matthew 10:9-25, in which the actions of “them” are described. A summary might include:

• those who do not receive the Twelve and their message of redemption (v.14)
• the ones who “hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues” (v.17)
• governors and kinds (v.18)
• family members who turn against you (v.21)

“Don’t be afraid” prepares for the sayings about whom the disciples should fear in vv. 28 and 31, a part of our Sunday gospel in which the admonition to not be afraid is repeated.

The readings from the 11th Sunday made clear that they have been prepared to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand and to announce repentance with the same urgency as Jesus (Mt 4) and John the Baptist (Mt 3). The basic theme is stated in 10:24–25: “No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master.” Just as the disciples share in Jesus’ power, so they must share his life, mission, and his sufferings. As Matthew describes in v.19, the disciples will be “handed over” (paradidomi), the same word Jesus uses in the description of his own passion (17:22; 20:18–19; 26:2). Like Jesus, they will suffer for the sake of the divine mission in the world.

26 “Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. 27 What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops

These verses have their parallel in Luke 12:2 and, some would say, in Mark 4:22. I would disagree with the Markan parallel. While the words are similar, the topic in Mark is not missionary endeavors, but rather why Jesus teaches in parables and leaves some listeners “in the dark,” so to speak. Perhaps one might offer that the Markan context is that what must remain secret for a time will ultimately be revealed. But in Matthew’s use (and Luke’s) there is no nuance. The disciples are to proclaim the good news so that all can hear. That being said, there is a bit of muting about the proclamation if one considers Jesus’ own method of teaching by parables (Mt 13:10-17) which has the effect of being somewhat secret if not simply privileged.

The disciples have the duty to proclaim the message and not to let that public proclamation be the first casualty of fear. “Good news is not meant to be kept under wraps, however little some people may wish to hear it. Even though for the time being Jesus’ teaching to his disciples has to be “in darkness”…in the coming time of witness before governors and kings (vv. 17–18) and of world-wide proclamation of the euangelion (24:14) it must no longer be hidden.” (France, 402)

Image credit: Image credit: The Sacrament of Ordination (Christ Presenting the Keys to Saint Peter), c. 1636-40, by Nicholas Poussin, Public Domain

This coming weekend is the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Last week (2023), with the celebration of the 11th Sunday, we returned to Ordinary Time in the liturgical sense. Depending on the year (leap year or no), the phase of the moon (seriously – that is in part how Easter is determined) and some other celebrations you may or may not have encountered the readings from the 9th, 10th or 11th Sundays in Ordinary Time. Here is a quick overview and context.

9th Sunday (Matthew 7:21-27)
The end of the Sermon on the Mount and its discourse on the deeper, fuller meaning of the Law and righteousness, Jesus says to the disciples: “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock” (Mt 7:24-25)

10th Sunday (Matthew 9:9-13)
Mt 8:1 to 9:38 is Matthew’s description of the powerful deeds of Jesus, nine in all, interspersed between is the theme of discipleship. Mt 9:9-13 is the call of Matthew, the tax collector, to follow Jesus as a disciple. Jesus also describes the intrinsic nature of his mission: “Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” (Mt 9:13)

11th Sunday (Matthew 9:36 – 10:8)
This reading is the story of sending out the disciples: “At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mt 9:36) They are commissioned but asked to stay within Galilee and not go to the Samaritans or Gentiles. They are told they are to “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons” (Mt 10:8)

The first verses of Matthew 10 describe Jesus’ sending the disciples on mission: the names of the Twelve, their commissioning (vv. 5:15), and a warning of the persecutions they will face (vv.16-25). It is after this warning that the opening verse of our reading has its meaning: “Therefore do not be afraid of them.”

Image credit: Image credit: The Sacrament of Ordination (Christ Presenting the Keys to Saint Peter), c. 1636-40, by Nicholas Poussin, Public Domain