12th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (A)

So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Mt 10:26-33

COMMENTARY

Paraphrase of the Gospel

Do not be afraid. Proclaim the Kingdom of God.

Do not allow fear of those who can only kill the body deter you from proclaiming God’s kingdom. If you have to be afraid of anyone, be afraid of God who can not only take away your life but send you to hell as well.

But you don’t have to be afraid of God because if he takes care of sparrows that are of little value, how much more will he take care of you, you who have greater value than a flock of sparrows.

Do not be afraid of publicly professing your faith in me. If you deny that you know me, I will also deny knowing you.

Explanations

Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?

The small coin referred to is one of the smallest Roman coin used. It is called an “as”. With an as, you can buy 8 sparrows.

Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.

There are two possible meanings. First, God is not absent when a disciple dies. A second possible meaning is: Disciples do not die for the Gospel without God permitting it. Their death is not just an incident but an event of great value.

Everyone who acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.

What is spoken of here is the disciple witnessing to Jesus even at cost of shedding his blood. When this happens, he is sharing in the same lot as his Master, Jesus Christ.
The witnessing is in the form of proclaiming publicly and with one’s actions that he is solidly for Jesus Christ.

But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.

We are reminded of the betrayal of Peter: As he went out to the gate, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, "This man was with Jesus the Nazorean. Again he denied it with an oath, "I do not know the man!" A little later the bystanders came over and said to Peter, "Surely you too are one of them; even your speech gives you away." At that he began to curse and to swear, "I do not know the man." And immediately a cock crowed. (Mt 26: 71-74).
But after the Resurrection, Jesus pardoned Peter.

FOR LIFE

Fear is our emotional response to a powerful threat to one’s safety.

That emotional response triggers a behavioural response: either we flee or we are paralyzed by fear.

When I was studying theology at UST, I saw a college student running away. There was fear in his eyes. Now and then he looked back to see if anyone was following him. He was fleeing from danger.

When I was still a Brother, we went to Tagkawayan, Quezon for summer camp. While hiking along rice fields that have been harvested, a snake suddenly reared its head. It was a big one. We ran away as fast as we could. We fled from danger.

A teacher once mentioned this story. During the Japanese time, people were evacuating because of the advancing Japanese soldiers. His mother said: “Let’s just stay here together and die together.” His mother was paralyzed by fear.

A boy got a girl pregnant. He could not tell his parents what happened. He was paralyzed by fear.

Sometimes there is nothing to fear. But we scare ourselves to death. One of our priests who is a therapist related this exercise they had when he was still studying. Their professor hypnotized them. Under hypnosis, their professor told them to enter the room in their imagination and discover inside what they were afraid of. Do you know what they found inside the room of their imagination? Nothing. In other words, there was really nothing to be afraid of. But why were they afraid? Because they create monsters in their imagination.

I just recently finished two examinations. One was oral, the other written. I was anxious and afraid. In my mind, I was thinking: “What if I forget the answer to the questions? What if I was asked about something I was not able to study?” In other words, before the exams I was thinking about what could go wrong. And yet during the exams, I was able to answer all the questions pretty well. What was I doing before the exams? I was scaring myself. What I should have done was to shut out those thoughts that made me afraid.

But at other times, there is really reason to be afraid. But fear is able to overcome us because our faith is weak. If our faith is strong enough, fear will not be able to overpower us. In other words, we will be able to face and overcome our fears.

When God told Abraham to leave his father and his native land to go to a faraway land, he must have felt some fear. It is natural to fear the unknown. But because he believed that God was going with him to that faraway land, he was able to overcome that fear.

We read in Psalm 27: “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom do I fear? The LORD is my life's refuge; of whom am I afraid?

We are told that the words “Do not be afraid” can be found 365 times in the Bible, It is as if every day of the year God keeps on reminding us not to be afraid. And why should we not be afraid? Because Jesus tells us: “It is I. Do not be afraid.” Because Jesus reassures us: “And know that I am with you always till the end of the world.”