A prayer for today from Kathryn Lay: “May we find peace and reason to hope in the care of God who has ‘counted . . . all the hairs of your head,’ a care that manifests itself in the love of family, the comfort of friends, and the support of Church and community.”
Today’s Gospel (Matthew 10, 26-33) is taken from the end of Jesus’ instruction to His disciples as He sends them forth to carry on His mission of preaching and healing. He asks them to live simple lives and to expect opposition and rejection. After having foretold future opposition and persecution, Jesus encourages them to stand firm. Three times they are urged, “Do not fear!” “Do not be afraid!” Instead of shrinking from their task, they are to proclaim the Gospel boldly because they will be guided, cared for, and protected.
Jesus uses the image of the sparrows to reinforce the disciples’ trust and hope in God. Like His first followers, we need not be afraid because our life, too, is in the hands of a loving God. Yet, sometimes we are afraid … afraid that we will make a wrong decision, afraid of what others will think when we speak up for Jesus, afraid of what the future will bring to us and our children, and afraid of growing old and what declining health will bring us. But God is with us through it all, our life is in His loving hands!
Let us take some time this weekend to remind ourselves that God cares for us – we are each a dear child of His, and He cares for each of us beyond our dreams. Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” And the last verse of Psalm 27 sums it up nicely: “Trust in the Lord. Have faith; do not despair. Trust in the Lord.”
