12th Sunday – Cycle A
Do not be Afraid! (Mt 10:26-33)
One of the explicit characteristics of Matthew is that it was written in and for a Jewish community. Hence to understand that Gospel we need to be conscious of the Jewish background. Flowing from this setting, an interesting detail in the Gospel is that Matthew collects various sayings of Jesus delivered at different contexts into a compendium, breaks them into five parts, and places them at five locations, demarking the Gospel into “five-books” symbolically representing the five books of the Torah! Have a look at this:
Part 1 – Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:1-7:29), at the beginning of the ministry of Jesus;
Part 2 – Missionary Instructions are collected in chapter 10;
Part 3 – Parables of the Kingdom in chapter 13;
Part 4 – Instructions about the Community of God in chapter 18; and
Part 5 – Sermon on End of Times is placed towards the end of the gospel (Mt 23:1-25:46).
Interestingly, the transition between these discourses is clearly marked with the phrase: “When Jesus had finished saying these things…” (Mt 7:28, 11:1, 13:53, 19:1, 26:1).
The gospel text of today comes from the missionary instructions of Jesus to his apostles whose names are mentioned at the beginning of chapter 10. A repeated message in today’s gospel text is “Do not be Afraid…;” repeated three times in this short extract. Let us reflect on the triple “Do not be afraid…”
Do not be afraid of the Mystery of God
The realm of the divine is clouded in mystery. We find it difficult to make sense of the paradoxes of the mysteries of life that our religiosity and spirituality attempt to help us handle. We want clear cut answers and solutions in black and white. And we want it here and now.
Jesus says in the gospel text of today, “For everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear” (Mt 10:26). This can only happen when we can stay in silence in a spirit of contemplation before the mystery, with a sense of awe. The clarity of the hidden will emerge not in rational terms but in ways that provide meaning to our life. Meaning brings energy and serenity to our lives. Attempting to seek rational clarity in terms of black and white could only make us fundamentalists and fanatics.
As Pope Francis says in his apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia (no.305):
“Discernment must help to find possible ways of responding to God and growing in the midst of limits. By thinking that everything is black and white, we sometimes close off the way of grace and of growth, and discourage paths of sanctification which give glory to God.”
When we live our lives in constant spirt of discernment, listening to God, contemplating the mysteries of the greater truths of life, beyond the mundane limitations caused by the unknowns, “everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear!”
Do not be afraid of threat for the self
The second part of the gospel text moves from the level of the mystery of God to our own existential fear – fear for our safety when we are committed to the mystery of God. Jesus does speak about physical threat. These lines have to be understood in the context of the preceding lines within the missionary instruction of Jesus to his apostles in Matthew 10:
“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of people, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues…” (Mt 10:16-17).
In the first reading of today, we hear of one of those lamentations of prophet Jeremiah. He was persecuted by the kings, priests, and false prophets of his own time. He cries out, “I hear so many disparaging me,
‘Terror from every side!’” Despite this fear, he continues with a note of hope: “Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord, for he has delivered the soul of the needy from the hands of evil men” (Jer 20:13).
Jesus assures us also, “Every hair on your head has been counted. So there is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.” God is in control.
Oscar Romero (1917-1980), the Archbishop of San Salvador, did not begin as a revolutionary figure. He was considered cautious and traditional. Yet when he saw violence and injustice around him, he found the courage to speak the truth. Many advised him to remain silent. But he was not afraid of those who kill the body, he preached the values of the Kingdom.
In a newspaper interview just a few weeks before his death, he said, “I must say that, as a Christian, I do not believe in death but in the resurrection. If they kill me, I shall rise again in the Salvadoran people.” he was murdered by a right-wing death squad while celebrating Mass on March 24, 1980. He was beatified in 2015 and officially canonized as a saint by Pope Francis on October 14, 2018.
Do not be afraid of witnessing to Jesus
Most of us may not be threatened by death for witnessing to Jesus and to the values of the Kingdom. What we might be afraid of is a little bit of embracement of what others think when we have to make decisions based on Christian ethics. Or we may be afraid of wasting time for resisting corruption and dishonesty in our daily life. Or we may be afraid of a little convenience to go out of our way to be compassionate to someone in need.
To these challenges, Jesus says: “if anyone declares himself for me in the presence of men, I will declare myself for him in the presence of my Father in heaven.”
Here, I would like to recall the life of a contemporary saint, who was canonised by Pope Leo hardly a year ago on 7th September 2025: Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901–1925). He came from a wealthy family. He could easily have lived a comfortable life. Instead, he spent himself among people who were poor, sick, and marginalized. He was not afraid of witnessing to Christian charity. Frassati died at only 24 years of age, yet he became one of the most beloved young Catholics of the twentieth century in Europe.
May these saints of the 20th century assure that Jesus’ promises are not in vain. That we can also live our Christian life and witness to Christ without fear.