Saturday July 12, 2025
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Sparrows
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;
what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
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.
Are not two sparrows 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.
Jesus tells his disciples to be filled with courage, and speak out for him and his message. They will be the first Christ-followers. As are sparrows, we too are valuable to God. Our value is not in our own eyes, but in the eyes of the One who made us. We earn nothing; we are simply loved and cherished. Do not be afraid, my children. Because of this, nothing can harm us, and we can do no wrong.
He does demand, however, that we not deny him.
Whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.
Deny means to push away, which requires mental muscle and often involves choosing something or someone else. By my actions, I deny the teachings of Jesus one way or another every livelong day. But in my mind and in my words with others I embrace the teacher.
The Catholic mass includes the words mea culpa (through my fault), a weekly or even daily beating of the breast which, although altogether appropriate, cannot in its admission remove either today’s or the next day’s pile of sins. This is not in my power to do. So be it. God has sent us Jesus, who can.
The stories of Genesis repeat our tendency to do wrong and then fear punishment, doing what we can to deny or avoid or run away.
Now that their father was dead,
Joseph’s brothers became fearful and thought,
“Suppose Joseph has been nursing a grudge against us
and now plans to pay us back in full for all the wrong we did him!”
So they approached Joseph and said:
“Before your father died, he gave us these instructions:
‘You shall say to Joseph, Jacob begs you
to forgive the criminal wrongdoing of your brothers,
who treated you so cruelly.’
Please, therefore, forgive the crime that we,
the servants of your father’s God, committed.”
When they spoke these words to him, Joseph broke into tears.
Then his brothers proceeded to fling themselves down before him
and said, “Let us be your slaves!”
But Joseph replied to them:
“Have no fear. Can I take the place of God?
Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good.”
Joseph sounds like a precursor to Jesus. The story of his earlier life describes his sense of superiority over his brothers, but he also seems to repent of that sin and ask their forgiveness. They ask his forgiveness for what they’ve done. In the shadow of their father’s death, they embrace and all is forgiven. At least for a little while.
Joseph understands that he must not and cannot “take the place of God.” Whether it be with the sparrows of Jesus or Joseph’s dream in Genesis, God is the benevolent shepherd, not any of us. The fact that we forget this the moment after we remember it doesn’t change God’s ways, or his intentions. For me this enlivens all the images of security in the Psalms and elsewhere. “Hide me in the shadow of your wings, O Lord.” I will try to escape, but please hide me there again.
There is no fear in God’s love. Yesterday I became angry with Margaret, and she became angry with me. We separated for awhile. We prayed. I hoped she would forgive me. But I also remembered the words of Meschach in the book of Daniel: “… even if he (or she) does not …”
Over the years my daily sins continue, but God’s forgiveness every day begins to remove my fear. As Joseph says to his brothers, so God says to us:
Have no fear. I will provide for you and your children.
(Genesis 49, Psalm 105, 1 Peter 4, Matthew 10)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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