Sunday Scripture readings, June 25, 2023, 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jer 20:10-13 Ps 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35 Rom 5:12-15 Mt 10:26-33
Being Christian means not being afraid to affirm faith, love others
How is your Ordinary Time going?
After the intensity of Lent and the jubilation of Easter we may think this period is relatively uneventful, but think again.
On the 12th Sunday of a time we call “ordinary,” we find ourselves facing something extraordinary. We are struck at the beginning of the first reading, as Jeremiah proclaims: “I hear the whisperings of many: ‘Terror on every side! Denounce! Let us denounce him!’” Danger and death hang in the air.
Yet as we come to the gospel, Jesus’s own words offer a startling change of tone with the first words he speaks: “Fear no one.”
In fact, in this passage, no less than three times Jesus tells his disciples “Do not be afraid.”
Again and again in this Sunday’s readings we hear a message of tenacity, courage, boldness, and conviction. “What you say in darkness, speak in the light,” Jesus announced. “What you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.”
For the early Christians, this was nothing less than their marching orders — and we can understand today that this might have been something they needed to hear as people faced persecution, punishment, imprisonment and even death. They needed to be fearless. The risks were great. Suffering was real. Martyrdom wasn’t out of the question.
But what about us today? We don’t have to look far to find tales of discrimination and persecution against Christians in our own age, in countries as varied as Nigeria and Nicaragua; even in the United Kingdom, praying in public might lead to an arrest.
But I think proclaiming faith goes deeper than all of that. It is not just what we say, shout, announce or teach; it is how we live. It is how we proclaim Christianity with what we do.
This is, in so many ways, countercultural. Being a believer in Jesus Christ means, among other things, loving the unloved. It means being boldly compassionate in a world that is cruel. It means giving in a culture that teaches people to take.
It means caring for those no one else cares about. It is embracing the leper, feeding the hungry, praying for your enemies, forgiving your persecutors. It is sheltering the refugee, defending the weakest, and giving a voice to those who are voiceless — including the frail, the elderly, the unborn.
When Jesus tells his followers “Do not be afraid,” we should consider all that idea entails. He is saying more than “do not be afraid to declare what you believe and speak the truth.”
I think he is also saying, “Do not be afraid to love.” Do not be afraid to show mercy. Do not be afraid to forgive what seems unforgivable. Do not be afraid to love your neighbor as you love yourself and to understand that your neighborhood encompasses the whole world. And he showed by his own example, through how he lived and how he died.
He taught fearlessness and reassured anyone who heard him: trust that God is on your side. We hear it in the first reading, from Jeremiah: “The Lord is with me, like a mighty champion.” Jesus himself declares, “Everyone who acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.” The psalmist understood as much. “Bounteous is your kindness,” we hear. “In your great mercy, turn toward me.”
1900 years after Jesus assured his followers that they shouldn’t fear affirming their faith and living what he taught, another disciple offered this humble testament of fidelity:
“I will not fear,” Thomas Merton wrote in his most famous prayer, “for you are ever with me and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”
We may consider this just another Sunday in Ordinary Time. But, amid a call to courage and boldness, God’s Word reminds us of his steadfast hope and extraordinary love.
Deacon Greg Kandra is an award-winning author and journalist, and creator of the blog, “The Deacon’s Bench.” He serves in the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York.
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