Be. Not. Afraid.

Know what I learned today?  That's the number one repeated directive given by Jesus to his followers in the New Testament.  Not the most important, necessarily, but the one he buttressed us with the most..

Be Not Afraid.

Here's the full reading from today, for those who didn't make it in...

Matthew 10:26-33 New International Version 26 

“So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 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 hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.[a] 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.  32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

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and here are the earlier readings, from Jeremiah and Romans.

JEREMIAH 20:10-13

10For I hear many whispering. Terror is on every side! "Denounce him! Let us denounce him!" say all my familiar friends, watching for my fall. "Perhaps he will be deceived, then we can overcome him, and take our revenge on him." 11But the LORD is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble, they will not overcome me. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten. 12O LORD of hosts, who triest the righteous, who seest the heart and the mind, let me see thy vengeance upon them, for to thee have I committed my cause. 13Sing to the LORD; praise the LORD! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers. 

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Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.

15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 

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Our priest made the point(s):  God isn't saying, you won't suffer.  God is saying, I am with you through it all.  He knows suffering.  Look at his son on the cross.  He's with us, always.  What sin Adam committed on behalf of man was erased for all of us by what Jesus accepted on our behalf on that cross.  He took on all our sins, forgives them if we are repentant, and wants ALL OF US to join in his kingdom.  He's NOT forcing anyone, nor even stripping the pre-Christ brothers and sisters from the kingdom or voiding their promises, but His Kingdom is an inclusive place, much more inclusive than the newspaper pundits and online evangelics of today would lead you to believe... 

"In my Father's house, there are many rooms.  If there were not, would I have told you so?"

I kinda like too how, in God's kingdom, you can lie your head beneath the stars, alongside the oceans and stream, and on the soft green earth, and know you have a home there too, because He is always with you, in one way or another. Be Not Afraid, friends, and take no heed for those who try to scare you.  God knows suffering, and he will never leave us alone if we call on Him in the times of darkness.

"God doesn't give us what we can handle.  God helps us handle what we are given."