There is a phrase that runs through all three readings today.
It is not stated directly.
But it is there.
The phrase is this:
Do not be afraid.
Jeremiah is surrounded by enemies.
Jesus tells His apostles they will be opposed.
And St Paul reminds us that we live in a fallen world marked by sin and death.
Yet the message remains the same.
Do not be afraid.
That may be the command most needed in our own age.
Because ours is an anxious age.
People worry about money.
Worry about health.
Worry about children.
Worry about the future.
Worry about the state of the world.
Worry about the Church.
Worry about growing old.
Worry about death.
Anxiety has become almost the background music of modern life.
And yet Jesus says: “Do not be afraid.”
Not once.
But three times.
Three times in a few short verses.
Because He knows the temptation of fear.
And He knows what fear does.
Fear makes us compromise.
Fear makes us hide.
Fear makes us silent.
Fear makes us forget who God is.
Look at Jeremiah.
The prophet has done nothing wrong.
He has spoken God’s word.
He has been faithful.
And what is his reward?
Ridicule.
Opposition.
Threats.
Betrayal.
He says:
“I hear so many disparaging me: ‘Terror from every side!'”
Even his friends are watching for him to fail.
Waiting for him to fall.
Waiting for him to make a mistake.
Many of us know something of that experience.
Perhaps not on Jeremiah’s scale.
But we know what it is like to stand alone.
To be misunderstood.
To be criticised.
To be laughed at for our faith.
To feel pressure to remain silent.
Yet Jeremiah does not give up.
Why?
Because he knows something greater than his enemies.
He says: “The Lord is at my side, a mighty hero.”
That changes everything.
The enemies remain.
The difficulties remain.
The suffering remains.
But God remains too.
And God is greater.
That is exactly what Jesus is teaching in the Gospel.
The apostles are about to be sent into a hostile world.
They will be rejected.
Mocked.
Persecuted.
Most of them will die for the Gospel.
Yet Jesus tells them: “Do not be afraid.”
Notice what He does not promise.
He does not promise popularity.
He does not promise comfort.
He does not promise an easy life.
Christianity is not a contract guaranteeing convenience.
Instead He promises something better.
He promises that God knows.
God sees.
God cares.
“Can you not buy two sparrows for a penny?”
Jesus says.
Yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing.
And then He says something astonishing:
“Every hair on your head has been counted.”
Think about that.
God knows you completely.
More completely than you know yourself.
Every joy.
Every fear.
Every struggle.
Every wound.
Every prayer.
Nothing escapes His notice.
That is why fear ultimately makes no sense for the Christian.
Not because life is easy.
But because we are never alone.
And then St Paul takes us even deeper.
He explains why the world is so difficult in the first place.
Why suffering exists.
Why death exists.
Why fear exists.
Why the human heart is often divided against itself.
The answer goes all the way back to Adam.
Through Adam, sin entered the world.
And through sin came death.
Humanity turned away from God.
And the consequences touched everything.
The world became wounded.
Human nature became wounded.
Creation itself became wounded.
We see the results everywhere.
Violence.
Dishonesty.
Broken families.
Addictions.
Loneliness.
War.
Death.
This is not the world God originally intended.
It is a fallen world.
And this matters because modern society often tells us a very different story.
It tells us that human beings are basically fine.
That our deepest problem is ignorance.
Or lack of education.
Or lack of resources.
Or lack of opportunity.
Christianity says something much deeper.
The problem lies in the human heart.
The problem is sin.
And no political programme.
No technology.
No economic system.
Can finally solve that.
But St Paul does not stop with Adam.
Because Christianity is not ultimately the story of the Fall.
It is the story of redemption.
Adam brought sin.
Christ brings grace.
Adam brought death.
Christ brings life.
Adam closed the gates of Paradise.
Christ opens them again.
And this is why Christians can live without fear.
Not because we are stronger than everyone else.
Not because we have all the answers.
Not because we never suffer.
But because Christ has conquered the greatest enemy of all.
Death itself.
The world fears death because it thinks death has the final word.
The Christian knows otherwise.
Christ rose from the dead.
The tomb is empty.
And therefore death does not have the final word.
Christ does.
That is why the martyrs could face persecution.
Why the saints could face suffering.
Why Jeremiah could endure rejection.
They knew that God was greater.
And then Jesus brings everything to a point.
“Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven.”
There it is.
The real issue.
Will we belong to Christ openly?
Or only when it is convenient?
Because fear always tempts us to hide.
To remain silent.
To blend in.
To avoid standing out.
Yet every generation needs Catholics who are not ashamed of Jesus Christ.
Catholics who are not ashamed of the Gospel.
Catholics who are not ashamed of the truth.
Not arrogant.
Not aggressive.
Not self-righteous.
But courageous.
And perhaps that is the challenge today.
The world around us often seems uncertain.
The future often seems unclear.
The Church faces difficulties.
Families face difficulties.
Each of us carries our own burdens.
Yet the Lord speaks the same words He spoke to Jeremiah.
The same words He spoke to the apostles.
The same words He speaks to us.
Do not be afraid.
The Father knows you.
The Son has redeemed you.
The Holy Spirit strengthens you.
And the God who holds every sparrow in His hand is certainly able to hold you as well.
So do not be afraid.
Be faithful.
Be courageous.
And trust the God whose grace is greater than sin, whose life is stronger than death, and whose love will never fail.
St. Mary's, St. John Bosco and St. Edward's 