The mission of the twelve

Today is the twelfth Sunday in ordinary time and today’s gospel story comes to us when our Lord Jesus Christ was sending his 12 apostles on their mission to evangelize the Jews and pagans who have not heard the Good News that God has given them. He starts this gospel with his famous words, “Do not be afraid!” Today’s gospel reading comes from Matt.10: 26-33

“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. 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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If there is any reality in our life, it is that each one of us has our own individual fears. There are those people who have a natural fear of spiders which is known as arachnophobia, while many are afraid of heights which is called acrophobia, many have a fear of ghosts which is called plasmophobia, while the most common fear is called claustrophobia, fear of being in a confined space like inside a room. So before our Lord Jesus Christ sends his disciples to the unknown to preach the gospel of God, he first assures them by saying, “Do not be afraid!”

When my son was a little boy, he was afraid to even step on a moving escalator or enter an elevator to my ridicule, for he had nothing to be afraid of. Today he is a pilot with PAL flying a Boeing 777 to the United States, a far cry from his fearful toddler days. But who doesn’t have any particular fears within all of us?

In giving his reassurance our Lord added, “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.” This statement is for his disciples to guard against the hypocrites that they would meet on the road. Jesus tells them that it is better to fear God than fear any man.

On June 8, 2012, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines consecrated the Philippines in a Holy Mass together with all bishops and priests, a couple of months later, a person unknown to us suddenly surfaced, Janet Lim Napoles who surrendered to then president PNoy Aquino in Malacañang and after four hours in the Palace, the president escorted her to her quarters in Camp Crame. As he returned to the waiting Malacañang Press Corps, he told them that he never met her before.

Three days later, a newspaper came up with a photograph of Pres. Aquino with the photo of Napoles and her daughter taken at the Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa right after the thanksgiving Mass for San Pedro Calungsod. Our Lord Jesus was right when he said, “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.” The president lied to the Filipino people!

Another very important lesson that our Lord Jesus teaches us in today’s gospel is when he said, “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.” This is one teaching that we should fear God rather than fear any man for a man can only kill our body but not our soul. However if we do not take care of our souls, then it is us who kill our very own soul!

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