Matthew 10:21-28: a reflection

21“Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. 22You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved. 23But when they persecute you in this city, flee into the next, for most certainly I tell you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man has come. 24“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord. 25It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household! 26Therefore don’t be afraid of them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim on the housetops. 28Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.

Preparing his disciples for the persecution they would face, Jesus gives them a striking command about fear. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, he says; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body. The persecutors could take the disciples' lives, but no more; their reach extended only to the body. God alone holds ultimate authority over the soul. So Jesus directs their fear away from those who could only harm the body, to God, the one truly to be feared.

Notice how the fear of God dispels the fear of man. The disciples faced real threats from those who could kill them; the fear of such persecutors could paralyze them. Jesus does not deny the threat, but he puts it in perspective: those persecutors can touch only the body, not the soul; their reach is limited. The one truly to be feared is God, who holds all things. And the striking effect is that a right fear of God frees us from the fear of man. When we fear God supremely, the threats of those who can only harm the body lose their hold over us.

That is a liberating truth for facing intimidation and threat. We are prone to fear people, their ability to harm us, reject us, hurt us, and that fear can control and paralyze us. Jesus redirects our fear: fear God, the one who holds our eternal destiny, and the fear of those who can only touch the body will shrink to its proper size. When you are tempted to fear people and what they can do to you, remember that their reach is limited, extending only to the body, while God holds all. Fear God supremely, and let that greater fear free you from the fear of man. The fear of the one who holds eternity dispels the fear of those who hold only a moment.

Lord Jesus, you told your disciples not to fear those who can kill the body but not the soul, but to fear the one who holds all, God himself. Redirect my own fears. I am prone to fear people, their ability to harm me, reject me, hurt me, and that fear can control and paralyze me. Help me see that their reach is limited, extending only to the body, while you hold my eternal destiny. Teach me to fear you supremely, so that the fear of those who can only touch the body shrinks to its proper size. Let the greater fear of you free me from the fear of man. When I am tempted to fear people and what they can do to me, remind me that you hold all, and let reverence for you dispel my fear of others. Free me by the fear of God from the fear of man.