12th Sunday 2026
Jeremiah 20: 10-13; Romans 5: 12-15; Matthew 10:26-37
“Even the hairs of your head are all numbered.” I am afraid that I am less reassured by that statement than I used to be, when I had a luxuriant head of hair. Now, with significant gaps appearing, it will take the Lord less time and trouble than it used to, to number the hairs of my head. At least I am in a better position than one priest of this diocese who was bald at the age of nineteen. Counting his hairs will take no time at all.
Our Lord, of course, intends this statement as a reassurance. A God who has taken the trouble, not to split hairs but to count them, is not going easily to let us slip out of His hand—unless we ourselves allow that to happen. Indeed, reassurance is the hallmark of all our readings today.
That may not seem to be the case when we first look at Jeremiah. In some ways he was a forerunner of Jesus; spied on, denounced, deceived, betrayed. Yet when we reach the second half of today’s reading, we find a similar note of reassurance, of confidence.
For a long time Jeremiah was a lone voice as he prophesied the fall and destruction of Jerusalem at the end of the seventh century BC. As would happen with Jesus, the religious and civil authorities conspired against him; like Joseph son of Jacob, he found himself thrust into an empty well. Yet he was vindicated, and one of his followers, himself using the name Jeremiah, was able to proclaim the liberation of the Jewish people and the downfall of their Babylonian persecutors. Thus, we hear of trouble and suffering culminating in triumph.
Today’s psalm follows a similar pattern. The psalmist complains that everyone is against him, even his close relations. Again, we see a role as a forerunner of Our Lord. “Zeal for your house consumes me, and taunts against you fall on me.” These are words which were applied to Jesus.
At this point, it is worth asking “Do these words apply to you and me?” Do you and I burn with zeal for Our Lord? Do we suffer when Jesus and His Church are attacked? If not, why not?
Like Jeremiah, the psalmist ends by being full of hope, full of confidence in the Lord. “The poor, when they see it, will be glad, and God-seeking hearts will revive.” Again, we must question ourselves. Despite our difficulties, do we have gladness in the Lord? Do we have God-seeking hearts? Again, if not, why not?
St. Paul is even more reassuring. He refers to the fall of the human race, which he describes as Adam’s sin. Keep in mind that “Adam” means Man, or humankind. All of us have sinned, says Paul, but that sin is overwhelmed, overpowered, by the free gift of the New Human Being, the new Adam, who is Jesus the Christ. The damage done by Adam is repaired, and more than repaired, by the free gift, the grace, given to us by Jesus, if we ae willing to accept it.
From here we come to the Gospel, and Our Lord’s promise of a hair-count. “Do not fear…” He tells us, the sort of opponents whom Jeremiah and the psalmist feared. “Do not fear” He repeats, “those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul”. Then, for a third time, He insists, “Fear not”.
“Ah yes” you may reply, but He also tells us that we should fear “Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell”. True, but that fear is not to be a terrified cringing, but a healthy respect, a fear of letting God and ourselves down. It is a fear which grows out of love. You may remember the “long” Act of Contrition, in which we gave three reasons for detesting our sins; firstly, “because they deserve thy dreadful punishments” (perhaps questionable); secondly, “because they have crucified my loving Saviour, Jesus Christ”; but “most of all”—notice that “most of all”—“because they offend thine infinite goodness”. Our main reason for contrition is not fear of punishment, but fear of being ungrateful, of letting down this infinitely loving God. So, let our fear be a healthy fear, and our principal emotion be joy in the Lord.
