“All the Hairs on Your
Head” by Phil Russell
Piety
“Everyone who
acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge them before my Heavenly
Father.” (Matthew 10:33)
Study
“Even all the hairs on
your head are counted.”
Action
“Fear no one. What I say
to you in the darkness, speak it in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim
on the housetops.”
I was looking at the
sentence structure of Jesus’s words to his apostles (chosen). There is no comma in that finishing statement
at the end of today’s Gospel reading. “Acknowledges me I will acknowledge
them.” So, I pondered his words to me. It’s Father’s Day. I think about “my
Heavenly Father,” and I think about fearing “no one,” but rather fear the one
who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna. Ouch!
Jesus is still teaching
and encouraging his “apostles.”
What he whispers in the
darkness, shout out from the rooftops.
I have a friend, Jim.
Jim is a proud and professing atheist. My son, Michael, died unexpectedly on
Sunday (122 Sundays ago). I count Sundays; my Heavenly Father counts “even the
hairs on” our heads.” (Or, the lack, thereof).
Isn’t that very
statement by Jesus, worth more than just a “quick doodle”?
Back to Jim. I got to
know Jim from the Gym. He is a brilliant man who spends his day working at
algorithms. So, Jim’s question to me is: “How can you believe in God, when He
took your son.” Darkness!
Light!
“God didn’t take my son;
my most fervent hope and trust is that God received my son back again.” There
is a distinct period at the end of that statement, though it should be an
exclamation point!
Jim, wasn’t the only
one; there were others with a similar query. Much like Jeremiah, I hear the
whispers: “Let us denounce him.”
But I have to say on
this “Father’s” day in “Ordinary Time,” even as I continue the counting of
Sundays that keep moving forward from Michael’s leaving: It is my Heavenly
Father who counts, even the fallen hairs from this head that has seen 70 years.
I understand Jeremiah better because I know Jesus.
Hasn’t our world
changed? -!
But our God has not
changed.
Jesus has not changed.
He is the same yesterday, today, and forever!
Jesus was and is,
speaking to us.
What we see in all this
seemingly “darkness” of days, God calls us to shout from our rooftops. Full
with hair or not. These are days of “acknowledgment” that is the “call” today....
and “Who” better than “We” .... to love, to trust, to be hopeful. That’s the
person of whom Paul writes to the Romans (and us): “How much more did the grace
of God and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflow for the
many.”
Now that’s the Gift,
from the Father of Light, in all the darkness!
Bless His Holy Name!
Now that is the
perspective from today’s Gospel reading, not that we won’t have suffering; but
rather, we have a God who loves and cares for His children amid their pain.
Jesus is calling us to
“keep our focus!”
Today is Father’s Day,
and He is no ordinary Father!
No comments:
Post a Comment