Scripture Scribbles: June 21, 2026
the Gospel
Matthew 10:26-33
Jesus said to the Twelve:
"Fear no one.
Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,
nor secret that will not be known.
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;
what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
And 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 Gehenna.
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?
Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge.
Even all the hairs of your head are counted.
So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Everyone who acknowledges me before others
I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.
But whoever denies me before others,
I will deny before my heavenly Father."
the scribble
If there isn’t a message jumping out at you from this Gospel, let me share the ones that are jumping out to me…I’ll give you a hint, one is echoed 3 different times:
“Fear no one”
“Do not be afraid”
“Do not be afraid”
Three different times, He repeats this message of not being afraid!!!
Do you think our Lord was trying to encourage his disciples here? Do you feel encouraged?
I want to.
Three times in this short Gospel he’s imploring us to not be afraid, yet my eyes keep rereading that other line that says “rather, be afraid…”
Who is our Lord warning us to be afraid of? I think we are all somewhat familiar with the many times the words in the Bible encourage us to not be afraid, maybe you can even picture the scene in A Charlie Brown Christmas when Linus quotes Luke 2:10 and says “fear not…” as he drops his security blanket. I guess what I’m getting at is that the Word of God is encouraging us to not be fearful. So, in this gospel, who is He warning us about, that we actually should be afraid of?
The one who is so slithery and sly. The one who wants us to doubt God and His goodness. The one who hasn’t really changed his tactics since the Garden of Eden.
The one who wants to shatter our trust, cripple our faith and destroy our relationship with God. The evil one would like nothing more than for us to not even consider the Word of God. To not even have it on our radar to read the Word. What I’m beginning to realize about this whole faith journey is there are only two directions we can possibly move. One is towards God and the other is away from God. So if we are not working on growing in our faith, working on a relationship with our creator, breaking open the Word, I’m afraid we are actually moving AWAY from God! There truly is a battle for our soul. There is a race we are all running, and there is an eternal reward.
Also, eternal damnation!
In this Gospel our Lord is trying to make us recognize how loved we are by our creator that every hair on our head is counted. There is no pain, no suffering, no battle in our lives that He does not know about. I think what He is giving us here in Matthew 10 are basic instructions, “What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.” Are we? Are his words ever uttered from our mouths? Am I delighted to share what God is doing in my life? Am I trying to resemble Him by offering grace instead of criticism, patience instead of frustration…..love instead of indifference? I don’t know about you but I don’t want to deny Him in front of anyone, because I’m certain I will be more than sad if our Lord denies me before His heavenly Father.
Be not afraid.
Be not afraid.
Be not afraid.
See you on the housetops!!
Today’s devotion was written by Beth Brennan
