Matthew 10:26-33. Do Not Be Afraid
Standing alongside Jesus
Hard problems will undoubtedly come the way of all of us.
In 2018, twelve boys from a Thai football team, aged 11 to 17, and their coach were trapped deep inside the Tham Luang caves. The monsoon was coming, and the flooding threatened to seal them in a watery tomb. The boys went missing on a Saturday. Two very experienced British cave divers arrived the following Wednesday and began pulling themselves upstream through the dark watery tunnels, fixing rope as they went. International divers and Thai Navy SEALs joined them, inching forward a metre at a time and surfacing in each cavern to look for the boys.
Ten days after the boys vanished, they still hadn't been found. Some rescuers put their chances of survival at ten percent at best. The British divers pushed on, rationing their air and shutting off their tanks whenever they surfaced. In the ninth cavern, more than a mile and a half from the entrance, they removed their masks and smelled something foul.
"We thought it was decomposing bodies," one diver said. Then their flickering torches picked out thin, smiling faces, in a video that soon went around the world. "How many are you? Thirteen? Brilliant!"
That was only the beginning of the problem. The divers warned the Thai authorities: "We'll get them all out, but there's a good chance some will die." Each frightened, weakened boy had to be fitted with a wetsuit and a full-face mask, then pushed gently under the water to begin a journey through nearly two miles of flooded darkness.
Imagine being one of those boys. What would you most need to hear? Probably, "Do not be afraid." But it matters enormously who says it. Those words from someone on the bank are cheap. From the diver who has just swum to where you are, they carry weight.
We face our own caves
Many of us face situations that seem impossible: illness, redundancy, a collapsing relationship. Around twenty people die by suicide every day in the UK, and the real scale of despair is far bigger. When someone says ‘Try not to be afraid,’ the usual response is:
“It's all very well for you to say that. You don't stand where I'm standing. You don't appreciate the danger.”
For days those boys must have grown more desperate, knowing nothing of what was happening outside. Everything changed when they saw a diver surface and realised the experts were with them, with their equipment and their ropes.
The words of Jesus
In Matthew 10, Jesus is preparing his disciples, and us, for the work we must do after he has left: to be witnesses to the good news. The verses just before our passage are daunting. He is sending them out "like sheep among wolves," which is a worrying thing for a shepherd to say. They can expect to be handed over to the authorities, flogged in public, and betrayed by their own families. Yet he says:
“So do not be afraid of them…” Matthew 10:26
Should they take that seriously? And should we? Jesus gives five reasons.
1. The truth will be made known (vv. 26-27)
“There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.”
Those who oppose Christians rarely play fair. False allegations are made and plots hatched behind closed doors, in the belief that nobody will ever know. But in the end everything will come to light, and because the news about Jesus is true, it will be made known too.
What Jesus taught his disciples privately must now be told publicly. After the resurrection and Pentecost, a message first given to Israel would go out to every nation, shouted from the rooftops. Is it obvious to the people who know us that the news about Jesus is for everyone?
This week I was at a party, talking with a man from a thriving charismatic church. He didn't know I was a Christian. We were discussing young people, and he said,
"What matters most is that they grow up in a stable environment with clear standards."
"Isn't that the second most important thing?" I asked.
"What's first?"
"That they come to love the Lord Jesus and live for him."
"Yes, I agree with that too.”
“May I ask if you are a Christian yourself or not quite sure?”
“Oh yes, I’m a believer. I go regularly to church.”
"Then may I ask why you didn't mention Jesus yourself, when you had the perfect opportunity?"
"Well, I didn't know what you thought, and I didn't want to cause offence."
He was a believer, and he had stayed silent out of politeness. Scripture says plainly why that matters:
"If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9
"Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory." Luke 9:26
All of us need to learn to talk about Jesus naturally.
When I was a final-year medical student, I spent an elective at Mengo Hospital in Kampala, Uganda. One afternoon a friend and I were climbing Namirembe Hill to visit the cathedral when a local vicar smiled at us from across the road. We crossed to speak to him.
"What are you doing in Kampala?"
"We're working at Mengo mission hospital."
"That's wonderful! Does that mean you are Christians?"
"Yes, we are."
"Wonderful! Now tell me, how are you getting on with Jesus?"
No one had ever asked me that. Being British, I replied rather stiffly and feebly,
"Very well, thank you! And you?"
He saw my embarrassment and kindly told his own story. A schoolmaster who became a Christian at 29, he was soon given many responsibilities in the church. "As I became busy, living for Jesus faded into the background. But then I learned a secret. I had to learn to keep Jesus busy in everything I did. When I did something wrong, I said sorry to him straight away. When things went well, I thanked him straight away."
Then he looked at his watch.
“I'm sorry, I must go. But don't forget: please do keep Jesus busy.”
I look forward to thanking that lovely pastor in heaven.
2. Death is not the end (v. 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."
The worst our opponents can do is end this life. They cannot touch what happens afterwards. Jesus is saying that there is more than this life, and that the One we answer to is far greater than any human threat.
Many shy away from this teaching and deny heaven, hell and judgment. Yet Jesus spoke about heaven and the kingdom constantly, and he spoke about hell more than anyone else in the Bible. He describes it as outer darkness, unquenchable fire and a chasm that cannot be crossed (Matthew 25:30; Mark 9:43; Luke 16:26). He compares it to Gehenna, traditionally understood as the rubbish dump outside Jerusalem where fires burned constantly (Matthew 10:28).
Why does Jesus speak so plainly? Because he loves people and wants to warn us. We cannot rescue ourselves. We need a rescuer, or we stand under judgment. And the one who warned us about hell is the one who willingly paid the price so we need not go there. His goodness makes me look ultimately not at hell but at the cross.
J. I. Packer writes in Knowing God that God's character guarantees that all wrongs will be righted someday, and that when his righteous judgment is revealed, no problems of cosmic unfairness will remain to haunt us. For now we walk in humility and faith, with Paul:
"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!" Romans 11:33
3. God is in control (v. 29)
"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care."
Nobody gives much thought to sparrows. They're two a penny. Yet Jesus says God cares about every detail of life while holding the big picture. That raises hard questions, such as how we can have free will while God remains in control. The book of Job wrestles with exactly this. At the end, Job sees that God is so great that it is wrong for us to demand an account from him:
"I am unworthy; how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth." Job 40:4
The world is not out of control.
4. Our Father cares (vv. 30-31)
"Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."
"Do not be afraid" is one of the most repeated commands in the Bible. When people hear that God is in control, they wonder: ‘Am I just a cog in a machine?’ Notice how Jesus changes the picture. He stops speaking of the ‘sovereign God’ and speaks of ‘your Father’. He knows our fears, our hopes and our dreams. If he cares for the sparrows, how much more for his children?
This is a unique feature of the Christian faith, those who submit to the rule of Jesus, the son of God, are loved by God himself:
“ No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.” John 16:27
5. Acknowledging Jesus is what matters most (vv. 32-33)
"Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven."
When we're afraid to speak about Jesus, we may wonder whether it's all that important. Jesus answers: it is the ultimate question. We will not be judged on whether we had a comfortable life, a good career, an education or popularity. We will have to answer:
“Do I acknowledge Jesus before others? Do I speak up for him, or find excuses not to?”
Notice the repeated "whoever." It is an open invitation and a serious warning. Some who think of themselves as active in the church will hear on the last day,
"I never knew you. Away from me" Matthew 7:23
They lived for themselves in a religious setting, and living for Jesus was never the priority.
Most people don't take Jesus seriously. They don't read his word, rarely pray, and never speak about him. But for those who do believe, nothing matters more than living to please him. That is why we need not fear acknowledging him openly. And what awaits those who do?
"Well done, good and faithful servant! … Come and share your master's happiness!" Matthew 25:21
Back to the cave
The boys in Tham Luang were not rescued by shouted instructions from the bank. Rescuers went into the dark to reach them. Jesus did the same. He has been where we fear to go, through death itself, and he is with us now. So he says to each of us:
"So do not be afraid of them…" Matthew 10:26
BVP
This article has been posted on the website www.bvpalmer.com where there are many other helpful articles and videos.
Christchurch Baldock is a Bible teaching, gospel centred, local church. More details can be found on its website. It meets every Sunday morning at 10.30 am in Knights Templar School, Baldock
Bernard can be contacted at berniepalmer1@sky.com
