Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered

 And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.

In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.  For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.  Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

"And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.  But I will show you whom you should fear:  Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!  Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins?  And not one of them is forgotten before God.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

"Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God.  But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.  And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.  Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say.  For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."

- Luke 11:53-12:12

Yesterday we read that, as Jesus spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him.  So He went in and sat down to eat.  When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner.  Then the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness.  Foolish ones!  Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?  But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you.  But woe to you Pharisees!  For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God.  Those you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.  Woe to you Pharisees!  For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them."  Then one of the lawyers answered and said to Him, "Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also."  And He said, "Woe to you also, lawyers!  For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.  Woe to you!  For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.  In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs.  Therefore the wisdom of God also said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,' that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple.  Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.  Woe to you lawyers!  For you have taken away the key of knowledge.  You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.  And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.

 And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.  Jesus has just warned the scribes, Pharisees, and lawyers about their hypocrisy, and how it masks a lack of mercy and justice.  This is their response to His words -- to seek a way to trap Him in something He might say, so that they might accuse Him. 

In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.  For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.  Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops."  The leaven of the Pharisees is hypocrisy.  The Gospel tells this plainly and clearly and directly, in the words of Jesus we're given.  Why does hypocrisy itself work against our better natures, our better interests?  Because it is a focus on externals, and allows us to be blind to what we really do, our interior and hidden motivations, desires, greed, and forms of selfishness.  Jesus warns that there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.  Hypocrisy is useless, powerless to give us true understanding or even good character, an inner worth.  Everything is eventually revealed.  This is a flat and powerful statement of truth, a promise from Christ.  It is a warning to all of us.  To live for the opinions of others, to be seen by others, is a trap.

"And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.  But I will show you whom you should fear:  Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!  Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins?  And not one of them is forgotten before God.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."  My study bible tells us that whom you should fear refers to God (Proverbs 9:10).  One way or another, our bodies will die eventually.  According to St. Ambrose, my study bible notes, states that death of the body is not itself a punishment, but it does mark the end of earthly punishments.  The soul is eternal.  As God is the judge of our soul, our efforts while in this world must be to please God alone.  And clearly Jesus here teaches us the acute awareness, the intimate involvement, in each tiny detail of our lives by God -- so much so, that God's awareness of us is far more acute than we have of ourselves.  Not even one sparrow is forgotten before God; the very hairs of one's head are numbered!  Moreover, within this awareness, to God we are absolutely precious.

"Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God.  But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.  And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.  Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say.  For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."  My study bible explains that to say a word against the Son of Man is to reject Jesus as the Messiah.  Jesus seemed to be a mere man to many people before their conversion, it notes.  The scandal which was caused by the Incarnation and Crucifixion of the Son of God (1 Corinthians 1:23) makes this sin more easily forgiven.  The Holy Spirit, by contrast, is without bodily form and invisibly works divine goodness.  My study bible here cites St. John Chrysostom, as well as many other Church Fathers, who say that the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would be forgivable if a person were to repent of it.  Jesus doesn't call the sin itself "unforgivable."  He makes this declaration knowing that those who blaspheme the work fo the Spirit are calling pure, divine goodness "evil," and that they are beyond repentance by their own choice.

Jesus is drawing for His followers at this point clear lines into which things will fall.  He has made such a statement, albeit without the understanding of His words in today's reading, when He told them, "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters" (see Monday's reading).  But when the scribes, lawyers, and Pharisees respond to Him by searching for a way to catch Him in His words in order to make an accusation, the split between the religious establishment and Christ is clear.  Moreover, the religious establishment is backed by the Roman governors (at least at this point), the fearsome state power of Empire that really hasn't ever been equaled in the world since.  When the religious leadership seeks to make an accusation against Jesus, we are aware of the penalties this may carry with it, which will extend to Jesus' followers.  In this context, one hidden gem in Jesus' words today is the absolute faith that He places in His followers.  He doesn't promise them a bed of roses in this world.  Rather, He tells us all, "I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do."  He calls us to fearless witness, to follow Him.  Our fear should be directed to the One whom we always keep in mind in our lives and through all of our choices, God.  This fear is the kind of awe and respect due to our true Father in heaven.  For God in heaven is the One with the absolute power of life and death over our souls, where our true consciousness and life is centered.  Our conscious awareness of the things that guide our lives must be upon the work of God in the world, particularly in the Person of God the Holy Spirit.  Jesus gives us a picture of our worldly lives in which God is active and intertwined, participating with us always.  He even teaches us of God's acute awareness about every part of ourselves, even to the number of the hairs on our heads.  Even the littlest sparrow's fate is something upon which God's awareness is focused.  These are promises that Jesus gives us, and those in state or worldly power -- even religious authorities -- cannot claim the same awareness, power, nor hold upon even our souls.  Whatever it is that takes place in this world, it cannot be of the size and significance in our lives, our souls, our very awareness, of the presence of God to us.  Furthermore, the warnings against hypocrisy simply emphasize this point, that we must take heed where we place all our faith, and particularly who or what we fear most.  This is because hypocrisy places the greatest awareness on the opinions of other people, whom we seek to please with outward works, while we neglect the place where God touches us and communes with us:  the inner life of the soul and what it means to be fully a person.  When we neglect this life where faith is, where our decisions really are, we neglect to place appropriate matters in the hands of God.  We fail to give attention where attention must be paid.  We lose the true meaning and knowledge of who we are, which is only truly found in our communion with God.  That's where life itself is.  Christ teaches us to be wholly reliant upon God, even for the times we respond to grave charges against us.  Let us consider the ways in which the life of God, active and working within us and in our world, intersects with our awareness of who we are and who we have to please in life.  How does that affect your choices and your decisions?  Does it open up places where you need to consider what you choose, what you believe, how you will respond to life in this world?  Think about the courage it invites you to take up in life, which bandwagon it invites you to jump off of.  Our lives are in the hands of God; there is none more powerful nor meaningful, and no one else who can give us life that is eternal, or take it away.