21 June 2026
XII Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A
Today’s Gospel passage (Mt 10:26–33) is part of the second major discourse of Jesus, through which the evangelist Matthew structures his Gospel.
This is the ‘missionary’ discourse, in which the Lord outlines the role of the disciples sent out into the world to proclaim the presence of the Kingdom at the heart of history.
Jesus does not hide the hardships of the mission from his disciples: they are sent into a world that will not always welcome them, a world that may misunderstand, reject or hurt them. A world that can even kill (“And do not be afraid of those who kill the body” – Mt 10:28)
Yet, within this concrete reality, Jesus repeats three times the same phrase: “Do not be afraid” (Mt 10:26, 28, 31).
This is not a moral command, nor just an exhortation to be courageous, but a real revelation.
Jesus does not tell his disciples not to be afraid because their lives will be preserved from all danger, but rather that they don't need to be afraid because what is hidden will be revealed (“Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known” – Matt. 10:26).
This is not about revealing personal secrets, unmasking other people’s sins or exposing their weaknesses.
Jesus is speaking of the truth of the Kingdom, of the light of God, of divine justice which is now hidden but which will one day be made manifest. And it means that there is no need to fear, because God’s truth will have the final say in history.
Evil may conceal, but it cannot extinguish. Lies may confuse, but they cannot prevail. Persecution may wound, but it cannot define the lives of the disciples.
This frees us from fear, because fear always stems from the perception that evil is stronger than good, and that we are alone in the world. Jesus explains immediately afterwards why this is not the case.
In verses 29 and 31, Jesus uses the image of the sparrows: he says that sparrows, which are sold for a small coin, will not fall to the ground without the Father’s knowledge. And he concludes by saying that the disciples are worth more than many sparrows. He does not say that sparrows will not fall to the ground (“not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge”), but rather, they will not fall to the ground out of the Father’s gaze.
Well, just as sparrows will not fall to the ground outside the Father’s knowledge, so too will the disciples be able to navigate life's ups and downs, knowing that their relationship with the Father will never fail them.
Jesus does not promise that they will not fall, but that they will never fall alone: the Father is present precisely where frailty seems to have the final say.
Well, this is precisely what will be revealed, and what the disciples will be able to proclaim to everyone (Mt 10:26–27).
God’s truth will be revealed — his faithfulness, his presence, and his provident care.
Yet all of this requires time; it needs to grow and mature. The process of revelation, in fact, always unfolds in two stages.
There is a time of hiddenness, of an interior life, a time in which the Father’s gaze penetrates deeply into the human heart and shapes it. It is a time in which the Word works within, like a seed in the soil — a time when nothing is produced, nothing is witnessed, nothing is spoken. It is a time of receiving.
Then there comes a time when all of this comes to light, a time when what one has become is revealed.
The mission, in fact, is nothing other than this: to make visible what we have received, what the Father has generated in the silence of the heart.
These are not two chronological phases, but two movements that are constantly intertwined. And courage is born here, from the wisdom that knows how to dwell in both of these times, without skipping over either one.
What makes a fearless witness possible is the time spent in silence, in the secret place, in the desert, where trust in the Father is born and deepened. It is there that one lives by His gaze alone and experiences His loving care.
+Pierbattista
*Translated from the orginal in Italian
