Readings: Gen 21:8-21 Ps 86:1-10,16-17 Rom 6:1b-11 Matt 10:24-39

Do not be Afraid.

Today’s readings meet us in life’s hardest places: rejection, fear, conflict, and the cost of remaining faithful. We hear of Hagar sent into the wilderness with her child. We hear the psalmist cry out in need. Paul speaks of dying and rising with Christ. And Jesus warns his disciples that following him may even put them at odds with those closest to them. Yet through all of these readings, one message returns again and again: do not be afraid.

Hagar’s story reminds us that Scripture does not hide human cruelty or pain. She is cast out, vulnerable and desperate, wandering in the wilderness with no clear future ahead of her. As a new follower of Christ, I found this one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the Bible, and I still do. Yet in that place of abandonment, humiliation, and fear, God hears her.

God does not remove the wilderness, but God meets Hagar there. God opens her eyes to the well that will keep her alive. When I was younger in faith, I often wondered: Why did God not intervene earlier? Why did Hagar have to endure such pain? These are the honest questions many of us ask when we are learning to trust God.

Over time, I began to see that this is often how grace comes to us—not by pretending the wilderness is pleasant, and not by denying the trials and confusion we face, whether they come from the world around us or from our own failures. Grace comes by showing us that God has not left us alone, and by helping us discover how high, how wide, and how deep God’s love is for us.
The psalm speaks directly into those moments when faith, trust, and hope feel thin: “Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.” Faith is not pretending to be strong when we are not. Faith is crying out to God because we trust that God is listening.
Paul takes us deeper still. In the midst of life’s wilderness experiences—through trials, setbacks, and struggles shaped both by outside forces and by our own missteps—he reminds us that in Christ we are joined to both a death and a resurrection. The old powers of sin and fear no longer have the final word over us. We are not merely trying to survive this world by our own strength. We belong to the risen Christ, and that changes who we are.

There is a cost attached to Discipleship—and a certain Courage is needed to Continue. That is why Jesus can say, “Do not be afraid.” He does not say it because danger is imaginary. He says it because danger is real. Jesus is honest that discipleship can be costly: Truth can divide. Love can require courage. Following Christ may challenge the values of the world and unsettle the false peace we often accept. But Jesus also tells us that not even a sparrow falls outside God’s care, and even the hairs of our heads are all counted. In other words, we are fully known and safely held.

Christian courage is not about playing the hero, pretending we have everything together, or imagining that we hold the answer to every problem life brings. Rather, it is about learning to trust the One who sustains us, even when the road is difficult. The question is not whether we will face wilderness, fear, or costly choices. We will. The good news in today’s Scriptures is that we do not walk this road alone. The God who met Hagar, the God to whom the psalmist cried out, and the God who raised Jesus from the dead is still with us and walks beside us each day.

Think of the many hours people spend walking in a park, wandering through a mall, hiking in the bush or mountains, or simply sitting together in a lounge. Often, very few words are spoken, yet the companionship itself matters. There may be much to say about the psychology of such moments, but the simple truth is enough: when Jesus says he walks beside us and desires to speak with us, he means it. Too often, it is, we, who shut him out of our everyday lives.

The personal question then, is whether in those moments we remember whose we are. Do we trust that God hears our cry when we feel alone or abandoned? As we face the ordinary ups and downs of life, can we believe that in Christ the old rule of fear has been broken? And when faithfulness is costly, will we still follow Jesus with honesty and courage?

In God’s service,

Reverend Maku Potae
Chaplain St Thomas’ Church Whitford.