Not A Hair

When Jesus warned his disciples about the persecution they would face, he laid out a most interesting dichotomy:  "You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death.  They will hate you because of me.  But not a hair of your head will perish" (Lk 21:16-18).

Betrayed, hated and put to death, but not a hair on their heads will perish.  Of course, I can't help thinking of the old "Happy Days" sitcom character, "The Fonz," who famously would say, "Hey, don't touch the hair!"  The meaning, however, goes much deeper than That.  The loss of a single hair is no loss at all.  The fact that not one hair would perish is to say that they would not perish in the least, regardless of what happens to life and limb.

The very worst that the world could do to them (and to us as disciples) cannot diminish their standing before God.  And, our standing before God as children is life for, "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive" (Lk 20:38).  He is (not was) "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" (v. 37).  And though they have passed from this life centuries ago, they have not perished, they are not dead.

With all the terrible and even horrific killings perpetuated by the lunatic, fanatical Islamicists today, it is vitally important that we understand this truth: they can bring our living in this world to an end, they cannot end out lives, they cannot even take away a single hair, even if they should cut our heads off.  They are powerless to ultimately harm us.

Jesus put it this way: "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.  Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  (Lk 12:4,7a).  Remember, "not a hair of your head will perish"?  That is because God has numbered each one and he will gather each one, restoring you completely in the Resurrection (this should be particularly good news to many of us men who have been steadily loosing hair throughout the years).

So, what are we to fear?  No one and nothing except God: "But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him" (Lk 12:5).  And, if we are his children, there is nothing to fear in God for "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love" (1 Jn 4:18).  Jus' Say'n.