14 January 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Luke 12:7
Paul states the heart of the Gospel: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” No one earns salvation; it is a gift received by faith. This frees us from fear of failing and from pride in succeeding. Everything we are before God is grace.
Jesus tells his friends: “do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more.” Five sparrows sold for two pennies, yet not one is forgotten by God; “even the hairs of your head are all counted.” Today the Syriac tradition remembers the Forty Martyrs of Sinai, monks killed by raiders while praying, and the Church in India honours St Devasahayam, who gave his life for Christ in 1752. They feared God, and so they feared nothing else.
Theme: “Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
Grace given freely; courage of the martyrs.
“Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.” Psalm 143:2
“since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” Romans 3:23–24
Apply: Thank God for one undeserved gift today.
“I, I am he who comforts you; why then are you afraid of a mere mortal who must die, a human being who fades like grass?” Isaiah 51:12
““I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more.” Luke 12:4
Apply: Do not hide your faith today.
“For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb.” Psalm 139:13
“But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Luke 12:7
Apply: Rest in God's care when you are anxious.
Grace frees us from fear and pride.
The martyrs show what trust in God can do.
Take-home resolution: Pray this week for persecuted Christians.
Dear friends, Paul writes the heart of the Gospel: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:23–24). Salvation is a gift, not a wage.
In the Gospel Jesus says to his friends: do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more (Luke 12:4). He reminds them: God does not forget even a sparrow. Even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows (Luke 12:7).
Today we remember the Forty Martyrs of Sinai, monks killed by raiders while at prayer, and St Devasahayam, the Indian layman who gave his life for Christ in 1752. They feared God, and so they feared nothing else.
Let us receive God's grace with gratitude and live our faith without fear. Amen.
Children, God knows how many hairs are on your head! He takes care of you. Do not be afraid to say you love Jesus.
Lord Jesus, you justify us by grace and tell us not to fear. Through the prayers of the Forty Martyrs of Sinai and St Devasahayam, give us courage to witness and trust in your care, for you count every hair of our head. Amen.
Paul gives the heart of the Gospel: all have sinned, and all are justified by God's grace as a gift. Jesus tells his friends not to fear those who can kill only the body, because even the hairs of their heads are counted. Those who know they are held by grace are able to be fearless. Today's martyrs, the monks of Sinai and St Devasahayam of Travancore, lived that out.
Setting.
From 1:18 to 3:20 Paul has shown that Jews and Gentiles alike stand in need of God's mercy. Now he turns with “But now”. Many consider these few verses to be the heart of the letter. The sentences are dense and full of words from the law court, the slave market and the Temple.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets,” (3:21)
“Apart from law” and “attested by the law” stand in one verse. The Law of Israel is not despised; it bears witness (see 3:31).
“the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” (3:22)
A note on the Greek: The phrase pistis Iēsou Christou can mean “faith in Jesus Christ” or “the faith (faithfulness) of Jesus Christ”; the NRSV notes the second in its margin. Scholars discuss it to this day. Both are true: Christ's fidelity saves, and we receive it by faith.
“since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;” (3:23)
Paul's “all” leaves no room for pride, whatever one's origin. The Church, for her part, confesses Mary preserved from sin by a singular grace from her first moment, which is itself a gift of that same redemption (CCC 491–492).
“they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” (3:24)
Three words explain each other: grace, gift, redemption. Nothing we do comes first.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes these verses in full to teach that justification is merited by Christ's Passion and given through Baptism (CCC 1987–1992), and it links v. 25 with the mercy seat (CCC 433). The Council of Trent also taught that nothing which comes before justification, whether faith or works, merits the grace of justification. In 1999 Catholics and Lutherans signed a Joint Declaration confessing together that “by grace alone” we are accepted by God, and not because of any merit of ours. Grace then bears fruit in love (Galatians 5:6; CCC 2008–2011).
Setting.
A crowd of thousands has gathered, and Jesus speaks “first to his disciples” (12:1). He is on his way to Jerusalem (9:51), and he knows what awaits him and them. His words are close to those sent out to the Twelve in Matthew (Matthew 10:28–31).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
““I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more.” (12:4)
Human power stops at death. This is the courage of every martyr.
“fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.” (12:5)
Most commentators take this to mean God, not the devil, since only God has that authority. It is the holy fear of the Bible, the fear of losing him. The next verses show that it is not terror.
“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight.” (12:6)
The argument runs from small to great, as Jesus so often does. God's care reaches even what the market values least.
“But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (12:7)
Being counted does not mean being spared: the martyrs' lives were counted, and still they died. The promise is that nothing of them was lost to God.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches God's providence from words like these (CCC 302–305), and calls martyrdom the supreme witness to the truth of the faith (CCC 2473). The early Christians kept the records of the martyrs with great care, as “the archives of truth written in letters of blood” (CCC 2474). Holy fear of God is itself a gift of the Holy Spirit (CCC 1831).
Do Catholics believe in justification by faith or by works?
We are justified by God's grace, received in faith and Baptism; no work of ours earns it (CCC 1992, 2010). Works done in love are the fruit of that grace, and by it they have real value (CCC 2008–2011). Catholics and Lutherans stated this common understanding in their Joint Declaration of 1999.
The Syriac tradition remembers today the Forty Martyrs of Sinai, monks killed by raiders in the desert of Sinai. The Church in India honours St Devasahayam (Lazarus), a married layman of Travancore, baptised as an adult, who gave his life for Christ in 1752 and was canonised by Pope Francis in 2022. May those who suffer for their faith in many lands today, and those who wrong them, be remembered in our prayer.