Jesus went from village to village, town to town, proclaiming the Kingdom of God. He healed the sick and raised the dead. His words and actions proclaimed the Father's unconditional love. But the people did not rightly understand his words and actions. Hence they criticized him sharply and even attributed his miracles to the power of Beelzebul. Nonetheless, he was not deterred from proclaiming God's love in his preaching, teaching and healing.

After having gone through the experience of opposition Jesus encourages his disciples to be courageous in their profession of faith in him. The only one whom we should fear is the Lord because he remained faithful in his love and was the master of his own life. The fear of God is not a paralyzing fear. Indeed Jesus is the one whom we can trust with our lives, our souls, our bodies and everything. Jesus gave us the mission of proclaiming our faith in him. When we profess our faith, we may invite the ire of others because our faith and our life-style will reflect a different value system, one based on gospel values. We need to trust in the Lord completely like St. Paul, who said boldly, "whether we live or die, we are the Lord's" (Rom 14:8).