Fear Not, Little Flock

Fear Not, Little Flock

October opens with a verse that speaks to the smallness and vulnerability of the community of faith. The church in many places throughout history has been exactly what Jesus calls it: a little flock — small, vulnerable, dependent on the Shepherd. The Quaker missionary Elizabeth Fry, who spent her life working in English prisons in the early nineteenth century, described the people she served as 'little ones — overlooked by the world and very dear to God.' She carried Luke 12:32 as her ministry text. 'The Father is pleased to give the kingdom to those the world passes over,' she wrote. 'That is the most disruptive thing in the gospel.'

Luke 12:32 is tucked into a long section on anxiety and material provision (verses 22-34). The command 'do not be afraid' is followed by the specific fear Jesus addresses: the fear of a small community that the Father might not come through. And His answer is breathtaking in its scope: the Father is pleased — not reluctantly consenting, but pleased, delighted — to give you the kingdom. The littleness and the vulnerability of the flock are not obstacles to the gift; they are, in some sense, the occasion for it. The kingdom is given by the Father's pleasure to the little flock that has no other security. Be small. Be dependent. Be given the kingdom.