Jesus begins today’s Gospel by telling his disciples to “beware” of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees (Lk 12:1), going on to say that “there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed” (Lk 12:2). We hear from our Lord himself about the danger of worldly influence. Especially in today’s society, it is all too common that we go along with what everyone else deems to be acceptable; after all, it is a scary reality that expressing disagreement can cause one to lose friends today. However, Christ is telling us to be aware that what society says is normal and acceptable to God is in fact not so. We are not to rely on worldly leaders to tell us what is right; the only one who can adequately explain this to us is God himself, who speaks through the Church that he instituted. No politician or social media influencer can benefit the world like Jesus does.
In addition, we see that no secret we keep will ever be kept fully in the dark. While the human mind cannot possibly find out every secret that is being kept, God sure can. We can try as hard as we would like to hide the dark sin we partake in, and though another human may never know, God will. Jesus assures us, though, that we are not to be afraid, for we are “worth more than many sparrows” (Lk 12:7). God knows our sin, but he certainly does not call us by our sin. He calls us by our names. Though he knows about the sin we commit, we are not to be afraid of that, because we always have a Father to run to for forgiveness. He is just waiting for us to open our hearts to him. One may wonder why it is necessary to ask God for forgiveness when he always gives it, and one may wonder why we need to confess our sins if he already knows what they are. However, that’s just it - God objectively does know our sin, but he wants to see it through our eyes. When we do tell him what we have done, it is an invitation, on our parts, to allow God to come into our hearts. He doesn’t want us to just simply know that he is a merciful God; rather, he wants us to truly experience him in this way. Therefore, we need not be afraid of sin, but we do need to allow God to destroy it.