Just two weeks ago, I was in the Netherlands and I visited this very old church now belonging to the Dutch Reformed community.  There was one of those old style pulpits that some of you may have seen in churches.  Great big, big things where the preacher would have to walk up about 10-12 steps to get up into it.  Big, big pulpit where it could be seen from every part of the church.  As I looked at it I did a double take because right there on the top of the pulpit just beside the preacher, in a nice brass case, was an hour glass.  I never did learn whether it was to tell the preacher to shut up after an hour or to make sure that he spoke for an hour.  I inquired but it was not for sale.  I’m sorry. 

We begin every Mass with some form of penitential act as we acknowledge our sinfulness, our unworthiness to be even present or to take part in the Eucharistic sacrifice.  We say I have sinned through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievest fault.  We were taught to beat our breast as we said that.  “Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.”  Yes it is important to express our sorrow; to acknowledge our sinfulness and ask to be forgiven.  This is especially so since we as human beings are very strongly inclined to, well, gloss over our faults or rationalize our conduct, to downplay the gravity of our moral lapses.  However, I think we should always remember the axiom, everything in moderation.  Too much emphasis on our sinfulness could lead to a kind of a spiritual paralysis; if I constantly say to myself, “I’m no good.  I’m a useless human being.  No one loves me because I’m not lovable.”  In other words if my sense of self worth is just zero then I’m not going to make any effort to do better.  I’d just be satisfied with my addictions, my sinfulness.  I will settle into darkness of spirit.  The Scriptures we read today are in stark contrast to such despairing attitude.  St. Paul says “If by the offense of one man (he means Adam) all died, much more to the grace of God and the gracious gift of one man, Jesus Christ, abound for all.”  I think these are wonderful words.  The gracious gift which means freely given, freely given to all.  Abounds for all.  Abounds.  What a wonderful word.  There is no rationing of God’s grace, of God’s love.  It’s given to you and it’s given to me and it’s given abundantly.  There is no fault, no sin, and no addiction that we cannot overcome with the abundant grace that has been given to us through Jesus Christ.  In the verses that actually preceded this passage that we had today and in fact verses that we read last week, St. Paul wrote, “At the appointed time, when we were still powerless Christ died for us Godless people.  It is precisely in this that God proves his love for us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Now that we have been justified by His blood, it is all the more certain that we should be saved by Him, from God’s wrath.” What Paul is saying very simply is God thinks that we were worth dying for. That’s huge.  That’s mind boggling.  That’s unbelievable.  And yet that is at the very heart of our Christian faith.  God thinks that we were worth dying for.  We embrace that concept.  We embrace it. 

In the Gospel passage today, Matthew has Jesus making it very clear that the Father cares deeply; deeply about each one of us.  Jesus uses the example of a sparrow; a tiny, tiny little bird that was so little regarded that two could be bought for a penny and five could be bought for two pennies.  In other the words the fifth one was just kind of thrown in there.  Useless, worthless.  But Jesus says, not even one single sparrow falls to the ground without God’s knowledge and God’s care.  Then Jesus insists that we are more important and more precious to God than a whole flock of sparrows.  He says do not be afraid.  Do not be afraid.  Fear of our inherent weakness, fear of our sinfulness, a lack of a sense of self worth as I said before.  That could paralyze us; spiritually paralyze us.  But Jesus is assuring us that we are worth a great deal in God’s eyes; that we are cherished by God; loved by God.  Indeed that God so loved the world that he gave His only Son to death that we might be saved.  We’re worth a lot to God.  We’re precious to God.  There is someone who loves us just for ourselves and that person is God.  So let us bring a healthy balance to our spirituality.  There is no one more keenly aware of our failures, of our sinfulness than we ourselves are.  We recognize clearly the many times that we say to respond to God’s love in our life.  At the same time we hold fast to the belief, to the conviction that we are God’s beloved children.  We are redeemed by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and given abundant grace to live the Christian life to its fullest.  We have no fear because while we are still sinners Christ died for us.  Amen