Fear Not the Little Flock
+ Ε.Φ.
In many English translations of the Holy Gospel, we encounter Christ’s words rendered as:
“Do not be afraid, little flock…”
At first glance, this seems harmless. Yet this punctuation subtly alters the meaning of our Lord’s words and can lead to a misunderstanding of what He is actually saying.
The original Greek text of Luke 12:32 reads:
Μὴ φοβοῦ τὸ μικρὸν ποίμνιον· ὅτι εὐδόκησεν ὁ Πατὴρ ὑμῶν δοῦναι ὑμῖν τὴν βασιλείαν.
A more faithful rendering would be:
“Do not be afraid of the small flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the Kingdom.”
Christ is not saying: “Do not be afraid, little flock,” as if merely offering comfort to a group already described as small.
Rather, He is saying:
Do not fear because the flock is small.
The object of fear here is not fear itself, but the smallness of the flock.
Why This Matters
This distinction is not trivial. It touches the very heart of ecclesiology and spiritual life.
Christ does not promise that His flock will be numerous, socially powerful, or dominant in the world. On the contrary, He acknowledges its smallness—and commands us not to fear because of it.
The fear He addresses is the anxiety that arises when:
Truth appears marginal
Faithful believers seem few
The Church is reduced to a remnant
Christ removes this fear by grounding our hope not in numbers, but in the good pleasure of the Father.
The Kingdom Is Not Given by Majority
The Kingdom of God is not a democratic reward nor a sociological achievement. It is a gift.
“For it has pleased your Father to give you the Kingdom.”
The Father gives the Kingdom not because the flock is large, but because it is His. The value of the flock lies not in its size, but in its faithfulness.
Throughout Scripture, God works through remnants:
Eight souls in the ark
A handful of faithful in Israel
A few disciples who turned the world upside down
The smallness of the flock has never been an obstacle to God—it has often been His chosen instrument.
In an age where truth is often measured by popularity, Christ’s words are profoundly liberating. The faithful Christian is not called to panic when the Church appears small, marginalized, or ignored.
Christ Himself tells us:
Do not fear the smallness.
Do not equate truth with numbers.
Do not despair when faithfulness is rare.
The Kingdom is given, not conquered.
The flock is small, yet beloved.
And the promise remains unshaken.
A misplaced comma may seem insignificant, but here it changes the emphasis of Christ’s teaching. He does not merely console a “little flock.” He commands us not to fear because the flock is little.
This is not a message of defeat, but of deep confidence in God’s providence.
For where Christ is, there the Kingdom already is—even if only a few stand with Him.
