Deliverance (Proper A7)

Jeremiah and Ishmael tell us of God's deliverance from death. The image of the helpless infant's cries under the cover of the bushes reaching the ears of God is powerful. God's provision, for him and his mother, is in contrast to Abraham's faithful action in sending them away. (Abraham is a hard example to preach for father's day.)
The psalmist echoes their prayer, "Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you…"

Jeremiah feels deceived by his heavenly father, but looks to him for deliverance. The psalmist again echo's his prayer, "It is for your sake that I have borne reproach…"

Paul inverts the deliverance of God in New Testament fashion. "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." Consider yourself dead to be considered alive by God. God's deliverance from death comes through death.

Jesus' own words echo this. "Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it." The statements about the sparrows and the hair on their head demonstrate that God cares more about them, so they should not worry about their own lives, in fact they must loose their lives to experience the life of God.