Dear friends,
I pray this finds you well.
This is such a strange time, with some things starting to feel like summers past (baseball, for example, as you’ll hear about in the sermon) but always that awareness that things are not as they used to be. There are days it’s difficult to trust that God will see us through this wilderness, but that is still the hope to which I cling.
Here’s today’s worship service in its entirety:
And here are the gospel reading and sermon, if you’d prefer to listen to them without video:
Today’s sermon is based on Matthew 10:24-39.
[Jesus said to the twelve:] 24“A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; 25it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!
26“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 27What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. 28Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30And even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.
32“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; 33but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.
34“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
35For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.
37Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
I arrived to Aidan’s baseball game on Friday in the excruciatingly long bottom of the first inning. The opponent scored run after run after run. When the inning finally came to an end, our coach had a word with the team. We have to be more aggressive out there, he said. Aidan just happened to be the first to bat after that convicting word from the coach. He stepped up to the plate, swung at the first pitch, and hit the ball harder than I’ve ever seen him hit it.
It helps me to imagine these challenging words from Jesus as something of a dugout talk. It’s time for the disciples to step up to the plate, to do the work to which they’ve been called. Jesus has equipped them with all that they need to cast out demons and to cure disease. But he also needs them to understand that this will be an aggressive game. Stepping up to the plate is not going to be easy.
Jesus–the incarnate Word of God—inevitably creates division in a world where God’s unconditional grace is denied and God’s unyielding demand for justice is ignored and dishonored. The Word of God is not experienced as good news for those who determine their worth by devaluing the worth of others. The Word of God is not experienced as good news for those invested in systems that maintain a high quality of life for some while so many others suffer.
So when you step up to the plate bearing the Word of God, it’s going to cause conflict. There are some who will welcome you, appreciate you, respect you, praise God because of you. But there are others who will reject your message, reject your work, reject you. Doing the work of Jesus in the world may cost you your friendships, may cost you your relationships with your family. Indeed, it may cost you your very life.
This is not church as entertainment or church as a place to be made comfortable. This is church in a world where the playing field is not level and no matter how much it costs us, we step up to the plate for justice.
It’s not easy.
In fact, it’s hard to believe that any of Jesus’ disciples actually left the dugout after that “pep” talk by their coach. But they did. They stepped up to the plate, they swung for the fences, they did the work to which Jesus called them and they kept on following where Jesus led. They followed him to the cross. They followed him to their own deaths, many of them martyred for the sake of the gospel.
How were they able to step up to the plate?
I have to believe part of what inspired and encouraged them was that powerful image Jesus gave them—one that would have surely stayed with them throughout all that they endured. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.
One of the most beloved gospel hymns of the 20th century was inspired in part by this scripture. His Eye Is On the Sparrow was written in 1905, and in 1958, the great gospel singer Mahalia Jackson put her signature on this hymn. Please, as soon as we’re done with worship, listen to Mahalia Jackson sing this hymn.
The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. said Mahalia had a voice that came once in a millennium. She didn’t just sing the song. It was her story. And Studs Terkel, in an interview, said: No one sang it like Mahalia…It’s everybody’s song as Mahalia sings it.1
The song begins with a question: Why should I feel discouraged…when Jesus is my portion? His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.
Jesus is our portion. United with Christ in baptism, we leave the comfort of the dugout. We follow Jesus into all those places of injustice and sorrow we’d rather not go. We love as Jesus did, and we love Jesus himself, as we embrace the most vulnerable among us—believing the testimony of the wounded, defending the humanity of the marginalized, welcoming all.
When we step up to the plate and swing for the fences for the sake of hope and healing, justice and freedom from all oppression, we are never alone. Jesus is with us. He goes to bat with us and for us, for the sake of this world God so loves. Thanks be to God. Amen.
1 https://www.npr.org/2000/09/03/1081503/his-eye-is-on-the-sparrow.