Matthew 16:21-28

Have you ever had a setback…a defeat…or just messed up?

• Have you ever had to turn lemons into lemonade?
• Playwright Oscar Wilde once commented after a disastrous opening night that his play was a great success…
• But the audience was a failure.

Winston Churchill had that same ability to turn a setback into something good.

• He was once asked:
• What most prepared you to lead England through World War II?
• His reply?
• It was the time I repeated a class in grade school.
• His questioner then asked:
• You mean you flunked a grade?
• Winston Churchill straightened himself up to his full height and replied:
• I never flunked in my life.
• I was given a second opportunity to get it right!
• The Lord be with you…

Simon Peter knew about second chances.

• You will remember from last week that Jesus and his disciples were in the region of Caesarea Philippi…when Jesus asked them:
• Who do people say the Son of Man is?
• Simon Peter answered:
• You are the Messiah…the Son of the living God.

 

And Jesus praised him for his answer:

• Blessed are you…Simon son of Jonah…for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood…but by my Father in heaven.
• And I tell you that you are Peter…and on this rock I will build my church…

 

Today’s lesson follows that scene.

• Matthew tells us that from that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders…
• The chief priests and the teachers of the law…and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

 

At this Simon Peter took Christ aside and began to rebuke him.

• Never…Lord! This shall never happen to you! You know what happens next.
• Jesus turns and says to Peter:
• Get behind me…Satan!
• You are a stumbling block to me…
• You do not have in mind the concerns of God…but merely human concerns.

What a reversal!

• One moment Peter proclaims Christ as the Messiah…
• And the next moment he is telling Christ how to go about his work.

 

One moment he is in the garden defending Christ with a sword against a Roman legion…

• And the next he is standing outside the palace where Jesus is being tried and denies with an oath that he ever knew Jesus.

 

One moment he is in hiding as his Master is being crucified…

• And the next he is proudly proclaiming Christ’s message to thousands of listeners on the Day of Pentecost.
• This is Simon Peter.

 

Even more important…

• We are Simon Peter.
• Defending and denying…
• That’s us.
• We identify with Peter.
• We all say dumb things.
• We all have wooden feet.

It is like our tour group of college students in Italy.

• We were standing just inside St. Peter’s Basilica…
• The second largest church in the world.
• The tour guide explained:
• This church is so large that no one on earth could hit a baseball from one end to the other…
• Not Lou Gehrig…not Babe Ruth…
• The group stared in silence at the beautiful marble sculptures…intricate paintings…and glorious mosaics all around the enormous building.
• Then someone interrupted the silence with a question:
• You mean…they actually let them hit baseballs in here?
• We might think this person is a few fries short of a Happy Meal…
• But all of us have blurted out remarks just as clueless.

Simon Peter rebuked Jesus.

• The truth is that Peter cared about his Master.
• He did not want him to suffer and die.
• How could the Messiah be put to death?
• That did not make sense.
• Peter was being quite honest.
• Never Lord! he said.
• This shall never happen to you!
• Peter was saying what the other disciples were thinking.

 

Jesus then spells out what is facing those who would give their lives to him.

• Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
• For whoever wants to save their life will lose it…
• But whoever loses their life for me will find it…

In August of 2003…the Church of the Holy Cross in New York City was broken into.

• The thieves unbolted a 4-foot long…
• 200-pound plaster Jesus from a huge crucifix…
• And left behind the wooden cross to which it was attached.

The church caretaker confessed his puzzlement at this:

• They just decided…we’re going to leave the cross and take Jesus…
• We don’t know why they took just him.
• We figure if you want the crucifix…you take the whole crucifix.

 

We know why…don’t we?

• Many people would like to have Jesus and leave his cross behind.
• Jesus represents forgiveness and grace.
• Jesus is a divine friend who accepts us as we are…
• Hears our prayers and helps us in times of need.
• Who would not want Jesus?
• But his cross?
• It represents discipline and self-denial.
• The cross represents service and sacrifice.
• The cross represents taking our eyes off ourselves…
• And putting them on those for whom Christ died.
• For God so loved the world!
• We want Jesus…
• But taking up his cross?
• Those thieves are not the only ones who want to take Jesus…
• But not his cross.
• That is our sin as well.

 

Peter slipped when he was first confronted with the message of the cross.

• So do we…
• Slipping and sliding…
• That’s us.

 

But that’s not the end of the story.

• Peter met the risen Jesus face to face…
• And he who had been a bending reed became a solid rock of faith and service.
• And that happens to us too.
• As Christ raises us from the dead moment to moment!

Matthew 16:13-20

Several years ago…the governor of Alaska was visiting in a nursing home in
Juneau.

• In the lobby he began to strike up a conversation with a delightful
• After some time had passed in their conversation…the governor was
  a little surprised that he was not being recognized by this woman.
• Ma’am…do you know who I am? he asked.
• The woman looked at him and with a
  big smile on her face…she pointed to the receptionist…at the front desk and
  said:
• No…but if you ask politely…that nice lady will give you your name
  AND your room number.

 

Sometimes questions have a way of marking important moments and events…as well as teaching us some humility.

• Some questions can be answered
  easily while others take longer to answer fully.
• I find this true in our faith journeys.
• And today’s story in Matthew’s Gospel offers questions that reflect a decisive turning point between Jesus and his disciples.
• The Lord be with you.

 

They are in Caesarea Philippi…a city dedicated to Caesar…filled with shrines to pagan gods…and overshadowed by the great rock face of Mount Hermon.

• It was a place where kings were honored…idols were worshiped and political power was displayed.
• Jesus brings his disciples here…not to escape the noise of the world…but to confront it.
• Standing in a world full of competing identities…rival loyalties and counterfeit gods…he asks:
• Who do people say that the Son of Man is?

The disciples easily and willingly answer Jesus’ question.

• They offer a list: John the Baptist…Elijah…Jeremiah…
• Good answers…but Jesus digs deeper…asking a second question.
• And what about you? Who do you say that I am?

It is not enough to answer Jesus’ question with what other people think or to
repeat what others say.

• Jesus wants to know what his disciples think…what they believe.
• This question is personal and harder to answer.
• And I imagine there may have been some awkward silence on their walk that day…
• Avoiding of eye contact…looking down at feet…and kicking the dirt.
• The disciples were frantically thinking to themselves…Please…someone else answer!
• And then Peter blurts out…You are the Messiah…the Son of the living God.
• Peter answers correctly…and Jesus blesses him…
• And explains that Peter can only make this confession of faith because God has revealed it to him.

But this isn’t the end of the story for Peter and the disciples.

• Even with Peter’s correct proclamation of who Jesus is…
• He and the other disciples still do not know fully who he is.
• At this point the disciples do not know yet of Jesus’ death to come on the cross…nor of his resurrection.
• Peter does not know that he will become a stumbling block for Jesus in the verses that follow today’s story…
• Or that he will deny Jesus three times on the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion.

After Peter blurts out his breathtaking confession…Jesus has a few fitting words as to who Peter is:

• You are Peter…and upon this rock I will build my church.
• Until this moment…Simon had been Simon.
• Now he is Peter…the Rock.
• In the Bible…a change of name often signals a change of calling.
• Abram becomes Abraham…Sarai becomes Sarah…Jacob becomes Israel.
• Names reveal not only identity but vocation.
• Calling Peter a rock in Caesarea Philippi was bold.
• Behind them stands a giant rock cliff associated with pagan worship and imperial propaganda.
• Yet Jesus says in effect: Not on this wall of stone…not on earthly power.
• Not on the shrines of false gods.
• Not on Caesars or empires.
• But on you…on your faith…on your confession.
• On this rock foundation of revealed truth…I will build my church.

This verse is historically one of the Bible’s most contested verses due to how it has been interpreted and debated by Catholic and Protestant Christians over the centuries.

• Catholics have long argued that this statement makes Peter the first Pope in a long line of popes.
• Protestants have argued that this statement is less about Peter and more about Peter’s faith…his testimony…in Jesus Christ that…is the foundation of the church.
• As far as we know…Peter is the first human to make the full confession that Jesus is the Christ.
• The thing to remember…here…is that it is not that Jesus had the guy it took to lead the church…
• It is that Peter had the God it took to lead the church.

In college…I wrestled with my faith and what it was that I believed.

• Not what my parents believed and had raised me to believe.
• I was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran church…
• But my childhood image of Jesus no longer made a great deal of sense…
• And one needs to build their faith…not on hearsay…but on Jesus words spoken in our text:
• And what about you? Who do you say that I am?

And so…I began to take theology classes in college.

• And so…I began reading and studying the Bible and praying through this process.
• I began to experience a rekindling of my faith and my relationship with Jesus.
• From those classes and seminar discussions with my classmates…
• My faith and relationship with Christ grew…
• But…of course…I still did not have all the answers.
• The Christian journey is a life-long walk with the Christ of God.
• We are not meant to solve God once and for all.
• We are always learning who Jesus is…and who we are.
• Martin Luther said: We are always on the road.
• What about you? Who do YOU say Jesus is?
• Don’t answer the question
  quickly…take your time.
• Take this question with you and reflect on who you say Jesus is.

Jesus then mentions giving the keys of the kingdom of heaven to Peter.

• Jesus did not choose Peter because he understood everything or had the best prayer life or was the most loyal disciple.
• Jesus chose Peter exactly because Peter was going to be rebuked by Jesus…and would deny him three times?
• Jesus knew that only a forgiven
  sinner could really preach the Gospel.
• And sinless perfect piety is not real.
• Jesus knew that only forgiven sinners can really be trusted with the keys of the kingdom?

Finally…Jesus sternly tells the
disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

• We do not know exactly why.
• Perhaps we must live into the fullness of what professing Jesus as
  the Christ really means for us…
• Before we compel others to incorporate it.
• Perhaps Jesus does not want them to tell because the time had not yet come
• for him to die?

What we do know is that on the other side of today’s story…

• On this side of the cross and empty tomb…some 2,000 plus years later…
• We…as Jesus’ disciples…are still examining Jesus’ question for ourselves.
• So…as we attempt to continue to follow Jesus…always learning who he is…
• We pray that when Jesus asks us…Who do you say that I am?
• God will reveal to us the answer with our words and our lives.
• Thanks be to God.

Matthew 15:21-28

Somewhere on the borders of Galilee and the Gentile cities of Tyre and Sidon…Jesus meets the unnamed woman…a Canaanite.

• This is not the only time we find Jesus operating on the border…
• Literal borders…between nations and cultures…
• Or metaphorical borders of risk and challenge…on the boundary…at the edge.
• In Luke 17 we find Jesus traversing the borderland between Israel and Samaria…where he cures ten men of a skin disease…
• And only one…a Gentile…a foreigner…an outsider…returns to say thank you.

And so…we find him today…traveling by choice…in the district of Tyre and Sidon…

• Along the border between Jewish and Gentile territories…
• And this border is…a sometimes hostile one.
• He is confronted there…by someone from the wrong side of that border…
• A Gentile woman…a Canaanite.
• Canaanites were not only foreigners and outsiders…but Israel’s traditional enemies…
• The native inhabitants of the land displaced by Israel’s occupation centuries earlier.

Jesus is confronted by a Canaanite woman…who is shouting at him.

• She does not take him to the side and quietly beg his pardon or try to persuade him.
• She is shouting…demanding healing for her daughter…who is possessed by a demon.
• Jesus surely cannot ignore her.
• She is shouting…but he does not…at first…say a word to her.

Well…Jesus disciples urge him to send her away.

• What is it…exactly…that they want to see him do?
• Do they expect him to run her off…and let her and her daughter suffer?
• Maybe they want him to give her what she wants…
• Not out of any compassion for her suffering…but as a passive-aggressive way of getting rid of her.
• Otherwise…Jesus would not have answered them the way he does…
• When he says: I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel…
• He is talking to the disciples…explaining to them exactly why he does not just heal the woman’s daughter.
• His mission…at this point…anyway…is to Israel…and not to foreigners…Gentiles…outsiders.

But…bless her heart…she will not go away.

• She comes up close and kneels before him…calling him Lord…
• And openly…asking for help.
• Jesus gives her…one-on-one…the rationale he gave to his disciples…
• Only more forcefully…concluding it with an insult:
• It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs. Ouch!
• That word!
• Literally small dogs…like puppies or house dogs…
• But still an unflattering term often used for gentiles or enemies.

The woman…fearless…comes back with a yes-but.

• Yes…but…Lord … even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.
• And Jesus changes his mind.

What leads him to change his mind?

• It is the woman’s great faith that leads Jesus to change his mind…
• Where…he is in the borderlands…the human-made dividing lines between Gentile and Jew…
• Samaritan and Jew…outsider and insider…foreigner and native…Us and
• What we see here…before us…in Jesus…whom we call Lord…is a reversal brought about by the woman’s resolute faith.

The Gospels demonstrate that…for Jesus…faith is everything.

• The hemorrhaging woman…in Matthew 9 is told…your faith has made you well.
• The centurion in Matthew 8 whose servant is mortally ill…is told…let it be done to you according to your faith.
• A paralytic in Matthew 9 on a stretcher is healed when Jesus sees the faith of the friends…
• Who knocked a hole in the roof and lowered his stretcher down on ropes…
• Because the crowd was too thick for them to get him in the door.
• Two blind men…also in Matthew 9…are told…According to your faith…let it be done to you.
• In John 4…a man who believed the word that Jesus spoke to him…
• Headed home to find his little boy…who was sick to the point of death…healed when he arrived home.
• It is faith which draws a positive response from Jesus.
• It is almost as if Jesus cannot help but respond affirmatively…when he is approached…in faith…by anybody.

In the situation before us today…the Canaanite woman’s faith leads Jesus to rethink and redefine his mission on the spot.

• Some might think he is only making an exception here…in the face of her shouting…and her refusal to go away.
• But the many other instances of healing…shows this to be the rule…not the exception.
• Do we want healing from Jesus?
• Come to him…in faith…call him…in faith…shout at him…in faith!
• He cannot help but respond!

What becomes of this woman?

• We know that her daughter was healed from that moment.
• Beyond that…we know nothing.
• She disappears from history.

Peter…however…does not…disappear.

• He keeps showing up…from the Gospels’ beginnings until now.
• We have twin models of faith…here:
• Peter…he of little faith…the sinking Peter…during the walking on water scene…why did you doubt?
• And this shouting Canaanite woman: she of great faith.

The point here is that faith gets Jesus’ attention…

• Faith that draws forth his healing power…
• Be it the little faith of Peter…or the great faith of this unknown…unnamed Canaanite woman.

And what about us?

• Do we find ourselves on some kind of border between doubt and faith?
• Are we confronted by an ailment we cannot seem to shake?
• It is faith that will give us release…
• Be it the little faith of Peter or the great faith of the Canaanite woman.

One does not have to be a bold and persistent shouter.

• There can be a persistence…whether we are shouting as we go…or plodding along…just because it is what we do.
• Buried in all that brings us here…week after week…
• Where is the faith that saves…the faith that heals?
• What pushes us to seek Jesus…be we shouting or timid?
• Our hope and prayer is that we are not afraid of our own needs.

With this Canaanite woman…this foreigner…this outsider as our guide…

• Let us not be put off by the outsiders…the poor…the immigrants…
• Who come through our doors uninvited…shouting their need.
• What would we have Jesus do?
• What might we do?
• Run them off?
• Or offer to them…despite being aware of our own borders…
• The healing that they need.

Matthew 14:22-33

Matthew’s gospel text…today…is preceded by last week’s reading of the feeding of the five thousand.

• Jesus had just heard about John the Baptist’s horrific death.
• John’s disciples took his body and buried him and then told Jesus.
• Jesus withdrew from there by boat to be by himself.
• But when word got out that Jesus was nearby…people from the towns followed him on foot.

When Jesus went ashore…he saw the great crowd.

• Having compassion for them he cured the sick among them.
• He kept at it till late in the day.
• At that point…his disciples suggested he send the crowd away to return to their villages to buy food.
• Instead…Jesus told the disciples to feed them…
• And the result was the miraculous feeding of 5,000 men…women and children.

Then Jesus instructed his disciples to leave by boat to cross the lake while he dismissed the crowd.

• After the crowd left…Jesus went up the mountain by himself to pray…
• Which he had been waiting for all day to do.
• As Jesus prayed and communed with God…the disciples made their way across the lake.
• And this sets the scene for the events which happened next.
• The Lord be with you…

And so…here we are…gathered around this story of Jesus…who walks on water.

• Some are new to the story of Christ…and for some it formed who we are from the cradle.
• I could be wrong…but I think we are not all here because we have been urged to have more faith.
• I think we are here because at some point we heard the Goepel Story and the story claimed us.
• At some point…someone told us the story about this God who created the universe…
• Who spoke through prophets…who came to us in Jesus…who ate with sinners…
• And who suffered and died and rose again and calls us out of our own graves to new life.

I guess this story of Jesus walking on water can be reduced to a moral about having more faith.

• But…like so much of the Bible…it can also be a way to see who we are and see who God is…for us.
• Anyway…see if you recognize yourself in this story.
• Because some of us are like the ones in the boat who are afraid.
• Maybe we are so caught up in fear of making the wrong decision that we cannot make any decision at all.
• Or maybe we are like the one experiencing the thrill of stepping into the unknown…
• A new relationship or a new job or we have just moved leaving behind the familiar…
• And the first few steps are OK but then it gets scary.
• Or maybe we are sinking in debt or depression…
• Or we feel we are sinking because what we could handle last month we cannot handle now.

Or maybe we are the one who knows that all our own efforts have failed…

• And we are crying out to God to save us…
• And we are the ones who Jesus has reached down to catch…
• And we are clinging on to the sweet hand of Jesus with all we have got.
• Or we are the one in the boat looking in wonder at all we have just seen…
• We are the one who bears witness to the miracle of it all…
• And how the hand of God reaches down and pulls us up and we see it and cannot help but say:
• Truly this is God.
• At some point or other I know I have been all the above.

The glamorous part of this story is that Peter walked on water…which is awesome.

• And maybe he had enough faith to make his way to Jesus.
• But what happens on either side of his brief water walk?
• Well…Jesus comes toward him.
• In the storm Jesus is walking toward the boat…
• And when Peter sinks…Jesus is reaching toward Peter…
• Then…Jesus comes toward them all and gets in the boat.
• That is as with them as he can be.
• Yet…we always focus on Peter walking toward Jesus…
• When the whole story is about how much Jesus walks toward them…
• Reaches toward them…and then…even gets in the boat with them.

We might see the moral of the story as… we should have so much faith that you can walk on water toward Jesus…

• But the truth of this story is that Jesus walks toward us.
• The truth of the story is that my abundance of faith or lack of faith does not deter God from drawing close.
• That even if we are scared to death…we can say: Lord Save Me…
• And the hand of God will find us in even the darkest waters.
• Because this is a story not of morals but of movement.
• Not of heroes of the faith making their way to Christ…
• But of Christ drawing near to us amid fear.

Our reading from Romans says: the Word of God is near to you…on your hearts and in your lips.

• He is written on our hearts and is proclaimed from our lips.
• He walks toward us saying: It is I…do not be afraid…
• God reaches down when we call his name…
• And as Paul wrote to the Romans:
• Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

So…I invite you during communion to dip your hand in the baptismal font as a blessing.

• Feel the calm water and know that yours are the beautiful hands and feet…of they who have been sent to tell the story of who we are and who God is…
• Tell the story of God so that we might call out…Lord save us…
• As we continually die and rise in the waters of our baptism.
• Do not be afraid…for that is our beautiful story.

Matthew 14:13-21

On the road…on our way north to Susan’s childhood home in Struthers Ohio…

• Our car’s air pressure gauge popped up informing me that my left rear tire was low and as I watched it…getting lower fast.
• By the time we stopped to examine the tire it was completely flat…
• And when I pumped the tire up with my cordless tire pomp…I saw that it was a leaky valve.
• Well…we were in the middle of nowhere…somewhere south of Akron.
• I called AAA to come…and put the tiny…toy spare tire on…
• Knowing then that I must drive slowly and have the valve fixed within the next 25 miles…
• It was getting late in the day…it would be dark in an hour.
• A guy pulled up alongside us where I had parked to run his two dogs…and we got to talking…he was somewhat of a gearhead…
• A typical Pittsburgh/Cleaveland millworker can do it all sort of guy…
• The kind of guy that can build his own house from scratch.
• Well…the AAA gut came…also a gearhead…full of Yankee ingenuity…
• And together…the two men put a new valve stem in my tire right there on the tarmac…a miracle.
• I am sure something like this has happened to you and you also wondered how you would ever make it back home again…
• Feeling drained of hope and power by the many stresses of life…
• Well…this being our human situation…there is a message for us in today’s text.

But first…we need to review what happened right before this.

• King Herod had arrested and imprisoned Jesus’ cousin John…
• Because John had been telling Herod it was wrong to take his brother’s wife just because Herod had the power to do so.
• Herod threw a party for his cronies…and to please his wife’s daughter…had John beheaded.
• His disciples buried his body and then came and told Jesus.

John had baptized Jesus at the start of his public ministry and declared him to be the Messiah and the Lamb of God.

• Their shared sense of mission…combined with the horrendous manner of his cousin’s murder…
• And the injustice of losing John at such a young age…
• All compounded the trauma Jesus must have felt when he heard the news.
• Not only was this a deep loss for Jesus personally…
• But the grief of John’s disciples weighed on him as well.
• It is no surprise…then…that Jesus retreated to a deserted place to be alone with his grief.

But bad news traveled fast…and the crowds…many of whom had been inspired by John’s message…

• Had been in shock over Herod’s latest atrocity…
• Causing many to flock to Jesus on the day recounted in today’s Gospel reading.

By then…it was late in the day…and Jesus’ disciples approached him with a concern:

• The people must be hungry.
• In times of mourning…people all around the world use food as an expression of care and comfort.
• (S0…they discussed giving them comfort food…macaroni and cheese…but they had no macaroni).
• The disciples suggested that Jesus should release the crowds to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.

But Jesus had a different plan:

• They need not go away…you give them something to eat.
• Jesus was viewing the moment as a time of crisis…which is why he thought they all needed to be together.

The disciples answered: We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish…

• The implication being that…that was not even enough to feed their own group…let alone the whole crowd.

In John’s version of this event…one of the disciples…Philip…blurted that they would have to work months to earn enough money to buy bread for each person to have even one bite.

• In our time…he was saying they would need thousands of dollars to provide each person just a morsel to eat.
• And there was nowhere near that amount in their common purse.
• Jesus agreed with their self-assessment…and said:
• Apart from me you can do nothing.

If we are honest here…we are not so different.

• We are all too aware of what we do not have.
• As a result…we may cling to the little we do have…afraid that we will have nothing left for ourselves if we share it.
• But Jesus saw a bigger picture.
• His Father in heaven had fed the multitudes with manna from heaven…
• And supplied a widow with endless oil and grain during a famine.
• Feeding this crowd? A piece of cake!

Jesus saw a world in which nothing is impossible with God…

• A world in which we are not abandoned by God to fend for ourselves.
• Perhaps you have heard it said: One plus God is a majority…God changes the calculus.
• It is in these moments that we discover what God can do when we bring our nothing to him.
• Jesus had more confidence in the disciples than they had in themselves.
• As Paul wrote…I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Everything changed for the disciples when Jesus invited them to bring their meager resources to him.

• But it’s significant that Jesus did not perform the entire task of feeding the crowds all by himself.
• Having the full nature of God…he could easily have spoken a word…
• And given every person in the crowd their own box lunch…
• But Jesus did not glorify himself.
• Instead…he invited the disciples to take part in the work of service.

Here are some other times Jesus asked for help?

• He asked a Samaritan woman for water.
• He sent his disciples to find a colt for his triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
• He had them prepare the Passover meal.
• After his resurrection…he asked them to bring some of the fish they had caught (with his help…of course!).

So…Jesus simply invited the disciples to place their nothingness…

• Their feelings of inadequacy…their real limitations…in his hands.
• Then he took the loaves and fish…blessed and broke them…
• And gave them back to the disciples to distribute to the people.
• As Matthew tells it: all ate and were filled…and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces…twelve baskets full.

When we place our insecurities…our feelings that we do not have what we need…and are not enough to meet the moment…

• In the hands of Jesus…he blesses them and multiplies our resources…
• Returning them to us to share with the world.
• As one hymnwriter put it: Little Is Much When God Is In It.
• And we end up with more love and joy than we started with.

The actions of taking…blessing…breaking and giving in the feeding of the 5,000 parallel what Jesus did during the Last Supper.

• As we come to the Communion Table…we proclaim that Jesus gave his life for us.
• But we should also understand that we are the grains crushed to make the bread of life Jesus offers to the world.
• When he takes the bread…blesses and breaks it and says: This is my body…
• We remember that we are the body of Christ.
• Eating the bread…we are asking Christ to bless us and use us to feed the world’s hunger for justice…peace and love.

How does God feed the world?

• Through people like you and me who are willing to join him in his work.
• What are we going to do with our five loaves and two fish?
• Bring them to Jesus…and then set the table…the feast is ready!

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

The dish is a little more than 18 inches in diameter…made of sterling silver.

• Around the rim appears the goddess Minerva…with symbols for the liberal arts: Arithmetic…astrology…dialectic…

geometry…grammar…music and rhetoric.

• There’s nothing on the dish about tennis.

You would expect that sport to be featured…since the dish is the trophy awarded to the women’s singles champion at Wimbledon…

• The tennis tournament that ended on July 12.
• The trophy is called The Venus Rosewater Dish…
• And the Venus part was there long before Venus Williams won it multiple times.

According to The Washington Post…the dish was made in 1864 and has been awarded to the singles champ since 1886.

• The winners get to hold the dish…but they do not get to keep
• The original stays in the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum…
• And the winner gets an 8-inch replica and prize money.

Now if you were to run across this dish in an art gallery…you might not be impressed.

• But if you are a tennis player…the dish is a precious treasure…
• A holy grail…a pearl of great value.
• Players from around the world push themselves to their physical and mental limits…
• Training…practicing…focusing…

competing…

• Hoping to be able to play at Wimbledon…the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world.
• Along the way…they dream of the Venus Rosewater Dish.
• The Lord be with you…

In Matthew 13…Jesus speaks of a set of prizes that people pursue with passion and single-minded purpose…

• Using every ounce of their heart…soul…mind and strength.
• Instead of the Venus Rosewater Dish…they seek a treasure hidden in a field…a pearl of great value…and a net filled with fish.
• What unites these treasures is that they are illustrations of the kingdom of heaven…
• A spiritual reality that we are invited to find in everyday life.
• The pursuit of the kingdom requires effort…
• Which is why we may translate the kingdom of heaven as The God Movement.

Jesus was a master of short and pithy messages.

• He would have been an effective user of the tweet… (Twitter…X).
• The challenge of a tweet is to say something funny or provocative or profound…in about 33 characters.
• Funny…such as…everyone says to follow your dreams…so I went back to bed.
• Provocative: every saint has a past and every sinner has a future!
• Profound: The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.

Three times…Jesus illustrated the kingdom of heaven in short…pithy parables.

• He said the kingdom is like treasure hidden in a field…
• A pearl of great value…and a net.
• He could have easily tweeted these parables…had Twitter been invented.
• He asked his disciples if they understood and they said yes.
• Then he said that…every disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.

Jesus followers were challenged to dig into their treasure and bring out what is new and what is old…

• Both the new parables of Jesus and the old teachings of the Hebrew prophets.
• Of all the gospel-writers…Matthew was the one most concerned about what was new and what was old.
• He connected the ministry of Jesus to the history of Israel…
• Presenting Jesus as a second Moses who offered new laws and teachings to Israel and to the world.

Choosing the right prize is important because there will be a final reckoning.

• The parable of the net speaks of a separation of good fish and bad fish.
• So…it will be at the end of the age…says Jesus.
• The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous.
• Whether or not a person pursues the treasure of the kingdom has eternal consequences…according to Jesus.
• The kingdom is not simply a Venus Rosewater Dish…
• But it is a prize that changes a person’s life for all time.
• You must pick your prize well and pursue it with sacrifice…passion and purpose.

The world is full of prizes that people pursue with passion and single-minded purpose…

• The Borg-Warner Trophy…awarded to the winner of the Indianapolis 500.
• The Green Jacket…given to the winner of the Masters golf tournament.
• The Olive Wreath…placed on the heads of Boston Marathon winners…
• The original marathoner…a Greek man named Pheidippides…
• Ran from Marathon to announce an Athenian victory in 490 B.C…then he dropped dead…O MY!

All these prizes demand effort…the kingdom of heaven is the same.

• Jesus says that it is…like a treasure hidden in a field…which a man found and reburied…then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
• It takes focus and effort…as Jesus says…a willingness to sell all you have to buy a field or a pearl.
• That’s focus…that’s sacrifice…passion and purpose.
• The kingdom of heaven is not so much a place as it is a movement.

You have to admire the determination of A.J. Jacobs…an editor for Esquire magazine…who decided to spend a year living the Bible…literally.

• He made a commitment to stop lying…speaking evil…gossiping…complaining and despising his neighbor…
• He did this because he was impressed by the power of God’s Love…and he was determined to explore his own religious background.

What amazed him was how this focus and passion changed him.

• As he was learning to pray one day…he stood up before tasting his lunch of hummus and pita bread…
• Closed his eyes and said: I’d like to thank God for the land that he provided so that this food might be grown. I’d like to thank the farmer who grew the chickpeas for this hummus…and the worker who picked the chickpeas. And the truckers who drove them to the store…and the old Italian lady who sold the hummus to me and told me…lots of love.

A.J. Jacobs discovered that giving thanks to God feels good.

• It makes him feel more connected…more grateful…more grounded…more aware of his place in the world.
• Prayer reminds him that food does not spontaneously appear in his refrigerator…
• And that he’s lucky to have food at all.
• These are good insights…and they are making him a person of gratitude.
• But none of this would have happened if he had not focused on living the Bible for a year.

So…where can we find this kind of focus…sacrifice…passion and purpose?

• Earthly prizes are easy to identify…whether they be winning championships or achieving sales goals…
• Losing weight or gaining an advanced degree.
• But heavenly prizes? These are a bit more difficult to visualize.
• Still…they can be found when we make an effort to live by the Ten Commandments in Exodus and Deuteronomy
• Or live by the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew.
• We uncover God’s treasures when we dig into the parables of Jesus or the letters of Paul.

We join The God Movement when we start each day with prayer…

• Treat our neighbors as we would like to be treated…
• And serve Jesus Christ by serving the hungry or the homeless.
• These are all part of kingdom living…
• And they all require determination…desire and a sense of mission.
• The pursuit of these goals will challenge us…reward us…and change us for the better.

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

In our Gospel reading this morning…Jesus is telling us that evil cannot be separated from good at this stage of creation’s growth…

• Because at this stage good and evil are so intertwined that the destruction of evil would also result in the destruction of much good.
• Good and evil are both still in a situation where they cannot be totally distinguished from each other.

 

Every gardener understands this problem.

• The first sprouts of various plants are almost identical.
• Then when the weeds can be identified by the eye…
• It is still no easy matter to root them out…
• Any kind of blanket treatment of the whole garden is liable to injure the good and desired plants.
• The serious gardener must do what God does with souls…with us.
• That is…treat each plant individually.
• The gardener gets down on hands and knees…
• And starts untangling the weeds from the desired plants and pulling them out one by one.
• The Lord be with you…

 

 

How can one be certain…for instance…

• Whether an unrestrained child is filled with a spirit of good and productive energy looking for a healthy outlet…
• Or is suffering from some sort of inner turmoil that will get worse rather than better over time?
• We do not really know for sure.
• We must watch with patience and love.

 

Or we see an adolescent…a teenager… who from all appearances…

• Is a menace to society…with no apparent conscience or sense of responsibility at all.
• But something happens…
• He grows up and out of adolescence…
• And his heart is touched.
• He begins to change.
• And after some time…he seems to be a new person altogether.
• Had he been judged and condemned too early…
• The good man never would have evolved out of what appeared to be a delinquent…a weed…a tare.

 

A case in point:

• The book entitled Wild is Cheryl Strayed’s memoir of her 1,100-mile solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trail…
• Beginning in the Mojave Desert and hiking through California and Oregon to the Bridge of the Gods…into the state of Washington.
• The book contains flashbacks to prior life occurrences that led her to begin her journey.

At age 22…Cheryl had been devastated by the lung cancer death of her mother at age 45.

• Her stepfather disengaged from her family…
• And her brother and sister remained distant.
• Cheryl and her husband divorced and she began using heroin.

Seeking self-discovery and resolution of her enduring grief and budding addiction

• At the age of 26…Cheryl set out on her journey…
• Alone and with no prior hiking experience.
• The book weaves the stories of Cheryl Strayed’s life before and during the journey…
• Describing her physical challenges and spiritual realizations while on the trail.
• Ultimately becoming a fruitful wife…mother and writer.

Another way in which it is difficult to tell good and evil from one another is that they are often deeply interrelated.

• Consider the case of a man with a good heart…
• But also…a fiery temper.
• Such people…because of both their impatience and their good-heartedness…
• Are often the instigators of great and positive activity.
• They get others moving.
• They get things done.
• In a less-than-ideal world…
• Sometimes an apparently negative quality serves as a catalyst for the doing of good.

 

Jesus’ parable reminds us of two things:

• First…the fragileness of dawning good.
• In its early stages the development of good is a vulnerable and delicate process…
• Second…again we must remember the principle of intertwining…
• That good and evil have mated themselves in certain ways…
• So that the two must be allowed to co-exist and grow together for a time.
• For this reason…we look back on the most devastating experiences and discover…
• Much to our surprise…
• That there was an inborn goodness working through us that we could not see at the time.
• And as the result of these experiences something positive has developed in our lives that we would not wish to be without.

 

So…at this stage of creation evil is interwoven with good…

• And so…enjoys a time where it must be allowed to coexist with the good.
• This is a temporary situation…
• A phase in creation’s overall development that will not last forever.

 

This in no way suggests that evil is out of God’s control.

• On the contrary…evil is so much under God’s control that…in the end…not only will evil have its day of reckoning…
• But also…in the meantime…it is constantly blocked by the fact that it must serve the good…
• It must serve God!

 

Wherever evil shows itself and grows…

• Good grows along with it and ultimately overshadows it.
• So…through evil’s very flourishing…
• It causes the good to flourish as well…
• Until evil always eats away at its own ultimate purpose.

 

Jesus said:

The hour is coming…indeed it has come…

• When you will be scattered…
• Each one to his home…
• And you will leave me alone.
• Yet…I am not alone…because the Father is with me.
• I have said this to you…
• So…that in me…you may have peace.
• In the world you face persecution.
• But take courage…
• I have conquered the world!

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

It is a James Bond movie location.

• A remote Norwegian island…above the Arctic Circle…
• 1300 miles from the North Pole.
• A reinforced tunnel dug 360 feet deep into a sandstone mountain…
• Especially chosen for its geological stability.
• At the end of the tunnel…through a set of air locks…are two chambers…the air within them carefully filtered.

Few people have ever seen that inner sanctum.

• Those chambers…sunk deep within the mountain…do not have much room for visitors.
• It is kind of chilly…also…a sophisticated climate-control system maintains the temperature at a steady 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

The installation cost $9 million to build…in 2006. What’s it all for? Seeds.

• Seeds…The Svalbard Global Seed Vault…is accepting donations of seeds from all over the world.
• It aims to be the location of choice for storing samples of every plant species on earth…
• For the purpose of preserving genetic diversity.
• No matter what catastrophe…natural…or human-instigated…may occur…in the rest of the world…
• The living seeds locked within that Norwegian mountain are likely to survive.
• Think of it as Noah’s Ark for the plant world.
• Seeds are a wonder…a miracle worth preserving.
• The Lord be with you…

Jesus’ story in today’s scripture text parable begins with the words: A sower went forth to sow…well…seeds…of course.

• So…today…let’s focus…then…on the sower…
• That farmer who reaches into his shoulder-pouch and flings the seeds to his right and to his left as he walks along.
• And…we notice something about this method of agriculture.
• It seems inefficient…does it not?
• All those seeds that fall onto inadequate soil go to waste…it’s a crying shame.

What sort of farmer is this…anyway?

• Does he not realize some of his seeds are landing on the footpath…where birds will swoop in and scarf them up?
• Does he not realize other seeds will land in places with just a few inches of soil layered atop ledges of limestone?
• Those plants may do very well at first…
• But as soon as their roots hit solid rock a few inches down…it’s curtains for them.
• Then there are those seeds that end up among thorns.
• Those well-established briars are sure to choke out any new seeds that dare to sprout in their shadow.
• What is this farmer thinking…scattering seeds so wildly?
• This subsistence farmer may lack many things…but seed does not seem to be one of them.

Here’s the thing: This is a good image for Jesus to use when he is teaching about spreading the gospel.

• That good news…that is salvation…comes in an unlimited supply.
• The important thing is not to be shy in spreading it around…
• So…at least some of it will fall onto receptive soil.
• Jesus wants his disciples to keep sowing those seeds…
• To keep sharing the good news.
• They will never know whether the patch of soil in front of them is fertile or infertile.
• The only way to find out is to send a handful of seeds flying that way and see if anything comes of it.

And…Yes…this is all about faith-sharing.

• Showing our neighbors where to find the greatest joy we have discovered in our lives…
• The joy of knowing and trusting Jesus Christ.
• We all do that with the joy of a new movie we have seen.
• We do that with a great little restaurant we have just discovered.
• We pass on the good news about all the Bo-Goes we got at Publix yesterday.
• Well then…why not about our rich little community of faith…right here in this place…
• In which we have found a warm welcome and a spiritual home?

So…in our parable…Jesus says spreading the faith is like the farmers he knew…

• Walking their rows with their seed pouches around their necks.
• Jesus says you cannot be shy about it.
• You have got to take up a great…BIG…handful of those faith-seeds and let them fly!

You see…the way Jesus tells the tale…some seed falls on the hard-packed path…others on the rocky soil and still others in the middle of a future weed patch.

• The problem is not the sower’s technique…or the seeds…
• It is in the patch of ground where the seed happens to land.
• When it comes to faith-sharing…it is impossible to succeed everywhere…
• But it is impossible to fail altogether!

Here is a wondrous thing about scattered seeds:

• Sometimes they sprout right away…
• But other times…it takes a while.
• Sometimes a seed may…for whatever reason…lay dormant in the ground for a time…
• Then unexpectedly begin to grow.
• Most of the time…we never fully know or appreciate what impact our words or actions are having on another person’s life.
• But that is no reason to stop trying…
• To stop throwing out seeds.

Remember those seeds we talked about at the beginning…

• Stored away for decades and centuries in Norway’s Global Seed Vault?
• Even after eons have passed…those seeds still have the potential of growing.

Egyptologists have taught us about that.

• They have discovered three and four-thousand-year-old seeds deep inside the pyramids.
• When they have soaked them in water and planted them in the ground…some of those seeds have sprouted!

It is all about the grace of God Almighty…

• In sustaining the growth…in boosting the harvest.
• All we have to do is meet God halfway…and God does the rest.
• It is as our hymn says:
• We plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land…but it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand.
• So…let’s grab ourselves a handful of gospel seeds…and let ’em fly!

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Jesus said: I thank you Lord of heaven and earth…because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants.

• Why hide things from the wise and the intelligent?
• Is it not the usual way of affairs for the wise and educated to know things that are simply beyond the grasp of little children?
• Little kids cannot grasp things that grown adults can.

 

Well…there is a reversal going on here…typical of Jesus…typical of the Bible.

• Younger brothers are picked instead of the oldest.
• Infertile women give birth.
• The greatest shall be humbled…the humble…exalted.
• Whoever would be greatest must be servant of all.
• The hungry are filled…the rich sent away empty.
• The first shall be last…and the last…first.
• Humble fishermen are picked to be apostles.

 

Today…Christ extends his invitation to all his little ones…

• Come to me…all you who are weary and burdened…and I will give you rest.
• The Lord be with you…

 

I would like to share with you something about a little one…a little-known American immigrant.

• His name was Korczak Ziolkowski.
• Korczak was born in Boston in 1908 to Polish parents and orphaned at the age of one.
• He spent his life being shuffled through a series of foster homes in poor neighborhoods.
• Though he never received formal art training…
• In his teens he worked as an apprentice to a ship maker…
• And began to demonstrate his skill in carving wood.

 

In 1939…Korczak moved to the Black Hills of South Dakota to assist in the creation of the Mount Rushmore Memorial (Washington…Jefferson…Teddy Roosevelt…Lincoln).

• Less than a year later…Korczak’s marble sculpture of Ignacy Jan Paderewski…
• Pianist…composer and prime minister of Poland…
• Won first prize at the New York World’s Fair.

 

Shortly afterward…he was approached by several Lakota Indian chiefs who asked him to build a monument honoring Native Americans.

• Korczak accepted the project and began research and planning for the sculpture.
• Three years later the project was put on hold while Korczak enlisted in the United States Army.
• He was wounded on Omaha Beach during the invasion of Normandy.
• After the war Korczak moved back to the Black Hills and began his search for a suitable place for the monument.
• The Lakota considered the Black Hills a sacred place and wanted the memorial built there.

 

When completed…the monument…a three-dimensional sculpture of the Indian Chief Crazy Horse sitting on a charging steed…

• Will be the largest sculpture in the world.
• To put the size of the memorial in perspective.
• Just Crazy Horse’s war bonnet is large enough to contain all the presidents’ heads on Mount Rushmore.

 

Korczak died thirty-four years after starting work on the mountain.

• The statue far from being completed…
• His final words to his wife were:
• You must finish the mountain…but go slowly so it is done right.
• The whole thing was absurd.
• A man with no money.
• No training and no heavy equipment.
• Decides to carve a mountain.

 

Korczak had galleries of critics who threw barbs and insults at him:

• You are crazy…you are a fool…you will never do it…they laughed at him.
• (Jesus said: Go away…for the girl is not dead but sleeping…they laugh at him…he takes the girl by the hand causing her to get up).
• But every day he climbed his mountain and with a chisel here…
• A blast there…he moved tons of stone as his dream emerged from the mountain.
• Korczak knew he’d never live to see his work finished but this was no reason to stop.

 

As he lay dying…he was asked if he was disappointed to not see the monument completed.

• No…he said… you only must live long enough to inspire others to do great things.
• And this he did.
• As the mountain took form…the masses began to dream too.

 

Today millions come from around the world to see Korczak’s Mountain.

• And a professional crew works year-round to move the dream forward.
• (We remember our past patriots and consider future patriots…who have and will move the dream of our nation forward on this the 250-year birthday of the nation).
• It is no longer a question of…if…the statue will be completed.
• Only when…it will be completed.

 

Korczak’s greatest legacy is not a public one…

• The massive stone mountain that he conquered.
• But the mountain he first conquered in himself.
• A mountain that he climbed not alone but yoked to Jesus.

 

There are moments in all lives…

• Great and small that we must trudge…
• With our Lord at our side yoked to us…
• Into infinite wilderness…
• To endure our midnight hours of pain and sorrow.
• The Gethsemane moments…when we are on our knees.
• That these moments are given to us are neither accidental nor cruel.
• The Spirit of the living God…Melts us…Molds us…Fills us…Uses us…for ministry in the Kingdom of God.

 

Like Korczak’s monument…our mission will not be completed in our lifetime.

• And in the end…we will find that we were never sculpting alone.
• Korczak said:
• I tell my children never forget that we are not complete beings in ourselves.
• There’s something greater that moves us.
• I was never carving a mountain.
• But God was carving me.
• While God was yoked to me…he was at the same time carving me.

 

Many try to shoulder burdens alone…

• Burdens that Jesus would like to shoulder with us.
• Jesus said: My yoke is easy…and my burden is light.
• To be yoked with the Christ of God is to allow him to share the burden of our daily lives.
• To allow him to take off our shoulders the weight of trying to solve our problems alone.
• Being yoked with Christ is one of the secrets of a full and productive life.

 

Jesus stands today with the yoke upon his shoulder.

• He calls each one and says:
• Come and share my yoke…
• And let us plow together the long furrow of your life.
• I will be a true yokefellow to you.
• The burden shall be on me.
• Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…
• For I am gentle and humble in heart…
• And you will find rest for your souls.
• For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Matthew 10:40-42

In the fall of September 1921…about 105 years ago…Damon Runyon…award-winning journalist…sportswriter…attended a Yankees game and watched Ty Cobb come to the plate.

• Later…he wrote: The Jewel of Georgia [Cobb] got the old familiar Bronx cheer when he came to bat for the first time in the first inning.
• Tyrus would probably be sadly disappointed if he were not so greeted in New York.
• As far as we know…this comment in the New York American…September 21…1921…is the first recorded mention of the Bronx cheer.
• Today…it is not uncommon for a visiting baseball…football or basketball team to be booed when introduced to the home crowd.
• Or one person may be singled out for verbal abuse…
• Perhaps a former player who jilted the home team and left town after being wooed by a suitor from a rival city.
• The Lord be with you…

In the gospel reading for today…Jesus seems to be preparing his recently appointed disciples for both the insults and garlands that await them.

• His words are a gracious reality check.
• The disciples will not always be honored with parades and applause…
• The disciples will not aways be free from hostility and pushback.
• A mix of cheers and jeers will be the norm.
• Most of us…too…have felt the sting of disgrace when our commitment to Jesus and his values are made known.
• So…let us review how we got to the text before us…

Looking at Matthew 10…the newly called disciples cannot assume they will be welcomed enthusiastically.

• If anyone will not welcome you…or listen to your words…Jesus says…shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.
• In other words…rejection will be a common response.
• The downside is real…Jesus admits.
• But there is an upside: Those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
• A life laid down for Christ will be raised up in Christ.

So…here…the tone shifts.

• Yes…disciples will constantly confront a cultural atmosphere of rejection…hostility and persecution.
• But they will also encounter hospitality…welcome and kindness.
• The world may be hostile…but not everyone is an enemy.
• Along the way there will be moments of welcome…open doors…open hearts and open hands.
• Jesus ends his commissioning speech not with another warning but with a promise:
• Their mission will be met with more than hatred.
• There will be welcome…and that welcome is a matter of eternal importance.

The first thing Jesus says is… Whoever welcomes you welcomes me…and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.

• So…the disciples are not merely messengers carrying information…
• They are bearers of the divine presence.
• To welcome them is to welcome Jesus himself.
• And to welcome Jesus is to welcome the Father.

Now…think of what that means for ordinary disciples…

• It means that wherever they go…they carry the very presence of Jesus with them.
• Their lives are living visible signs of the invisible Lord.
• It means that the mission is never just about the messenger.
• It is about the One the messenger embodies.
• Hospitality extended to the least impressive disciple is hospitality extended to Christ himself.

Jesus goes further: Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward…and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous.

• Prophets often faced rejection.
• Elijah was pursued…Jeremiah was beaten and imprisoned.
• Yet those who welcomed a prophet…those who gave shelter or protection to a prophet…shared in the prophet’s blessing.
• By supporting the mission…they became participants in it.

The same holds true for the righteous…those who live faithfully before God.

• Those who welcome and support them share in their reward.
• That is…the mission is not only for the sent ones…
• The mission is also for those who welcome the sent ones.
• Participation in the kingdom is not limited to apostles or prophets.
• Anyone who receives them…supports them…or encourages them…becomes part of the mission and part of the blessing.

Then comes the clincher: Whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple…truly I tell you…none of these will lose their reward.

• How ordinary this is…a cup of cold water.
• Not a feast…not a house…not a large sum of money…just a cup of cold water.

But when Jesus spoke of giving a cup of cold water he was not talking about something ordinary at all.

• Giving someone a cup of water would have been pleasantly hospitable.
• But Jesus adds the word cold…a significant addition.
• Cold water was rare…if your host gives you a cup of cold water…
• It means she made a fresh trip to the well…hauling back heavy jars…
• So…a guest could have a cool drink late in the day.
• It was refreshing…it was costly…it took effort…and it was healthier than water that had become tepid/warm.

And notice to whom it is given: one of these little ones.

• Scholars debate whether little ones refer to children…to humble disciples…or to the vulnerable.
• Whatever the nuance…the point is the same…
• The smallest act of compassion toward the least significant among us is precious in God’s eyes.

In a chapter filled with persecution…hostility…and family division…

• The final word is about welcome…hospitality…and generosity.
• The kingdom does not move forward only through grand gestures.
• It also moves forward through small…simple acts of kindness…
• A door opened…a meal shared…a hand extended…a cup of water offered.

So…rejection is not the whole story.

• Along the way…there will be people who welcome us…people who are ready for change…
• People who will welcome those who show an interest in them.
• We should prepare for hostility but be ready to receive welcome and gratitude.

We need to remember that we carry Christ’s presence into the world.

• To welcome us is to welcome him.
• That means our lives are not trivial.
• Even when we feel small or unimpressive…we bear Christ with us.
• Every knock on a neighbor’s door…every visit to the sick…every word spoken in kindness is charged with divine presence.

Let us not undervalue the ministry of small things.

• It is quite natural to value and celebrate the big and spectacular.
• But Jesus elevates the small and ordinary.
• Not all of us can preach like prophets.
• But all of us can offer kindness…share hospitality…and live faithfully.