Jeremiah
20:7-13
7 O Lord, you have enticed me, and I was
enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed. I have become a
laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me. 8 For whenever I speak, I must
cry out, I must shout, "Violence and destruction!" For the word of
the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. 9 If I say,
"I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name," then within
me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with
holding it in, and I cannot. 10 For I hear many whispering: "Terror is all
around! Denounce him! Let us denounce him!" All my close friends are
watching for me to stumble. "Perhaps he can be enticed, and we can prevail
against him, and take our revenge on him." 11 But the Lord is with me like
a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not
prevail. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal
dishonor will never be forgotten. 12 O Lord of hosts, you test the righteous,
you see the heart and the mind; let me see your retribution upon them, for to
you I have committed my cause. 13 Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord! For he has
delivered the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers.
Romans
6:1b-11
1 Should we continue in sin in order that grace
may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? 3 Do
you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism
into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of
the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been
united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a
resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him so
that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to
sin. 7 For whoever has died is freed from sin. 8 But if we have died with
Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ,
being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion
over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he
lives, he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and
alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Matthew
10:24-39
24 "A disciple is not above the teacher,
nor a slave above the master; 25 it 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. 27 What I say to you
in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the
housetops. 28 Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;
rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two
sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart
from your Father. 30 And even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31 So 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; 33 but 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. 35 For 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; 36 and one's foes will be members of
one's own household. 37 Whoever 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; 38 and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of
me. 39 Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life
for my sake will find it.
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.
·
I think I decided to preach on this passage today
because it appeals to me personally. We are enduring tough times, for us as
individuals and as a society. We are all taking steps to avoid spreading the
pandemic virus to others. We are overwhelmed by news of brutality, anger, and
violence. Political lines appear to be hardening into barriers and possibly even
fortifications. The image of a few little inconsequential birds having the
attention of the Almighty seems ridiculous because it is both a comfort and a
confusion.
·
Jesus was sending the Twelve on a mission to
preach and heal and he was warning them of opposition. What they had to say
would both comfort and challenge those who heard it. The idea of God’s
attention being on tiny sparrows could comfort those who felt they were as
forgotten as those little birds. Yet Jesus also said "Do not think that I have
come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
The very act of comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable (as the
old saying goes) will lead to opposition and often to persecution – bringing
not peace, but a sword. The proclamation of the Gospel will always challenge
those who hear it, either to realize that God loves them as they are (a hard
enough task) or to realize that they are not the center of all creation (which
might be the original sin of humanity.) To those
·
Yet through it all, there is the assurance that you
are of more value than many sparrows. This is what we can tell
those around us: they are worth more to God than money can show. And just so,
they are worth more to US
than money can tell. That’s how people will know that God loves and cares for
them – by how we show them. Our mission now is to show that in whatever way we
know how. It will make us uncomfortable at times; I know it does for me. And it
is still our calling.
·
It can be troubling to hear that Jesus came to
bring a sword to the earth. He knew that his message would effect people and
that it would be opposed. Hearing the Gospel and living that message requires
change… and change is always hard, even if it is for the better. The Gospel
will always be opposed even as it changes things and sets people free, often
because it sets people free. That freedom threatens the assertion of human
power over God’s power, so it will be opposed.
·
We have been set free, even if we somehow prefer
the chains we could leave behind. Sticking with Jesus’ original image, we are
worth more than many sparrows and if each and every little bird is held and
known in the mind of God, so are we.
·
That is something to take comfort in. It is also
something to remember when the Gospel as we live it out is opposed, whether by
the world around us or by our own will and desires. God remains with us always,
even as we realize A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master…
What Jesus received, we too might receive in some portion.
·
The best I can hope for would be for my life and
my words to reflect a true acknowledgement of Jesus before the world and the
realization of my value in the eyes of God where even the hairs of your head
are all counted.
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