Bright ideas, simple reflections — a little light for every step of the way.
What do you do with a bunch of old sermons? Turn them into a blog – refined, condensed, made for today’s world – feel free to use as written, or as fodder for your own message. It’s For you! No permission needed or credit given. (Scroll down for previous posts)
Sunday June 21 – Fourth Sunday after Pentecost/Lectionary 12
Jeremiah 20:7-13
Psalm 69:7-10 [11-15] 16-18 (16)
Romans 6:1b-11
Matthew 10:24-39
Prayer of the Day
Teach us, good Lord God, to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward, except that of knowing that we do your will, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
What Needs to Die So New Life Can Grow?
One of the first things I heard in seminary was a statement that caught me completely off guard. A professor stood before our class and said, “God wants to kill you.”
I remember thinking, “Excuse me? Did I come to the right place? Isn’t this where we are supposed to learn about a loving God, a gracious God, a God who came to give us life and life abundantly?”
But as the semester continued, I began to understand what my professor meant. He wasn’t talking about God wanting to destroy us. He was talking about the ways God’s love transforms us. God’s work in our lives often involves putting to death the things that keep us from becoming the people God created us to be.
The Bible uses the language of death and new life often. But when Scripture speaks about death, it is not only talking about the end of our physical lives.
Now, don’t get me wrong: I am not minimizing the pain of physical death. Many of us have lost loved ones, and it is one of the hardest experiences of this life. Jesus knew that. But he also knew that our souls—our faith, our spirituality, and our desire for God’s presence—matter most of all.
God’s desire is not to take life away from us. God’s desire is to free us from everything that prevents us from living fully.
That is an important message for us as we hear today’s readings, because the life of faith is not always easy. Following God’s call does not always lead to comfort, popularity, or approval.
The prophet Jeremiah knew this firsthand.
Jeremiah had been called by God to speak a difficult truth to the people of Judah. He warned them that their choices were leading them away from God. He challenged leaders who were more concerned with power than with faithfulness. He spoke words that people did not want to hear.
And what happened?
He was beaten and placed in the stocks by the priest Pashhur.
Jeremiah was doing exactly what God called him to do, and yet he suffered because of it.
Sometimes we imagine that if we are faithful, everything will fall into place. We assume that following God means our lives will become easier, our problems will disappear, and people will always appreciate what we say and do.
But Jeremiah reminds us that faithfulness can be costly.
Jesus knew this too.
In today’s Gospel reading from Luke, Jesus speaks strong words against those who use religion as a way to hide the truth. The religious leaders were angry because Jesus challenged their assumptions and exposed the ways they had lost sight of God’s compassion and justice.
Jesus warns that what is hidden will eventually be revealed. The things we try to cover up—the things we avoid naming, the ways we fail to love God and neighbor—God sees clearly.
But this is not a message meant to frighten us. It is an invitation to honesty. God already knows us completely, and still God loves us completely.
Psalm 69 gives voice to someone who feels abandoned and overwhelmed. The psalmist cries out, “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.”
Maybe you have felt that way at some point in your life.
Maybe you have felt overwhelmed by grief, uncertainty, family struggles, health concerns, loneliness, or the painful divisions we see in our communities and our world.
The good news of Scripture is that God does not stand far away from those moments. God meets us there!
The God who was present with Jeremiah in his suffering, the God who heard the cries of the psalmist, the God who walked with Jesus through rejection and the cross—that same God walks with us.
And that brings us back to what my seminary professor was trying to teach us.
God wants to put to death the things that keep us from experiencing the fullness of life in Christ.
God wants to put to death our need to always be right.
God wants to put to death our fear that there will never be enough.
God wants to put to death the bitterness that separates us from one another.
God wants to put to death the voices that tell us we are only as valuable as our accomplishments, our possessions, or our status.
God wants to put to death the walls we build between ourselves and our neighbors.
Because when those things begin to die, something new begins to grow.
A deeper compassion.
A stronger faith.
A greater trust in God.
A more generous love for the world around us.
The Christian life is not about becoming perfect. It is about being continually transformed by God’s grace. It is about allowing God to shape us into people who reflect Christ’s love more fully.
And sometimes that transformation is uncomfortable. Sometimes God calls us to let go of things we have held onto for a long time. Sometimes God calls us to speak when silence would be easier. Sometimes God calls us to trust when we cannot see the way ahead.
But we never walk that path alone.
The same God who called Jeremiah, the same Christ who stood with those who were rejected and hurting, the same Spirit who gives courage to God’s people today is with us.
So this week, I invite you to reflect on these questions:
What is God inviting you to let go of?
What needs to be put to death so that something new and life-giving can grow?
Where might God be calling you to speak a word of compassion, justice, or hope?
Because God’s goal is not to diminish our lives. God’s goal is to make us fully alive.
The God who calls us into transformation is also the God who carries us through it.
Let us pray:
Life-giving God, you know us completely and love us completely. Help us release the things that keep us from you and from one another. Give us courage like Jeremiah, honesty like the psalmist, and the compassion of Jesus. Shape us into people who reflect your love in a world that desperately needs hope. May we trust that even when something in us must die, you are always bringing forth new life. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. Amen.
God's Yes + My Amen 