June 21, 2026 - Fifth Sunday after Pentecost: Questionable Reassurance

June 21, 2026 Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church
Matthew 10:26-31, 34-39Romans 6:1b-11
“Questionable Reassurance”
Carol DeVaughan

I know that Doug and many other preachers do not follow the lectionary. But for me, especially when I was preaching every Sunday, I found the lectionary a useful discipline. And relevant for today, following the lectionary forces you to deal with texts you would rather not, texts you would like to avoid. Such as today!

I mean, really, it’s a curve ball on this day when we honor fathers and those who fill the role of father. “I have come to set a man against his father.” “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” Although the daughter-in-law/ mother-in-law part may ring a bit truer – I am a mother-in-law, and while I have a lovely, wonderful daughter-in-law, those in-law relationships can sometimes be tricky to navigate.

These uncomfortable verses follow directly Jesus’ reassurance that God cares for the lowly sparrow and for us.

It’s a good example of the many challenging texts contained in the Bible.

Because the Bible is so much more than “Praise God! God loves you. Alleluia!” And that really is important for us. After all, I feel as if we live much more of our lives in the problems than in the “alleluias.”

This 10th chapter of Matthew contains Jesus’ instructions to his disciples as he prepares to send them out on their own. Jesus does not want them to minimize the challenges they will face. Disagreements within one’s family are certainly a big challenge, painful, impactful as other disagreements are not. I have been reading materials by folks who have grown up in a more evangelical or fundamentalist faith tradition and then found their way to a more progressive world view. It is difficult, and estrangement from one’s family is often the result.

We are aware of thanksgiving dinners or other celebrations in which political topics are avoided because of differences in viewpoints.

Differences in understanding faith can cause similar estrangements.

In Romans Paul offers a kind of reassurance in admitting that he too often does what he knows he shouldn’t and doesn’t do what he knows he should. Ouch, that does feel familiar!

“Should we continue in sin that grace may abound? How can we who have died to sin go on living in it?”

There’s a kind of weariness in Paul’s question that seems very real to me these days. I question my ongoing attempts in letters to politicians expressing disagreements and concerns with actions that seem so opposite of what Jesus would require of us. I know, for those politicians here in Missouri, I am in the minority, and I can almost hear them scoff at my pleas on behalf of those who are different, my remonstrances about the cruelty I see being perpetrated on folks.

And, yes, it is correct to call it “sin” when we stray so far from Jesus’ command to love God first above all and to love our neighbor – who, as we are reminded in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, is anyone who needs help, especially when it is within our power to provide it. The “me and my friends first” is counter to being a disciple.

Jesus uses the very personal and startling metaphor of family to make the point. Following Jesus can be costly, even in the closest of personal relationships.

After hearing those words, it is hard to think back to Jesus’ reassurance that we need not fear, that God cares for every hair on our head.

One commentator, in pointing out the disconnect between the palpable threats of the world enumerated in Jesus’ words and the “safe” world most of us inhabit, asks “What compromises have been made to secure such safety?”

Opposition to following Jesus is real and present today just as back then. Following Jesus calls for a tough-minded courage in those who fully understand the risks. This passage asks us to live in an odd theological tension: God cares for the sparrow and numbers the hairs on our heads. And God asks for an all-encompassing claim of fearlessness to faithfulness in the face of real resistance.

On this Father’s Day, I am remembering my own father who has been gone for over 40 years. I count myself very fortunate in both good parents I had.

My dad was a Presbyterian elder back in the day when you were elected and served until you died, although the rotation system did come in before he died. He believed in remaining true to his conscience and not being afraid to speak his truth – which often put him at odds with another “pillar” of the church, who happened to be his lawyer, and they maintained a respectful friendship in spite of their often opposing world views. When the session cut the budgeted amount to go to world mission, Dad started sending a donation directly to the denomination to benefit that effort. He didn’t cut his local pledge, just put additional money where his heart was.

One night after he picked me up from the weekly youth group meeting, I talked about hearing of persecution of Christians around the world, and I commented that we did not face those same challenges in our country. He said, “Maybe if we were really living as Christians, we would.”

And as we now experience, the definition of “Christian” has indeed become a flash point of disagreement for many.

That is what Jesus is talking about. That is what loving God first above all is about. We must not fear, but we must be realistic. Truly following Jesus will be challenging, yet that is what we are called to do. And not halfway, but all in!

So, take courage, trust in the leading of the Holy, lean on your fellow siblings in the faith, and believe that – as the popular saying goes – “Love Wins!”