September 8, 2026 · 10:50 pm

From Creation to New Creation (Sermon)

“Creation in Christ” Image reposted from ELCA Worship.

The readings for the first Feast of Creation in Christ on the Revised Common Lectionary, Yr. A, were: Genesis 2:4-25; Psalm 148:1-14, Acts 17:22a, 24-28; John 1:1-5. This sermon was preached at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra, VA on August 30, 2026.

You might not be as excited as me, but I am excited about this new feast day. This is exceedingly rare. This has been in the works since approximately 1988. And today, we celebrate the Feast of the Creation in Christ for the first time. It is not always easy to get Christians of varied denominations and traditions to work together. Yet in this feast day, for the first time since the 1980’s, the sixteen Christian communions and denominations that use the Revised Common Lectionary, our system for assigning readings for daily worship, representing millions of Christians worldwide, have been invited to add a new festival into the shared life, witness, and worship as the Church – the Feast of Creation in Christ.[i]

This exceedingly rare and historic action invites us to ponder. Perhaps it is a little bit like Mary as she heard things said about her infant son.[ii] Or maybe it is as we ponder that as she kissed her little baby, she was kissing the face of God.[iii] That’s pretty heavy-duty theology and mystery, and it is profound. God’s breaking into creation as the Christ Child, changed everything…not just for us but for all of creation. This can prove hard to believe never mind fully understand. It can blow your mind.

Yet try to fully consider the mystery before us. In the beginning was the Word, and all things came into being through him. Then, Jesus, the Word, came as our Savior and Redeemer. And indeed, Jesus, we are told, will fully redeem us along with the old creation which has fallen into corruption when he comes again in glory. Jesus’ resurrection is just the first fruits of the this transition and renewal (see, for example, 1 Corinthians 15:20). And all creation groans for that day when we and all things will be made new (Romans 8:22) in and through Christ as he returns in. There will be a new Heaven and new Earth, we are told. And we will gather around the divine throne with all the resurrected saints to worship and praise God How can anyone fully understand this mystery of faith which we put in a very short form when we say, “Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again”?

Some of you know I like comic strips, right? And in one of my favorite comic strips,[iv] Opus the Penguin joins Oliver Wendell Jones, brilliant child scientist, and two other children in a field on a starry night. Oliver, looking towards the heavens, excitedly holds up a grain of sand and explains that the tiny patch of sky it covers is exactly what the Hubble Space Telescope was pointed at and can see. (That tiny grain of sand is all the Hubble can see when it comes to the cosmos!)

And here, Oliver excitedly pontificates on the mystery of creation:

“‘It was there [within that speck] – deep within that dot of dark nothingness ten billion light years distant – that [scientists] found the unexpected…Galaxies! Thousands! Thousands! …With billions of stars! And trillions of new worlds. And beyond those …MORE! All in the space of a single grain of sand on the vast beach of the cosmos…Which nicely frames the question man has been asking for millennia.’ ‘What question?” asks the boy named Milo. Oliver responds, ‘What’s the center of it all?’”

Now, this is when the punchline comes. Deep within the minds of the other children and Opus the Penguin, pondering the awesomeness of all creation in silence, they share an answer only with themselves. What’s the center of the universe?….The boy, Binkley thinks, “Me.” …Milo thinks, “Me,” ….and Opus the penguin energetically if not selfishly thinks, “Me, baby.”

In their childlike (or penguin-ish) hubris, they feel uniquely the center of all that is. They have made everything about themselves. The creator of their own comic (not cosmic) world, Berkely Breathed, might not realize it, but he revealed through pen and ink what hampers all of humanity – our pride. We tend to think everything is about us, or as Martin Luther more theologically put it, we tend to be bent inward upon ourselves. Our wills are in bondage to sin, and we prove selfish.

Through ancient, sacred story, Genesis reveals that the Fall of Creation happened because of pride, and pride remains humanity’s downfall. And this proves no small distinction. For everything that occurs afterwards in the Bible is in response to our fallen condition. And in this sacred story, pride often sets humanity back.

And still, from creation to new creation, God seeks to heal the wounds we commonly identify as sin, sorrow, and death. God wills to make all things new, but as one Baptist pastor, Bobby Gilles, happened to post about this week on Substack, too many Christians misunderstand. They hear the Bible speaking of creation in a way that leads to human, ultimately male autocratic rule (patriarchy). And, in that, they see supposed redemption.[v]

In reality, Genesis speaks of a divine call for partnership, followed by a shared Fall, which results in the mistaken, caustic call for human or “male rule”[vi] and results tribal divisions. This pastor rightly suggested that this version of dominion touted by many today proves a reflection of the Fall and sin…not holiness or God’s will.

No, in God’s sight, we are no longer male or female, but equally beloved children of God.[vii] We are to love, honor, and help one another. And yet rather than a compatible, mutual helpmate, there are today people considered of prominence, some in the halls of power, who argue for a submissive, home-centered wife in the name of Christ. In their minds, women should not vote and certainly never lead. (If you have never heard of this before, come to our speaker describing Christian Nationalism on September 24th. )

Unfortunately, this sin echoes into our environmental attitudes. Some argue for human dominion over all creation. Although God never surrendered God’s ultimate divine authority, in the original Hebrew, Genesis 1:26-28 does say that humans are given “rule” over the world. That word is sometimes translated as dominion.

Yet here, humans have been told to rule only after being made in the image of God. Being in the likeness of God, not equal to God, we are to serve as royal stewards caring for what ultimately belongs to God, our true King.[viii] Like the God we serve, we are to delight in creation, to love, respect, and care for it as best as we can. Even as our fallen condition necessitates that we must use creation and consume it at times for our daily bread and the good of all, we are do so cautiously and with thanksgiving.

As in the ancient Near East, “where kings would place images (statues) of themselves across their empires to represent their presence, we are [placed here] in God’s likeness.”[ix] As the New Testament similarly declares, we are God’s ambassadors.[x] Thus, humanity, both male and female made in God’s image,[xi] is placed on Earth to be God’s visual representatives – echoing and living out in community God’s decrees and love which is and remains creative, life-giving, and sustaining, not destructive or exploitative.[xii] We are to continue the charge given Adam and Eve as if stewards.

This new festival, Creation in Christ, proves a call to worship but also an affront to our pride and a correction of our sin. As sinner-saints all, our daily lives are laden with temptations, risk of missteps, and sometimes feelings of guilt. In talking with the head of the Fluvanna SPCA last Friday in preparation for our Pet Blessing (on September 26 at 10:00 am), she noted that there is a sad nexus between community violence, domestic violence, and animal abuse.

As a former law enforcement officer and having a criminology degree, I know this is true as supported by both my experience and research. Our inclination to not properly value and honor one another, our fellow creatures, and the world reflects the selfishness Martin Luther wrote about so often. It is sin. We forget, as the Lakota whom I formally served with say, “We are all relatives.”

Through our Church liturgical calendar, we tell the story of our faith. “Through Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost, we are drawn again and again into the mystery of Christ,” said The Rev. Matthew Salisbury, National Liturgical Advisor for the Church of England.[xiii] Now through the adding of this new festival day, a huge slice of the universal Church will annually thank God for all creation as well as its rescue and restoration through Jesus Christ.[xiv] In our liturgical focus and theological understanding, we will move more fully from Creation to New Creation each year.

Yet let us be clearheaded where others might regrettably not be. Rachel Roberts, Church of England Digital Team, explained, “This is not a celebration of Mother Nature, and it isn’t a Harvest Festival.”[xv] It is not another Earth Day. As pastors or Church, I suggest that we avoid saying, “You must believe and act in such-and-such a specific way…” This isn’t really about simplified answers or new laws to become a weight on others. Instead, we invite. We should ponder together, as Mary pondered, what God has done and is doing right before our eyes and how we should best respond. For all creation was made to magnify the Lord, including our own lives.

As a result, this festival “celebrates one of the foundational mysteries of our Christian faith. In it, we praise the Father, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word through whom all things were made, and the Holy Spirit, the Giver of Life.”[xvi] Equating the eternal, divine Word with God three times in his Gospel, John similarly proclaims that in Jesus is life, and as God, Jesus created and will renew all things. One environmentalist rightly argued, “[Creation] comes from God’s love, and it is sustained by God’s generosity. And it remains the object of God’s delight and care.”[xvii]

And as another said, that first act of creation “lies within the whole sweep of God’s purposes.”[xviii] Creation is used by God, as John Calvin argued in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, to not just meet our needs but call us to belief. It is as Paul says in Acts, God created everything so that we “would search for God and perhaps fumble about for him and find him.” And acting within creation, Jesus, the Evangelist John indicates, created and redeems all.

Thus, it seems that we are not unlike Oliver Wendell Jones after all. With our limited brain capacity and short time on Earth, we wonder what all this means. No, God is not creation, but God is partly revealed in and through creation’s wonder – including you and me and our beloved pets. God is not ever far from us, “For we, too, are his offspring.’”[xix] And through faith in Jesus, and the action of the Holy Spirit, we who believe and are baptized have become his family.

Thus, God wishes to share all good things with us. We are never viewed as a mistake no matter how many mistakes we make. We are never forgotten nor orphaned by God even when we forget or abandon God. We are loved by a God that comes to us in Jesus and shouts his love for us through the plains and mountains, the lakes, streams, rivers and oceans. Every coyote call, bird and whale song shouts of God’s love for us and praises God.

So, “What is the center of it all?” Thanks to God’s self-revelation in and through Jesus Christ, we have begun to finally understand the correct answer. At the center of it all is Love, the Love who is our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This Love calls us each by name and cares for all that has been created. It loves each of us as if there were only one of us,[xx]  and asks us to magnify that love through all we do. For in loving God and loving others as ourselves, we must also consider how to care for the creation God cares about and which we share. Amen.

[i] Visit feastofcreation.com to learn more about this truly historic event.

[ii] See Luke 2:19.

[iii] Lowry, M., & Greene, B. (1991). Mary, Did You Know? [Recorded by Michael English]. On Michael English [Album]. Curb Records.

[iv] Breathed, B. (August 5, 2007). Opus [Comic Strip]. The Washington Post Writers Group.

[v] Pastor Bobby Giles, post on Subtack, August 22, 2026.

[vi] Pastor Bobby Giles, post on Subtack, August 22, 2026.

[vii] See Galatians 3:28.

[viii] See hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/2860/what-does-dominion-mean-in-genesis and facebook.com/airwin.ortiz/posts/dominion-does-not-mean-destruction-it-means-stewardship-we-rule-the-world-the-wa/28720535374199686.

[ix] See hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/2860/what-does-dominion-mean-in-genesis and facebook.com/airwin.ortiz/posts/dominion-does-not-mean-destruction-it-means-stewardship-we-rule-the-world-the-wa/28720535374199686.

[x] See 2Corinthians 5:20.

[xi] See Genesis 1:27.

[xii] See hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/2860/what-does-dominion-mean-in-genesis and facebook.com/airwin.ortiz/posts/dominion-does-not-mean-destruction-it-means-stewardship-we-rule-the-world-the-wa/28720535374199686.

[xiii] Ibid. quoting Matthew Salisbury

[xiv] Ibid. quoting Rachael Roberts.

[xv] Ibid. quoting Rachael Roberts.

[xvi] Ibid. quoting Rachael Roberts.

[xvii] Ibid. quoting Becky Frankham.

[xviii] Ibid. quoting Bishop Graham Usher, Bishop of Norwich.

[xix] See Acts 17:28.

[xx] This common theological saying reflects the writings of Augustine of Hippo in his Confessions, “You are good and all-powerful, caring for each one of us as though each is the only one in your care, and so for all as if they were but one.”

Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 29:55 minute mark.

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.

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August 31, 2026 · 3:03 pm

For you, a cross! (Sermon)

Stushie Art at https://stushieart.com/tag/take-up-your-cross-art/

The readings for the 14th Sunday After Pentecost, Yr. A were: Jeremiah 15:15-21; Psalm 26:1-8, Romans 12:9-21; Matthew 16:21-28. This sermon was preached at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra, VA on August 30, 2026.

Those of us old enough might remember the Oprah Winfrey Show while it was on the top of the television talk show pyramid. (That’s back in what might seem like the Dark Ages of television.) The show became particularly noted for the iconic, over the top gift giving segments. For those that don’t remember or maybe never heard of her (this is a possibility today amidst younger generations), Oprah would often give away to the audience products she liked and had profiled one her show.

And if one was really lucky, you might be there when Oprah gave cars to the entire audience. She would say what became almost a tagline and sometimes was made into a joke, “You get a car…And you get a car…and you get a car. You are all getting cars!” And the audience would go wild…Well, at least until the tax bills came.[i]

Well, there is no new car for us in today’s Gospel, but there is a cross. Jesus tries to tell us that in following him, you get a cross…and you get a cross…we are all going to have our crosses to bear. And if that doesn’t excite you, you are not alone. The disciples, too, found this to be a very difficult teaching. And even Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane asked his Father in Heaven to avoid his cup of suffering and sacrifice…a violent, torturous death on a very real cross.

Yet Jesus’ response was ultimately very different than his disciples. In his humanity, Jesus prefers not to carry his cross, but in his divine perfection being without sin, he does not give into temptation. He accepts his cross. In Matthew (26:39), Mark (14:36), and Luke (22:42), Jesus is tempted, but ultimately, he prays, “not my will, but yours be done.”

Here, I find a comforting lesson. Temptation, that urge or attraction toward something, is not in itself a sin but very human. Ruminating on a temptation can be dangerous, can make us weak, and giving into temptation can prove a sin. Yet everyone is tempted at times. As we see here, Jesus was tempted at times to take the easier road away from Calvary. Yet being without sin, he doesn’t let temptation take root in his heart or mind. He does not give into temptation. He casts it out like the demon’s tool that it can become. “Get behind me, Satan!”

Still, Jesus came to share in our lot including temptation. In fact, we see Jesus tempted throughout his ministry at varied points. Satan tempted him in the wilderness as he fasted at the start of his ministry. He felt tempted in the Garden of Gethsemane at the climax. But many people might prefer to forget the story we heard from a time in between. Peter, likely reflecting the angst of all the disciples, rebukes Jesus in Matthew 16…Think about that…He goes from recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, son of the living God a few lines earlier to rebuking…scolding…criticizing Jesus, his Lord. Peter tempts Jesus.  

In response, Jesus angrily (but without sin) calls Peter Satan because that’s the role he is playing…the Tempter. Like Satan in the wilderness but without recognizing it (for sin often happens without our noticing it), Peter is enticing Jesus to veer from his divine path. Peter gets in Jesus’ way. In the original Greek, it specifically says Peter became a “stumbling block.”

Elsewhere in Luke (17:1-2), Jesus teaches, “Temptations to sin [specifically, he says “stumbling blocks”] are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin [stumble].”

So, “Woe to Peter!” Peter is playing God saying what should and should not happen. Peter is being like Satan asking Jesus to ignore God’s will. Peter went from hero (proclaiming Jesus as Lord) to zero (not trusting Jesus) pretty quickly. In truth, so can we all when we seek to deny God’s will or encourage others to do so. This is our collective, shared woe as humans, too.

Yet, there is always Good News. Jesus forgives. Jesus takes this moment of great error to teach them all (and us) an important lesson. As with his first disciples, our crosses will come. Indeed, if any wish to continue to walk the way of Jesus, he says, “let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” To fulfill the will of God is not easy. To follow Jesus comes with cost. Yet, in humbly submitting to God’s will…in surrendering to Jesus as Lord and Savior…trusting in him…Jesus teaches that we can find abundant, eternal life even amidst what we might sometimes see as our trail of tears.

My goodness, this is a curious method to recruit followers, isn’t it? As a result, some Christians try to bait and switch in their evangelism efforts rather than accept it. They adopt a Theology of Glory, where there’s an expectation of and an over-focus on triumph denying hardship and denial of self as part of the way of Jesus. There might be a reliance on human reason, power, and moral works rather than God’s grace, the activity of the Holy Spirit, and Christ’s suffering on the cross. Among the worst-case examples, particularly popular in the US, Australia, and South America, you have the all too attractive (but false) prosperity gospel. Like the serpent in the Garden of Eden pointing to fruit, we are told that God will reward us with things of this world (an easy life, money, power, etc.) if we only believe hard enough and (most commonly) give enough.

In short, give money receive a blessing. Pray hard enough, be good enough, and get what we want. (Not necessarily what God wants. We decide.) And sadly, I’ve even seen a very Oprah-like move by some congregations right here in Virginia. As I have driven around along roadsides, I have found signs offering door prizes such as televisions and even once the possibility of a car if people would just come to the congregation’s Easter service. (I am not suggesting this to our Evangelism Team.)

Does this sound like Jesus to you? If we look at the life of Jesus, the first disciples, or the witness of the early Church under persecution, we should understand that God’s gracious will does not work that way. Jesus doesn’t trick his followers. He doesn’t bribe them. He speaks plainly of a Theology of the Cross. Particularly if following Jesus, one must expect a cross.

There is a saying widely attributed as being from Martin Luther, but it is likely an aphorism reflecting his teachings. (At least, I cannot find any citation.) It reads, “A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing – is worth nothing.” I saw someone I don’t know ask on social media in response, “Are we giving [God] crumbs?” Luther regularly wrote about how following Jesus would cost our old way of life. This understanding of faithful living connects us to Jesus’ cross and ultimately our salvation.

As Jesus taught, Luther argued for a Theology of the Cross – that we are to surrender everything, never seeking our own crosses, but accepting crosses as called. These crosses don’t save us. It earns us no merit for heaven. Yet, it is the way of our salvation as we follow Jesus and cling to him with all that we are – loving God and loving neighbor as ourselves with mind, body, and soul (or as Lutheran Pietists argued, our hearts).

And so, both the Jewish and Christian scriptures teach us that in facing hardship, we should live in hope. In facing challenges, we need to seek to hear and follow God’s will for God loves us. And today, preparing his friends for what is coming, in light of Peter’s confession of faith, Jesus tells them that not only is life generally hard, but we will also specifically suffer as we follow Jesus. Be ready.

Nonetheless, when facing our personal, internal, secret fears, or our real-world enemies, grave illness, or even the end of life, we might also be tempted to give up, lose hope, or try to save ourselves from unavoidable pain. Life happens, and unfortunately, there is sometimes no way around pain. We must walk through it faithfully. This means that we do what we can to make things better. (We aren’t asked to suffer for the sake of suffering.) And we are asked to try to be like Jesus amidst our challenges – forgiving, patient, kind, trusting in the God’s provision…even seeking to love and forgive those who anger or betray us as Paul writes the Roman community this morning.

Certainly, like Peter and the Apostles, we will fail at this at times. We will be brought to our knees by the weight of our crosses. Yet like Jesus did pressing up Calvery, we are urged to get up and walk. Reflecting upon this teaching, Brother Matthew, the current Prior of the Taizé Community, shared these words with some young pilgrims visiting last year; recognizing both our fragile humanity and our eternal hope:

“This evening,” he said, “we heard Jesus say to us, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’ It is not about denying who we are as people, but of fixing our eyes on Jesus and walking with him. That may lead us to encounter the cross, but if we content ourselves with simply holding onto what we have, how can we discover the fullness of life, that life in the resurrection, that he offers to us all? Are we ready to take the risk of following Jesus at each moment of his journey? That is the challenge that lies before us all.”[ii]

My friends, we are sharing in the ministry and path of Jesus. Jesus lives in us. As his body, the Church, we will face unfair things. Stumbling blocks will come. People will betray us. We might even face forms of ridicule or persecution as we seek to follow Jesus. For we are one with Jesus now, through our faith and baptism, even while living in a fallen, unfair world.

Yet when we are at our lowest, remember the treasure of our faith. With the weight of the world seemingly crushing us, we are asked to raise our heads…to expectantly watch and wait. For, we don’t just have a cross. We have a Savior who loves us enough to die for us, and he will pick us up and carry us when we fall. Just as his suffering body, the Church, proclaims and sings, Jesus is always with us, even as he is coming soon and very soon.[iii] Amen.

[i] Oprah Winfrey’s 2004 car giveaway required participants to pay between $6000 and $7000 in Federal and State taxes. This was difficult for some to do. See for example: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2016/09/13/a-look-back-at-oprahs-ultimate-car-giveaway/

[ii] Br. Matthew of Taizé (August 21, 2025).  Remember the Treasure of Your Faith. https://www.taize.fr/en/remember-the-treasure-of-your-faith.

[iii] See Revelation 22:16-21. This inspired the hymn by Andraé Crouch, “Soon and Very Soon.”

Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 25:40 minute mark.

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.

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August 24, 2026 · 11:33 pm

The True Foundation (Sermon)

Image by Kelsey Todd on Unsplash, licensed under CCO.

The readings for the 13th Sunday After Pentecost, Yr. A were: Isaiah 51:1-6; Psalm 138, Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20. This sermon was preached at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra, VA on August 23, 2026.

Today with the din of recent Jewish faith discussions and debates still echoing in his ears, Jesus pauses to asks his friends, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” That term, “Son of Man,” is steeped in Jewish tradition and theology. In both Jewish and Christian scriptures, the term could indicate the humility of a mere mortal in comparison to God’s glory. It could be used as an address by God speaking to some prophets, or it is used be Jesus roughly seventy-eight times when referring to himself.[i] So, we might assume that term is pretty important.

In using the Son of Man title, Jesus echoes an image from a vision first given to the Prophet Daniel. One “like the Son of Man” would be “given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14). Thus, Jesus is subtly embodying and claiming that role for himself. He’s the savior. He’s the Lord.

Then, Jesus further reveals himself through his authentic teaching and preaching. He speaks as if with authority…as if he is God. Jesus embodies this authority as he heals the sick, exorcises demons, calms seas, feeds multitudes in miraculous ways, and resurrects people. Jesus used this title to affirm his authority to forgive sins (Mark 2:10 for example) and act as Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28). Those with the eyes to see, as empowered by the Spirit, will recognize Jesus as Lord.

Yet, many people misjudge Jesus. Just a few verses before, Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus to challenge him. Normally adversarial factions within Judaism, debating about religious practice, scripture, and authority among the people of Israel, they have now become united in their opposition to Jesus…over their concerns about Jesus.[ii]

And as for the general population, as can happen in our own time under social stress, many people fear the End was near as they look at the state of the world around them. Jerusalem was under Roman rule. The Herodian Dynasty was friendlier to Greek ideals than Jewish ones, and they were vassals to Rome. People longed for freedom and the fulfillment of God’s eschatological, if not apocalyptic, promises.

In such a state, some like the Essenes lived extreme lives in the desert sharing in what we might today label a kind of a cultish, communal life. Other people claimed to be or were wrongly identified as the promised Messiah as they rallied people to fight Rome for liberty. This violence helped lead to the military occupation of Judah and the arrival of Pontius Pilat. And many prophets appeared; not all recorded in scripture. Some of these proved false prophets, much as some are appearing in our own time.

In this mix, John the Baptist served and died. We understand now that he prepared the way for Jesus, but at the time, he was primarily recognized as a great prophet in his own right. Some held out hope that he was the Messiah, so maybe…just maybe…John the Baptist would fulfill God’s past promised and come back to life.

Now, this might sound strange to us, but recall that to this day, a small Gnostic group called the Mandaeans who still view John the Baptist as their greatest and ultimate prophet.[iii] To them, Jesus is a false prophet. And in our own nation, a small sect of Hassidic Jews believes their rabbi who died in 1994 is the Messiah. They await his resurrection to complete their redemption.[iv] They think he is the promised Messiah. Likewise, there was and remains a belief that Elijah or Jeremiah would come back when it came time for God’s promises to Israel to be fulfilled. Throughout time, people have and will wrongly place their hope in figures other than Jesus.

That said, surrounded by Pagan temples to false gods, Jesus asks another important question…perhaps the most important eternally. “But who do you think that I am?” In my mind’s eye, I see the great Apostles hesitate. They might even be visibly hemming and hawing a bit, murmuring among themselves.  They have likely been discerning together this very point for a while as they walked or rested, but now? Now, they must uncomfortably declare what they believe in front of Jesus and one another.

And reflecting his bold personality but also his leadership role in the group, Simon blurts out their shared hope. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). Here, Simon has spoken the ultimate truth about Jesus. He has named the proverbial key to it all…the foundation of our faith that rests in Jesus. And as is not unusual in tribal based societies, Jesus gives Simon a new name to reflect this momentous action or moment. He is renamed Peter which means Rock.

Yet interestingly, Jesus does not give him full credit. Flesh and blood have not revealed this to Peter – not any computations in his mind, or words of another apostle or any human. God the Father has revealed this through God’s Spirit. As Lutheran Christians, we understand that only through God’s work can we identify Jesus as Lord. If you believe that Jesus is Lord, it is the Holy Spirit at work in you. You have been called and chosen no matter how small, weak, and imperfect you feel.

Yet, some Christians still overly focus on our personal decision to believe in Jesus…as if faith is a moment in time, a declaration we must make, or something under our power. So much so, people can forget that it isn’t fully our decision after all. It is good to stand up and declare Jesus our Lord. (Lutherans do so at baptisms, and every time we say the Creed, and even when we become adults in the Church through the rite of Confirmation.) God comes to us first…decides to love us and set us apart. Yes, we might read scripture and learn about Jesus, hear of Jesus from others and be invited to follow, but a lot of people have read scripture or heard of Jesus and not come to believe. Yet, the Spirit alone acts within these actions and circumstances to help reveal to us the divine identity of Jesus to us. This is when the time is right for us and the community around us.

 Then, we have the problem of what exactly is the rock that Jesus will build his Church upon. Popes, Patriarchs, pastors and priests, along with self-proclaimed Apostles, Prophets and charlatans, have at times declared they are the arbiters of faith at times. Sometimes this puts Christians at odds as much or even more so then the Pharisees, Sadducees, Priests, Essenes and other sects existing in Jesus’ time.

Yet Christ is our cornerstone, and that statement of faith in Jesus as Messiah, Son of the Living God, proves our shared foundation…nothing else on this earth…no Pope, no denomination, no dogma, no theology, no worship style, no hymnal, not even ourselves. In scripture, the Letter to the Hebrews simply declares, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

If you take the time to review Luther’s writings or even just the ELCA’s website, you will hear that Martin Luther similarly wrote, “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace,” a grace that comes to us only through the sacrifice, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, as the Son of God; pointing us in love toward others and the world. Yes, in trying to follow Jesus, Christians can wrongly claim exclusivity. We are right, and others are wrong. We are saved, and they are not. Yet in doing so, as again Luther cautioned, we risk being unbiblical by serving as divine judge and limiting God’s authority to dispense grace as God wills.[v] This echoes the yeast of the Pharisees: hypocrisy, rigid religiosity, and placing obstacles in the way of faith. No, we are not saved by perfect theology or actions…just grace.

Thankfully since the horrors of World War 2 with Christians murdering Christians and many others, there has been a great effort to work towards oneness; remembering that Jesus prayed that his Church may be one as our Triune God is one (John 1722). Even some Roman Catholic resources understand that “In Matthew 16 and [later] Matthew 18, Jesus gives the disciples authority over binding and loosing,” all of them, not just Peter.[vi]  The same authority given to Peter in Matthew 16 is given to all the disciples in Matthew 18. It says “you all” have the power to bind and loose. The Pharisees used that specific term, “binding and loosing,” and Jesus and his first disciples knew what it meant. And that phrase inferred that we are to communally “discern authoritative, doctrinal, and disciplinary decisions.”[vii]

In the end, we who believe in Jesus share the keys to the Kingdom, but Jesus remains Lord of his House. Thus, our declarations regarding faith and life, as well as our ecumenical if not interfaith discussions and disagreements, can prove important. Yet we need to humbly remember that we always can err. Our pronouncements can become a wound to others or distraction from biblical truth. We need to remain humble, not triumphant, continuously reforming in light of the revelation of scripture; repenting as necessary. We are to do so in conversation with one another and the teachings of the historic Church, those that came before us. Yet again, Jesus warns us to proceed with caution, not pride, as did Paul in our letter today. For we and our pronouncements can become a stumbling block to another’s fragile faith through our lack of patience, wrongheaded attitudes, blind arguments, lack of compassion, empathy, or love.[viii] Because that is the yeast of the Pharisees.

Echoing the Lutheran theologian (from the late 1800s to early 1900s), Ernst Troeltsch, we discover that we should not confuse sect with Church. To him, a sect is a small, voluntary, and exclusive group that rejects the secular world and demands intense personal devotion from its members and a conscious, adult conversion. Meanwhile, a healthy Church aims to include all of society, even infants through Baptism. It accepts secular authority, reflecting Luther’s own belief in Two Kingdoms. Imperfect as they can be, god can use them. The Church is a place where grace is mediated through sacraments.[ix] We understand that to be Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Still, even then, Jesus says that he came to draw all people to himself through his sacrifice (John 12:32). The Spirit might yet widen our definition and understanding of the eternal “Church” in surprising ways beyond our imagination…but that’s God’s judgement.

Most simply, faith remains trust in Jesus as the Son of the Living God. Faith in him ultimately makes us saints despite our sins, and creates one holy, catholic (meaning universal) Church despite our denominational divisions or blindness. Thus, Christ’s Church is not any building, singular polity or religious practice, but a spiritual, imperfect communion of those in the flesh that trust in Jesus as Lord…sinner-saints all…in need of ongoing repentance and grace. I’ve often said to friends, my faith is in God, not my denomination.

Remember, it was Jesus who established and continues to build his Church for our sake. He is here with us when two or three gathers in his name to heal our wounds, to forgive our sin, to move us toward reconciliation, and through God’s Spirit seeks to draw us closer to God’s self and make us more holy…transforming us as Paul says. It is he who called each of us here today…or drew you to watch online…and asks us to love others as we are loved. We can come without fear with open hearts declaring Jesus as our Lord. For our faith is in Jesus, the Son of the Living God, who has come to love and save us. Our faith will be used to connect us to him and one another under his roof, the Church, forever…because he loves us, and he is our God. Amen.

[i] “Son of Man,” Harper Collins Bible Dictionary and Harper Collins Commentary.

[ii] At least as a whole, this proves true. Some will come to believe in Jesus despite the animosity of the religious groups or classes they belong to.

[iii] See “Mandaeans” on Wikipedia. Numbered from around 60,000 to 100,000 believers today. “They may have been among the earliest religious groups to practice baptism, as well as among the earliest adherents of Gnosticism, a belief system of which they are the last surviving representatives.” Based in Iraq, they have been persecuted and spread out due to the Iraq War.

[iv] See “Menachem Mendel Schneerson” on Wikipedia. “During his lifetime, many of his adherents believed that he was the Messiah, though not all Chabadniks subscribe to this belief. His own attitude to the subject, and whether he proclaimed it, is hotly debated among academics and scholars of Judaism.”

[v] The Augsburg Confession indicates that we wanted to remain in relationship among differences, but as time went on, Lutherans also condemned many, including other Lutherans, sometimes killing or persecuting them. And we were and are condemned in turn by others.

[vi] See for example https://catholicproductions.com/blogs/blog/whatever-you-bind-and-loose. In addition, the Catholic Catechism and Canon Law indicates the Pope only has infallible authority when making rare, dogmatic declaration on faith and morals. As noted by Catholic Answers at https://www.catholic.com/tract/papal-infallibility, infallibility means protection from teaching doctrinal error. It does not mean the pope is free from personal sin or bad decisions. Martin Luther argued that Councils could err along with the pope. Papal infallibility was not claimed until the First Vatican Council (1869-1870).

[vii] Catholic Productions. https://catholicproductions.com/blogs/blog/whatever-you-bind-and-loose.

[viii] See, for example, Mathew 18:6 or Matthew 19:14.  

[ix] Troeltsch, E. (1931). The social teaching of the Christian churches (O. Wyon, Trans.). Macmillan. (Original work published 1912). The Lutheran Confessions indicate that the Church is made of “congregations of saints [believers] in which the Gospel is purely taught and the Sacraments are correctly administered.” This is from Article VII (Of the Church) in The Augsburg Confession. His argument draws from this basic Lutheran understanding.

Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 33:15 minute mark.

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.

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August 16, 2026 · 8:53 pm

Gathering Others (Sermon)

Michael Cook (British, b. 1966), Crumbs of Love, 2008. Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas, 60 × 60 cm. Photo via hallowed-art.co.uk. . http://www.hallowed-art.co.uk/gmedia/12_mysteries_crumbsoflove-jpg/

The readings for the 12th Sunday After Pentecost, Yr. A were: Isaiah 56:1, 6-8; Psalm 67, Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32; Matthew 15:10-28. This sermon was preached at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra, VA on August 16, 2026.

There is a dog in the story today, so I am going to use that as an excuse to talk about my beloved Boomer. I know a lot of you don’t know Boomer. Some of you might have seen him on social media, but if there is anything you should know about him…that which motivates him more than anything even being around me…its food. It is food. And I think it is partly because he was abused as a puppy. With his other siblings, they were starved. So, I think he is still hungry. You know, it is that memory of that woundedness that keeps him hungry.

And so, if you were to come to our house, you would see him sit there patiently, but he watches you as your fork goes from plate to mouth, plate to mouth. His head bobbing looks as if he is watching the most spectacular tennis match. He doesn’t want to miss a moment…but really, what he doesn’t want to miss is the smallest crumb dropped. If anything hits that floor, it is gobbled up quick as can be. Yet if I am not messy, and there is nothing to be had…if I don’t show him some grace and give him a bite…he is part beagle. So, when he is at his most desperate, guess what? He is vocal, and Boomer lets out the most plaintiff lament that would make a banshee in the Odyssey jealous. Oh, he puts them to shame.

And I bring this up because it is a similar to the utter desperation that this woman is feeling.[i] , a deep hunger longing to be filled. The hunger that she was experiencing resonates throughout today’s passage. It is not what Jesus said, or the arguments over the ritualistic propriety of food consumed with the Pharisees, nor any obnoxious behaviors of the mother (as at least as Jesus’ disciples experienced her), nor even the girl’s suffering (surprisingly) that holds center stage. No, it is the miracle of faith that begs for our attention. We see God’s most ancient plans and promises being fulfilled in this scene. Salvation would come first to the Jews and through them to the entire world. The gift of faith is on the move thanks to the Holy Spirit. It is a story as old as scripture itself.

When the Bible starts in Genesis with Creation and then Adam and Eve, we see Adam and Eve banished from the Garden of Eden for their sin, ultimately a pride that they felt that they could be like God. Yet, our LORD God in his mercy clothed them on their way (Genesis4:21). He didn’t just cast them out. He clothed them. And as the rest of scripture reveals, God had a plan even then to restore what was lost.

And from there, we quickly move from a more cosmic and global level of story toward a focus on one family, the family of Abraham and Sarah and their descendants. Yes, it is true that God made a covenant with Abraham, but that was ultimately because of God’s will and Abraham’s faith in response. Even as Abraham had much more to learn, faith (trust in God) made Abraham righteous in God’s eyes, as it does his descendants, and as it does us (some of us not genetic descendants but spiritual children of Abraham)…called to trust.  

In this all too human story, we see lots of sin, but God remains gracious. Ultimately, the former slave, Joseph, betrayed by his brothers, says to them as all the stories in Genesis come to a conclusion in his life’s experiences, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20). God proved faithful, blessing people beyond just Joseph or his family, thus inspiring more faith.

And then, we meet Moses. As a new covenant is built upon the one made with Abraham, as the Israelites get to know God better despite many stumbles and sinful bumbles along their way, God names them repeatedly, Qedesh Olam. And this is one of the most important phrases in the Jewish scriptures. Qedesh signifies “holy” or “set apart.” And olam signifies “everlasting” or “eternity.” The Jewish people are being set apart as God’s Holy People…chosen and set apart, forever. It is not because of what they have done or will do. Ultimately, it is because God wills to love them in this way…It is grace. We are saved by grace through faith…through trust.

Yet maybe we should stop here to ask, “Why?” Were the Israelites freed just to escape Egypt in order to form a tiny nation in the Lavant? No, we learn as the story continues through the same dysfunctional family, particularly as it zeroes in on the line of David and the Kingdom of Israel, that there is much more to it. The prophets attest to it many times. Despite imperfections and lack of faithfulness, God wills to remain faithful to them. God loves them with a steadfast love. They are set apart, but it is for a purpose that reaches far beyond them to bless all the peoples of the Earth.

Yes, others will learn of the Lord through this holy, set apart people. Others will come to love and worship God… people God already loves. That’s what Isaiah (56:8) tells us this morning. All along, the flow of God’s mercy, the stream of our salvation history, is catching up surprising figures in its current. It is sweeping humanity along as in a rolling tide, a flood, hoping to draw all people to God’s self…gathering people in…swept up by the Holy Spirit, so to speak.

Even with the Syrophoenician woman this morning, we see God at work. She has a need, a deep hunger, that she cannot satisfy. She’s heard of this Jesus, and she has come to believe in his power and authority. Matthew’s first audience knows Jesus is the Lord of All, but she calls him Lord three times symbolically indicating divine order and wholeness…God’s self is being revealed through Jesus…as Jesus.

Based on the disciples’ response, she was acting a little bit like Boomer at my table…trying with all her might to catch Jesus’ attention…being a little obnoxious. “Lord! Lord! Lord! Help me!” Even in her body language, she takes the form of someone pleading…someone worshipping God on her knees…in supplication if not worship.

As with Matthew’s first audience, we can sense her desperation and be moved toward empathy and compassion for her situation. In one way or another, we likely have all been there…Or we will be there at some point…a place where we hope against hope that things will work out. Or maybe we struggle to have hope at all. Some of us have been in that space, too.

Through the laments found in Psalms, we address God. We share our complaints. We make our request, and then there is an offer an expression of trust (or faith) that God will care for us. Then finally, there’s a vow of praise or thanksgiving. Her behaviors, if we look closely, model the Psalms. Her actions echoed the form of this kind of holy lament.[ii]

This woman who is a Gentile or commonly called a Greek at the time, who is the descendant of the ancient Jewish enemy, the Canaanites, scandalously approaches Jesus. He’s a Jew. He’s a respected member of the community above her station. He is recognized as a Rabbi, or teacher, and miracle worker even among the Gentiles by this point. And at a time and in a culture when no respectable woman would approach a strange man to speak to him in public, she boldly does. She almost makes a fool of herself. Everything seems wrong with this woman.

In Matthew’s telling, this unnamed woman rises out of the crowds[iii] as if she is the only one there.[iv] Boom! We are to look at her and see her as God sees her…in her humility…clothed in her unique needs if not maybe some shame.[v] And then, she will disappear within the flow of history just as fast…unknown to us but remembered by God. Yet before she goes, we are to notice something that might inspire us and change our own lives forever. She has incredible faith!

Despite everything against her, despite the challenges of her possessed daughter, despite her station, she has faith in Jesus. That, my friends, changes everything.  Like others who just wanted to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment (Matthew 9:20-22), or catch a glimpse of him (Luke 19:1-10), or have him just say a word (Matthew 8:8)…she just wants a crumb of mercy…not ultimately for herself, but for the one she loves…her daughter.

We recently saw Peter fail at his attempt to walk on the water, and Jesus retorted at that time, “You of little Faith” (Matthew 14:22-33). The Pharisees came from Jerusalem to challenge him over his behaviors, and he reminds them at his peril that faith really isn’t about what we do or don’t do ritually or otherwise. It is about the heart. Just as love can flow from the heart, so can murder and all sin. He sees their hearts and knows that these particular Pharisees, supposed men of faith, are hypocrites.

No, faith is only of the heart. It is not of our worldly station. It is not imagined through our intellect, or does it come to us by what we do or fail to do. And here, this “other,” this “foreigner,” this “enemy,” this “women,” this “dog,” …incredibly walks right up to Jesus in faith. Like a parable shared by Jesus, this woman knocks and knocks trusting all along that Jesus will open the door (Luke 18:1-8). As a result of this incredible trust, Jesus declares, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish” (Matthew 15:28). Miracles happen because of faith.[vi]

Yet before we think that this is all her doing, making faith a saving work of sorts, reliant upon our own abilities or will, let us always remember that faith, too, is a gift from God…a gift of the Holy Spirit. When Peter soon afterwards finally comes around to declare Jesus the Messiah, Son of the Living God, Jesus explains, “this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood [not by his brain or any other human], but by my Father in heaven.” We cannot even recognize Jesus as Lord without the Holy Spirit’s help. Faith is solely a work of God, the Spirit…an invitation to eternal relationship that comes to us as gift and of which we are to grab onto, cling to, and treasure.

God by grace through faith makes us Christ’s saints. Throughout history, the greatest of the recognized, lauded saints are small in number compared to the many anonymous “dogs” and “others” who have looked for scrapes at Jesus’ table and were saved. These knew they didn’t deserve it. They recognized they could not save themselves. Yet, they were saved by grace through faith.

Similarly, if we were to take a poll this morning, I would suggest that for most of us it was not Peter or Paul or any story of a famous saint that drew us to dare to hope that Jesus could save us. It was the Spirit often choosing to work through ordinary, overlooked people in the annals of history: a parent or grandparent…a mentor that witnessed to us of hope…a stranger that helped us discover the true meaning of grace, when the time was right…recognized for the first time or in a new way.

There’s a reason the Church commonly says that some of the greatest saints were the greatest sinners…the most in need of grace…the dogs of the world. A singer, Steven Curtis Chapman, was inspired one day to pen these words (found in his song, “Remember your chains,” on his CD, Heaven in the Real World, 1994) when he saw the hunger in the eyes of a prisoner on a plane he had boarded. It was a sudden Spirit-led realization:

There’s no one more thankful to sit at the table
Than the one who best remembers hunger’s pain;
And no heart loves greater than the one that is able
To recall the time when all it knew was shame.

He was observing an “other,” a “dog” to the world but precious to Jesus…someone that needed Jesus’ love desperately. And this inspired Stephen to actively support prison ministries.

In my own life, while a troubled youth or being a police officer, I remember people who rose from the crowd to speak hope and share a crumb of their faith with me when I was dying inside of hunger. It was a high school friend’s blue-collar father, a humble Sunday school teacher, and a childhood friend who was later a recovering heroin addict. It was a recovering alcoholic man and a woman recovering from food addiction who became spiritual mentors to me. There were many other types of surprising people used by God…I confess with shame…that I previously looked down upon as dogs. When in reality, I proved the dog in need of crumbs, and they responded. I had not even realized my need.  

As God loves us one and all as we are, God seeks to meet our need for salvation through the Church. As Dr. Sara Hinlicky Wilson reflected once in a podcast, we, the Church, are “reclaiming faith as the creation of the Holy Spirit through the word [preached] and sacraments, the ministry of the Church, and all that.”[vii] Yet, that’s not good enough for God. God uses it, but that’s not good enough.

We are gathered on Sundays, then sent. Through our daily lives, we are asked to take what little scraps of faith, hope, and love we can muster from that already gifted to us and share it with others. Despite our doubts, darkness, or insecurities…even our sin…no matter how stupid people might make us feel or the “other” we are…by grace through faith, we have been saved in Jesus Christ alone…gathered by God’s Spirit and set aside for a purpose.

It is implausible to many, maybe beyond our own understanding, but we “dogs” and sinners who dare to trust in Jesus have been declared Qedesh Olam. We are part of a much greater story, God’s love for the world. This is no time to wait or waste, for God is calling us. God will use the meager crumbs we offer, those Jesus gifted to us first, to gather still others in…to build up his Church. It is God’s will that our lives and the world be changed forever. It always has been. We have been saved for a purpose. Amen.

[i] No, I am not trying to minimize this woman’s situation. It is not comparable, but I am trying to show that she was loudly begging. Her calling for Jesus caused enough of a racket that the disciples wanted her shooed away.

[ii] Gail R. O’Day, “Surprised by Faith: Jesus and the Canaanite Woman,” in A Feminist Companion to Matthew, ed. Amy-Jill Levine and Marianne Blickenstaff (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001), 124.

[iii] Keck, L.E., Chief Ed. (1995). The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary in Twelve Volumes.

[iv] Brother Roger of Taizé often said that we are loved “as if the only one.”

[v] In that ancient honor based society, her behavior would bring shame upon her and her household.

[vi] This does not mean that we always get what we want when we believe, but our prayers and cares are heard and answered somehow by God.

[vii] Hinlicky Wilson, S. (August 23, 2023). Quenn of the Sciences Podcast. “Luther’s Bondage of the Will.”

Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 26:15 minute mark.

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.

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August 11, 2026 · 1:28 pm

The Word is Near Us (Sermon)

“Walking on Water,” (1890), oil on canvas, by Ivan Aivazovsky, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2647756

The readings for the 11th Sunday After Pentecost, Yr. A were: 1 Kings 19:9-18; Psalm 85:8-13, Romans 10:5-15; Matthew 14:22-33. This sermon was preached at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra, VA on August 9, 2026.

In the neighborhoods surrounding the Pentagon in Northern Virginia, there is a story that circulates about a Navy Admiral and an Army General who were friends – unlikely friends perhaps – that often enjoyed fishing together. And so, one day, they decided to take a break and go fishing on the nearby Potomac River. They fought their way through traffic to the Columbia Island Marina, just off the GW Parkway, and they excitedly get into their small boat and headed out for a peaceful time fishing together.

Unfortunately, an unexpected, strong storm came upon them very quickly. (These were the days before your handy dandy weather app, and they were taken by surprise.) And sadly, the high winds and waves soon swamped and capsized their small boat tossing both highly decorated, powerful, and respected men into the water.

Then, the storm died down almost as quickly as it came. Both renowned warriors struggled almost helplessly to get back into the boat. They had grown totally exhausted fighting the wind and the waves. It was a literal sink or swim moment, and they feared this might be it.

Yet, the Admiral floundered his way back first, righted the boat, and pulled himself painfully in with great effort. Then he fished out the General, using an oar still floating nearby. Catching his breath, the Admiral puffed: “Please don’t say a word about this to anyone. If the Navy found out I can’t swim well, I’d be disgraced.” In response the Army general panted, “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe. I’d hate to have my men find out I can’t walk on water.”[i]

Ah, if only we could walk on water. This story is totally a joke of course, but sadly, for the General in my joke or anyone else who is human, walking on water is an impossibility. Now, you might stop me and say, “Hey, Pastor Lou, didn’t St. Peter walk on water. I mean we just heard the story. He did take a few steps.” But I would have to correct you. You see, no human being ever could walk on water under their own power. They need God’s help to do so…God’s power…and that’s exactly what Peter was connect to through his trust in Jesus.

You might think I’m being a bit too nuanced here, but the events of Matthew 14 with walking on water are very similar to the Feeding of the 5,000 a few verses earlier. As I mentioned last week, Jesus’ earlier miracles in Matthew had previously been focused on healing and exorcisms as he begins his ministry. Thus, they are sometimes called therapeutic ministries.[ii] Now that things are getting serious and it is time for Jesus to head toward the cross in all earnestness, Jesus is starting to reveal himself more plainly. He is beginning to do even mightier works of power to help people identify who he is.

These will be nontherapeutic miracles that show his power over the cosmos and the established order of the world…even death itself.[iii] What human could multiply food or walk on water on their own? Moses, Elijah, Elisha and any other of God’s prophets needed God’s help. In contrast, Jesus can perform miracles as he wills. He is Imanuel, God with us…Those with the eyes to see will understand such nonverbal messages…revelation through mighty deed…With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can come to trust that Jesus is Lord.

Look at some of the details in today’s account. Jesus appears like a ghost. Was it the Apostles shock or his divine power that made him seem so? We aren’t told. Yet we are told, Peter dared to hope…dared to hope…that against all odds and common sense, despite anything he thought plausible in a very real world…Peter dared to hope this apparition was Jesus. Peter says, “Lord, if it is you [if…emphasis mine], command me to come to you on the water.” Even this great Apostle and beloved friend of Jesus, Peter, knows that he needs Jesus’ help. He cannot manage this on his own.

We see throughout Matthew’s Gospel that Matthew understands that you risk trusting Jesus or you don’t really trust Jesus. The way he weaves his witness, Matthew sees the Kingdom of God against the Kingdom of Satan throughout.[iv] There is a cosmic battle, we have a life-giving or life-ending choice to make. You are either for Jesus or against Jesus. You either trust him or you don’t.

As one commentary suggests, that is a very dualistic presentation for sure, yet it is not meant to say that Satan was ever equal to God or has a chance to win. No, the powers of sin, death, and the Devil do not equal God and are not absolute…They have no real power over us because of Jesus. But the God who has chosen to love us is all powerful…eternally powerful.[v]

Yet as evidenced by Peter’s comment (“if it is you”) as well as his sinking into the sea as he starts to notice the wind and likely the frantic waves pounding against him and around him, and he starts to listen to his doubts instead of the commanding voice of Jesus, Peter is seen struggling with trust. (Trust is another word for faith.) Indeed, when he asks Jesus, “if it is you,” Peter sounds a lot like Satan back in chapter 4 (verse 3) when he says, “If you are the Son of Man…”[vi] Within this great Apostle, beloved by Jesus, we find sinner and saint simultaneously…just like us. And when we doubt like Peter, “we can unwittingly cooperate with sin, death and the devil even [within] our efforts to prove our faith.”[vii]

Yet, there’s Good News, friends. Jesus is always to the rescue. He knows we are messed up…It is Jesus who comes to the Apostles in their need. It is Jesus who reveals his power and steadfast love to them. It is Jesus who forgives Peter’s doubts and shortcomings and commands him to walk on water like Jesus. And when Peter sinks? It is Jesus, the Word of God, who comes to Peter to raise him to new life. Extending his hand down into the sea, Jesus grasps the sputtering Peter and pulls him out to save him.

Even through trauma such as this, the near loss of life, God can help the Apostles grow in faith despite themselves. (Today, we might compare it to what is called post traumatic growth in chaplaincy.) Their faith grows despite their doubts because they made it through this life changing and challenging event with God’s help. And thus, they worship Jesus as this episode ends. They’ve learned more about themselves and their need through this event, but they have also learned more about Jesus, Son of the Living God, a Savior who comes to his children when in need and when the time is right…always will save them. Jesus reveals his divine nature to them, including his love and grace.

In my most recent #TheologicalThursday video, I spoke a bit about what it means to be saved. And we see that today. Elijah was being hunted down by the forces of Queen Jezabel. He had lost hope. He actually previously said that he wanted to die because things were that bad. And yet, he is up in the mountains when God speaks to him within silence like a still, small voice. God came to him.

Similarly in the midst of storm and the noise of the world shouting for us to give up, Jesus comes speaking peace to us. As Paul writes, “The scripture says, ‘No one who believes [who trusts] in [Jesus] will be put to shame.” No one! Even those of us who struggle to have faith, struggle against sin, or like Elijah contemplate our own death in our sense of defeat. The Word, Jesus, is near us…coming to us again and again…never giving up on us…extending to us his hand o grace because Jesus wills to save us.  

Sadly, there are some of our brothers and sisters in Christ who focus so much on the Law…accusing us as it tells us to just be better or try harder…they unwittingly give power and worship to the wind and waves of life. Echoing the faith of Paul and martyrs of the earliest Church, the message to focus upon is not ultimately, “If Peter had enough faith, he could have walked on water.” That kind of thinking leads only to a false hope of perfection, works righteousness, and feelings of defeat if not shame. This would be as if I said, ‘If we had enough faith, we could overcome all our problems”…accident, disease, aging, or any other terrible circumstance…”We can beat it.”

That’s magical thinking, my friends, not faith…a kind of hubris and sin, for we cannot will or wish our salvation. In life, bad stuff happens to good people just as it happened to Jesus, Peter, and any of Christ’s martyrs. For some reason, God allows sin, death, and the Devil to have its day…for now…but they shall never, ever win. Indeed, they lost when Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), from the cross and died.

When Jesus walks on water, he knows that a storm is coming on the Sea of Galilee. And Jeus knows that soon a political if not spiritual storm is coming to Jerusalem when he will die. And he knows that later a storm will come as the Church is sent out in hope but faces infighting, persecution, and death.[viii] Life is filled with storms, but the Word who is Jesus is always near. He alone is the gift that keeps us afloat.  

Yes, miracles will ultimately happen when we trust in Jesus. Yet, miracles tend to happen when God needs them to happen. It always remains as in our prayers, “Father, your will be done” (Matthew 6:9-13), and this means sometimes we might need to faithfully risk drowning… to risk death as Peter did to prove the presence and true power of divine reality over the world’s vision and version of reality.[ix]

Still, even then, when we think we or the Church are sunk, we are asked to try to keep our hearts clinging onto Jesus and his promises alone. “For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved,’” Paul reminds us. We can’t walk on water even one step without Christ’s help.

In trying to be faithful like Peter, we often can stumble, fall, or be afraid as we try to live and serve faithfully…and yet, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Imperfect or powerless as we might feel…no matter the power or principality of this world threatening us…even facing death itself…we are asked to remember this: Jesus has already reached down to the depths of Hell to ensure that we never drown.[x] “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”[xi] It is time for us to walk in faith so that others might learn of Jesus and be saved. Amen.

[i] I adapted the above joke as found on Upjoke.com at https://upjoke.com/walk-on-water-jokes.

[ii] Card, M. (2013). Matthew: The Gospel of Identity. Lisle, IL: InterVarsity Press. p.71.

[iii] Ibid., p. 70.

[iv] Keck, L.E. (chief editor) The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary in Twelve Volumes, 1995. p.329-330

[v] Ibid., p.329-330.

[vi] Ibid., p.329-330.

[vii] Ibid., p.329-330.

[viii] Expanded upon from Card, M., p.71.

[ix] Ibid., p.329-330.

[x] In the story of Jesus walking on water, we are reminded of the Apostles’ Creed. Even as Jesus is one with God the Father and Creator with power over the Earth, even as the gift of faith is implanted in us through the Holy Spirit, Jesus also died and descended into Hell (or Sheol, the place of the dead) for our sake.

[xi] Here is a favorite quote, shared once again, from Julian of Norwich.

Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 35 minute mark.

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.

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August 6, 2026 · 12:57 am

Serving More Than Bread (Sermon)

The Feeding of the 5000, from Das Plenarium, woodcut print (1517), by Hans Schäufelein. Available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

The readings for the 10th Sunday After Pentecost, Yr. A were: Isaiah 55:1-5; Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21, Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21. This sermon was preached at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra, VA on August 2, 2026.

As a former youth pastor, I know well that when the Church considers the Feeding of the Five Thousand, we often do so in the context of Vacation Bible School or Sunday School. It is kind of a “kid friendly” story, because kids understand bread. They eat it every day. It is something they can experience through their senses. Jesus, the Bread of Life, can be revealed to them through something as simple as bread. And if we bake it with our children or youth? Oh, that’s always an exciting activity – and likely a messy one to boot. This, of course, only helps with the story’s popularity.

Yet, this ancient story isn’t just a children’s tale. Baked into it, we find connections to the earliest scriptures, the circumstances surrounding Jesus and his ministry, and even a pinch of End Times eschatology. As a participant in our Bible study astutely pointed out, there’s a connection to the parables we’ve been hearing from most recently. Jesus has been teaching about the growing expanding nature of the Kingdom of God. Then further, Jesus who was born in Bethlehem (meaning House of Bread”) also identified himself as the Bread of Life. He said, “Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” We rightly anticipate that there’s a lot going on here…something more than charity.

Oh yes, Jesus is not just serving up bread this morning. He’s not just feeding hungry people. And as fun as it might be to try to explain away or understand the “how” of what is done, as humans looking back, we cannot truly know. We must accept a mystery of this miracle, for that search can become a distraction or even an impediment to faith. One might better consider why did Jesus do this in the way he did? And why did all the Gospel writers include this story? The earliest Church understood this event as something critical to Jesus’ mission and identity.

And thus, Matthew goes out of his way to specifically explain that Jesus was exhausted by the demands of the crowd. Indeed, Jesus had tried to escape them. He’s probably also grieving the loss of his cousin, John the Baptist. And thus far, his efforts in ministry has been toward healing including exorcisms. These are therefore called “therapeutic miracles.”[i] They tend to meet the concrete needs of the persons touched by them…Jesus often literally touches the person in need as the miracle happens but not necessarily so. In these instances of healing, Jesus is embodying promises related to God’s love and the promised Messiah. He echoes the behaviors of some of the previous prophets. His activity roots him in the shared faith and hope of the Jewish people…but it also attracts many people to him. People who are hungry for something more than bread.

As Professor Matt Skinner rightly points out, “The crowds know [Jesus] as a healer, so they come to him for healing, not conversion. In the passage in front of us, he is not forgiving sins or teaching about finding belonging within a new kinship group. These crowds of Jews who seek him don’t appear to be religiously marginalized or dissatisfied in any way.”[ii] This is true as far as we can tell from the text. Certainly, we cannot know everyone’s motivation, yet regardless of how and why they were there, no matter how tired he was, Jesus sees them in their need. More than that, he has compassion upon them…all of them. It doesn’t matter if they believe in him or not. Jesus had compassion for them.

In the Feeding of the Five Thousand, Jesus to be sure is acting in a way fulfilling Isaiah 55 (which we heard today) along with other texts. There’s an invitation to faith, but it is not forced. Jesus demonstrated a provision and care for all, even as more than food was being offered. In his actions, Jesus embodied how God fed the Israelites with Manna in the desert. And just as Elijah performed a miracle with flour and oil to feed a widow and her son for days (1 Kings 17), and his successor Elisha went further by multiplying bread to feed 100 men using only 20 small barley loaves and some fresh grain (2 Kings 4), Jesus here goes further. He feeds more than five thousand people. Jesus wants people to believe in him as not just a prophet or miracle worker, but as the Son of our Living God, the promised Messiah. Jesus reveals himself and his power through this meal.

Yet unlike the garish meal of King Herod Antipas a few verses earlier which would lead to sin and death, particularly death for John the Baptist, this meal that Jesus offers to the crowd is quite different. It speaks of community, provision, and life. Yet it would not be Jesus final word on the matter. Echoing promises in Isaiah, just a few verses after the Feeding of the Five Thousand, Jesus will again feed a large crowd. A mass feeding happens twice in Matthew. Note that only Matthew records both meals. So, why?

In the Feeding of the Five Thousand, we see twelve baskets of food remain. This parallels the twelve Apostles certainly, but before them, it reminds us of the twelve tribes of Israel and God’s promises to them. In ancient Jewish numerology, the number came to represent divine governance and completeness as well. So, symbolically with the numbers, those familiar might understand God’s promises are involved in what Jesus is doing.

Similarly in the Feeding of the Four Thousand, seven large baskets remain. Seven came to represent completeness and perfection. In Jewish mysticism, it speaks of the integration of the spiritual into the physical world which is what is happening through Jesus. It is interesting that the Hebrew word for seven, שֶׁבַע (pronounced sheh-BAH), shares a linguistic root with שָׁבַע (pronounced shah-VAH) meaning to swear an oath or covenant, as well as שָׂבַע (pronounced sah-VAH), meaning fullness or satisfaction. With the seven loaves, we are reminded symbolically that Jesus is perfectly fulfilling God’s earlier promises or oaths to satiate those he loves.

In both meals, Jesus embodies and symbolizes the fulfillment of earlier promises through the food that is left over. Yet perhaps the most significant aspect of these two accounts is that where the crowd of five thousand was filled with Jewish people, the feeding of four thousand addressed the needs of primarily gentile people. Again, God’s loving kindness is expanding to become more inclusive as always promised. People are coming to the Jewish people and ultimately God through Jesus. We are reminded again that salvation is not just the Jews. From the start, God intended to call Gentiles. Indeed, Jesus says he came to call all people to himself (John 12:32).

Therefore, these meals are anything but ordinary. Jesus is serving up salvation. The Kingdom is bring made manifest. We are witnessing what is called a nontheraputic miracle.[iii] In the midst of “little faith,” Jesus reveals his awesome authority.[iv] By exercising power over wind and wave, walking on water, or multiplying the food before him, those of us with the eyes to see are meant to discover that he is indeed the Son of the Living God who has come to find, care for, and save his sheep…all of them…fulfilling God’s most ancient promises. Jesus has come to satisfy us fully.

And this Jesus, Son of God, could have fed everyone with the snap of his fingers or just a thought. Yet what does Jesus do? Foreshadowing the Lord’s Supper and a foretaste of the ultimate feast yet to come, Jesus takes the bread and blesses it. Then, Jesus gives it to the disciples. From there, it is to be passed out and shared with the crowd. Jesus uses his followers as he will use his future Church. We are sent to preach, teach, and baptize. We are sent to heal.

Even today in modern times, we are gathered and we are sent to others each and every week. We take a collection of money, food and other items in order to share. We are offered grace, so that we can bless others. We come hungry, but we leave full for a divine purpose. We are forgiven, not just for our own sake, but so that we can forgive others and call others to Jesus so they too can have an abundant, eternal life. We love because Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19).

In these verses, not only might we discover who Jesus is, we catch a glimpse of what we as Church are meant to be. What we do or give to others is not just about charity even as it helps others. Any nonprofit or person outside of Christianity can give to others. (See Matthew 5:46-48, for example, where Jesus says just that.) Through our service, charity, and all aspects of our daily life done in the name of Jesus, we are used by God to reveal the values of his Kingdom which is not of this world. These are values reflecting generosity beyond rational belief; ultimately pointing to Jesus and our salvation. Through our love given freely, we are to become a witness – a witness to all the peoples (Isaiah 55:4).

Previously, I’ve told you that all that happens in Matthew relates back to the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew, chapter 5-7). This teaching that I just referred to was first revealed in Matthew while Jesus shared the Beatitudes. As a children’s curriculum simply puts it, “The Beatitudes includes nine sayings from Jesus about the hearts and actions of people living out his Kingdom reality.”[v] The “Big Idea” about the Sermon on the Mount and the Kingdom of Heaven described, they say, is, “a new kind of society where generosity, justice, and peace reign. It’s a world where love is the final word.”[vi] It is a world where our God who is love intends to work through us. Jesus’ Kingdom is one in which suffering, hunger, loneliness, grief, selfishness, and so much more that troubles us will ultimately be defeated, even death itself.

And thus, Jesus taught at the same time as the Beatitudes about the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6). We are asked to ask God for all our needs, “our daily bread,” “extending through all conditions on Earth,”[vii] trusting that God’s will is to indeed meet all our needs for food and beyond. Martin Luther in his Large Catechism says, “that all our shelter and protection rest in prayer alone. For we are far too feeble to cope with the Devil and all his power and adherents that set themselves against us, and they might easily crush us under their feet.”[viii]

Simply, we cannot save ourselves. We rely on God’s grace for everything. And so, we rightly trust in God and so we rightly turn to the God who has promised to love and care for us for all good things, our daily bread…not because we deserve it but because of who God is and the promises God has made to us.  We ask trusting that we are embraced within God’s gracious, expanding, overflowing will to provide for us now and eternally.

For this reason, as Jesus feeds the crowds through the foreshadowing of the Church and the sacrament (the Lord’s Supper particularly), as Jesus reveals himself to us and his great love for us through his compassion, we also learn a bit about our own part in this mysterious, inbreaking Kingdom of God. We are called to similar compassion reflecting his love for us. We are asked to seek to be like Jesus in our daily walk with God’s help; unashamed to point to Jesus all the while.

Yes, hunger will be persistent until the Kingdom comes to fullness. While we wait, “God summons the church to mercy, generosity, and problem-solving,” writes Professor Skinner.[ix] Still, just as many prophets of old were resisted, abused or killed, or John was rejected and killed, and Jesus is condemned to the cross, we might need to carry our own crosses as well; potentially sacrificing all that we hold dear.  Yet the promised Kingdom is coming nonetheless. It is already at work around us and in us.

In the meal we heard about today, in the meal we are about to share, in the way we share all that we are as bread for a hungry world, we become living signs of the Kingdom. We reflect and reveal Jesus, the Bread of Life, who is here with us and working though us.

Seeing others in their need, having compassion upon them, we have the capacity to perform miracles through the smallest acts of love. In a world that tends to reject Jesus, or that too often laughs at compassion, we are set aside as witnesses of the Risen Christ. We aren’t just meeting needs. We are to remember that each loving action done in faith is meant to reveal Jesus as our Savior to a hungry world. Amen.

[i] Card, M. (2013). Matthew: The Gospel of Identity. Lisle, IL: InterVarsity Press. p. 70.

[ii] Skinner, M. (July 2026). Commentary on Matthew 14:13-21. Working Preacher. As downloaded at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-18/commentary-on-matthew-1413-21-7 on July 31, 2026.

[iii] Card, M. (2013). p. 77.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Bible Project. “Bible Project Guide: The Beatitudes.” As downloaded at https://bibleproject.com/guides/the-beatitudes on July 31, 2026.

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] Luther, M. (1529). Large Catechism. Part 3, Paragraph 76.

[viii] Luther, M. (1529). Large Catechism. Part 3, Paragraph 30.

[ix] Skinner, M. (July 2026)

Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 21:57 minute mark.

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.

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July 27, 2026 · 8:04 pm

Living Parables (Sermon)

The readings for the 9th Sunday After Pentecost, Yr. A were: 1 Kings 3:5-12; Psalm 119:129-136, Romans 8:26-39; Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52. This sermon was preached at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra, VA on July 26, 2026.

Field Mustard in bloom, also known as Brassica Rapa, or by the alternative older name, Cruciferae, meaning “cross-bearing” (Detail). Image by: P.M. Dzuik at Minnesota Wildflowers.

You might not yet know this about me, but I love mustard. No, I mean really love it. If you look inside my fridge, there are twelve distinctly different varieties of mustard at this moment. Overtime, they change regularly, but I am never without several choices. When traveling in the Midwest, I was compelled to stop at the National Mustard Museum. And on the first Saturday in August, it is a safe bet that I will mark the National Mustard Day somehow. (And yes, National Mustard Day is a real thing.)

During my last year at Christ Lutheran, the youth ministry held a National Mustard Day Pool Party. The youth really got into it. We had mustard tastings, mustard inspired dishes, and many of the youths wore yellow without prompting because they bought into the passion and excitement I shared – at least for that day. It was a wonderful day with many memories made, and my love of mustard became sort of a lasting joke among us. Some have sent me cartoons since I left picturing me with them and, of course, mustard.

And then this year, God surprised me with another gift. Standing almost five feet high, one stalk of field mustard now grows in my back garden. I didn’t plant it. I’ve not seen that species anywhere in my neighborhood before. It just suddenly appeared. And although farmers tend to consider it a weed, I have learned that one can eat it as mustard greens or make a kind of mustard out of it. I consider its appearance a kind of miracle. Why? Because to me when I look at it, it brings me joy reminding me of mustard, but also past trips, youth formally entrusted to my care but whom I still deeply love, and in no small part, today’s Gospel.

Yet, the Parable of the Mustard Seed is not the only one we hear this morning. In a kind of rapid-fire succession, the lectionary asks us to consider five, very short parables uttered by Jesus. In Jesus’ presentation, one commentary writer, Zina Jacque, compares Jesus to a comedian working the room.[i] Different verbal tidbits are thrown to the crowd hoping that something lands well. The comedian knows that the audience is made of varied people with unique experiences, and so the illustrations used vary to hopefully help different segments of the crowd relate.

Remember, parables can be stories, sayings, or riddles. They might even seem humorous at times. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, parables were used by all kinds of teachers to land a desired lesson…to help their students critically think, learn, and remember. Similarly, Jesus wanted to connect to his original audience and to us.

In detail, Zina Jacque argues this is exactly what Jesus is doing in his teaching and preaching. The repetition is intentional. First, “The mustard seed and the yeast (verses 31–33) speak to those who know the land and the kitchen.”[ii] Meanwhile, “The hidden treasure and the pearl (verses 44–46) speak to those who understand acquisition, risk, and the marketplace.”[iii] Last but not least, “The dragnet full of fish (verses 47–50) speaks to those whose livelihood depends on the sea.”[iv] And I think it is kind of appropriate that this last parable was offered to the Apostles when alone. For as scholars suggest, at least four and up to seven of Jesus’ Apostles were likely fishermen.[v] He tried to connect with them.

Yet despite the variations, she also notes, “no matter which parable grabs your attention, the point remains the same. “The kingdom of heaven is valuable beyond measure, it is at work even when you cannot see it, and it will cost you everything to participate in it fully.”[vi] As humans, we can only get a sense of such wisdom…We taste and but don’t fully see yet what the inbreaking Kingdom has in store.

Still, we might often catch glimpses through the smallest of things…the ordinary…often imperfect things in our eyes. For example, in a central parable of the five, we hear of leaven being worked into flour in order that it might grow, expand, and become the bread that is intended. That, too, is intentional. And, leaven is often used in Matthew as a negative symbol for the teaching of the Pharisees.[vii] “Beware of the leaven,” we are cautioned.

Yet as with last week’s wheat and weeds (Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43), the parable’s leaven is worked into God’s good will for us. Jesus elsewhere says he did not come to abolish the Law but fulfill it. He draws his own teachings from the Law, the Prophets, and the Wisdom literature of Judaism and expands upon it as only God can do. In our Bible study last Wednesday, it struck me that the Jewish image for Wisdom or God’s Spirit was a woman. Perhaps, true wisdom is partly understanding and trusting that all things, even evil things or our own sin, can be used by God in the end to bless us just as Paul argues (Romans 8:28).

Yet always remember that with the Resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the Kingdom is here…not in its fullness yet, still breaking in, but here. In the small neighbor children whom I saw playing with abandon a few nights ago, or through the relationships we might have (particularly perhaps in the Church), and in our gardens or on our daily walks (including our vocational walks), or in the lowly Field Mustard in my backyard…we can witness and learn about the inbreaking of the Kingdom at work within us and around us. Even amidst the leaven, weeds, or any bad, the Kingdom is here and yet still coming. So, we are to watch and wait with expectation and hope.

In Psalm 46, speaking for God, we read, “Be still, and know that I am God.” This use of “still” (raphah) means to stop stiving or let go (“let go and let God”) in Hebrew. It is an invitation to experience God’s sovereignty and love…to witness God’s grace at work. And that is what Jesus is doing with these parables. Stop, contemplate, listen…In modern psychology or other faith traditions, we might say “be mindful.” We who are faithful are to rest and act in a kind of conscious or intentional love. “Abide in my love,” rest in my love, Jesus invited us before he died.

Similarly, in seminary, I was exposed to the writings of Therese of Lisieux. As Therese died from tuberculosis while a young nun, she likened her experience to that of a small butterfly. Even as she did things to help her health, she saw her soul like that time creature entirely dependent on God’s grace to carry her to heaven …the grace now available to us in the Resurrected Christ.

She came to call herself, the Little Flower, as she saw that she was like a hidden wildflower in God’s garden rather than a grand plant. Even from her sickbed, she could serve God through her prayer and faithfulness. Easily overlooked, even in her suffering, she trusted that she mattered to God.

Also, she compared herself and her budding faith to being like a small bird with untried wings looking up at the sun with profound and total confidence. She knew who she belonged to. She would mindfully go through her day looking for signs of God’s Kingdom of love and grace breaking in all around her. She would keep watch and stay awake as Jesus taught.

Today, she is commonly known as the Little Flower, and many people seek to model what she called her “Little Way,” a way of holiness…ultimately Christ’s way. She came to believe that by doing small tasks and performing her duties with great love she was fulfilling her calling within the Kingdom. Heroic feats were not mandatory…are not mandatory. This reminds me of quotes from Mother Therese in Calcutta, but it is also the wisdom shared by Martin Luther. He, too, argued three centuries earlier that in living out our vocations we can make Christ known. He wrote that in the smallest acts done with great love we serve Jesus. Even the diaper changing of a baby when done in love, he suggested, becomes a sacred act…a holy moment.  

Thus, the Kingdom of Heaven is not like the human ideas of power, might, nor significance. We are already significant to the God who made us, the Son who died and rose from the dead for us, and the Spirit who lifts our hidden prayers as with groans. In God, we find the fullness of our significance no matter our station or our lot, nor even our ongoing struggles with sin. We cannot be loved more than we already are despite living imperfectly in an imperfect world.

Sadly, since the 1970s at least[viii], the United States Church has been obsessed with growth models related to size, and yet with seventy percent of congregations worshipping at less than 100 people, maybe growth in numbers isn’t the point of our ministry? In the Kingdom’s economy, faithful witness is what matters…no matter the challenges or whatever dangers we face…no matter alone we might seem…even facing our own death. And as Christian denominations and persons tend to struggle and argue over the merits of cultural domination versus cultural accommodation,[ix] maybe we are getting it wrong there, too? That might not be the battle the Kingdom calls us to wage at all.

I like how a former Bible professor of mine, Professor John T. Carroll, summed up the hopeful message that these parables provide us:

“Jesus and the disciples carry out their mission in a world that includes a whole lot of bad. Yet even though God’s reigning presence will not swiftly cancel and eliminate the brutality of Roman armies (to name one example), people of faith can trust the future to the holy justice of God. The parable in 13:47-50 summons readers today to the same courageous trust.”[x]

Now, I could be wrong, but perhaps we who believe are to live more like the humble Field Mustard in my backyard after all. We won’t always be appreciated. We are sometimes forced to live amidst rocky soil or battered by storms. And yet, we each have a purpose that’s special to God. We become a kind of living parable for others to help them understand just a little bit more about the Kingdom of God at work in the world and Jesus’ own call to them in their lives.

Yes, some might see us to be beautifully within this special “mustardy family” we call Church despite our imperfections. That botanical family is a family traditionally known as Cruciferae, which means “cross-bearing” in Latin. For their four petals form a cross when in bloom. This reminds people of Jesus. And through our own crosses born in faith with God’s help, God will surely make us bloom. People can see Jesus in us. And just as Jesus bloomed in his resurrection, we too will fully bloom when his Kingdom comes in its fullness. That’s God’s promise to us. Amen.

[i] Jacque, Z. (July 2026). Commentary on Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52. Working Preacher. As downloaded at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-17/commentary-on-matthew-1331-33-44-52-7 on July 24, 2026.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Harris, M.D. (March 12, 2025). Why Did Jesus Choose So Many Fishermen to be His Disciples? MD Harris Institute. As downloaded at https://mdharrismd.com/2025/03/12/why-did-jesus-choose-so-many-fishermen-to-be-his-disciples/.

[vi] Jacque, Z. (July 2026). Commentary on Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52.

[vii] Card, M. (2013). Matthew: The Gospel of Identity. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press. p. 110.

[viii] Holy Post Media (July 22, 2026). Holy Post Podcast: The Idolatry of Church Growth with Andrew Root. Episode 730.

[ix] Bell, J. (July 2, 2026). The End of Christian America: What Actually Killed American Christianity. Livewell. As downloaded at https://jamesbell333289.substack.com/p/the-end-of-christian-america-227?r=6utlc2&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true on July 22, 2026.

[x] Caroll, J.T. (July 2023). Commentary on Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23. Working Preacher. As downloaded at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-15/commentary-on-matthew-131-9-18-23-6 on July 23, 2026.

Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 21:33 minute mark.

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.

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July 21, 2026 · 10:27 pm

No Other Rock (Sermon)

Wheat and Weeds, Olga Seifutdinova on iStock

The readings for the 8th Sunday After Pentecost, Yr. A were: Isaiah 44:6-8; Psalm 86:11-17, Romans 8:12-25; Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43. This sermon was preached at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra, VA on July 19, 2026.

It has been a rough week for some of us. We have had some folks receive terrible news about their health or those they love. Certainly, depending on where you live, creation has suffered with fires in Canada, drought locally, and flood this week in Texas. This morning, I am reminded of my body’s own limits with all the smoke in the air negatively impacting my asthma.

Certainly, life is imperfect. People can betray us or choose to live as our enemies when we don’t deserve it. Humans can be unspeakably cruel, and nature at times seems little better. Our complicated lives are such that some of our evangelical and charismatic neighbors have more recently, wrongly, hyper-spiritualized their fears; finding a demon at work under every bed and sometimes in any person they don’t like.[i] Everything becomes spiritual warfare, and some err in assuming that means Christians must be ready for an earthly war as well.

Still, I must admit that there does seem to be a cosmic, spiritual battle going on at some level. Even our Lutheran, traditional theology recognizes that Sin, Death, and the Devil are still at work despite Christ’s resurrection and ascension…for now. So, where is our hope until Jesus comes back?

Just as Isaiah 44 originally spoke to the broken, defeated, exiled people of Israel under the foot of the mighty Babylonian Empire, the passage speaks to us. Our hope is not ultimately in ourselves or our abilities. Reminiscent of God’s conversation with Job from a whirlwind, God through the prophet Isaiah reminds us that we are not God, nor can we understand this problem of evil existing around us and within us. How can God allow it? Our only answer is sometimes one we struggle with. We must trust that God is truly love and loves us (1John 4:8).

And in facing this very real world with its incredible problems, recall that prophets like Isaiah are not fortune tellers from God. Their primary, divine duty is always to point people toward God – calling them to repentance, reconciliation, and trust; asking them to live in hope. Isaiah reminds his suffering, exilic community struggling for hope and facing death “that their own identity should be understood in relation to the character of God…the exiles are reminded that they are witnesses of the Redeemer God”[ii] even in their dire predicament.

And so, from this passage and others, we learn that God is our only true hope. God declares that he is our rock, our foundation. God is what allows us to stand when the world seems against us and the Earth quakes and crumbles beneath our feet. There is no other God, but God. And God has chosen to love us. So, “Do not fear or be afraid,” we are told (Isaiah 44:8).

Believing this doesn’t make life easy. It is not a guarantee against tears or other human emotions. It certainly does not prevent our encountering evil. It perhaps even attracts evil’s opposition due to our desire to follow Jesus. Yet, Jesus, Son of the Living God, had it rough. He would have no place to call his home, would be resisted by those who should know better (including his family and religious authorities), would unfairly suffer terribly (tortured and crucified to death). No, life isn’t always fair, and the fully human, fully divine Jesus knows this firsthand.

We cannot answer why things are the way they are. We might guess, but we will err. We are told only that there is a plan. It doesn’t mean that God is punishing us with what goes wrong, but we are told that his plan allows for weeds to exist among the wheat. It is somehow for our ultimate welfare for “in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them” (Matthew 13:24).

In such a situation, so often vexed on all sides, tossed about as on a stormy ocean, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19-20). Jesus is Risen, and his Spirit claims us through our faith and baptism. Of his sheep, he will not lose even one (Luke 15 and Matthew 18). Indeed, despite all the signs of Sin, Death, and the Devil surrounding us, we are assured through the promises of scripture that Jesus is already victorious. We need not be afraid, because Jesus has won the battle for us. We share even now in his victory.

Yet just because weeds are allowed by God to remain among the wheat, and although we are victorious thanks be to Jesus, one should never adopt the heresy of quietism. That was a 17th Century heresy of extreme passivity, where people give up on striving, helping others, or performing good works. It still raises its head among some modern Christians, as they say, “Why help? Nothing is ever going to change,” or “It has always been that way. There’s nothing that can be done.”

Well, mature faith says otherwise. Jesus issued a challenge against similar thinking and behaviors. In Matthew 26:11, Jesus says the poor will always be with us. Martin Luther might extend the meaning of “the poor” out, so that it applies to all forms of poverty and suffering. Jesus also warns his disciples about the wolves in the world. Due to these wolves, or weeds if you prefer, which we will encounter, Jesus cautions that we be wise as serpents and yet gentle as doves (Matthew 10:16). He recognizes that evil and struggle exist in our current world.

Despite supposed futility, or real or imagined threat, Jesus continues in his teaching. We are yet to serve others, feed others, and heal others in Christ name. We live in opposition to death. And when we do so to the least of these, we do so to him (Matthew 25:40). This is not for merit toward entrance into heaven, but we are sown into God’s will for the world and live out God’s will for us. “Love one another, as I have loved you,” Jesus said before he died.

It is true that Martin Luther cautioned against the understanding that our works are redemptive in any way, but we are also asked to understand that faith without works is dead (James 2:26). We are to always serve, reform, and love in response to our gracious salvation. Certainly, the world, its people, and our bodies will betray us. Governments and political entities will go astray. We will let ourselves down at times giving into temptation. Yet throughout, it remains our call as Christians to pick up our cross and follow Jesus wherever he leads.

Unreasonable sacrifices in the eyes of the world are possible when we seek to follow Jesus and pray that God’s will be done, and we hope these values are reflected in our government. No, our nation is not Christian as a Christian nationalist might argue. We are not a theocracy, but as Christians we are to pray for and participate in the world around us. Just as the Apostles experienced with the Roman Empire, our neighbors and our government might reflect more weed than wheat. Yet, we are to be prophetically pointing people toward Christ – encouraging a better, more loving conduct certainly, but ultimately toward an abundant life in Christ through faith…because Jesus wants to redeem them, too.

Like Jesus, I understand that faithful witness does not always mean winning every public battle. And as followers of Christ, we aren’t called to be realistic. Instead, we are identified as prisoners of hope (Zechariah 9:12) and slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:22). The fact that we are saved by grace alone calls us to costly discipleship. As outlined by the martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, before World War 2, this is a commitment to follow Jesus Christ that demands unconditional surrender, obedience, and self-sacrifice, because Jesus offered all for us.[iii]

In such a theological construct, we aren’t to give up as Christians. We aren’t to think, “Well everyone does it.” We aren’t to ever accept that the ends justify the means. And we certainly aren’t to rationalize injustice with phrases like, “It is just the way of the world,” or “Life (or the Church) is just messy sometimes.” That does not free us from responsibility for caring for others. Such thinking only tangles us in the weeds of sin and death.

The truth remains. Many abysmally fail at loving their neighbor and anger can be justified in such cases. It can be hard to forgive. It might take a lifetime. It may never come fully in this life…Like the Psalmist, we might hunger for revenge, but ultimately, we are asked to leave it to our Defender and Redeemer God to act, our Rock. Sure, we might need to act in this world to protect others or even stop any offenders from hurting himself or herself by their weedy actions, but we should do so with mercy and a hope for restoration and reconciliation. If we can’t forgive, we confess it and pray for God’s peace.

Recently, a favorite cartoon of mind came to mind as I wrote back and forth with someone about the difficult call to pray for those weeds among us who seem unworthy of forgiveness. In the mind of the cartoon’s young boy, Calvin, this becomes a stumbling block to faith. He says to his imaginary tiger friend, Hobbes, “Its hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.” Hobbes just looks at the reader with a kind of stunned disbelief. We should feel at a loss too, for Jesus teaches, “love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back” (Luke 6:33-35).

Friends, there is real evil in the world. There are temptations and evil at work in us. Anger might prove reasonable, crime might merit punishment, and we might not be able to help everyone as much as we would want to. At some level, we must recognize that this is always true in a fallen world. Yet, Jesus, the Son of man has come to us to open our eyes and our hearts much wider than that. With Jesus Risen, that’s not all there is too our story.

In the period between the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, Jesus’ time included, there existed great revolutionary fervor as Judah was occupied by Rome. There developed a hope that a particular Son of Man, an apocalyptic or End Time kind of Messiah, would come to establish everlasting justice and peace. In some visions, he was on a horse with a sword.

And so, Jesus often used that term, Son of Man, for himself as he performed his ministry, as he faced his own passion and death, and as he looked toward the future. A harvest will come, and their will be justice where Jesus will be the judge. Yet the Good News remains that Jesus loves us…even his most lost sheep will not remain lost (John 6:39). In Matthew, Jesus shares that it is God’s will (which will be fulfilled) that “not even one of these little ones should perish” (Matthew 18:14). Because we trust in Jesus, we will be looked upon as righteous.

We can’t explain evil in this life, for it is unfair by its very nature. Still, surrounded by ruins and threat, much like the defeated and subsequently exiled Jewish people of Isaiah’s time, it is God’s voice that echoes off them and into our hearts. Perhaps it might sound like this:

“Do not fear or be afraid; I am your rock. Stand on me facing the wind and the rain and believe the sun will shine again. Rooted in me, draw from my strength, grow in love and beauty. Know that the grave is not the end. I am your rock; nothing else. Get up and walk in faith. For you are my witnesses, and I alone am your rock and your salvation.”[iv] Amen.        

[i] This is a well-documented trend in many articles about the New Apostolic Reformation or sometimes identified as those among independent charismatic movements. Spiritual warfare, exorcisms, and imprecatory prayer are normalized and often threatened against those they don’t agree with. Read this gift article, “The Demon Next Door,” in the Atlantic for just one example: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/08/charismatic-christian-church-tennessee/687624/?gift=dWl6b-Mr0EhPmRK_XXCXJh4srdrvdDmpfHbUGVXMllo&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share.

[ii] Claassens, J. (July 2026). Commentary on Isaiah 44:6-8. Working Preacher. As downloaded at: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-16/commentary-on-isaiah-446-8-7 on July 17, 2026.

[iii]Stetler, D. II. (January 24, 2023). The Cost of Discipleship Summary And Quotes. Newstart Discipleship. Downloaded at https://www.newstartdiscipleship.com/post/dietrich-bonhoeffer-cost-of-discipleship-summary-and-quotes.

[iv] This is not a scripture quote, but echoes scriptural themes. Some credit goes to Steven Curtis Chapman’s song, Heaven in the Real World, which I often listened to as a police officer facing a difficult world. It comes to my mind whenever I think of theodicy issues.

Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 26:23 minute mark.

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.

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July 13, 2026 · 4:41 pm

Made fruitful (Sermon)

Photo credit: Selma_Explores on Facebook, 2/16/2026 Public Post

The readings for the 7th Sunday After Pentecost, Yr. A were: Isaiah 55:10-13; Psalm 65:1-13, Romans 8:1-11; Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23. This sermon was preached at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra, VA on July 12, 2026.

While living in the high desert of Arizona, I would be amazed time and again at where and when I could observe signs of new life. There would be so little rain over several weeks (if rain at all), temperatures reached nearly 125 degrees Fahrenheit, and still, I would see plants clinging with all their might to rocky cliffs. Other plants would break through the hardest soil. These plants in turn would help support even more life.

And when it rained, the desert could sometimes literally burst forth into a symphony of colors where (at least as a believer) one could not help but give glory to God. As the Creator of all things, God has a purpose for everything under the sun…even when the sun burns at its brightest, water is scarce, and life seems nearly impossible. God is still there at work; creating, nurturing, and transforming life.

 Jesus and his contemporaries understood nature perhaps better than we modern people do. Certainly, they lived in an age of empire with many new technologies compared to the past. Great cities sprang up improving the quality of life and changing the idea of what it means to be a people beyond tribal affiliations. Indeed, even the early Church would first flourish fastest in urban centers. And yet, the region for the most part remained an agricultural one. The people themselves stayed rooted in the land around them and aware of all the challenges and risks of farming.

And so here in the third large block of Jesus’ teachings found in Matthew’s Gospel, as in many other parts of the Gospel of Matthew, we encounter an allusion to nature and the agrarian culture of Jesus. And why not? During his life on earth, Jesus likely ate what he helped grow, assisted in the harvest, and made things out of local plant life as most of the rural poor of first century Galilee would do daily.[i] With this intimate familiarity, Jesus would understandably use agrarian images to help people comprehend a very difficult, other worldly concept…the Kingdom of Heaven…These images helped demonstrate to his disciples and the crowds how this spiritual kingdom was breaking into and blooming amidst the dryness and thorns of their very real world.

Thus, today’s parable is not an interactive parable (as Jesus so often used) asking us to identify with a particular character or situation. No, instead, this parable is uniquely and purely illustrative of the Kingdom of God at work. Particularly if we look to the episode which comes just before with the Pharisees rejecting Jesus’ teaching, and the one to come soon after where even the people of his hometown reject him, we should be able to identify that this parable is specifically about Jesus and his mission. Jesus is the Sower, scattering his invitation to faith; trying to call all people to himself and facing rejection by too many.

Without being first-century people or perhaps with our not being farmers or gardeners, our minds might at first focus on the Sower alone. Yet, the soil is important too. The Sower casts his seeds amply, perhaps one might say graciously, all about. You might already know that where the seed lands in farming and in this story is important …critically important. It is true some ancient farmers did cast their seed…over seeded…tossing seed generously here and there in the hope that something would grow.

Yet, the Jewish people in Jesus’ day had also been adapting new techniques and technologies. With attentive nurturing and care, crops could grow more abundantly and in unlikely places. Indeed, the true nature of the soil would be revealed as one plowed and cared for it. Sometimes the ultimate value of the soil could surprise one.

This story, my friends, is ultimately about God and the Kingdom of Heaven breaking into our lives through Jesus – trying to grow in and through our hearts to stretch his branches out into the world. Along with recognizing Jesus, we are invited to ask, “Will our lives prove productive or unproductive soil in response?” It is a parable, a common teaching method of Jesus’ day, and as students, we are meant to wrestle with its meaning – and there can be more than one for any parable. It is through wrestling that we come to new understandings. Or better yet, Jesus reveals himself and God’s kingdom to us in new ways. As humans, we often learn better through struggle than if an answer was simply provided to us. And in Jesus’ parables, we need God’s help to understand…particularly understand who Jesus is or how the Kingdom of God operates differently than the world around us.  

You see, in reading the full passage (rather than just the appointed lectionary reading for this Sunday which skips a few verses)[ii], we learn that Jesus identifies his intended interpretive lens. It is specifically Isaiah 6. That passage reveals why Jesus uses so many parables to teach in the first place. According to Isaiah, some people will listen and listen yet never understand. They will look and look and never perceive.

This is not God’s doing though. The Spirit of Wisdom is reaching out to them. Yet, they have let their hearts grow cold, closed their ears and eyes, or chosen otherwise poorly…or perhaps the world or sin has gotten the better of them; blinding them to the truth before them. If only they would turn back, God would cure them, Isaiah promises.

Indeed, scripture teaches elsewhere that we cannot identify Jesus as Son of the Living God without the Spirit’s help. Still at some level, no matter how rocky and cold our hearts have become, even when we have let our doubts and darkness speak to us, we still have reason to hope.

With the help of the Spirit who plants faith, hope, and love in our lives, things can grow clearer…faith stronger…in time. Some of us might even go through what some Christians call the “Dark Night of the Soul,”[iii] where we experience painful situations or an existential crisis that seem to strip our lives of meaning and purpose. These can be times that make us wonder if there is a God that loves us or any God at all.

Yet, Jesus promises through faith we will come to understand. We will grow in love if we simply trust in him. That trust includes our efforts to cooperate with the grace offered us…to intentionally seek openness to the Spirit…a response to God’s call. You see, the Holy Spirit will never force its way upon us, but desires that we welcome it…that we invite the Spirit in and help clear a way for it much as Mary, the Mother of God, did (Luke 1:38).

It will be that Spirit who uncovers our place and purpose in life over time and reveals the ultimate value of the soil that lies beneath the surface – our true value. Such meaning and purpose lie often quite deep underneath our surface identities. We are children of God, and despite our struggles and sin, we are declared by Jesus to be good ground. What grows might even surprise us if we dare follow him.

Nonetheless, the “good ground” Jesus speaks of isn’t necessarily perfect ground…In fact, the yield might vary 100, 60, or 30 times what was sown…Yet always, openness to Jesus and his Good News is where real growth and change begin. We must dare to trust. The gift of faith connects us to Jesus and the work of the Kingdom. It helps us to be more resilient and grow despite drought or storm. And as one gardener noted while reflecting upon this passage, “Good soil can also be the work of gardeners, who tend the soil as carefully as they tend the plants.”[iv] The soil matters to the Sower. Despite all we might do or fail to do, Jesus yearns for us to understand and desires to help us.

Thus, throughout our lives…not just when we come to believe or are baptized…throughout our entire life until our last breath…God reaches out to us again and again through people, circumstances, and Holy Scripture, to draw us closer, open us up to grace, and bless us. God can use those times of drought, flood, or whatever would normally kill a crop to reveal God’s faithful, steadfast love for us. The worship, Bible study, service, and fellowship we share is all part of it. The sacraments we participate in are part of it. The love and forgiveness we offer our neighbor is part of it. The good and the bad of life, that, too, remains part of it.

Yes, Jesus told those who first trusted in him that even though they didn’t fully understand and would encounter tests of their trust in him, “blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” It is not our efforts that ultimately bear fruit. We are made fruitful by surrendering to the care of the Sower and responding to his loving attention and care.

Of course, I certainly understand that we are going through difficult times right now…times of conflict, challenge and fear for many of us…times that might seem depressing or lacking signs of hope. Yet, Jesus promised these are the time his disciples would face. More is going on in and through us and these times than others might see or than we ourselves might recognize. God has claimed us and loves us. It is God’s will for us to survive, grow, and live abundantly in Jesus.

In our lives, our spiritual seasons vary. Some are more fruitful than others. Some are necessarily difficult although we cannot understand why or how the Sower can use it for our benefit. We might have started off as rocky soil or gone back and forth in our openness to Jesus. The weeds of life might try to choke faith out of us, or the thorns of life might threaten us. But we are declared good soil by the one who watered us with his own blood and the waters of our baptism. It is our Triune God who will make us fruitful.

Some claim that Jesus never clearly called himself our Messiah, Savior, or the Son of God. How sad that they prove to be such rocky soil, blind to the truth. For through Jesus’ authentic teaching and preaching, through his healings, exorcisms, and calming of storms, even in how he taught in parables, Jesus embodies all that has been promised before in scripture. Then through his death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus declared those promises fulfilled and promises to come again to make all things new.

As one commentator notes, “Just as God alone ultimately brings about the kingdom of heaven, so too does the capacity to receive the kingdom depend on divine agency.”[v] We might struggle to believe. We might be tempted to give up. We might wilt in our grief. Still, we are not without hope. For if a desert flower can bloom after a storm, how much more might we who are loved by Jesus burst forth in a symphony of colors when our struggles are done. Amen.  

[i] Tipps, R. (December 11, 2025). Jesus the Farmer: Could his be a life rooted in agriculture? AgDaily. As downloaded at https://www.agdaily.com/lifestyle/jesus-the-farmer-could-his-be-a-life-rooted-in-agriculture on July 11, 2026.

[ii] Sometimes, lectionaries leave out sections of scripture for time or better clarity on a Sunday morning. Yet, those sections can prove quite helpful to deciphering the fuller meaning of the text. So, don’t fully ignore them!

[iii] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Night_of_the_Soul.

[iv] Hearon, M. (July 12, 2020). Commentary on Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23. Working Preacher. Downloaded at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-15/commentary-on-matthew-131-9-18-23 on July 11, 2026.

[v] Pietz, J.V. (July 12, 2026). Commentary on Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23. Working Preacher. Downloaded at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-15/commentary-on-matthew-131-9-18-23-7 on July 11, 2026.

Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 35:48 minute mark.

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.

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July 9, 2026 · 8:13 pm

The Hands of God (Sermon)

“Christ Risen from the Tomb” (Detail), by Bergognone, c. 1490

The readings for the 6th Sunday After Pentecost, Yr. A were: Zechariah 9:9-12; Psalm 145:8-14, Romans 7:15-25a; Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30. This sermon was preached at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra, VA on July 5, 2026.

As we celebrate our 250th Anniversary as a nation, particularly the Declaration of Independence, I hope we are thinking about our history and world in relationship to our understanding of God, as imperfect as that might be. In our Lutheran tradition, Martin Luther similarly looked at the world in his time, and with his barely post-medieval mind, he explained our world as being influenced by Two Kingdoms. God seemed to rule the world in “two distinct yet overlapping ways.”[i]

On one hand, some say with the right hand although Luther did not specify, God rules over the spiritual realm. On the other hand, again not Luther’s description but reflecting the bias of the world (at least as I see it as a lefty myself), God rules over the temporal realm. After all, God created it all, so God uses both the spiritual and the temporal to ensure God’s will is done.  That’s a pithy explanation of a somewhat complicated relationship, and most certainly, Martin Luther spoke and wrote more on the subject (as well as those after him). Yet even Luther understood that as perfect as God was, is, and will be, both the Church and the State fail…always fail!

And yet, this isn’t God’s fault. We humans prove the weak link. Our hands, our heart, each and every itty-bitty part of us are fallible. Thus, we find ourselves always wrestling with temptation and often giving into sin. Even when saved, remember that term sinner-saint. We still struggle with sin although saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Even the great Saint Paul did not do the good that he wished. He did the evil that he wished not to do. He could not always help himself…Paul sinned! “For,” as he wrote in Romans 7:18, “the desire to do the good lies close at hand, but not the ability.”

Yes, my friends, we live in a fallen world, not a perfect one, where despite what some denominations or secular gurus might tell us, there is not enough self-help manuals in the world to set us free from Sin, Death, and the Devil. Not even the Bible, as helpful as it is, given to us by God, cannot save us. No, we don’t say that the Bible saves us, we say that only Jesus can save us. We must cast all our cares, doubts, and darkness into his loving hands, because it is those pierced hands calling us to faith, inviting us to follow, and embracing us through the gifts of both faith and our baptism.

Who will rescue us from our body of death? Paul said, and Luther agreed, only Jesus can save us, nothing we do. Spiritual disciplines can be used by God to help us grow in love. Cooperating with grace can be used by God to help shape us. Laws can remain helpful to us, and any subsequent confession and repentance is good for the soul. Yet, that comes only with God’s help too. Yes, we are only saved through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who stretched out his hands and died for us on the cross for all of our sin – that which is baked into us as fallen humans, that which we have done, that sin that we are struggling with, and yes, even the sin that we have not done as of yet, but we certainly will do. Jesus died for all our sin…your sin…not just some of them.

And when we surrender ourselves into Christ’s hands, when we seek to trust in him even when it might not make sense, that’s when his hands begin to change and transform our hearts through faith and the presence of his Holy Spirit.  “As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope, and today I declare that I will restore to you double,” so spoke Zechariah (9:11-12) to the exiled Israelites. They had chased false gods of this world. They had failed to love God with all that they were and love their neighbor as themselves. They were languishing as a result. Their government had failed them horribly. And yet, God promised to restore them double the suffering they were experienced as his gift…pure grace. God offers this to us as well.

The Israelites certainly did not deserve this restorative salvation, for them, a return to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the Temple. And so, early Christians saw this as God also speaking to us about Jesus and our own eternal salvation. We don’t deserve to be saved, but we are. Trust in that…receive God’s gift through Christ’s body given for you and his blood shed for you. Doctor Stephen Reid points out, “Gospel writers each echo [Zecchariah’s] imagery in their accounts of Palm Sunday: Matthew 21:5; Mark 11:2; Luke 19:30; and John 12:14–15.”[ii] The Jewish rescue from Babylon foreshadows our rescue from Sin, Death, and the Devil.

And yet even the best of us can still doubt or wonder. John the Baptist, the greatest of all prophets according to Jesus, seems to be struggling with uncertainty when facing death. He dares sends his own disciples to Jesus asking, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” (Matthew 11:3). John’s doubt and the doubt of others is the context of our Gospel today. Things aren’t playing out as John expected. He’s facing his own beheading. And perhaps Jesus’ message just seems too good to be true, because it doesn’t seem to be moving mountains from his cell.

Yet, an immediate change, for whatever God’s reasoning, is not the divine plan. No, Jesus’ ministry is relational and built on trust not fireworks or magic. It spreads through one person to another, “one act of mercy at a time.”[iii] Jesus was changing the world when one has the eyes of faith to recognize his saving ministry for what it is – always miraculous no matter the timing. And yet plenty of people who should have known better were joining John in questioning and doubting. Jesus was fulfilling prophesy. Still, Jesus was failing to meet the expectations of John and other faithful people, and he is resisted in Jewish communities like Bethsaida and even his base of operation, his hometown of Capernaum. The way he is operating is becoming a stumbling stone as recorded in Isaiah 8:14-15.

I often enjoy the incites of Bible scholar and singer, Michael Card, who puts it aptly. “Jesus has failed to meet John’s expectations – yes, even John’s expectations! And if Jesus failed to meet John’s expectations, certainly he is likely to fail ours. There is nothing wrong with Jesus; it is our expectations that are patently wrong.”[iv] And so, we get back to where we started. Because we get Jesus wrong, we often get wrong how we should interact in the world whether Church or state or creation itself. Yet, Jesus did not give up on John, nor will Jesus give up on us. He loves us, but we are like children.

“What should I compare,” that phrase, was a typical formula to begin a rabbinic parable,”[v] and Jesus compares his accusers and doubters to children that always find fault. John practiced asceticism but his detractors called him demonic, and while Jesus conducted “his ministry with joy and inclusion, yet his detractors label him vulgar, unserious, and soft on sin.”[vi] Whomever God sends, including sending you or me, people will tend not to listen, but guess what? We aren’t so good at listening either. We need God’s help even to listen…even to believe. Yet even as Jesus might speak of judgement, note that he also has “an unrelenting desire to see mercy spread to every corner of society.”[vii]

Despite our doubts and darkness, we always remain in the loving hands of God. The hands that created us are the hands that in Jesus spread out to die for us in order to share with us eternal life. Jesus says, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27). What Jesus is promising is that God will reveal God’s love to us through him. In the light of Jesus’ death and resurrection, God will use all things to make God known to us and help us in our unbelief, because God wants us to believe. (See for example Mark 9:24.)

Yet even as Jesus wishes to put his yoke on us, we are encouraged not to be afraid. His yoke is easy and his burden light – even when times are hard, when the government might seem unfair, when violence is all too common, when those who should love us betray us, or when our own expectations about life or about Jesus prove wrong and thus become a heavy weight. His hands will work through ours and our entire being as we comfort, heal, serve, or speak in his name to make his Church and world a better, if still imperfect, place.

And when our hands cannot do it and all seems lost, when living into the Law and perfection leaves us still falling short, Jesus extends his hands to us to help us carry the crosses that we face…even death itself. Grace abounds.

Consider this in closing. “The yoke” Jesus spoke of, to the Jewish ear of Matthew’s time, meant one thing – the Law of Moses, the Torah. The Mishna, the first written collection of Rabbinic oral traditions, states (with some explanation added):

He that takes on the yoke of the law,
From him shall be taken away the yoke of the kingdom,
[They mean the yoke of repressive worldly empires, people will
find freedom from living out the Mosaic Law.]
and [from him shall be taken away] the yoke of worldly care;
but he that throws off the yoke of the law [those who ignore it],
upon him shall be laid the yoke of the kingdom
and the yoke of worldly care.[viii]
[In effect, those who ignore the Law will suffer from the choices
made to ignore it.]

Yet, Jesus says something a bit different as a corrective…to extend that understanding. Learn from Jesus. Make him our only rabbi. Unlike the burdensome law, he is manifestly gentle and humble. Unlike the 613 burdensome commands of the Law of Moses which we never can fulfill, Jesus promises rest for our soul.[ix] Jesus vows to hand us our salvation and fulfill the Law which we can never do. It is only Jesus that can rescue us from our plight and establish a new heaven and new earth where tears and strife will be wiped away forever.

This is so because, despite our faults and failures, Jesus loves us and wants more for us than we can accomplish on our own. Oh, yes, laws (including Biblical laws) can still benefit us as Church, a society, or individuals, but Jesus? Jesus came to save us. And because of that we live as prisoners of hope (Zechariah 9:12). Amen.

[i] Google AI

[ii] Reid, S.B. (July 2026). Commentary on Zechariah 9:9-12. Working Preacher. As downloaded at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-14/commentary-on-zechariah-99-12-7 on July 1, 2026.

[iii] Skinner, M. (July 2026). Commentary on Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30. Working Preacher. As downloaded at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-14/commentary-on-matthew-1116-19-25-30-7.

[iv] Card, M. (2013). Matthew: The Gospel of Identity. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press. p. 108

[v] Ibid.

[vi] Skinner, M. (July 2026). Commentary on Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30.

[vii] Ibid.

[viii] Mishnah ‘Abot 3.5 in Danby, Mishnah, p. 450 as cited in Card, M. (2013). Matthew: The Gospel of Identity.

[ix] Card, M (2013). Matthew: The Gospel of Identity.

Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 24:40 minute mark.

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.

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