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 12, 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 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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