Sermon - 6-14-26

Year A – Pentecost 3; Lectionary 11 – June 14, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd             Matthew 9:35 - - 10:23   Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, from the Holy Spirit, our Sustainer, and from Jesus Christ, who sends us out with compassion to welcome and serve. Amen. *** Last weekend was one of those weekends that reminds me why I love the church. On Saturday, many of us gathered with our neighbors to first worship, and then celebrate at the Pride Festival. We shared smiles, conversations, and reminders that God's love is for all people. Then, on Sunday, we worshiped together here in celebration of Pride Month, giving thanks for the beautiful diversity of God's creation and for the truth that every person bears the image of God. Then this past week, our congregation joined with three other churches for Vacation Bible School. Children filled the church with laughter… and a bit of chaos. Friendships were formed. Stories were shared. Meals were served. New faces became familiar faces. On the surface, Pride celebrations and Vacation Bible School might seem like very different events. But as I reflected on today's Gospel from Matthew, I realized they share something important. Both were acts of hospitality.Both were ways of saying, "There is a place for you here." …and both were opportunities to share the good news of God's love. And that is exactly what Jesus is talking about in today's Gospel. Matthew tells us that Jesus went throughout the cities and villages, teaching, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and sickness. Then comes one of the most moving descriptions in all of Scripture: "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Everything that follows… flows from that compassion. Jesus does not look at the crowds and see problems to be solved. He does not see enemies to defeat. He does not see people to judge. He sees people who are hurting. …People who are exhausted. …He sees people who have been pushed aside and wounded by systems of power and oppression. And his heart breaks for them. Jesus was moved by his compassion… to act. And you see, that is where the mission of the church begins. Not with strategy or plans for growth. Nope. The mission of the church… begins with compassion. Except… this is often where we get things wrong. We hear Jesus sending the disciples out… and we immediately think of evangelism as persuasion or recruitment. We imagine that our job is to convince people to come to our church and be part of our community. And this isn't a bad thing… I think our community is absolutely wonderful and I definitely think people should come check us out! But that is not what Jesus sends the disciples to do. In the Roman world, people would have immediately recognized the language of "proclaiming good news." When Rome conquered a territory, messengers would arrive announcing the "good news" that Caesar was now in charge. And… they came backed by military force… carrying the power of empire. …They came with the expectation that everyone would submit. Jesus… sends his followers out in exactly the opposite way. They carry no weapons, and they bring no wealth. …They travel with almost nothing so they must depend on the hospitality of strangers. They cannot force anyone to listen or compel anyone to receive them. They simply arrive… bearing peace… and offer healing. They proclaim that the kingdom of heaven has come near… And then they leave the response up to others. If people receive them, they stay, but if people reject them, they move on. This is such a radically different vision of God's kingdom. …The kingdom of God advances not through coercion but through compassion. Not through domination and force… but through love and hospitality. And perhaps that is why Jesus' words about shaking the dust from their feet can sound so startling. When a town refuses to receive the message, Jesus tells the disciples not to stay and argue. Not to keep fighting. Not to force the issue. Just move on. The good news must be shared. There are too many hurting people to spend all our energy trying to convince those who have already closed their hearts. And then Jesus invokes Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, those names carry a lot of baggage… but I think, especially so, during Pride Month. Many people immediately assume that Sodom and Gomorrah represent God's judgment against LGBTQ+ people. …But Scripture itself tells a different story. The prophet Ezekiel says in chapter 16:49, "This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, excess of food, and prosperous ease but did not aid the poor and needy." The sin of Sodom was not love… It was violence… and exploitation. It was the refusal of hospitality. It was the failure to welcome and care for strangers. It was the absence of compassion. In other words, it was the very opposite of the kingdom Jesus proclaims. Wherever people are dehumanized or rejected… wherever power is used to exclude rather than welcome… in those places… it is appropriate to invoke Sodom and Gomorrah. But wherever compassion, hospitality, and love flourish… in those places… the kingdom of God is drawing near. This week, as many of us celebrated the start of Pride Month, I saw glimpses of that kingdom. I saw people who felt safe and seen. …I saw people free to celebrate who God created them to be. I saw joy… and love and community… I saw reminders that every human being bears the Imago Dei—the image of God. And that matters. Especially in a week when the Southern Baptist Convention voted to further restrict women's leadership in ministry. Such actions stand in stark contrast to the expansive movement of God's Spirit throughout Scripture. After all, look at the people Jesus called. …Fishermen… Tax collectors… Political zealots… men AND women. Jesus called the powerful and the powerless… the respectable and the overlooked. Jesus gathered an astonishingly diverse community of disciples. It matters… not because diversity just is a modern value… but because God's kingdom has always been larger than our categories… and the church is at its best when it reflects the wideness of God's embrace. Because the good news is that God's grace is for ALL people, and that Christ's love is wider than our fears and our divisions. The good news is that every person is created in God's image and invited into God's beloved community. The good news is that wherever there is genuine love, God is already at work. That is the Gospel… and that is why it matters. Because there are still crowds all around us who are harassed and helpless. People longing for belonging… carrying wounds and wondering if they matter… wondering if they are loved… People searching for peace. And Jesus still sees them. …Jesus still has compassion… and Jesus still sends disciples to greet them… disciples of all colors, genders, and sexualities… Jesus still calls them… and sends them to greet the people that Jesus loves. My hope and prayer is that we become the kind of church that reflects the heart of Christ so clearly that people encounter that compassion through us. And honestly, I already see that here… I saw it at Pride… I saw it at Vacation Bible School… I saw it in the friendships that were formed… the meals shared… the laughter all around… and the welcome extended. Every act of hospitality becomes a witness to the kingdom… Every gesture of welcome becomes an act of evangelism… Every reminder that someone is beloved becomes a proclamation of the Gospel. Because evangelism is not primarily about getting people into church. It is about helping people encounter the love of God. And so… Jesus' invitation today is both simple and challenging. …Go… Go with compassion and humility… Go without needing to control the outcome. Go willing to offer hospitality and… and also… Go willing to receive it. Go… and be ready to recognize the image of God in every person you meet. Go beyond the boundaries of your comfort… beyond the limits of your assumptions. Go… trusting that the Holy Spirit is already at work ahead of you. The harvest is still plentiful. There are still people longing for good news. There are still opportunities to embody Christ's love. There are still communities waiting to experience the transforming power of hospitality. And so let us say yes to this mission… yes to compassion. Let us say yes to welcome… and yes to the delight God takes in the diversity of creation. Let us say yes to sharing the good news that God's love is for all people. For the kingdom of heaven has come near. Thanks be to God. Amen.