The Good News Is… Protection and Care for the Vulnerable

Who gets access? Who is welcomed, protected, and allowed to belong? In this sermon from Matthew 19:13–15 and Deuteronomy 24:17–22, Rev. David Wheeler explores how Jesus challenges the quiet systems that decide who matters and who doesn’t. When the disciples tried to push children aside, Jesus interrupted them—placing the most vulnerable at the very center of God’s kin-dom. From ancient laws that protected strangers, orphans, and widows to the pressing questions of our own time, this message invites us to imagine a different kind of community—one that refuses to guard the gates and instead opens them wider. Because in God’s kin-dom, those standing at the edge of the crowd are not turned away.