“Don’t Wake My Sleeping Children” a sermon on Luke 11:1-13

Luke 11:1-13
“Don’t Wake My Sleeping Children”
Preached Sunday, July 27, 2025

When my oldest was born I developed a new pet peeve. Maybe not so much a pet peeve as a button that - if you push it - I will get very angry. The button is the door bell. When my children are sleeping.

At the last parsonage, I hung a piece of paper over the doorbell. DO NOT RING. SLEEPING BABY. SLEEP DEPRIVED PARENTS.

I will admit, with the second child, having an older child in the house who makes noise, we’ve loosened up a little on the noise in the house while the baby is sleeping. It’s part of the background “ambiance”. But I still highly value sleep, for me and my children, and when they are awoken early…I am not happy. And normally, neither are they.

So cue the story Jesus tells in this week’s Gospel lesson….But before we get to that. I want to comment that there are four things happening in this week’s Scripture. For 13 verses, that’s quite a bit.

There are the disciples saying, “Teach us how to pray” and Jesus giving them a version of the Lord’s Prayer.
There is this story of two friends, the need for loaves of bread, and sleeping children. (As you can probably guess from my sermon intro, we’re going to come back around to these sleeping children)
There is the famous “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” line from scripture - echoed in our opening hymn today, “Seek Ye First” - a favorite of many.
And then there is the bit about parents giving good gifts to their children.

At first glance, this Scripture may seem all over the place - branching off in four different directions. And a preacher could - and I have multiple times - preach a sermon that just focuses on one-fourth of this passage. Although - all four of parts of this Scripture do work together to make a whole. There is a thread that weaves them together. And that thread is that God is our heavenly parent who loves us as God’s children.

Let’s go through this Scripture together, looking for that thread, seeing how in this passage, God is depicting love for us as beloved children of God and how that affects how we relate, talk, and pray to God, our Divine parent.

First, I want to start with this strange story of the father and his children, trying to sleep.

“‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything out of friendship, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.’”

When I read this I think: knocking on my door at midnight? When my kids are trying to sleep!? Aw heck no. That’s a good way to no longer be my friend and catch my ire. If you’re persistant, of course I will get up and go to the door and give you what you want - JUST TO MAKE YOU GO AWAY AND NO LONGER MAKE NOISE AND LET ME AND MY CHILDREN SLEEP. But really, this story sounds a little strange to us because there’s a lot happening here that doesn’t fit our modern day experiences. There are some ancient understandings of hospitality at play that we don’t really adhere to today and also…
1. For starters, if you have guests at midnight and don’t have food - grocery stores are open or Doordash can deliver late night fast food right to your door.
2. Normally families don’t often sleep all together in one room or bed. And

3. unannounced knocking on doors is really a thing of the past. For Gen X and younger, this is just something we don’t do. If you are going over someone’s house, you check with them first. Even if you’re expected, you might not knock on the door. You may call or text, “I’m outside” because God forbid we actually have to knock on a door. And if someone I don’t know knocks on my door in the middle of the day, there is a good chance I am not answering. You are either a roofer trying to sell your services to me or canvassing for a political candidate and I am not interested in either. Knock in the middle of the night? And no way am I answering! I think many of us have heard horror stories of robberies happening this way.

4. Also, it’s not safe for the knocker to knock randomly on a house either. There are too many stories of people who are lost knocking on a random door for directions and instead of getting the help they need, looking down the barrel of a gun.

So yes. For all of the above reasons - the story sounds weird to us.

But I think it’s important to not get too bogged down in the differences between 2000 years ago and today, and instead ask: who is Jesus, who is God, in this parable? In the Lord’s Prayer and in the heavenly father giving the children good gifts, God is the Father. God is the Father here as well. We are the ones knocking at the door, praying, and making requests of Jesus. But we aren’t only the friend asking for bread here…If God is our heavenly parent and we are God’s children…then we are also the children tucked into bed, safe and snug for the night with a parent who loves us very much.

I wrote this sermon - or at least this part of the sermon - on Thursday morning. The night before, neither Zach nor I slept very well. One child needed tucked back in twice. One needed fed twice and rocked once - and was up for a good bit in between those things. While every night we expect to be up once or twice between the two kids, this was a more demanding night than average and thus resulted in significantly less sleep than usual. It’s hard going without sleep. It’s literally a primary need. We need sleep to live. To function. To keep our sanity. I know I was so sleep deprived after my first was born that I felt like my sanity was slipping…And yet, as a parent, when the child cries, I wake. I go to them. I make them feel safe and loved. I sacrifice my own needs and desires for that of my child. And I will do it again and again and again.

Which brings us to another part of this Scripture:

“‘Is there anyone among you who, if your child asked for a fish, would give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asked for an egg, would give a scorpion? If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’”

Don’t get thrown off by the “you, then, who are evil” line. Elsewhere in Scripture Jesus says that it is God alone who is Good, all of us in comparison, fall short. We all who are human are evil in comparison to the God who is Goodness itself. We also know that, as humans, we are less than perfect. And for anyone who has ever raised children, or even cared for aging parents or a spouse, we know we don’t always live up to our ideals. At times we have all the patience and understanding in the world - and at other times…well… We also know that there are parents and caregivers who do not parent with love, compassion, and care. Abuse and unsafe homes for children and the vulnerable is the very definition of evil. Yet, for the vast majority of us, we will not give a child a snake instead of a fish, a scorpion instead of an egg. We do our best to raise them to both meet their needs, keep them safe, and to let them know, unequivocally, that they are loved.

If we will go to our crying children in the middle of the night to help them feel safe and loved…God, our heavenly parent, will go to even farther lengths to help us feel loved. We are tucked in tight, secure in God’s arms, held and loved.

I just love this imagery, we are the little children in bed, God our Parent, is watching over us to help us sleep. Rested and loved. I want to just savor this image for a moment longer…

And so, that accounts for two of the four things happening in our short thirteen verses. And they are about how God views us - as God’s beloved children. The other two segments of this passage are about how we relate to - and pray to - this Divine parent who loves us.

Let’s start with, “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

I want to be clear as to what this is not. This is the not heresy known as the Proserpity Gospel that espouses if we just ask right, are good enough, do the right things, pray the right way that we will automatically be rewarded with exactly what we pray for including good health, good relationships, and monetary wealth. That is not how God or our world works.

And yet, God still wants us to talk to God. What loving and caring parent doesn’t want their child to come to them. To ask for what they need, to search for a relationship with God, to search for answers about what God is like, to knock on the door - shamelessly coming to God with all that we are and all that we need.

If a child asks for a good gift and a parent gives it to them; if even a reluctant, tired, duty bound friend answers the door - then how much more is God, our loving Parent, willing to listen to us, to hear our prayers, and to give good gifts.

The disconnect here sometimes comes from what we call good and what God calls Good. After all, no one is Good but God. And we, we are evil in comparison to God’s great Goodness. My kid thinks a new toy every time we go to the store and as much tv she wants is good. I know that new toys and screen time are good…in moderation. I would not be good if I gave my kid everything she thinks she wants in the moment. It is in the first part of the Scripture passage, where the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray, in which Jesus tells them what Good gifts he longs to give us…

“One of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ So he said to them, ‘When you pray, say:

Father, may your name be revered as holy.
May your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial.’”

Take away some of the flowery language and here is how I might phrase this prayer for a child today:

Father, may I know you.
May the world be as it should be.
Give us food.
Forgive us for when we mess up.
Lead us through the hard times and deliver us into your safe arms.

At the heart of this prayer that Jesus taught us are our very real needs: physical, emotional, and spiritual.
Prayers for food; for forgiveness which is necessary for relationships, and for safety and security.

In this prayer is everything that is Good and Right that our heavenly parent wants to give us:
Right relationship with God. Right relationship with neighbor.
These are the good gifts that God longs to give us.
And if we ask for these Good gifts, if we seek out what God deems right and good, if we seek out how we can make this world more Good, more Right as God desires it to be... then we will find it. God will come to the door and answer it for us.

For me, the take away from these four segments in this passage of Scripture isn’t even really about how to pray. It’s not a checklist of the right things to say. Or even the right things to ask for. It’s, at its heart, a beautiful depiction of how Jesus sees our relationship with the Divine:

We are beloved children - God wants to be our heavenly father who gives us good gifts and loves us.
And in return, God wants us to be God’s children, who come to Jesus with our needs and our thoughts and trusts that, our holy, heavenly Good Father, can help make this world right. We come to God with the blind faith and love of a child who is tucked into bed by their loving parent.

May it be so. Amen.

Call to Worship inspired by Acts 20:7-12 & Deconstruction & "Woven"

Leader: We come to worship today with a humble ask:
People: That our faith would have room to breathe.
L: We come to worship today with a humble ask:
People: that we could ask questions and grow.
L: We come to worship today with a humble ask:
P: That even when we aren’t sure what we believe, or we don’t believe what we used to, that we would still belong.
L: We come to worship today with a humble ask:
P: that we would have a faith that can hold fast to God’s goodness - even as that faith changes.
L: We come to worship today with a humble ask:
P: That the Spirit would be at work in our lives and our faith.
All: May it be so. Amen.

Prayer of Discipleship inspired by Romans 12:9-18 & Joseph of Arimathea

Leader: Holy Lord, help us to be people
People: who weep with those who weep.
L: Holy Lord, help us to be people

P: who rejoice with those who rejoice.
L: Holy Lord, help us to be people
P: of goodness, honor, and love.
L: Holy Lord, help us to be people
P: who have a deep reverence for what is holy.
L: Holy Lord, help to to be people
P: who hold fast to what is right and true.
L: Holy Lord, help us to be people
P: who love and follow you.
All: Amen.

Call to Worshiped inspired by Luke 23:44-56 & Joseph of Arimathea

Leader: We come worship today, cultivating a sense of wonder.
People: We come to worship, opening ourselves up to the mystery of God.
L: What must it have been like, to behold Jesus on the cross?
P: We imagine devastation, immense grief, and fear.
L: What must have it been like, to cradle the Messiah’s dead body?
P: We imagine holy but messy work. Shock and tender love all wrapped together.
L: We come to worship today, remembering those who stood at the foot of the cross, those who fled, and he who cared for the body of Jesus.
P: We come to worship today, cultivating a sense of wonder.
All: Let us worship. Amen.

Call to Worship based off of Jonah

Leader: God said to Jonah, “Go.”
People: To which Jonah said, “No.”
L: God said to Jonah, “Preach to them.”
P: To which Jonah said, “But I hate them.”
L: God said to Jonah, “My mercy is for everyone.”
P: To which Jonah said, “I’d rather watch them die.”
L: God said to Jonah, “Rejoice! They have repented.”
P: To which Jonah said, “I might as well die.”
L: Friends…this story is ridiculous.
P: But yet we see ourselves in it.
L: As we come to worship this morning, may we admit that we have a long way to go.
P: And yet praise be to God that God doesn’t give up on us.
L: Let us worship our God who still loves us all and wishes abundant life for us.
All: Amen!

A Prayer for Such a Time as This inspired by Queens Vashti and Esther and Lord of the Rings

Leader: In “The Lord of the Rings,” this conversation happens between Frodo and Gandalf:
“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

This quote echoes the stories of Queens Vashti and Esther and many others, including ourselves, who have all seen and encountered times such as these. And so we pray for God’s guidance and empowerment in these, and all hard, times. Pray with me:

Leader: When the world seems dark,
People: Help us be the light.
L: When we don’t know the way forward.
P: Journey with us.
L: When we are afraid to speak up for what is right.
P: Strengthen our voices.
L: When we are afraid to stand in solidarity with the oppressed.
P: Be our wellspring of courage.
L: When we look around and can’t see where God is…
P: May we know that God is always with us. Never abandoning us. Forever at work in our lives and our world, even when it’s hard to see.
L: Whenever we feel like we have come to “such a time as this…”
P: Help us decide what to do with the time given to us.
L: May we answer the call to always point the way back to how God is at work in our world.
P: Raise us up to be what God is calling us to be: disciples who reflect God’s hope, love, and light.
All: May it be so. Amen.

Call to Worship for Troubled Times

Leader: We gather together today, seeking God’s presence.
People: We admit that, sometimes, God is hard to find.
L: Take heart for God is here with us today.
P: But what about in the world that is so lost and broken?
L: Take heart for God is at work in all the lost and broken places in our world.
P: But what about the lost and broken places in our lives?
L: Friends, take heart. God is always with you.
P: We come to worship today, trusting, knowing, that God is with us.
L: Let us worship the God who is only ever as far from us as our next breath.
All: God is here. God is with us. Let us worship.

Call to Worship inspired by Micah 6:8 & Wesley's Simple Rules

Leader: As we gather for worship this morning, we remember what God is asking of us:
People: To do justice, to love kindness, to walk humbly with our God.
L: As we gather for worship this morning, we remember the Simple Rules of Methodism:
P: To do no harm, do good, and stay in love with God.
L: May this morning’s worship help realign our hearts and minds to live out love of God and love of neighbor.
P: We love you, Lord! Help us love one another.
All: Let us worship our Just, Kind, and Loving God.

“Needed Things” a sermon on Luke 10:38-42

Luke 10:38-42
“Needed Things”
Preached Sunday, July 20, 2025

I think we’ve been looking at the whole Mary and Martha story all wrong.

Some preface:

My sister and I are complete opposites. We grew up sharing a room and always bickering - sometimes, full out fighting. I was …not the neatest person. At some points, it might have even been fair to call me a slob. She was a much neater, and cleaner, person.. That, actually, was the basis for most of our arguments. We played out the old sibling sitcom tropes - everything from yelling at each other about borrowing clothes and literally putting duct tape down the center of the room to dictate “your” space and “my” space. Today, my sister and I are still very different people.

Now, she lives 9 hours away - something my sister and I would both claim is good for our relationship but we still talk at least weekly if not more. We still care about what is happening in the other’s life. We still want happiness for the other and love one another.

But, as a child who was used to fighting with her sister, when I was younger, I heard this Mary and Martha story as a fight between two siblings and Jesus claiming a winner. I, who identified more with Mary at the time and who labeled my sister “a Martha,” well, I was obviously the winner and my sister was the loser. Sibling dynamics play out in our lives - and all through the Bible. Cain and Abel. Isaac and Esau. Leah and Rebekah. Joseph and his brothers.

I know I am not the only one who has thought of the whole Mary and Martha thing as a Mary versus Martha thing. Fighting siblings are pretty much par for the course in the Bible and in life. AND, I also think this story plays into our culture’s unhealthy obsession to pair women off against each other. Ya’ll know what I’m talking about? Instead of celebrating female excellence we want to make it into a feud - create the false narrative that there’s not enough room at the top.

So we make it Taylor Swift versus Olivia Rodrigo
Rihanna versus Cardi B
Brittney Spears versus Christina Aguilera

And, I know some of you don’t understand those references so I did some googling to find some that you might know:

Vivien Leigh versus Marilyn Monroe
Cyndi Lauper versus Madonna
Bette Davis versus Joan Crawford

Those last three are complete unknowns to me but maybe they make sense to others out here…but basically…in every generation, the media has pitted females against each other. In some instances there may be real beef, in others, it’s played up for the drama, more clicks, more sales…

And, of course, from our Scripture this morning: Martha Versus Mary.

We take this Bible story of two women and decide that there can only be room for one of them to be living out her discipleship right and so we hear Jesus’s words that Mary has taken the better part and we become anti-Martha. And so many sermons on this topic talk about the danger of busying oneself too much and not spending enough time at Jesus’s feet - and while, I think that is a moral of this story, they so often do so in a way that is decidedly anti-Martha and her actions. They take the commendation of Mary as a condemnation of Martha.

So I want to say first that both Mary & Martha were demonstrating discipleship. Both of them were serving Jesus. Both of them are worth emulating in our discipleship.

Martha often gets written off as putting housework above God. Some of these commentaries or interpretations of this passage paint her as a silly woman, busying herself with the kitchen rather than sitting at the feet of Jesus. Not only is the interpretation sexist - it misses an important point. Martha was practicing and extending hospitality to Jesus.

The Bible emphasizes hospitality above most other things. Being inhospitable is the Biblical sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. The commandment to be hospitable and to welcome the stranger among you is repeated over and over in the Bible and Jewish & Christians faiths. In many Ancient cultures, including Greek, Jewish, and Christian - hosts were expected to welcome guests, even strangers, and house them, clothe them, feed them, protect them - and then, in many stories, including Biblical ones, those strangers turned out to be gods or angels among them. The most famous from the Bible is Abraham welcoming the travelers who would tell him that he was going to have a son. Or the two disciples walking along the path to Emmaus, not knowing it was Jesus they invited in to eat with them. Jesus himself stresses hospitality. When he sends out his disciples two by two, he tells them to look for and expect people to take them in and be hospitable. The spreading of the Good News depends on those willing to take in strangers and care for them as if they were Jesus themselves. The whole Gospel of Luke stresses the point of hospitality as a central tenet of the Christian faith.

Martha was being the hospitable host. She was doing everything her religion and society taught her. She was doing what Jesus taught. She was serving Jesus, feeding him, giving him shelter, offering protection - she literally had a God in her home and she was treating him as such.

Martha’s error was not in being hospitable. It was not in working. It was not in doing. It might have been calling out her sister to Jesus - but also, what a sisterly thing to do, right? She was like, “Um, hey, Jesus - help a girl out and remind my sister what we’re supposed to be doing right now?” She was expecting him to notice her hospitality, praise it, and remind her sister and all there to do the same. How much can we relate here, right? Maybe in relationships with our own siblings, our spouses, even fellow Church members. We can feel like we’re doing all the work and just want to remind others that this is their house too, their church too. But Jesus says that her sister, Mary, has chosen the better choice. Now, I highly doubt all those there took this as a condemnation of Martha’s acts. After all, Jesus had urged hospitality frequently and will go on to stress it again and again.

Martha’s actions are also commendable. The early church and even the church today - needs people like Martha to survive. We too are called to live out our discipleship in hospitality to each other and to the stranger.

I see Jesus’s words to Martha not as a condemnation or shaming or belittling her. Jesus’s words helped Martha put things into perspective. Helped her really focus on what the most important thing was in that moment. Martha was not really realizing what it means when Jesus is right in front of you. Not realizing the “why” of doing what she was doing.

Who here, has been hosting a party - a holiday, a birthday party, a family reunion - and they have been so busy DOING, cooking, cleaning, making sure everyone has what they need, make sure everything is running smoothly, etc - that it gets to be the time when people are leaving and you realize…I never actually sat down and talked with the people I care about. I never actually took a moment to savor being surrounded by people I love. I never got to just…enjoy? Raise your hand? I am expecting it to be mostly women raising their hands because this is how our society works…Yupp.

Can you imagine how Martha might have felt when Jesus stood up to go and left and Martha realized…the Messiah, the Christ was in my house…and I never stopped and talked to him! I never stopped to listen to him! I never appreciated the blessing he was bringing me. I never just took a moment to bask in his presence… I am sure she would have regretted it. And perhaps even had resentment against her sister who did take the time to appreciate being in the presence of Jesus.

Martha needed to shift from serving, to worshipping.

Living out our discipleship, as Martha was doing, is only one side of the coin. Because in this world we can live as good people, we can welcome the stranger, we can feed them, clothe them, protect them, we can love the neighbor with no exceptions as ourselves - and we can, and people do this, entirely from a secular position. What sets our lived discipleship apart, what sets our hospitality and service to the stranger, the neighbor, the world, apart is that we first sit at the feet of Jesus. We return to the feet of Jesus, over and over.

We come to the feet of Jesus to learn, to listen, to drink deeply from the well, to unburden, to realign our priorities, to renew and strengthen ourselves for the work of discipleship. Mary was doing, serving, living out the important commandment of hospitality - but also forgetting to first sit at the feet of Jesus and and fill up her well before serving. No wonder she was exasperated with her sister. When we fail to care for ourselves and our souls first, when we fail to rest in Jesus, the work, even the good work, drains us and burns us out - leaving us frustrated and tired. I know many of us have felt this way - burned out by church work.

This story is very much about the double-sided coin that is love of God and love of neighbor. It come to us in the Gospel of Luke right after the parable of the Good Samaritan which emphasizes love of neighbor - even love of enemy. This story, of Mary and Martha, emphasizes love of God. Many commentaries believe Luke was intentional in framing these two stories this way. We cannot have one without the other. We need to balance our attention to both, lest we forget why we serve. One could even imagine Jesus, who is praising Mary for sitting at his feet, for resting in him, for learning and growing in her faith and adoration of God - we could imagine if she sat there too long - If she started to neglect hospitality, if she neglected love of her neighbor - We could imagine Jesus saying to her, “Mary, you have chosen the better thing - but don’t just sit there! Share it! Live it! And then return.”

I have preached many times about love of God and love of neighbor. Love of God pushes you to love your neighbor. Love of neighbor reveals more of who God is, causing us to love God more. The story of Martha and Mary reminds us of this: two sisters living out love of God and neighbor. The caution in the story is to not forget to keep on coming back to God. Don’t pass up a single opportunity to sit at the feet of Jesus. Don’t forget to tend your own soul, to find rest in Jesus.

We need “Marthas” - I am one most of the time. It would be too easy for me to make my life motto “Busy people get stuff done.” And yet, how unhappy, uncenetered, and unfulfilled would I be if I let that busy-ness, even busy-ness for Good causes, overtake my life? We all need balance, need to have our wellspring be Jesus, need to not miss the Kingdom in front of us. We need to START with Jesus. It is the only way our work will be sustainable. We need to start with God and never lose sight of the invitation to rest in Jesus. Mary and Martha are not at odds, they are two sides of the same coin. Two women living out their discipleship. Two women who Jesus uses as a teachable moment about the necessity of resting in Jesus.

Summer is the perfect time to revisit this - it’s supposed to be a time of rest and renewal and yet we get so busy...even if we’re busy with good things. We might get to the end of our summers, supposedly a season of rest and renwal and realize… we are burned out. We are tired, we are exhausted. We never want to get to the end of a season and I realize our wells are empty.

But we might. And we will. During one season or another of our lives. We are only human. And it is at this point that we need to ask ourselves: How long has it been since I last sat at the feet of Jesus? How have I been filling my own well, tending my own soul? It is then that we need to turn to Jesus and hear him say, “you have been doing good work. And it’s time to chose the better thing. Sit at my feet. Rest.”

Even with the best intentions, we can forget why we’re doing what we’re doing. We can forgot to turn to Jesus first. We can forget to rest at his feet. Because when we encounter Jesus, the tables are turned. We are no longer the host, we are the guest. Jesus is our ultimate host - taking care of us, offering us protection, offering us renewal, a safe place to rest our heads - inviting us to feast on the Word, to drink deeply from the water that gives life.

So how have we been getting the story of Mary and Martha wrong? The conclusion is not a “don’t be a Martha, be a Mary.” The conclusion is more - be your whole self for God. Live out love of God and neighbor, extend hospitality, serve God - AND never forget why. Never forget to drink deeply from the well. Never lose sight of God inviting you to rest in Jesus, that invitation that is always right in front of you.

For now, right now, choose the better thing, stay here at the feet of Jesus, and rest awhile. May we all find renewal and strength for the journey here, with Martha and Mary, at the feet of Jesus.

Amen.

“How Many Times Do I Need to Preach This Text?” a sermon on Colossians 1:1-14 & Luke 10:25-37

Luke 10:25-37
Colossians 1:1-14
“How Many Times Do I Need to Preach This Text?”
Preached Sunday, July 13, 2025

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that most of you have heard this morning’s Gospel text before.
Many of you have heard, “Love God and Love neighbor as self” many, many times.
Many of you have heard the story of “The Good Samaritan” more times than you can count.
This morning’s theme, even the message of this sermon, may seem “old hat.” There is nothing new here.

And. Please don’t tune out. The message of the Gospel is so important. It bears repeating. We need to hear it again and again and again.

Our reading from Colossians today even starts with the letter writing acknowledging that the community has heard this message before: “You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you.”

I had a preaching professor in seminary who started his class by having each student summarize the Gospel in one or two short sentences. He said this is the one sermon you will preach as a preacher - there may be variations on the theme but every sermon you give will have this at the core. Because preachers are called to proclaim the Gospel - the Good News.

My Gospel summary is something like this: God loves us so much that God became one of us and is always with us. In response to that love, we are to love God and love neighbor as self. This is the Good News - the Good News for all people. You are loved. Love in return.

This week’s Scripture from Luke is at the heart of the Gospel, the core of God’s Good News for us. So yes, you’ve heard this story before. You’ve heard these commandments before. And God knows I have preached on them before. Even when the weekly Scripture is not this exact text - it always comes back to “Love God, Love Neighbor.” As Paul says in Colossians - “you have heard of this hope, this Gospel, before…”

And so, even though we’ve heard it before…let us turn our attention, once again, to the Gospel message and hear it anew.

When the lawyer, which is really, one who studies the law more so than we think of lawyers in the modern sense, but when the lawyer asked Jesus: “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He already knows the answer. He knows he’s supposed to love God and neighbor as self. Jesus tells him, "You have given the right answer.” He knows HOW he is supposed to treat his neighbor - but he wants to know WHO he has to love as himself. He’s looking for the loophole here - he wants to define “neighbor” in a way that he is justified in not loving some as himself. Or even, perhaps, to justify his hate.

It is here that Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan: where a man is making a long and dangerous journey and is mugged and beat up - left for dead on the side of the road. Then a priest and Levite, two well-respected and religious people, cross to the other side of the road so they won’t have to deal with the helpless man. And then, a Samaritan comes, stops, helps the man - taking him to a 5 star hotel and paying extravagantly for his medical and recovery bills.

And after telling this story, he asks the lawyer, “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?"

Now, remember, we have already established HOW you should treat your neighbors - you are to love them as yourself. The lawyer and Jesus are on the same page about this. Jesus does stress this point by using hyperbole. The inn here is not an inn like Mary and Joseph stopped at but more like a very nice hotel. The amount the Samaritan pays is extremely generous. Jesus is probably using hyperbole to make his point - as is a staple in the genre of parables. But they are not discussing how to treat your neighbor - they are discussing who is your neighbor.

And so, in response to the question, “who is the neighbor,” you’d expect a straightforward answer “The Samaritan.” After all, he gave a very straightforward answer to the summation of the law. But the lawyer answers Jesus, “The one who showed him mercy.” Which, I mean, was the Samaritan. But - the lawyer hated Samaritans so much - he couldn’t even bring himself to say that the “Samaritan” was the neighbor. The very thought of admitting that the neighbor was a Samaritan probably made him sick - he couldn’t even bring himself to say it.

You have heard me share before that Jewish New Testament Scholar AJ Levine has said that a modern equivalent of “the Good Samaritan” would be like telling the story of “The Good Hamas Member” today. Perhaps it would be like telling the story of “The Good Russian Soldier” to a Ukrainian. In our own country, we are so divided by hateful political rhetoric that depending on who your audience was, it could be “the Good MAGA” of “The Good Democrat” alike.

And so here we come to another part of the Good News - the Gospel Message we have heard before. The sermon I have preached over and over.
We have heard HOW we are to respond to God’s love for us - and that’s to love God and to love neighbor as self.
We have also heard, again and again, time and time over, “Who is my neighbor?” And the answer? - Even the Good Samaritan. Everyone is your neighbor, even your enemy.
Love God. Love neighbor. Love your enemy.

I’ve preached this sermon before.
You’ve heard this sermon before - not this exact sermon, but this message.
And sometimes, I can’t help but ask myself, “How many times do I need to preach this text?”
Maybe you’re wondering, “How many more times do I need to hear this?”

Sometimes I get discouraged when I look at the world. Sometimes I ask myself, “Does preaching Love make any difference?” Am I “preaching to the choir?” “Am I preaching to a wall?”

Perhaps you feel the same way. I know that many of you are trying your absolute best to live lives of Love. Lives filled with Love of God. Love of Neighbor. Even love of enemy. I know that you are all on a journey of discipleship. That the Spirit is working in and through you, to be sanctified, to follow Jesus, to live a holy life of Love.

But maybe you too look at the world around you and wonder…is it making any difference? Am I making any difference? Is God’s love making any difference?

My exhortation to myself and to each of you this morning is this: Keep on preaching Love. Keep on living lives of Love. Maybe, just maybe, it may be the first time someone hears a message of love. It may be the 1000 time someone hears a message of love…and it may be the first time it sinks in, the first time it makes a difference. Keep on going. Keep on preaching love, keep on living Love…until there is fruit.

Our text from Colossians says: “You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God.”

Basically, you’ve heard the Gospel message before - and from the very first day you heard it, The Spirit has been at work within you to bear fruit. And not just from the very first day you heard it - but the day you really got it too. The day it clicked. The day that the Love of God, the Good News of the Gospel, the command to Love God and Love Neighbor as self and yes, even to Love our Enemies - the day it went from head knowledge to heart knowledge. The day that that heart knowledge spilled out in an overflow of Love.

And I want to add - not just the DAY but the DAYS. Plural. We are all works in progress. As Christians we call this Sanctification. That day by day, the Spirit of God works with us, through us, within us…to help us love just a little better. And there are days and times when we don’t get it right. When we move backwards. When we fail to bear good fruit. And the Good News - the really Good News of the Gospel - is that isn’t the end of our story. God never gives up to us. We will hear the Gospel of Love again. And again and again, we will have the opportunity to respond in love.

There is another parable in the Gospel of Luke about a fig tree. It goes like this: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the man working the vineyard, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down.’”

We, and our world, are like the fig tree. The Gardener may be telling us the Gospel of Love, over and over and over…and yet we fail to produce the fruit of that Love. But - The Gardener does not give up on us. The Gardener is patient with us. The Gardener tends our soil with, pardon the imagery, the manure of Love. So every time we hear the Gospel of Love, the Good News to Love God, Love Neighbor, Love Enemy…each time we hear it, it is like The Gardener putting manure on our roots, planting us more firmly in Good Soil, giving us everything we need to bear Good fruit for God.

How many times have we heard this text? How many times have we heard the Gospel? How many times….? May we produce the fruit of love tenfold as many times as we hear it.

Closing prayer for each of us, as it comes to us from Colossians:

“For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, so that you may have all endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.”

May it be so, Amen.