Sunday, June 28, 2026
Fifth Sunday of Pentecost
Text: Matthew 10:32-42
Sermon Audio
As we gather… We travel to see kids and grandkids. We love going to a niece or nephew’s soccer game. Jesus tells us in today’s text, “And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” What does Jesus mean? Does this mean it’s a sin to go visit your grandson three hours away? Does it mean you need to abandon aging parents to fend for themselves? By no means! However, in this Gospel text, Jesus is inviting us to make sure the first thing is first: namely, that we take up our cross and follow Christ above all else. Family is good. Friends are good. However, if our relationships with them get in the way of following Christ, we need to repent. The riches of Christ’s kingdom are greater than anything our earthly family can offer. Jesus promises that the gifts of forgiveness and eternal life are greater even than family.
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Today, Jesus challenges us with these words from Matthew’s Gospel. I’ll admit, these words have been challenging to me as my family and I prepare to move across the state. Jesus said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”
In the past few weeks, I have heard some permutation of, “Pastor, congratulations, it’s so nice that you’re moving closer to family.” It is nice, isn’t it? Family matters. Family was a factor in the previous pastor taking a call to serve here. However, do these words of Jesus tell us to abandon our families? Does they tell us to make enemies in our own households?
Let’s take today to unpack this text and answer some of these questions. We cannot understand this passage apart from who Christ has made us in baptism. Today we learn, BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST, WE TAKE THE CROSS WHEREVER WE GO.
A key to understanding this passage are verses 38 and 39, “And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Christ is giving us a cross to bear. First, I. In baptism, Christ has marked us with the cross.
We begin our services with the invocation. “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The pastor will make the sign of the cross in remembrance of your baptism. You too may make the sign of the cross to remember that you are baptized—it isn’t just a Roman Catholic thing.
In the baptismal rite, the pastor makes the sign of the cross on the person to be baptized saying, “Name, receive the sign of the holy cross both upon your forehead and upon your heart to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified.” From baptism onwards, Jesus has marked us with the cross.
In the cross we find protection and peace. Think about the Passover in ancient Egypt. What motion did the Israelites need to paint to paint the blood on their doorposts? Make sign of the cross. In Ezekiel 9, the Lord spares the faithful who have the mark of a cross on their foreheads. In Revelation, the faithful are those who are sealed with the name of God on their foreheads. With this cross you find your life. With this cross you find forgiveness and peace; with this cross you find Christ’s protection.
Here’s the upshot of Jesus’ words to us today: that cross shaped identity given to you in baptism is what matters the most. The fact that you’re a baptized child of God matters more than anything else in your life. It matters more than your job because jobs can change or you can retire—even if your job is a pastor! It matters more than your family, because parents age and die and children grow up and move out of the house, but God’s love for you never changes. Your identity as a baptized child of God matters more than your hobbies because your interests change, but God’s interest in you never changes.
What Christ has done for you by living a perfect life for you, dying for your sins, and rising again to new life makes all the difference in the world, and that’s what Jesus is talking about here when He means to take your cross and follow Him. Take the reality He has implanted in you through giving you that cross in baptism and make the most of it.
This looks like living out your Christian faith. Your job may change, but the fact that God wants you to gather with other Christians in church doesn’t. Your family may change as you get married, have kids, and see those kids get married, but what doesn’t change is that the Lord wants you reading His word regularly and praying every day. Your hobbies may change, but what doesn’t change is that the Lord still wants you to be a Christian in church on Sunday as well as on the volleyball court. You can’t be cussing out the umpire Saturday night week after week and then come to church the next morning like nothing had happened.
It is with this preface that we can then move onto the question at hand. Is our love for our biological family at odds with following Christ? Second, II. In baptism, the cross marks our service to our family. Let’s re-examine these words of Jesus, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Keep in mind, Jesus isn’t saying whoever loves father or mother is not worthy of me. He is saying, “whoever loves father or mother more than me.” The fourth commandment to honor your father and mother still applies, but so does the first commandment to put God first.
The point is that you take God with you wherever you go. You are marked with that cross given to you in baptism. And that cross marks your life in your family.
Today, Jesus invites us to follow Him wherever we go, and He gives us His Holy Spirit that we can truly follow Him. This text does not mean that it is a sin to move closer to family if we means we still follow Christ. It does not mean that it is a sin to care for an aging parent. It does not mean that we are free to disregard completely the needs of children or family because we’re on a mission from God.
What Jesus is inviting us to do is to take the cross that was placed on us in our baptism wherever we go. That might look like inviting family with you to church on a Sunday when they’re in town, even if it’s a communion Sunday and they aren’t a member and would have to sit back in the pew during the communion part of the service. That might cause some consternation and hard feelings, but Jesus tells us that it’s worth the trouble.
You might come from a family that’s a different denomination. You might be the only Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod person in your family and you are under a lot of pressure to join the old family church which teaches some incorrect things about the Bible, but your siblings and your parents say, “Why do you have to be a stick in the mud? Don’t you love us? Why can’t you go to our church instead of yours?”
I get it, these are difficult situations. We have often fallen prey to the chameleon attitude of blending in to save face with family. I’ve done that, too! But the good news is that there is abundant forgiveness for this! You are forgiven for the times you have chosen family over Jesus!
Sometimes I hear people talk about signs from God. Consider this your sign from God. Today is a new day for you to take the baptismal cross that was placed on you and to continue to love your family, and love them the best way possible, by giving them Jesus and witnessing to them through your words and actions! We trust Jesus to bless our witness to Him, and if rejection or persecution comes, we know that God has given us a family in addition to our flesh and blood family.
Finally, we see how Jesus concludes our text. He said, ““Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.” III. In baptism, the cross marks our service in the church. We take the cross with us—that’s what it means to be Christian. I know it’s the beginning of my farewell tour as I am in my last Sundays at Faith. But I like to call it the beginning of my thank you tour.
Of course, leaving a church is leaving an employer with all the paperwork and whatnot. But I don’t think my friend who left Harley in Milwaukee to go to Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac earlier this year experienced the same thing I am experiencing. There’s an aspect of leaving a church and taking a new call that none of your friends or extended family ever see. Someone came up to me after I announced my call and said, “Thanks for letting us be part of your family.” I want to reflect that sentiment back to all of you. Thanks for letting us be part of your family.
I’m not just on a sentimental whimsy. This is what Jesus is talking about here. He is saying, however many of you have welcomed Christians into your midst—especially pastors and their families—have welcomed me into your midst.
So I want to conclude this sermon by saying thank you. There’s no way I can mention every kindness that you have shown my family and me. Thank you for showing up to hear me preach, even in the early days when I was still developing my preaching voice—I still am! You show up to Bible study to hear what I have to say, and you keep coming back! Thank you for giving money to Faith. A portion of that money goes to pay for things like dental cleanings, food on the plate, and a roof over our head. Thank you for the pew grandparents who sat next to our kids especially when they were very little and my wife had more kids than arms. Thank you for welcoming me into your homes to visit you and to get to know you better. The Eichers and trees must not get along because on several occasions, tree limbs fell down on our property. My family didn’t show up to help clean up the mess, you guys did. You have babysat for our kids on more than one occasion, even coming to the house late at night in a pandemic to keep an eye on Gwen when Kara and I rushed to the hospital for her to give birth to Silas. Thank you for the pastor appreciation gifts year after year and the gift cards at Christmas and other occasions. I could say more, but time doesn’t allow it. Thank you, thank you, thank you for everything.
“The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”” Biological family is good, but as we carry that cross that Jesus placed upon our heads and our hearts into the world, we see that there’s something even greater: a church family. Even as our family continues our arrangements to leave La Crosse, thank you for being our home away from home and thank you for receiving me as your pastor. Amen!
The peace of God which passes all understanding guard and keep you in the true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.