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Green Blades Preaching Roundtable

4th Sunday after Pentecost

Year A
June 25, 2023
Sue Lyback

Jeremiah 20:7-13
Psalm 69:7-10, (11-15), 16-18
Romans 6:1-11
Matthew 10:24-39

I find Jesus’ reassurances comforting when I read Matthew 10:24-39, especially when I consider the continuing challenges facing people of faith these days. I appreciate Jesus’ honesty about how hard it can and will be to follow him. How hard it can be to follow the way of love and life in the midst of dissension and increasing dualism (maybe even duel-isms) among and between family members, communities etc.

 

But sometimes when I read Matthew 10:31b, I feel like shouting out “NO! The sparrows are just as much of value as we people are! Why did you use this example, Jesus? Didn’t you know it would just deepen humanity’s insistence on the hierarchy that places animals and birds and all of creation beneath human beings??? Didn’t you realize people will take this and run with it in our continuing efforts to prove our superiority and thus further separate ourselves from your creation….and thereby even from you?!”

 

I get it, of course, sigh. Jesus was simply using an image available to him and readily understandable to others in order to make a point of how much God cares for us. And thankfully, he does acknowledge that the sparrows – even though they aren’t valued very much in at least a monetary way – are valued by God, enough so that not even one of them falls to the ground apart from the Father.

 

Now, I’m just a lay person with a bachelor’s degree in social work and a minor in Norwegian and religion, so what do I know? I don’t know much about Greek, to be sure! But I did do a little research on the Greek text of these passages in Matthew, and especially behind the word “value” in NRSV’s verse 31. According to Biblehub’s interlinear bible, the Greek word “diapherete” is the basis of the translation into the NRSV’s use of the English word “value”. The Biblehub translation reads as “are worth more”. The root word itself appears to be “diapheró” and according to Strong’s concordance, “diapheró” can be defined in English as “to carry through, carry about, to differ, make a difference, surpass.”

 

So, I’m left wondering, is it possible Jesus was pointing out the difference between sparrows and humans without necessarily trying to suggest that people have so much more inherent worth? Maybe “difference” is enough? Because, clearly, we ARE different. Humankind clearly has more capacity and agency to impact lives and all of creation than sparrows do. We are indeed more response-able and thus have far more responsibility! But perhaps having greater capacity and agency does not necessarily mean being of greater worth?

 

Like I said, what do I know? Not all that much, really, and I’m sure there are folks reading this who have much more insight and knowledge about Jesus’ words as recorded in Matthew’s gospel than I do. But this much I do know. The sparrows do have value, too, no matter how we define the Greek word. And we must not minimize that.

 

Especially now. Especially in this Kairos time of creation in crisis.

 

We walk and live in challenging times, brothers and sisters. We are confronted daily with choices to make. Which story* shall we live into? The story of human dominance over and against nature? The story that fosters economic growth and resource depletion? The story in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer? The story that minimizes the disenfranchised? The underprivileged? The “different ones”? The vulnerable life on the fringes? The sparrows?

Or do we live into the living story of love? The Story of death to self-absorption and the rebirth of resurrection into truth and meaning, life and renewal? The Story of the One who calls us to follow the way of the cross in love, even if it means being out of step from those around us?

It’s not easy. It’s hard when people revile those who try to protect and care for creation. It’s hard when we’re labeled “d@#< tree-huggers”. It’s not fun to be laughed at and ridiculed because we stand with God’s creation instead of against it. We can understand the lament of Jeremiah, the cries of the psalmist…

 

And yet we are not left walking alone and without hope. Jesus’s words are for us as well, “those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” And as Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

 

Consider the lilies, remember the sparrows, know that God loves you and all of this amazing creation. Every step of the way, even and especially when it feels scariest. “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul”.

 

And lastly, lest you doubt the presence of the One’s love in your own life and place, take a moment to step away from your computer and set aside the cell phone. Go outside and breathe. Just breathe. Listen and look. Find a spot of green growing things and savor its closeness. Even if it’s only a flower pot on a windowsill. I pray that you can find a spot where you can hear the sound of birdsong and if you do, take time to be still in that space.

 

Listen and be assured you are not alone. Your family (including the sparrows) is surrounding you in countless ways, as countless as the hairs on your head. So do not be afraid… Your Father is with you.

 

May you be assured and strengthened by God’s ever-revealing presence of Love in your own life, the congregation(s) you serve and in whatever place and circumstances you find yourself.

 

* Retired Lutheran campus (ELCA) University of Arizona, Ron Rude (a friend of mine who many years ago was also my pastor at Faith Lutheran in Isle) has been busy writing his understanding of these two stories and their implications for life and creation. His latest book, “Amending the Christian Story” may be a helpful resource for you who are reading this. You can find it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.

Sue Lyback
Sue Lyback
SAM at Holden Lutheran Church
Isle, MN

Sue Lyback is a retired licensed social worker serving Holden Lutheran (part of two point Zion-Holden Lutheran Parish) in east central Minnesota as a Synod Authorized Minister since early 2021. She is a 2020 graduate of the Christos Center Spiritual Direction Certificate program, a long ago graduate of Augsburg University (when it was still Augsburg College) and is entering the Luther Seminary Justice and Reconciliation MA program this fall. Sue and her husband, Doug Jacobson, are grateful to live beside Lake Mille Lacs (aka Misi-zaaga'iganiing per the Ojibwe and M’deWakan or B’de Wakan – lake of the great Spirit – per the Dakotah, names given by native peoples who continue to live or have once lived beside these waters) as dwellers upon, companions with and stewards of several precious acres of protected woods and wetlands which provide home to many species of God’s children.

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