Scripture
Matthew 10:31
Jeremiah 20:10–13; Psalm 69:8–10, 14, 17, 33–35; Romans 5:12–15; Matthew 10:26–33
Sermon Week/Year
A fable tells of a little fish swimming near the surface of the ocean. One day he glanced down into the dark depths below and became frightened. “What if I fall?” he wondered. The thought troubled him so much that he began darting in circles, trying somehow to hold himself up. Finally the ocean itself seemed to speak: “Relax, little fish. I am around you and in you. I sustain your life. I will not let you fall.”
It is a childlike story, but it captures something very adult. Much of our anxiety comes from forgetting what surrounds us. We worry that we may somehow fall out of the very reality that is holding us up.
In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus sends His disciples into a world that will not always welcome them. He is not recruiting them for a comfortable life. He speaks candidly about opposition, misunderstanding, and rejection. Yet woven through His warning is a command He repeats three times: “Do not be…
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