Sermon by Father David Beresford
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
When I read the Bible, my brain sometimes links the passage I am reading to another Bible passage, or to another book or even to a piece of music. It happened when I was reading this morning’s gospel, which is about the right way of doing evangelism. Jesus says,
“What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.”
Here’s the link in my mind: “there's nothing you can do that can't be done.” And later, “no one you can save that can't be saved.” Those words are from the Beatles song “All You Need is Love.” So the connection to proclaiming the word of God from the housetops is the word “love.” That’s important, because without love you will find it impossible. Not because the message is complicated, but because those who proclaim it will face rejection.
Love may be all you need, but you will also need to know the kind of people God chose in the past for this kind of work. In our Old Testament reading there is a passage from the prophet Jeremiah, who says, “within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in.” Jeremiah is the voice of the Lord to those who have turned away from God. Despite being ill-treated, Jeremiah will have his say, whether his tormentors want to hear him or not.
Jeremiah is the model for the kind of evangelist Jesus has in mind: someone on fire with the love of God and the desire to share God’s word and truth. That sounds fine until we remember the context in which Jesus was sending out his followers. At that time there was no movement called “Christianity.” There were only a group of mainly Jews who happened to be followers of another Jew called Jesus. And these followers were about to tell everyone that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, the anointed one from the line of King David.
Now imagine how that message is going to go down in some of the orthodox homes and communities where these Jews come from. Do you see now why Jesus tells them, in the second half of the gospel reading, that he comes not to bring peace but a sword, and to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and so on? The gospel is a message that will be welcomed and opposed.
It’s great when it is welcomed. When someone turns up at church having heard about Jesus and then stays and keeps coming back. They have found at church a key that unlocks the meaning their own existence and which also connects them with other people who have also heard about Jesus. And if the church teaches the true word of God, and is faithful and devout in its worship and teaching, the Holy Spirit will make its home there and bless the people.
However, there are times when the gospel is opposed. You may have some personal experience of that. Or perhaps, more commonly, you are met with indifference. I’m sure that some of my own family and friends, perplexed by my strong Christian faith, believed that I was using religion as a prop to compensate for something psychologically missing in myself. I mean, why do you need it? You can be happy without it, surely? The answer is yes, you can live without religion, but now that I do have it, I can’t imagine life without it. Now I am speaking as a modern western convert in a context where religion is not a strong part of our identities.
However, if I belonged to a household whose identity was strongly religious, and told my mother and father that my existing religion was not sufficient to express my fullness of my faith, I should not be surprised to get some blowback. They might even tell me to leave and never come back.
Hence Jesus’ warning about how religion creates division in the closest of human relationships. I think this boils down to one of the central claims Jesus makes about himself, when he says, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” If we believe him, it will bring us into conflict with those who disagree. It can even break up a family.
It would be tempting to ignore what Jesus is saying here, because it seems he is striking at the heart of our human society, which is built upon family relationships. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. What he is seeking to do is to establish the hierarchy of these relationships in the order in which God intended. In this hierarchy, faithfulness to God always comes before loyalty to one’s family members.
Jesus wants to create family groups that are not defined solely by blood ties. This church, and your being here today, is a good example of a family whose father is God in heaven and whose brothers and sisters are sitting alongside you in the pews.
And the sword that Jesus wields is not to kill, but to protect. It is the sword of truth which defends our souls from corruption, from conforming too closely to the world and all of its temptations. Jesus tells us, “do not be afraid.” When he touches our hearts, let us take courage and follow him. Let us be his voice in the world now, speaking the truth: the truth of who Jesus is, and that he comes to save us. If we do that, confidently and faithfully, without counting the cost to ourselves and our earthly relationships, he will acknowledge us before his Father in heaven.
God knows the difficulties we face - in an evil and corrupt world we can sometimes be a lone voice of protest. Yet all we need is love, and a commitment to be faithful to God in all the moments of our life.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
June 21, 2026