21st June 2026
Reflection with readings below
I struggle – not I think unreasonably – with today’s words from Matthew’s Gospel. Maybe they reflect the situation that prevailed in 1st century Christian communities. Maybe they were struggling with division and conflict between those who believed and those who didn’t; those eager to speak out and those who preferred discretion; those who felt it was more important to survive as a community within their society and those who felt it was more important to stand apart from the prevailing society. If so, then it seems a if the writer of Matthew’s gospel wants to reassure those whose faith pits them at odds with their families, with their community, with society.
On the other hand, it is important to consider that for some people their Christian faith – or maybe their understanding of that faith – does put them at odds with family, with friends, with work colleagues, with governments. Only last week we saw 4 young people imprisoned because their views on the outrageous actions carried out by the State of Israel against Palestinians, put them at odds with our government. They felt that that those manufacturing arms to supply the Israeli Defence Force should be stopped where as the government did not.
In the Church Times one can read letters and articles that highlight the differing views of Christians on the rights of transpeople, or about the conflicting views about national identity and Christian identities.
Perhaps what we can learn from today’s gospel is the importance of listening to other people’s viewpoint (even if we don’t agree) and in seeking to understand the situations that lead to conflict, as well as the importance of trying to establish the truth. Today’s gospel also encourages to be willing to let go of long held views when these prevent us living more truthfully as followers of Jesus.
The passage from Jeremiah also makes for a challenging read. To serve God does not guarantee a life of roses. God understands that life is not always straightforward, is not always easy, and that to counter what is going awry can demand vulnerability. It is not everyone’s vocation to be a prophet, but for those who are, it is a challenging role. Jeremiah’s words express how it can feel to present a counter story or a counter argument to the accepted way of a society. How it feels to be mocked and here’s. How it feels to be the one – apparently – out on a limb. Yet when prophets speak and act in truth for God, they can find consolation in knowing that God understands and values what they are going through.
Paul knew well from his own experience how it felt to be persecuted, to be mocked and derided. He knew how hard it is to stand in opposition to those with whom you have grown up, in opposition with those with whom you had previously shared common beliefs, and how hard it was to strike out on a different path. He also knew how hard it was to challenge – and be challenged by – your fellow believers when points of conflict arise. But I think Paul saw that leaving behind past practices, past ties, was akin to leaving behind an old self, an old body. It was as he describes in the letter to the Romans, a dying to sin. And that conversely stepping away from the old ways and previously held beliefs, to follow the new of Jesus, was – and is! – a form of rebirth. In Christ we enlivened by new life that is without compare.
A few weeks ago we heard from Matthew’s gospel, the Pharisees complaining that Jesus was mixing with tax collectors and sinners – with those they deemed as undesirables. But Jesus sees it as his mission to drink and eat – to socialise – with them. Then he reminds the Pharisees that it is the sick who need a doctor. Do the Pharisees, I wonder, pause to think whether it is the tax collectors and sinners or they, the Pharisees, who are the ones in need of a doctor?
So let’s not be distracted by today’s gospel from following the example of Jesus of mixing and socialising and talking and listening to one and all.
Jeremiah 20:7-13
O Lord, you have enticed me,
and I was enticed;
you have overpowered me,
and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long;
everyone mocks me.
For whenever I speak, I must cry out,
I must shout, “Violence and destruction!”
For the word of the Lord has become for me
a reproach and derision all day long.
If I say, “I will not mention him,
or speak any more in his name,”
then within me there is something like a burning fire
shut up in my bones;
I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.
For I hear many whispering:
“Terror is all around!
Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”
All my close friends
are watching for me to stumble.
“Perhaps he can be enticed,
and we can prevail against him,
and take our revenge on him.”
But the Lord is with me like a dread warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble,
and they will not prevail.
They will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.
Their eternal dishonour
will never be forgotten.
O Lord of hosts, you test the righteous,
you see the heart and the mind;
let me see your retribution upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.
Sing to the Lord;
praise the Lord!
For he has delivered the life of the needy
from the hands of evildoers.
Psalm 69: 8-20
8 Surely, for your sake have I suffered reproach, *
and shame has covered my face.
9 I have become a stranger to my own kindred, *
an alien to my mother’s children.
10 Zeal for your house has eaten me up; *
the scorn of those who scorn you has fallen upon me.
11 I humbled myself with fasting, *
but that was turned to my reproach.
12 I put on sack-cloth also, *
and became a byword among them.
13 Those who sit at the gate murmur against me, *
and the drunkards make songs about me.
14 But as for me, this is my prayer to you, *
at the time you have set, O Lord:
15 “In your great mercy, O God, *
answer me with your unfailing help.
16 Save me from the mire; do not let me sink; *
let me be rescued from those who hate me
and out of the deep waters.
17 Let not the torrent of waters wash over me,
neither let the deep swallow me up; *
do not let the Pit shut its mouth upon me.
18 Answer me, O Lord, for your love is kind; *
in your great compassion, turn to me.’
19 “Hide not your face from your servant; *
be swift and answer me, for I am in distress.
20 Draw near to me and redeem me; *
because of my enemies deliver me.
Romans 6:1b-11
Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
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. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Matthew 10:24-39
Jesus said to the twelve disciples, “A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!
“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.
“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one’s foes will be members of one’s 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; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
The Green Tau 