Third Sunday after Pentecost - Matthew 9:35-10:8 - The Rev. Colette Hammesfahr

 

Matthew 9:35-10:8 – June 14, 2026

Kurt and I are grandparents to a 19-month-old little girl and a 6-month-old little boy. Like all grandparents, we look at them and see so much potential. We wonder what the world and their lives have in store for them. At the same time, we see how completely dependent they are. Neither of them can make their own meals, earn a living, drive a car, solve problems, or make important decisions. Most of the time, they can’t even explain what they need. Yet when we hold them, we don’t think about what they can’t do. We think about who they are in that very moment and who they are becoming.

None of us in their family, including their parents, grandparents, aunts, or uncles, wait until they are capable before we love them. We don’t say, “Come back when you can walk, talk, read, and contribute to society.” They are loved before they accomplish anything. They belong before they achieve anything. From the moment they are born, they are loved.

This is how God sees us. God doesn’t wait for us to become successful, capable, or qualified before claiming us. God’s love comes first.

This is what we see in today’s readings. Both Abraham and Sarah are old. They are well past the age of having children. Sarah has been barren all her life. God tells them that Sarah will give Abraham a son. And Sarah literally laughs at God. She laughs because she looks at herself and sees all the reasons God’s promise could not possibly come true. She isn’t doubting God’s power. It’s more that she doubts God could work through someone like her.

The disciples must have felt something similar when Jesus sent them out. When Jesus looked out at the crowds, he saw people in need, “like sheep without a shepherd.” He told the disciples there was much to be done, but not enough people to do his work. People needed to be healed and restored, and to hear the Good News. Then he turned to twelve ordinary people and sent them out. With no formal training and no religious authority, he sent them out. Fishermen, a tax collector, none of them thought they were qualified. They could probably think of more reasons why they shouldn’t be called for this task than reasons they should.

Sarah and the twelve all asked the same question, “Why me?” Sarah had been promised that she would become the mother of a great nation. The disciples were sent to carry on the work of Jesus. Both Sarah and the disciples recognized their limitations. They saw only what they lacked. Yet in both stories, God and Jesus saw something different in them. While Sarah saw an elderly, barren woman, God saw the beginning of a promise. The disciples saw twelve ordinary people, but Jesus saw messengers. The difference wasn’t in what they were capable of doing. The difference was in what they thought of themselves versus what God thought of them. God’s vision saw possibilities in them that they couldn’t see in themselves.

These stories lead us to a question about the needs of the world and the people around us: When we see a need in the church or community, what keeps us from moving from observation and discussion to participation and action? Is it fear that we aren’t qualified? Is it the belief that someone else could do the task better? Do we think that what we have to offer is too small to make a difference?

Sarah could have stayed focused on all the reasons God’s promise seemed impossible. The disciples could have focused on all the reasons they were unprepared to be sent out. Instead, they became part of what God was doing.

God invites us to do the same. God isn’t simply asking us to notice the needs around us – in our church and in our community. God invites us to participate in meeting those needs. We are not all experts, leaders, or people with all the answers. We are people God trusts to serve and to take the next faithful step in God’s kingdom. Every ministry in St. Thomas’, every act of kindness, every meal delivered, every child taught, every prayer offered, every hand extended begins when someone says, “Maybe God is calling me.”

We face the same problems as Sarah and the disciples. We look at ourselves and think of our inadequacies. God, on the other hand, focuses on God’s purposes. We look at our age, experience, fears, failures, and limitations, but God sees beloved people who God can use to build God’s Kingdom. This is how God’s work has always been done. Through ordinary people.

Today, we welcome Greer Townsend Ochsner into God’s family through the waters of baptism. We’re going to make some big promises to her. We will promise to support her in her life in Christ. We will promise to pray for her, encourage her, and help her grow into the person God created her to be. And we’ll make these promises to a child who cannot even understand them yet. Why would we do this? We do this because baptism is about God’s promise. Before Greer can even choose, God has already chosen her. Before she can even serve God, she has already been claimed. Before she can do anything to earn it, Greer is already surrounded by grace.

The baptism is also a reminder to us. As baptized children of God, we were claimed by God before we accomplished anything. We were called by name before we proved anything. That is proof that God doesn’t always work through the qualified, the gifted, or the experts.

Sarah thought she was too old. The disciples thought they were unprepared. We often think we’re inadequate. But God has always chosen ordinary people and invited them to participate in extraordinary things.

Our challenge today is this: Where is God inviting you to move from observation to participation? Where is God calling you not only to see that need but to become part of God’s response? Maybe that need is in this church or in your neighborhood. Maybe it’s at work, in your family, or among your friends. Wherever it is, we are tempted to think someone else is better equipped for the task. But today we learned that God works through ordinary people who are willing to trust God’s promise and take the next faithful step.

The same God who claims Greer claims you. The same God who sees promises in Greer sees promise in you – ordinary people called to join in God’s work of healing, hope, and love. Amen.