Acknowledge What’s Real
Acknowledge What’s Real
Last Sunday, I amplified Jesus’s call to his apostles to cure the sick, raise the dad, cleanse the lepers, and exorcise the demons. We too can cure the sick, or even dead in spirit, because they lack direction, meaning, purpose, maybe by just listening to them. In Jesus’s time, “lepers” included skin diseases of any kind, and such kinds of skin discoloration meant isolation from the community. So, “cleansing” lepers also meant ending their ostracism, perhaps more important than being cured of the disease itself. Certainly, we can seek out the ostracized today and “cleanse” them from their isolation. And given that “Satan” means accuser, whenever we can defuse the demons of bitterness, suspicion and accusation, we are doing as Jesus and the Twelve did.
So, what’s not to like about curing, raising, cleansing, and exorcising? Why is Jesus telling his disciples then, and now, that we might be rejected, accused ourselves of being demonic, even killed? I would group the possible reactions as cynicism, insecurity, and hypocrisy.
Some may have been so beaten down by others and the world that the healing Jesus promises doesn’t seem possible and they don’t want anyone else to get their hopes up only to be beaten down. Perhaps some have “learned” from the beatings of this world that God is a harsh judge. So, they feel more secure with God if they can clearly see others as objects of divine judgement while they’re safely ensconced in God’s corral. And having had nearly two millennia to get it right — or wrong — too many of Jesus’s disciples have been poor ambassadors of Jesus’s kingdom. So, how do we get our message right? How do we avoid rejection, accusation, death, or perhaps even worse, hypocrisy? How do we succeed?
Jesus doesn’t call us to succeed, or promise worldly success. In today’s Good News from Matthew, Jesus calls us to two tasks. First: he calls us to be faithful, hopeful, and loving in our “acknowledgement” of him — Everyone, therefore, who acknowledges me in the presence of others, I will acknowledge in the presence of my Father in heaven — Acknowledgment, that’s all. Not eloquence, not having an answer for every question or objection, not meeting a goal of new members. To quote 1st Peter, just being able to defend our hope Is enough.
Second: Jesus calls us to always remember that the soul is as real as the flesh — Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. When regressivism seems to have the upper hand on progressivism, remember that in Jesus’s eyes, success is measured one soul at a time, and the soul is as real as the flesh. We are not called to succeed, but to be faithful, hopeful, and loving in our acknowledgement of Jesus. Just acknowledge what is real.
June 21st, 2026
The 4th Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 7, Year A
The Rev. David Kendrick