July 2026

Dear friends in Christ,

The church calendar this year has us spending a lot of time in the gospel of Matthew. I’d like to share some thoughts with you from Matthew 9:35-38 that I’ve been ruminating on since the Third Sunday After Pentecost.

35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

Jesus is preparing the Twelve for the work of carrying forth the gospel into the world. He sends the Twelve on what we might call a training mission—an early glimpse of the worldwide commission that will come after His resurrection. Jesus speaks of a harvest and laborers, reminding us that the urgency of the gospel is real. Harvests are time sensitive. The window of opportunity does not stay open forever. Today is the day of grace. This is a reminder that the church needs today more than ever.

As Jesus prepares His disciples, He teaches them two essential truths. First, they will suffer. A disciple is not above his master. They will be like sheep in the midst of wolves. They will face rejection from religious leaders, opposition from government, and even hostility from their own families. Second, they will be empowered and provided for by God. This mission is the Lord’s mission. And we are sent to deliver the saving Word of God. Jesus tells them, “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me” God has something to say to the world, and He sends us, His disciples to speak it. Our message to the world is simple yet profound: we are broken and sinful people, and God gives us grace and forgiveness for the sake of His Son Jesus Christ.

Jesus says at the end of chapter 10 that even giving a cup of cold water to one of His disciples will not go unnoticed. In the kingdom of God, there is no such thing as an insignificant Christian deed. We often dream of doing great things for God, but sometimes we need to think smaller, because God has a way of turning little things into enormous things. Jesus fed thousands with a boy’s lunch. He honored the widow’s two pennies. A cup of water given to a disciple becomes a gift of eternal significance. The church doesn’t need to do big things. She needs to be faithful to the commission of Her Lord.

Jesus reminds His disciples that in the kingdom of God, the things that look small are never actually small. He builds His kingdom not through grand displays of power, but through a spectacular display of weakness on a cross. And yet that act of weakness brought salvation to the world. He delivers salvation to us through yet more ordinary means—through Word and Sacrament.

Brothers and sisters, the work we are engaged in may seem small and insignificant at times. But the Lord of the harvest uses what seems small to us to give salvation to the world. Be faithful, my friends.

In God’s peace,

Scott Seppala