Sermon for the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity, 2026
“Behold the birds of the air,” He says. A bird neither frets nor worries itself about tomorrow, for it neither sows nor reaps nor gathers into barns. And yet it is hardly idle, for it goes about its task, finds a scattered seed or a worm in the ground, brings it to the nest, and then sings on a twig, twittering at your foolish fretting. Your heavenly Father has provided for it. Will He not also provide for you?
And how is that bird fed? From the ground itself, a worm brought up by rain. In the twenty-second Psalm, which Jesus claimed as His own from the Cross, crying, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” it goes on to say of Him, “I am a worm, and no man.” Christ, the eternal Son of the Most High, was humbled that low, brought down to the very dust of death, and buried in that same ground from which a worm comes. A bird is fed with a worm from the ground. Yet you, Beloved, are fed with the One who was buried in it and rose, conquering death itself.
Jesus did not shed His blood for birds. He shed it for you. His blood shows what God has determined to do for you: to redeem you from sin, death, and the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death. Beloved, that is why your worth does not depend on what you possess or on what tomorrow may bring. It was already won at the Cross. Mammon demands and never gives. God gave His own dear Son upon the Cross, demanding nothing in return.
Readings:
Old Testament: 1 Kings 17:8-16
Epistle: Galatians 5:25–6:10
Holy Gospel: Matthew 6:24-34
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