July 5, 2026

Matthew 11:25-30

If I asked you how your ancestors came to this country I’d probably hear a lot of stories of hard work, perseverance, sacrifice, determination, and failure and faith. That’s how America was built. For 250 years the American way has been to try, keep trying, anything is possible, never quit, I’m gonna make it or die trying. That’s the American spirit. And we love those stories, for sure.  What happens when things fall apart? When things don’t work out? Not everything works out all time. We don’t hear about those stories. So what happens then? How do you face failure? That is the question today in Matthew’s Gospel.

We see how Jesus faced failure… Huh, now that’s interesting, Jesus failed at something? How could He, He was perfect! Today, this moment in the ministry of Jesus is helping us see how we are to face failure. In this text Jesus does two things. Jesus has just been speaking woes to cities that have rejected Him. He has come into these cities Corazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum, done miracles and the people rejected Him, then He cried out in judgment upon them, woe to you guys. It’s gonna be worse for you on the day of judgment than it would be Sodom. You’ve had these miracles done among you and you have not repented, you have come and not followed. Jesus is looking at the failure of His ministry in these cities. He has come into these cities, He has done these miracles, He has desired these people to follow Him and instead they have rejected Him, His ministry has failed so far, so now He turns to God and thanks Him, He says I thank you Father of heaven and earth that you have hidden them from the wise and revealed them to children. Whoa. Jesus has faced rejection, what He came to do has not succeeded, and rather than complain to God about it, He thanks God. He recognizes that His father is the Lord of heaven and earth and all things are according to His will and thanks God that He has hidden it from the wise, and revealed it to children. On the one hand, When He experiences failure in His ministry, He gives thanks for the failure, He entrusts this mess to God. He says, I thank you for doing it this way and He turns around and continues on doing what He’s been doing, He continues to call out to the world to receive Him and receive rest from Him. He goes on to do it again! An important lesson for us today on this July 4^th weekend….you are doing what God has given you to do, you serve those God has given to you to serve, you love your neighbor, you are a good citizen, you do what God calls you to do thankfully, joyfully. Then failure happens? Someone you love falls away from the faith, you lose your job, financial crisis happens, a tragic event takes place, an illness, a disease, things just fall apart. How do you face that failure? Jesus says I thank you God that all things are according to your will. You are in control of this mess.

So often when we face failure we want to give up or else get angry at God. We don’t trust God is in control of all things and that this is part of His working in all things. Do we stop what we’re doing and say, why should I care about being a Christian mother? Christian father?  Christian citizen? After all, look what’s happening to me, what’s the point and btw, what’s your problem God? Why aren’t you doing something about it? We respond with anger and defeatism, and Jesus is the opposite, Jesus gives thanks and continues to do what He’s been called to do.

We see a failure, but apparently, it’s not. Jesus is thanking His Father for doing things this way. Wait…. A…. minute….. Maybe, just maybe, what I judge a failure and what I judge a success is part of the problem. It’s in the hands of God and we’re not forcing the father’s hand to do what we think needs to be done. We are to be humble before our Father and thank Him for being in control, even if what’s in front of me is the biggest mess I’ve ever seen.

Do you acuate faith with sight? If things aren’t going the way I think they should be, I judge it to be a failure. Faith is I trust you Lord and you are good even when I don’t understand. I’m giving it to you and I thank you for you are the Lord of heaven and earth. You choose to reveal things this way.

The Sparrow is a bizarre book about this discovery of alien life and Jesuits try to send a missionary to alien life, they debate whether this is possible, what if we fail, and they wonder if this is really gonna work, one said, “well maybe we are called not to succeed, but to try.” Ya know, the end of things is in God’s hands, not ours. We’re doing what we have been called to do. Sometimes we do what we’ve been called to do and the end result is not what we think it should be. The church spends time and money, does acts of mercy to the community and nobody appreciates it and nobody comes to the church which was the goal in the first place and so what do we do? Oh well, let’s just stop caring about the community, let’s stop sharing Christ’s love to these people, they don’t care about it at all… Is that what we do? Or do we say I thank you God that it’s all in your hands even though it’s not working out the way we planned. I thank you God and then He says come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden. We just keep doing what we’ve been called to do.

Good news! because we don’t have to have it all figured out. He does. We are not called to succeed and to be successful. We are called to be faithful and when we fail, then we can come to Him with that heavy burden and He relieves us of it and we keep going trusting in God knowing what we are doing might not work. The results are in God’s hands, I am called to do what He calls me to do.

So what am I gonna do? What are you gonna do?  Do what God gives you to do. You don’t set the agenda, simply do what He gives you to do in your home, in your workplace, in your school place, in your neighborhood, in your church, simply do it with all the energy and all the enthusiasm that you’ve got because God put you there to do that.

As a child of God, a baptized child of God, and what am I gonna do? I’m gonna thank God. I’m gonna follow Him. I’m gonna follow Him where He leads, it may be uncomfortable. That’s ok. Keep following. He knows and He’s leading. Follow Jesus and when you follow Him you are doing things the right way and it might now always add up. It might not seem like or feel like it all the time, society and American way pushes back against us doing that. Jesus simply calls us to follow Him. So that’s what we’re gonna do. I want to encourage you in your following Jesus. Relentlessly follow Jesus. Christians follow Jesus, they don’t apologize for it, they don’t get embarrassed about it, they just do what God gives us to do and speak what Jesus gives to speak.

This gives encouragement to others. When I see men raising their families the right way, mothers caring for their little ones, when I see Christians forgiving one another, when I see Christians in worship, when I see Christians learning and studying and sharing and teaching God’s word, when I see Christians reaching out into the world, that’s encouraging to me to do the same. When I see kids honor their parents that’s encouraging to me. When I see the church being the church that is encouraging to me. It shows that you care, you desire the best for your neighbor and for society. Important to share encouraging words, affirm one another in the Church, Paul did this all over the NT. Paul was quick to encourage. We should do this more.

So, what am I gonna do when I fail miserably? I’m gonna thank God, I’m gonna do what God has given me to do. I’m gonna follow Jesus. I’m gonna encourage others.

Why? Well, because Jesus fulfilled His vocation. His vocation was to move on to the other towns and villages to preach and teach, heal and minister. His ultimate vocation, is what led Him to Jerusalem, it is what led Him to a cross and He knew this was the way it was to go. This was God’s will for Him only He could do it. The Father’s plan all along. He fulfilled what the Father gave Him to do, to win salvation for the entire world and God raised Him from the dead. So when I face failure, when things don’t go my way, I can know Jesus faced failure, He overcame sin, death and the devil. God knows what He’s doing. He has a plan. He working that plan out. Thanks be to God! Amen.