The God of the Details
Original sermon given on The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, June 28, 2026 written and delivered by Pastor Jeff Leininger at First Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church.
Watch the sermon live.
“The God of the Details”
Matthew 10:40-42
The God of the Details
In the name of the Living God and the Risen Christ. Amen.
“Blow me a kiss from across the room
Say I look nice when I'm not
Touch my hair as you pass my chair
Little things mean a lot.”
I don’t recall when I first heard this song — perhaps it was from my grandmother’s voice. Kitty Kalen recorded it as the number one hit in 1954; Joni James had a 1960 version; and Bettye Swann did slow, smooth, soul version… I’m waiting for one from Taylor Swift.
Little things do mean a lot — usually they’re the most important things. Love, in the end, must be a concrete, enfleshed reality, not a removed, platonic ideal. You remember the friend in grade school who shared their sandwich when you forgot your lunch. Or the buddy who helped jump-start your car in the middle of the night. The neighbor who helped shovel your snow when you threw your back out. A couple married for fifty plus years will speak most affectionately about the littlest, sometimes quirkiest expressions of their love and commitment to each other.
When I’m speaking as a pastor with someone in their grief — a loved one who has passed away, for example (here, I’m giving away some of my trade secrets) — when I help someone through grief, I try to ask questions that will open them up to the most concrete feelings. “Tell me what you loved about him or her. Help me understand how much it hurts. Share with me a time when they made you laugh.” Questions like these get to the heart of the matter much better than pious platitudes. Little things mean a lot.
Mother Theressa is quoted as saying, “We cannot do great things on this earth, only small things with great love.” Our Lord Jesus, the very embodiment of the salvation of God, in today’s gospel promises, “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” (Mt. 10.42)
Just one cup of cold water — the very least one could do to the least of his disciples, yet it touches eternity, Jesus says.
In Matthew 10 Jesus has sent out his twelve disciples on his mission — first to their own Jewish people. The hard part, as we heard last week, is that they will be slandered, persecuted, and maybe even martyred because of his name. And it will even cut right into the heart of their families. But in today’s reading we get a positive reversal, a kind of “sacred reciprocity”. Yes, those who persecute the Twelve are in fact persecuting Christ himself. But those who support them, receive them, care for them, give cups of cold water for them, are in fact doing so to Christ.
So for the baptized, we who are in Christ, engrafted into his life, death, and resurrection, united with him by faith, the persecution that comes from following him is in fact not about us. And the support we receive when we serve him is also not about us. Congrats: it’s not about you! In his own words, Jesus has said that “when you do it to the least of these, you have done it onto me” (Matt. 25.40). Mysterious words indeed that say when we live out the gospel — embodying his word and his work in mission — whatever persecution comes our way, it is against him; and whatever support comes our way, it is for him.
For the Christian, the baptized, our association with Christ is inescapable, inseparable. This comes with a warning and an exhortation. How much more, then, should we guard our lives and our lips, so that if offensive is given, it’s the offense of the gospel and not of we ourselves. And how much more should we give, support, pray for, encourage all heralds of the gospel, both here and abroad, in even the littlest ways. What we do in his name matters. And it matters that we do it in his name.
We shouldn’t get tripped up over the word “reward” here. Jesus said, whosoever shall give even one of these little ones even a drink of cold water shall not lose his reward. By “little ones” he doesn’t mean just children — although they’re definitely included. He means even the least of his disciples — any of his sent ones doing his work wherever they might be. And by “reward” he doesn’t mean that we’ll get into heaven by giving out cups of cold water to people. How contrary to the gospel of grace this would be and contrary to Jesus own words, “freely you have received, freely you shall give”! (Matt. 10.8) What more could we possibly add to his precious blood sacrificed; his atoning death; the one full, final sacrifice he has given for all people? What more could be done for us than his defeat of death and hell by rising on the third day? No, all our “little things” matter, not because they earn our salvation, but because we do them as Christ’s representatives, in his name, for his kingdom, for his glory.
This past week, 170 Lutheran youth from around the country gave witness to their faith in word and deed through the UKANDO mission trip — an amazing group of young Christians spread all throughout Chicagoland under the theme “No Fear.” Fifteen of them served with us at Wunder’s Cemetery this past Friday. Dave Bavone, our capable caretaker at Wunder’s, was leading the work. Seeing him all sweaty and exhausted, chainsaw in hand, I approached him on a break and mentioned what I’d be preaching on today. He said it was one of his favorite passages! I responded by asking if I could get him a cup of cold water. (I brought him a Gatorade, instead.) Afterwards, the Chaveriats treated the group to a Chicago-style hotdog lunch. I don’t want to be irreverent, but perhaps our translation of Matthew could read: “If anyone gives one of the least of these but a single Chicago hotdog in my name… without ketchup, of course.”
I want you to think about the little things which mean a lot, a lot this week. But specifically, concerning the mission of Christ — the embodiment of his word and his work which we are all called into. Say a short prayer for someone. Give a special offering. Speak the name of Jesus. Return a hard word with kindness. Send a note to one of our missionaries overseas. Give a gift card to one of our members preparing for church work. Thank one of our Stephen ministers, who work behind the scenes being Christ’s compassion to others.
God has revealed his salvation to us, in Jesus — loving savior, master of our destiny, king of the universe. We are his “little ones” — “little Christs” in Martin Luther’s famous phrase. Even this morning he comes to us, once again, in the littlest, simplest forms of bread and wine. And yet, here he meets us. Here he fills us. Here he sends us, to do the smallest things with great love.
Come soon Lord Jesus. Amen.
