SUNDAY, JUNE 28TH, 2026
5TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
INTRODUCTION
The welcome of baptism is for all God’s children. This baptismal gift sets us free
from the power of sin and death. In today’s gospel, Christ promises that the
disciple who gives a cup of cold water to the little ones serves Christ himself.
From worship we are sent on our baptismal mission: to serve the little ones of this
world and to be a sign of God’s merciful welcome.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
O God, you direct our lives by your grace, and your words of justice and mercy
reshape the world. Mold us into a people who welcome your word and serve one
another, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
FIRST READING
JEREMIAH 28:5-9
Through a symbolic action Jeremiah insisted that Judah and all the surrounding
nations should submit to the king of Babylon (Jer. 27). Hananiah contradicted the
word of Jeremiah, who in reply insisted that Hananiah’s rosy prediction should
not be believed until it came true. God confirmed the word of Jeremiah and
sentenced the false prophet Hananiah to death (vv. 16-17).
5 The prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the
priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord, 6 and the
prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord fulfill the words
that you have prophesied and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels
of the house of the Lord and all the exiles. 7 But listen now to this word that I
speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. 8 The prophets who
preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence
against many countries and great kingdoms. 9 As for the prophet who prophesies
peace, when the word of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that the
Lord has truly sent the prophet.”
PSALM
PSALM 89:1-4, 15-18
(Response) Your love, O Lord, forever will I sing. (Ps. 89:1)
1 Your love, O Lord, forever will I sing;
from age to age my mouth will proclaim your faithfulness.
2 For I am persuaded that your steadfast love is established forever;
you have set your faithfulness firmly in the heavens.
3 “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn an oath to David my servant:
4 ‘I will establish your line forever,
and preserve your throne for all generations.’ ”
(Response) Your love, O Lord, forever will I sing. (Ps. 89:1)
15 Happy are the people who know the festal shout!
They walk, O Lord, in the light of your presence.
16 They rejoice daily in your name;
they are jubilant in your righteousness.
17 For you are the glory of their strength,
and by your favor our might is exalted.
18 Truly, our shield belongs to the Lord;
our king to the Holy One of Israel.
(Response) Your love, O Lord, forever will I sing. (Ps. 89:1)
SECOND READING
ROMANS 6:12-23
Sin is an enslaving power which motivates us to live self-serving, disobedient
lives. Sin’s final payoff is death. We, however, have been set free from sin’s
slavery to live obediently under God’s grace, whose end is the free gift of eternal life.
12 Do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies, so that you obey their desires. 13 No
longer present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but
present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life,
and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin
will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By
no means! 16 Do you not know that, if you present yourselves to anyone as
obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which
leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be
to God that you who were slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to
the form of teaching to which you were entrusted 18 and that you, having been
set free from sin, have become enslaved to righteousness. 19 I am speaking in
human terms because of your limitations. For just as you once presented your
members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness, leading to even more
lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, leading
to sanctification.
20 When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 So
what fruit did you then gain from the things of which you now are ashamed? The
end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been freed from sin and
enslaved to God, the fruit you have leads to sanctification, and the end is eternal
life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Alleluia. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, in order
that you may proclaim the mighty acts of the one who called you out of
darkness into his marvelous light. Alleluia. (1 Peter 2:9)
GOSPEL READING
MATTHEW 10:40-42
When Jesus sends his disciples out as missionaries, he warns them of
persecution and hardships they will face. He also promises to reward any who aid
his followers and support their ministry.
[Jesus said to the twelve:] 40 “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and
whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a
prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever
welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the
reward of the righteous, 42 and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these
little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”
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