Out of Control: Adapted From a Sermon Preached at Langley Mennonite Fellowship, B.C., on June 22, 2014.

The week before this text from Matthew formed the basis of my sermon, many of us at Langley Mennonite Fellowship had the privilege of being witness to a baptism in the rock-studded river at Camp Squeah. I felt the weight and levity of this ancient Christian ritual, and was thankful that the passage was not read as we welcomed a new member into the family of faith, because Jesus reminds us how crappy it’s going to be. Since he was called Beelzebul, a name for the devil, Jesus told his disciples just how much more they will be maligned.