Sermon for Pentecost 16, Year A, September 13th 2026
By The Rev. Larry D. Herrold, Jr.
Lord, you are full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love… may that love flow in and through us, transforming our hearts to bear your light into the world… Amen…
During the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic there was one, near daily, activity that always lifted my spirits.
My family would leave my mom’s house in Shamokin Dam and walk through the neighborhoods, down past the Alliance Church, and to a farm that was just teeming with animals.
Goats, sheep, donkeys, horses, cows, chickens, cats, dogs, and as of last week a tortoise… and my favorite of all of them… pigs!
I especially loved the pigs because, over the course of a few months of walking to meet them, they learned who I was - even if they weren’t visible in the pasture, all I’d need to do is call for them and they’d come running…
And when they got to the fence… they’d flop down on their sides… tails wagging … squealing and snorting… and wait for me to rub their bellies…
If you’ve never interacted with a pig before that kind of behavior might surprise you. If I didn’t tell you they were pigs you might assume that I was talking about dogs…
You may be surprised to learn, then, that pigs consistently rank higher than dogs in terms of intelligence… both cognitively and emotionally. If you have a pet dog that you adore and think is just oh so smart… odds are a pig would outwit your dog and win your heart over even faster…
The reason why I love that farm - even though the new bypass is being built right over top of it now - is because it gives me an idea of what Eden must have felt like… all sorts of animals living together in relative harmony - free from fear and violence.
If you watch an animal, any animal, long enough you will understand that intelligence and emotions are not unique to humans.
Scientists are constantly uncovering previously unknown ways in which other species are connected to each other and to the earth.
Elephants visiting the graveyards of their ancestors.
Chimpanzees performing rituals at waterfalls…
And yes… that famous pig called pigcasso… painting art that I think most would consider to be better than some human creations…
It is so plainly evident to anyone with eyes to see that the opening chapter of Genesis is true on at least a spiritual level. Everything that God has made is indeed ‘good’.
And that spirit that moved over the waters… the ruach… was breathed into all God’s creation… not just people… we all have nephesh… the living breath of God within us…
But why am I talking about this today?
Well, it’s no secret that I am a vegetarian… and when folks ask me why I’m a vegetarian I tell them that it’s about the animals… simply put, I value their lives over what I put on my plate.
In that sense I’m in good company - an often missed detail in the story of Genesis is that Adam and Eve were vegetarians. It makes sense, there was no killing in the garden - God gave everyone plants to eat.
Christian vegetarianism has gone through waves of popularity over the past 2000 years. You may be interested to know that the inventor of the Graham cracker was a vegetarian - and that very snack item was invented with the idea that eating it, in place of meat and other indulgences, would bring a person closer to holiness… yeah, kind of strange, right?…
I sometimes get the sense that people are afraid to talk to me in depth about food - maybe they’re fearful I’m judging them or they simply don’t understand my choices… but let me reassure you, I’m not judging…
If I’m going to judge anyone, it’s going to be St. Paul!
Did you catch what he said in verse two of chapter fourteen in his letter to the Romans?
‘Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables’…
Well, first off, I eat bread and fruit and *small* amounts of dairy… so Paul can get off my back…
Secondly… Paul isn’t really valuing one dietary choice over another… the point he’s making is that the Christian community should not spend its time judging one another for choices such as this.
The issue that Paul was dealing with in his time was that some Christians took issue with eating animals that had been killed as an offering to the pagan gods… to false idols…
These Christians chose to abstain from meat altogether out of fear that their souls would be corrupted… ‘you are what you eat’… after all…
Other Christians didn’t see that as an important issue - food is food - and as my one brother-in-law once said - ‘don’t yuck someone else’s yum’…
The solution is simple - whatever one decides to do, whether it be related to eating or other daily activities - do it for the love of God alone…
So how does the Gospel reading for today fit into all of this? What role does forgiveness play?
As I’ve often said, just because our Lutheran teaching tells us that we are saved by faith through grace, and not by works righteousness, it does not mean that we don’t have to worry about our actions.
On the contrary, as Christian people we are called to live differently in the world and breathe out love and peace and freedom.
The parable we hear from Jesus, of the king who forgives a slave who then does not extend that same forgiveness to another, does what a parable is meant to do - hold up a mirror to our fallen human condition.
We live in a world in which people have to make difficult choices… and until Jesus comes again there will not be another Eden… there will not be a truly perfect place free of violence… but this parable shows us that God still wants us to work toward that future… because it’s good for us to do that work.
The king, who is God, forgives his servant a massive debt that he probably doesn’t deserve to have forgiven. This debt is so large - 10,000 talents - that it would have taken up to 200,000 years to pay off - that’s the math.
This servant is like many of us, who having heard that our sins are forgiven goes out into the world for the rest of the day and week and just keeps sinning again like normal - completely unaware of the enormity of God’s grace.
But this servant is especially weighed down with sin, because he not only goes back to his old ways, but he commits further violence by not showing love and compassion and forgiveness to the servant who owes him a much smaller debt that could be paid off in just 100 days…
Violence is always going to exist… debt is always going to exist… but to what extent do you want to enable it?
The king throws the servant in jail to be tortured because the servant has abused and neglected the gift that was freely given to him… which includes the gift of another person’s life… he had that person’s throat in his hands…
In what ways, literally or metaphorically, do you have the life of another in your hands? …
Why am I a vegetarian?
Because eight years ago I was given a glimpse into the horrors of American industrial agriculture.
I was shown how animals that I had spent my whole life eating were not living on happy farms upstate, but were living in windowless houses of horror and subject to what anyone should see as torture… and for what purpose? … cheaper meat? … that’s not worth it…
Part of the work of receiving the grace of God for yourself is to extend that grace outward - drawing the circle of your compassion ever wider.
This is a task that I, like everyone, am not the best at doing. I have blind spots, I have certain creature comforts I don’t wish to sacrifice, but I try to make intentional choices that reflect my values.
The choice to not eat meat is far from popular in Snyder County… I’m not an idiot… but I stand by that personal choice, and share about it, to extend an invitation to others to think more deeply about how something so mundane as what is on our plates is really more consequential than we think…
If we have ‘dominion’ over the plants and the animals… if we have the power to hold their lives in our hands… shouldn’t we show them the grace, mercy, and love that God our creator has shown to us? …
One of things that I admire about this area and its tradition of hunting is that hunting can be a spiritual exercise.
Time spent in nature, only killing what you need, these are good things, and much more honorable than the industrial enslavement of the creatures that God has called ‘good’.
Many Native American cultures have a practice of asking for forgiveness, and expressing gratitude, toward the spirit of the animal that they killed while on the hunt.
How might you ask forgiveness for the systems of violence that you perpetuate, either knowingly or unknowingly? How can you offer sincere gratitude for the gifts that God has given to you?
That may look less like simply uttering words… and more like changing actions and beliefs… one small step at a time…
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… Amen…
By The Rev. Larry D. Herrold, Jr.
Lord, you are full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love… may that love flow in and through us, transforming our hearts to bear your light into the world… Amen…
During the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic there was one, near daily, activity that always lifted my spirits.
My family would leave my mom’s house in Shamokin Dam and walk through the neighborhoods, down past the Alliance Church, and to a farm that was just teeming with animals.
Goats, sheep, donkeys, horses, cows, chickens, cats, dogs, and as of last week a tortoise… and my favorite of all of them… pigs!
I especially loved the pigs because, over the course of a few months of walking to meet them, they learned who I was - even if they weren’t visible in the pasture, all I’d need to do is call for them and they’d come running…
And when they got to the fence… they’d flop down on their sides… tails wagging … squealing and snorting… and wait for me to rub their bellies…
If you’ve never interacted with a pig before that kind of behavior might surprise you. If I didn’t tell you they were pigs you might assume that I was talking about dogs…
You may be surprised to learn, then, that pigs consistently rank higher than dogs in terms of intelligence… both cognitively and emotionally. If you have a pet dog that you adore and think is just oh so smart… odds are a pig would outwit your dog and win your heart over even faster…
The reason why I love that farm - even though the new bypass is being built right over top of it now - is because it gives me an idea of what Eden must have felt like… all sorts of animals living together in relative harmony - free from fear and violence.
If you watch an animal, any animal, long enough you will understand that intelligence and emotions are not unique to humans.
Scientists are constantly uncovering previously unknown ways in which other species are connected to each other and to the earth.
Elephants visiting the graveyards of their ancestors.
Chimpanzees performing rituals at waterfalls…
And yes… that famous pig called pigcasso… painting art that I think most would consider to be better than some human creations…
It is so plainly evident to anyone with eyes to see that the opening chapter of Genesis is true on at least a spiritual level. Everything that God has made is indeed ‘good’.
And that spirit that moved over the waters… the ruach… was breathed into all God’s creation… not just people… we all have nephesh… the living breath of God within us…
But why am I talking about this today?
Well, it’s no secret that I am a vegetarian… and when folks ask me why I’m a vegetarian I tell them that it’s about the animals… simply put, I value their lives over what I put on my plate.
In that sense I’m in good company - an often missed detail in the story of Genesis is that Adam and Eve were vegetarians. It makes sense, there was no killing in the garden - God gave everyone plants to eat.
Christian vegetarianism has gone through waves of popularity over the past 2000 years. You may be interested to know that the inventor of the Graham cracker was a vegetarian - and that very snack item was invented with the idea that eating it, in place of meat and other indulgences, would bring a person closer to holiness… yeah, kind of strange, right?…
I sometimes get the sense that people are afraid to talk to me in depth about food - maybe they’re fearful I’m judging them or they simply don’t understand my choices… but let me reassure you, I’m not judging…
If I’m going to judge anyone, it’s going to be St. Paul!
Did you catch what he said in verse two of chapter fourteen in his letter to the Romans?
‘Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables’…
Well, first off, I eat bread and fruit and *small* amounts of dairy… so Paul can get off my back…
Secondly… Paul isn’t really valuing one dietary choice over another… the point he’s making is that the Christian community should not spend its time judging one another for choices such as this.
The issue that Paul was dealing with in his time was that some Christians took issue with eating animals that had been killed as an offering to the pagan gods… to false idols…
These Christians chose to abstain from meat altogether out of fear that their souls would be corrupted… ‘you are what you eat’… after all…
Other Christians didn’t see that as an important issue - food is food - and as my one brother-in-law once said - ‘don’t yuck someone else’s yum’…
The solution is simple - whatever one decides to do, whether it be related to eating or other daily activities - do it for the love of God alone…
So how does the Gospel reading for today fit into all of this? What role does forgiveness play?
As I’ve often said, just because our Lutheran teaching tells us that we are saved by faith through grace, and not by works righteousness, it does not mean that we don’t have to worry about our actions.
On the contrary, as Christian people we are called to live differently in the world and breathe out love and peace and freedom.
The parable we hear from Jesus, of the king who forgives a slave who then does not extend that same forgiveness to another, does what a parable is meant to do - hold up a mirror to our fallen human condition.
We live in a world in which people have to make difficult choices… and until Jesus comes again there will not be another Eden… there will not be a truly perfect place free of violence… but this parable shows us that God still wants us to work toward that future… because it’s good for us to do that work.
The king, who is God, forgives his servant a massive debt that he probably doesn’t deserve to have forgiven. This debt is so large - 10,000 talents - that it would have taken up to 200,000 years to pay off - that’s the math.
This servant is like many of us, who having heard that our sins are forgiven goes out into the world for the rest of the day and week and just keeps sinning again like normal - completely unaware of the enormity of God’s grace.
But this servant is especially weighed down with sin, because he not only goes back to his old ways, but he commits further violence by not showing love and compassion and forgiveness to the servant who owes him a much smaller debt that could be paid off in just 100 days…
Violence is always going to exist… debt is always going to exist… but to what extent do you want to enable it?
The king throws the servant in jail to be tortured because the servant has abused and neglected the gift that was freely given to him… which includes the gift of another person’s life… he had that person’s throat in his hands…
In what ways, literally or metaphorically, do you have the life of another in your hands? …
Why am I a vegetarian?
Because eight years ago I was given a glimpse into the horrors of American industrial agriculture.
I was shown how animals that I had spent my whole life eating were not living on happy farms upstate, but were living in windowless houses of horror and subject to what anyone should see as torture… and for what purpose? … cheaper meat? … that’s not worth it…
Part of the work of receiving the grace of God for yourself is to extend that grace outward - drawing the circle of your compassion ever wider.
This is a task that I, like everyone, am not the best at doing. I have blind spots, I have certain creature comforts I don’t wish to sacrifice, but I try to make intentional choices that reflect my values.
The choice to not eat meat is far from popular in Snyder County… I’m not an idiot… but I stand by that personal choice, and share about it, to extend an invitation to others to think more deeply about how something so mundane as what is on our plates is really more consequential than we think…
If we have ‘dominion’ over the plants and the animals… if we have the power to hold their lives in our hands… shouldn’t we show them the grace, mercy, and love that God our creator has shown to us? …
One of things that I admire about this area and its tradition of hunting is that hunting can be a spiritual exercise.
Time spent in nature, only killing what you need, these are good things, and much more honorable than the industrial enslavement of the creatures that God has called ‘good’.
Many Native American cultures have a practice of asking for forgiveness, and expressing gratitude, toward the spirit of the animal that they killed while on the hunt.
How might you ask forgiveness for the systems of violence that you perpetuate, either knowingly or unknowingly? How can you offer sincere gratitude for the gifts that God has given to you?
That may look less like simply uttering words… and more like changing actions and beliefs… one small step at a time…
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… Amen…