June 7, 2026 | 2nd Sunday after Pentecost @ Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – Buffalo, NY
References
Matthew 9:9–13
“I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
“The Sneetches” by Dr. Seuss
Click here to view a cartoon telling of “The Sneetches,” or click here to read it.
Are you familiar with the story of The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss?
The Sneetches are yellow, bird-like creatures in The Sneetches and Other Stories. There were two kinds of Sneetches: Star-Belly Sneetches had green stars on their tummies, and Plain-Belly Sneetches had no star.
The Star-Belly Sneetches thought they were superior to the Plain-Belly Sneetches because, naturally, they were “the best kind of Sneetches on the beaches” because they had “stars upon thars.”
The story goes that the Star-Belly Sneetches excluded the Plain-Belly Sneetches from all the fun things they did. The Plain-Belly Sneetches didn’t like being excluded or made to feel inferior, so when a traveling con artist came to town with a machine that could add green stars to their bellies, they jumped at the chance.
Now all the Sneetches had stars on their bellies. No one could be superior anymore because they were all the same.
But do you think the Star-Belly Sneetches were okay with this? No way.
The same traveling con artist had a “Star-Off” machine that could remove the stars. And thus began the frantic race of removing stars and putting stars back on—trying either to create difference and superiority or to remove it.
In the end, they all realized that neither group was superior to the other and that it was actually better to accept each other as they were.
Our Human Habit of Drawing Lines
It’s not only the Star-Belly Sneetches who engage in a race to maintain their own superiority and, therefore, the inferiority of others. We humans do our fair share of that, too.
Race, religion, immigration status, sexual orientation, gender identity, economic status, political affiliation, sports teams—you name it.
Even within religion, we draw lines of distinction between the righteous and the unrighteous, the good and the bad, the worthy and the unworthy.
My question is: Who gets to decide?
Who has the role of deciding who is good or bad, righteous or unrighteous? As Christians, even though we read the same Bible, we can come to different conclusions about these things.
Why did the Star-Belly Sneetches get to decide they were superior and the Plain-Belly Sneetches were inferior?
At times, Christians have supported slavery, opposed dancing, opposed playing cards, opposed doing much of anything on Sunday, opposed smoking and drinking, opposed divorce, and opposed homosexuality.
Some of us may have heard what might be called the Christian Star-Bellied Sneetch approach: “Love the sinner and hate the sin.” While I can understand the sentiment, like the Star-Bellied Sneetches, I find myself asking: Who gets to decide which sins cause division and when to “love the sinner and hate the sin”? There is an air of arrogance in that statement.
People tend to reserve this phrase for something they determine to be a sin that they themselves do not engage in—a sin egregious enough that it needs to be named out loud and potentially used to exclude people.
Jesus and the People on the Margins
In today’s Gospel, we hear Pharisees—Star-Bellied Sneetches, if you will—ask why Jesus was sitting with tax collectors and sinners.
When Jesus heard this, he said:
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
What I see in Jesus is much more than someone using rules to govern other people’s lives. I see in Jesus a radical, wide-open kind of love that welcomes all people whether they have “stars upon thars” or not.
The Bible tells us that all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God—all of us. Does any of us have the right or ability to feel superior to anyone else?
Mercy in Our Own Time
On June 19, we commemorate Juneteenth—the day when word of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached Galveston, Texas, two and a half years after it went into effect.
Why did it take so long?
Who was superior? Who was inferior? Who got to decide?
So many awful things have been and continue to be said and done to people of color.
June is also Pride Month. Today is the Pride Parade here in Buffalo.
So many awful things have been and continue to be said and done to people in the LGBTQIA+ community.
The questions remain.
Who gets to decide who belongs?
Who gets to decide whose humanity matters?
If It’s Not About Love…
Regardless of the many things that divide us, we are called not to be the Star-Bellied Sneetches.
We are called not to be those who declare ourselves superior, and, therefore, deem the other inferior.
We are called not merely to tolerance but fully toward the embrace of all people.
At Synod Assembly this year, we heard a seminary professor teach us:
“If it’s not about love, it’s not about Jesus.”
That says a lot about what we believe and the One in whom we believe.
This is living into Jesus’ prayer that we all may be one as God is one.
This is living into being disciples of Jesus Christ—the one who sat with tax collectors and sinners, the one who wasn’t afraid to be near and love the woman with the twelve-year flow of blood, the one who spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, the one who touched lepers and was not afraid, the one who washed his disciples’ feet, including the feet of the one who would betray him.
Called to Mercy
This is the power of Jesus and his kind of love.
This is Jesus’ challenge:
“Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
My dear friends, we are called.
In the name of Jesus.
Reflection Questions
- Where do you see “Star-Bellied Sneetch” thinking showing up in our culture, our churches, or even in yourself?
- What does Jesus’ call to “mercy, not sacrifice” challenge you to reconsider about belonging and exclusion?
- How might our congregation more fully embody the wide-open love that Jesus demonstrates throughout the Gospels?
Epicurious Lutheran 
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