Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday 2026
Sermons
Those who share have more
Micah 6:8
I stand in the early summer sun on the Loosli family’s strawberry field on Moron in the Jura and comb through the small bushes for the ripest and finest strawberries.
What’s on my mind on this beautiful June morning is the motto of the upcoming fall women’s weekend: “Those who share have more.”
The inspiration comes from the Just People course by Stop Poverty. The values we want to discuss are charity, sustainability, justice and mercy. Our key text will be Micah 6:8.
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?”
We take a deep breath. God has already laid down what is important in his commandments. There is nothing to add.
The task now is to combine the motto of the women’s weekend, “Those who share have more,” with Micah 6:8.
This motto challenges us, not only because of what it claims, but because it is contradictory: a part is less of something, not more! Less is less, not more.
When something is paradoxical and seemingly nonsensical, it may point to a higher meaning.
What could that meaning be?
When I share or give away some of the strawberries that I have gathered with the sweat of my brow on the sunny Moron, I have fewer strawberries, not more. So the “more” cannot refer to the strawberries, but what then? What is the added value?
Change of scene
This is the world map as we know it. The colours represent the different continents:
This is a world map in which the natural contours are distorted. Europe, North America and parts of Asia are inflated because they consume more natural resources in relative terms.
But the world’s resources are finite.
What some consume for food production, per capita living space, mineral extraction, etc., others do not have. That is why they have shrunk.
In this map, Africa, India and Pakistan are blown up. This is the map of child malnutrition. There are many more malnourished children in the exaggerated continents, while in Europe and America there are almost none. The unequal distribution of resources is a fact.
Mani Matter, the Swiss songwriter, summed up this knowledge in his ingeniously apt way in a short poem or song.
“Those who are well off
Would be better off
Were those better off
Who are less well off
But that is not possible
Without those
Being less well off
Who are well off…”
We in Switzerland are really very well off. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world. Most of us have very few deprivations. On the other side of the globe, people work hard and in precarious conditions to guarantee our material prosperity. Our prosperity comes at a price, but it is not necessarily us who pay for it.
If goods were distributed more evenly around the world, everyone would be better off. But how can we bring ourselves to share what we have?
According to happiness research and the United Nations World Happiness Report, it should be quite simple: Sharing makes us happy.
You increase your own happiness by increasing the happiness of others. So if we ensured that malnutrition in the Global South declined and that people had access to more resources, more food, more educational opportunities, etc., we would be happier.
In this sense, you have more when you share.
Back to the strawberry field
When I share the strawberries I’ve picked myself and bring them to someone, I make that person happy. There’s the moment of enjoyment for the recipient and the joy of receiving a gift. And because I get to witness that, I’m happier myself. Then there is more.
Somehow, it still doesn’t quite satisfy.
There is certainly a lot of truth in it, but it is actually a virtuous insight in the sense of the ancient Greeks. But we are talking about a Mennonite women’s weekend.
Here is Micah 6:8 once again:
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?”
According to Micah, the following is important:
- to abide by the law (some translations speak of practising justice, doing what is right, not allowing injustice);
- to be humane toward our fellow human beings (some translations speak of solidarity, of giving care);
- to live in constant communion with God (some translations say “walking attentively with God, being understanding and mindful, living in reverence with God”).
God will show mercy to those who live this way.
This is a text that focuses on practical, lived faith. Let’s take a closer look:
Justice and righteousness
The theme of justice runs like a thread through the Bible. When we think of justice, we may initially think that everyone gets what they deserve, that everyone should receive their just punishment for their wrongdoing.
But God’s justice is not primarily about judgment. God’s justice is the creation of life-affirming conditions, of balanced relationships between people, between God and created beings. Since we are fallible, God’s justice has a lot to do with mercy.
And this is a justice that does not only concern the individual, but has the whole of social coexistence in view: We think of the example of the jubilee year, when every seven times seven years all debts are forgiven (Leviticus 25).
Being human, showing solidarity and giving affection
Many of us know how it feels to experience hospitality from people who, by our standards, have nothing, yet want to share the little they can muster at that moment with their guests. This is deeply impressive, sometimes even embarrassing, because you cannot give anything back at that moment.
But perhaps you resolve to emulate this example. Through the example of the poorest, we learn to share and a domino effect is created.
Living in constant connection with God, walking attentively with God
This means that God leads the way and we follow him.
It is not we who decide where to go and then God follows, but rather God sets out on the path that we are to walk attentively with God.
If we are not careful and allow ourselves to be distracted, we may miss a turn along the way and suddenly find ourselves in the undergrowth. “Living in constant communion with God” means, ideally, taking God’s hand like a small child and holding on to it as tightly as possible.
So that’s what Micah was concerned with in 700 BC. Is that still what it’s about today, even in life with Jesus?
In my search for a verse that sums up what matters in life with God as succinctly as Micah 6:8, and also addresses the question of sacrifice and sharing, I came across a verse in Hebrews. The Letter to the Hebrews is addressed to a congregation whose initial enthusiasm seems to be waning. Therefore, it needs to be reminded of what is important. In the concluding exhortations in chapter 13, we read (13:15):
“Through [Jesus], then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.”
And then comes the verse that sums it up so beautifully (13:16):
“Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”
God is pleased when we do good and share. This is how we want to understand the motto, “Those who share have more.”
The “more” is the close connection to our Lord Jesus, the undivided attention, the grateful questioning, the listening to what and how we should and may share.
And when we pray and sing and listen, we feel that sharing is a need that comes from deep within us. It is the need to walk attentively with God and to share our strengths, our resources, our experiences of faith, everything that makes us who we are, with other people.
—Mathild Gyger is a member of Evangelical Mennonite Congregation Schanzli, Switzerland. Adapted from a sermon she delivered on 1 October 2023, featuring images from Judith Smucker of Winnipeg, Canada, who was a guest with the congregation earlier in the year.
The Samaritan in me
Luke 10: 25-37
We all know the story of the Good Samaritan. The moral of the whole thing is quite simple. Jesus summarizes it aptly after the parable: “Then go and do likewise” (10:37).
However, I can think of a story that could somehow fit in with the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Last fall, Alfred from Ghana lived with my parents for five months during a semester abroad at the University of Basel as part of his theology studies. During his time in Switzerland, he came home twice very upset because he had witnessed people falling on the escalator at Basel station. What particularly bothered him was not the injuries sustained by the people who had fallen, but the fact that there were hardly any or no people next to him to help the victims.
It shows that civil courage is not quite so simple after all. Even if the situation, as in this case, doesn’t actually pose any danger, it takes a lot of effort to decide to love. Many apparently fail to “Go and do likewise!”
So perhaps it is worth taking a closer look at this Bible text.
In this parable, almost everything is turned on its head. The hero of the story is not the priest, not the Levite and not the ordinary Jew.
No, the hero is the Samaritan, someone who, from the Jewish perspective at the time, lost his way and followed a misguided belief.
You can almost hear the scholar’s gnashing of teeth as he answers Jesus’ question after the story: “Which of the three acted as a fellow human being (or neighbour) to the man who was attacked?” (10:36). He cannot bring himself to say: “The Samaritan!” Instead, he says: “The one who helped him” (10:37).
With whom in the role of hero would we feel challenged today if Jesus were to tell us the story personally? We also have groups of people who are more or less widely rejected in our society. Even if we don’t want to, we too have our reservations and prejudices, which are often not easy to overcome.
Jesus deliberately tells the story in such a way that it makes his listeners uncomfortable. I therefore invite you to take a brief moment and recast the role of the Samaritan with someone who would make you uncomfortable.
Try to keep this person or group of people in mind for the rest of the sermon.
When the story of the Good Samaritan is told, compassion for humanity is usually highlighted.
However, Kenneth E. Bailey, an expert on Middle Eastern culture, showed me during my preparation how lack of courage to love plays a role in this story.
Starting with the priest, who was probably on his way home to Jericho after his two-week ministry in Jerusalem. If he had approached the wounded man, of whom he did not know whether he was dead or still alive, he would have run the risk of becoming ritually defiled, which would have entailed a lengthy purification process during which he, his servants and his family would have had to live with unpleasant consequences. If he had defiled himself and later evaded the purification process, this would have meant that he was serving at the altar as unclean, which could have led to an accusation with even worse consequences.
For the priest, therefore, certain dangers or inconveniences lurked in this situation. He obviously lacked the necessary courage and it was easier for him to walk past the situation.
In the story of Alfred at the train station in Basel, many of those who did not help probably also had reasons. “If I stop now, I’ll be late for my meeting and the boss is already angry with me anyway.” “What if I can’t help at all, I know so little about first aid. Everyone would see it, how embarrassing!”
After the priest comes the Levite, a priest’s assistant in the temple. Kenneth Bailey believes that the Levite must have known that a priest had walked this route shortly before him. The Levite was subordinate to the priest. Should he have exposed the priest as someone who had not acted as he should have? That would also have taken a lot of courage.
Moreover, since the priest who had already passed by actually knew better about right and wrong, the Levite could go on almost without remorse.
In Alfred’s case, too, some may have asked themselves: “Why should I help? There are so many others. They could probably do it even better than me.”
And now comes the Samaritan.
What he does is unimaginable: he has the courage to act in love.
As the enemy of the Jews of the time, he cares for the injured man and takes him to a nearby inn, presumably in a Jewish town.
People listening to this story at the time would probably have expected the Samaritan to leave the wounded man on the outskirts of town and run away. Even as the rescuer of this Jew, a Samaritan would not have been safe from possible revenge.
Furthermore, by bringing the injured man to the inn and providing money for his care, the Samaritan not only saved the Jew’s life, but probably also his freedom. Considering the man had nothing left after the robbery, he could have been sold into slavery to pay his debts.
The Samaritan’s courage to act shows how love can change the lives of others.
Back to Jesus’ question: “Which of the three acted as a neighbour to the robbed man?”
Jesus formulates the question differently. Apparently, the question should not be “Who is my neighbour?”, but “To whom shall I be neighbour?”
Not: “Who is this that I am supposed to love in order to gain my eternal life?” Rather: “Who can I reach out to? Who can I support? Who should be able to count on me?”
The focus is more on “togetherness” than on “I have to provide for my eternal life”. And the answer to the question of the neighbour in the parable is almost revolutionary. It breaks down religious, linguistic and ethnic boundaries and throws the scholar out of his comfort zone. It shows God’s vision of a new world.
Jesus tells the scholar: “Then go and do likewise” (10:37).
By our very nature, we are not in a position to love both God and our fellow human beings in the way God demands. And yet I want to orient myself toward this divine vision of a new world in which we sacrificially help people in need: we provide first aid when people are injured; we give poor people some of what we have too much of; we stand up against racism; we reach out to marginalized people; we stand on the side of the oppressed.
Unfortunately, the world is not black and white.
Do I have all the information I need to know who I should stand up for? Situations are often nuanced and you can’t just say what the right thing to do is.
Jesus doesn’t expect us to always do everything right. And yet I don’t want to stop at grace. The Samaritan from our story can and should be a role model for me. It should teach me humility, push me off my high horse, help me to see beyond boundaries and encourage me to find the courage to love all my fellow human beings, even if it seems impossible at first glance.
Sometimes it is easy to love. And sometimes it takes courage.
But if we manage to love honestly, then we can change the lives of our neighbours and become a fellow human being to them.
To sum it up in the words of a song by Unspoken: “If we’re gonna be known for something let it be love.”
Amen.
—Hanna Sagesser is a member at Evangelische Mennonitengemeinde Schänzli, Muttenz, Switzerland. This sermon is adapted from what she preached to international guests alongside the congregation on 1 June 2025.
General Council delegate from Ukraine, before his departure. Photo: Irma Sulistyorini