Jefferson
Word From Wiese
July 1, 2026
Some have asked for a copy of my last sermon, which uses Thomas Jefferson as inspiration for our own reflection on our aligning our values with practices.
Here is a shortened version as today’s WFW. For the full sermon, click the link below or email me at [email protected].
Fireworks and more! On so many levels, we celebrate our beloved nation’s 250th birthday.
Recently, while watching a documentary on Thomas Jefferson, I learned something
surprising. Most of us know Jefferson as the primary author of the Declaration of Independence and its stirring words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” What I had never heard was that Jefferson’s original draft also condemned slavery. He accused King George III of violating “the most sacred rights of life and liberty” through the slave trade. Yet those words were removed because some colonies feared they would threaten national unity.
Thus, even at our nation’s birth, there was a painful contradiction.
The founders proclaimed liberty while tolerating bondage. Some historians have called slavery America’s original sin because there was a profound disconnection between our highest ideals and our actual practice.
Perhaps, no one embodied that contradiction more clearly than Jefferson himself. Throughout his life, he wrote eloquently about slavery as a “moral depravity” and a “hideous blot.” Yet he continued to enslave hundreds and benefited from their labor. Jefferson recognized slavery as wrong, but recognizing a sin and abandoning a sin are not always the same thing.
That observation brings us to Paul’s words in Romans 6. Paul asks, “Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound?”
His answer is emphatic: “By no means!” Through baptism, Christians have been united with Christ in both his death and resurrection. We are not merely people who acknowledge sin; we are people who die to sin and rise to new life.
Jefferson’s struggle becomes a mirror in which we see more clearly our own struggles with value-alignment. Most Christians can identify the sins that cling to us: pride, resentment, greed, selfishness, bitterness, envy, or fear. During confession, we often know exactly where we have fallen short. But recognizing sin is often easier than crucifying it.
Human beings possess an extraordinary capacity to see the truth while simultaneously resisting it.
That is why Paul calls us not merely to awareness but to repentance and transformation. “Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). The gospel is not simply information to be admired. It is an invitation to be changed.
In Matthew 10, Jesus reminds his disciples that faithfulness is not always easy. Pursuing truth can create conflict, challenge assumptions, and disrupt comfortable arrangements. Certainly, we’ve experienced the pain of which Jesus warns. Our country lost ¾ million people during the Civil War. Christian denominations have split over issues of women in ministry, divorce, sexuality, and race. Yet, encouraging us, “Do not be afraid,” Jesus calls us to keep moving forward into fuller expression of gospel values, humbly and courageously, always open to the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
Near the end of the Gospel, Jesus declares, “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
The world tells us to hold tightly to what we possess. Jesus invites us to let go, trusting that true life is found in him.
Late in life, Jefferson faced one final opportunity to align his actions with his ideals. Burdened by debt, he chose not to free most of the people he enslaved (unlike Washington). Instead, to preserve his lands for his family, his will necessitated one of the country’s largest slave auctions. The accounts of scores of slave families being separated forever are painful to hear. Jefferson had spoken beautifully about liberty, yet he missed an opportunity to “declare independence” in his will and extend freedom to those who had served him for decades.
The purpose of recalling Jefferson’s story is not to condemn him.
Jefferson shines as an American pinnacle with the myriad ways he served. Yet, even this founding father was an imperfect human. And we can let his hypocrisy motivate analysis of our own: Where is the gap between what I profess and how I live? What sin have I identified but not truly surrendered? What is Christ asking me to put to death so that new life might emerge?
God’s Word reminds us that seeing and speaking the truth are only the beginning. The deeper challenge is whether we will allow the Holy Spirit to help us die to sin and rise each day to new life in Christ. May God continue to bless our beloved land and its fantastic values so worthy of pursuit and fruition. Likewise, may God bless all of us, as citizens and disciples, that we might play our roles faithfully.
Reflection Questions:
What’s one American value you pray our country could live into more deeply? What is one attitude, habit, or resentment that you recognize as sinful but have been reluctant to let go of?
In Christ’s hope,
Pastor Fritz
Let us pray:
Gracious God, we give you thanks for our wonderful homeland. Amid all the good, you know the distance that sometimes exists between what we profess and how we live. Forgive us for the ways we cling to sin even when we know better. Through the power of our baptism, help us die to all that separates us from you and rise each day to new life in Christ. Bless our beloved country and each of us, that we might thrive in friendship and neighborliness. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen
