Verse of the Day

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity


The Propers for today are found on Page 214-215, with the Collect first:

The Collect for the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity follows:

The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity.

The Collect.

L
ORD, we pray thee that thy grace may always prevent and follow us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Ryan Hopkins read the Epistle for today, which came from the letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians beginning at the First Verse of the Fourth Chapter.  Once again, Paul calls us to a new life, different from our old life.  A life in which we act in a manner worth of the better life to which we have been called by Christ and for which He gave His life.  Paul, of all people, knows the importance of setting aside your old life, as Saul did, so that as Paul he asks us to put God first in our lives, to put ourselves last.  He reminds us, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”  The key to a successful life is to put the important things at the top of your To Do List. And, notice it is a To Do List, not a To Think About or To Wait a While List.   What is more important than God?


I
 therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, for-bearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all[1].

Deacon Striker Jack Arnold read today’s Holy Gospel which came from the Fourteenth Chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, beginning at the First Verse.  The Gospel starts out reminding us the Law was designed to be flexible.  The goal is to do God’s will, not to “follow the letter of the law” as the Pharisees were so keen on.  They brought before Him a man in need of healing as they sat to eat on the Sabbath Day.  They watched to see what He would do.  Putting the monkey on their back, He asked, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath Day?”  Wishing to  be in a position to criticize rather than answer, “they held their peace.”  He healed the man, then asked them, “Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath Day?”  They would not respond; for the answer was obvious.

Then “He put forth a parable to those” who had been invited to dine with him, after He had seen them joust for the seats of honor.  “When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest seat; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest place; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”  Do we put God first and let others raise us up, or do we put ourselves first and let others put us down?

I
t came came to pass, as Jesus went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; and answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? And they could not answer him again to these things. And he put forth a parable to those which were bid-den, when he marked how they chose out the chief seats; saying unto them, When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest seat; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest place; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Sermon – Time and Action
Today’s sermon tied the Epistle and Gospel together and is partly contained in the forewords above.   

We ask the Lord to lead us and follow us, to keep us always.  Paul calls us to a new and different life.  One whose goal is to do the Lord’s will, not to avoid 613 laws.  To do what is right and be humble.

Bishop Ogles’ Sermon
Bishop Jerry provided his great sermon notes for today.  I am certain you will find them very enjoyable.  As always, I cannot commend it to you enough.

Sermon Notes for 17th Sunday after Trinity 16 October 2011 Anno Domini
"1 And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. 2 And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. 3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? 4 And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; 5 And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? 6 And they could not answer him again to these things.   7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, 8 When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; 9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. 10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. 11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.   (Luke 14:1-11)

It was the Sabbath Day.

"We have been thinking and speaking of a miracle done on the Sabbath. It is evident that our Saviour had a preference for the Sabbath as a time for working miracles. How, then, is it with respect to ourselves — we who, many of us, would be glad to have a miracle wrought on our behalf, and yet have no right whatever to expect one? It is just thus — we are waiting for the Sabbath. In other words, it was intended, no doubt, to be taught us by our Saviour's practice, that there is a special time of rest coming, when all the various troubles that hamper and injure us will be utterly removed — our burdens unbound; our fevers cooled for ever; our weakness changed to strength; all our heaviness lightened; our blind eyes made clear; our deaf ears unstopped; our feet filled with vigorous leaping blood; and all that is within us lighted up with joy, even as the house was lighted up, and music and dancing sounded in it, when the prodigal came home. There is a Sabbath coming; and as Christ wrought His cures upon the Sabbath, when He was upon earth, we are taught to look on to a day of cure that is coming — that Sabbath, namely, of rest, into which we hope to enter hereafter. It may be needful for our perfection, and the perfection of our friends, that we should still be burdened; but we are quite sure that, after the round of the six days, there will come the seventh; we are quite sure, when the time of trial has ended, the boon of health will be granted."  (the Rev T. T. Lynch.)

Jesus has been invited to the house of a prominent Pharisee one of the chief of them, we are told.

"And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him."

Many other of the Pharisees were doubtless there for "they watched him." How greatly would they have benefitted if they had watched Him to learn instead of to find fault.

Why was Jesus invited by one of those who hated Him and were constantly trying to destroy Him? They had invited Jesus to catch Him in an act of disobedience of the Sabbath – it was a `set up' in the popular vernacular.

Why do you suppose Jesus accepted the invitation?  Jesus was no recluse – He came to help all who would hear Him.  He loved to be in social gatherings where men would listen – ALL men…even Pharisees.

"And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy."

The cunning mind of the Pharisee bypassed no opportunity in providing a means of entrapment for Christ. Seemingly, just by coincidence, a man with a grave and serious malady is present – a man who probably had not been invited had it not fit comfortably in the plans of the Pharisees to present Jesus with a temptation.
These men are ruthless. They will use even the kindness and compassion of Jesus to try and condemn Him.

They have seated the man with the dropsy (congestive heart failure) in a place BEFORE Jesus. They know that He loves to heal and to do good regardless the occasion, but today is the Sabbath! They will use this as an occasion to condemn Christ of violating the Sabbath by doing healing works on this day.

But Jesus knows the heart of men, and He knows the evil thoughts of the hearts of those who sit watching Him.

"And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?"

Jesus sets the circumstances to turn the tables on these miscreants. The question restated might read: "Is it ever unlawful to do good?" Did God provide man with the day of rest for the purpose of omitting even deeds of kindness?

The Pharisees and priests of Jesus day had added so many cumbersome proscriptions to the Sabbath observance and every other aspect of the law, that men could not bear them without misery – just the opposite of what God had intended.

Jesus was continually tempted in every way that we are tempted, but Jesus never gave into temptation except in certain cases.

What were those cases? When tempted to do good, as in the present case, Christ could not resist the temptation to act out of His compassion to heal and to comfort. This was not a temptation to sin, but a temptation by sinful men of Christ to do good. He always did!

You and I are tempted, on the other hand, to do bad things not pleasing to God. But in every temptation to do evil is found an opportunity to, instead, do good. Jesus sets the example for us in every case.

Because they have set their trap, the Pharisees do not respond to the pointed question of Christ: "And they held their peace." Men will most often speak out when they can condemn or hurt, but will less often speak out on the part of righteousness. Political correctness restrains them from speaking righteousness but tends always to wickedness.

So Jesus poses the simple question which they decline to answer so as not to give away their plot. How many clergy, as well as laity, remain silent on issues of great importance?  I have observed the silence, even on discussion groups of the church, remain stony silent on matters on which they should have strong opinion. The silence of those is like a scream in the night.

Those who are legalist often forget that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27)

The failure to accept the Sabbath in the manner and purpose for which it was given nullifies its benefits. The Christian Sabbath is not a once per week observance but a daily one. Christ has given us an Eternal Sabbath (Rest).

"And he took him, and healed him, and let him go." The whole will of Christ was to heal the man and not to make a spectacle of him. So Jesus, instead of having the man remain standing by for show, releases him to go his way. How different from the Pharisees who heartlessly brought the man to tempt Christ.

"And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?"

Had they forgotten the counsel of Proverbs 12:11 -  "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."

An ox or a donkey were precious to men who depended on them to produce income. If one of the Pharisees own precious animals fell into a ditch on the Sabbath, he would certainly have rescued the animal, if not out of kindness, then out of greed.

He thus shuts them. Up to this startling alternative: "Not to do good, when it is in the power of our hand to do it, is to do evil; not to save life, when we can, is to kill"

"And they could not answer him again to these things.   7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,"

Righteous words will shut the mouth of the wicked.

Jesus is an observer of men and women. He watched as the poor widow cast her all into the Temple treasury, and He has observed here how the guests of the Pharisee came into the room and chose the best seats and provisions.  They sought to have their seating lend them honor when they should have allowed their honor to determine their seating. They lacked humility and were filled with false pride.

So Jesus tells them a story (Parable) to which they can relate in common life:

"When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee."

All of the counsels of Christ are full of spiritual and uplifting truths. This short Parable is no exception.

Jesus begins the story with a delicate allusion to a type of gathering that would be different from that of his present host of whom He has been invited. The venue is a wedding feast, but still a feast so that the same principle will apply.

When we are invited to a special event, do not exalt your importance by finding the highest place, or most visible place, to stand or sit.  We will inevitably to be embarrassed by our presumptive pride when we are told, curtly, to move and surrender your place to one having greater honor than you. The only place left at that time will be the place of least honor – the lowest room. "And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room."

He has given an example of how not to behave, but He does not leave us in doubt as to how we should behave: "But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee."

Notice the host refers to the man who is humble and takes the very lowest place of honor as Friend. He did not refer to the man who took the highest place as Friend. Men despise false pride and arrogance in others.  If we humble ourselves, men will always elevate us in esteem. But greater is the reward in Heaven!

A college professor once hosted a tea for his graduating students.  When they all presented themselves at his home, the professor had all the cups, in the right number, assembled on the table. The cups were all of different kinds. One was of stone, one of crystal, one of clay, and some were shaped curiously different from any before seen.  When the professor invited the students to take a cup, the first took the crystal, the next the glass, the next the stone, the next the clay, and so forth.

As the professor watched them drink their tea that he had poured for them, he observed that they had each chosen the best cup at the table; but the purpose of a tea was not the kind of cup one drank from, but the tea which the cup contained. The quality of the tea is not changed by the quality of the cup which contains it. So with our worthiness before God. It is not some superficial position or appearance that is important, but what is inside.

Bishop Dennis Campbell’s Sermon
Bishop Dennis is a brilliant speaker.  He is able to take biblical precepts and make them perfectly understandable, even to me.  Oft he provides the text of his sermons and I take the utmost pleasure in passing them on:

Our Christian Vocation
Ephesians 4:1-6, Luke 14:1-11
Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity
16 October 2011

In our minds, the word, "prevent" means to stop or avert.  For example, if someone moves a pile of gasoline soaked rags from the side of a hot wood stove, he might rightly claim to have prevented a house fire.  But in the days of the Reformation, when the Collect for the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity was being translated into English by Archbishop Cranmer, "prevent" followed a more literal meaning of its two syllables, pre, and vent.  Pre, means to be in front of.  Vent means to come.  So the two together mean to come before, or lead. 

Let's apply this to the Collect. We are not here asking God's grace to stop us from doing something.  Of course, there are times when it is entirely appropriate to ask God, in His grace, to stop us from doing something.  We should ask God to stop us from making foolish decisions, stop us from thinking evil thoughts, and stop us from doing evil things.  We do pray for this every time we pray the Collect for Grace in Morning Prayer, "grant that this day we fall into no sin."  We also pray for this every time we pray the Lord's Prayer, "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."  So this is a legitimate, and a very good thing to pray for.  But the Collect for today is not so much about God stopping us as it is about Him enfolding and enclosing us in His grace, so that it goes before us and follows after us.  We see in this almost the military precision of highly professional soldiers escorting a valuable cargo to its destination.  There will be a group that precedes the main body, ensuring that the way is clear, removing obstacles, and dealing with enemies, if necessary. There will also be a group that follows, protecting it from attack from behind.  This is the picture we have in this prayer, that the grace of God will go before us and follow after us, leading and protecting us from dangers, but also making us, or enabling us to be given to all good works; enabling us to live like Christians.  It is much like the words of that great hymn, "St. Patrick;"

Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me Christ beside me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger

The Collect intends to emphasize an important point in Ephesians 4, which is stated in the first verse, and expounded in the remainder of today's reading; "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called."  How many of us think of being a Christian and living for Christ as our vocation in life?  Most of us, if asked what our vocation is, would say what we do to earn our money.  In other words, we would name our occupation.  But an occupation is something different from a vocation.  I know most dictionaries equate the two words, but I maintain that, Biblically speaking, they are different.  Your occupation is the way you earn your daily bread.  Your vocation is your calling from God to live in Christ and honour Him in all things.  Your occupation is an important part of your vocation, but your vocation is more than your occupation.

So let's look at the word "vocation" again.  In English it comes from the Latin word for "calling."  Likewise, in Greek, it means to call, and the Greek word, kaleo, actually resembles our English word call.  So our vocation is our life calling.  It is that one thing to which we devote the majority of our time, energy, attention, talents, and abilities.  It is the one thing that gives priority and direction and meaning to everything that we do, and everything that we are.

Our vocation is not stated directly in today's reading.  Instead we are given directions about how to "walk worthy" of it; how to carry it out and accomplish it in every day life.  We walk worthy of our calling when we conduct ourselves in lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance, and love, and keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  Our reading from Luke also guides us in how to live worthy of our calling.  Here we find stated one of the great principles of Godliness, a principle so great it was followed by our Lord Himself; the principle of humility, showing that those who exalt themselves, meaning to consider themselves worthy of God, will be abased, while those who humble themselves, meaning to confess their sin and trust in the righteousness of Christ, will be exalted.  To exalt yourself is to be against God.  To humble yourself is to seek God.

This is how we "do" our vocation.  But what is our vocation? Those who know the Westminster Shorter Catechism will remember the answer to the first question; "The chief end of man is glorify God and enjoy Him forever." That is a good statement of our vocation.  Anglicans spend much time talking about Christian vocation, and, for us it is expressed perfectly in the words of Christ, who, when asked which is the first and greatest commandment, answered, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." Paul also states our vocation for us in Ephesians 3:17-19.  


That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love  of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

So the passage we read earlier from Ephesians 4, is a commentary on and explanation of this passage, especially the last words, "that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." We could also say this passage is a commentary on the words of Christ that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind.  In fact, in one sense, the entire Bible is a commentary on Christ's words.  All Scripture explains to us who God is and what it means to love Him with our entire being.  And this, to love God with our entire being is "the vocation wherewith ye are called."  This is our life calling.  This is the one thing to which we devote the majority of our time, energy, attention, talents, and abilities.  It is the one thing that gives priority and direction and meaning to everything that we do, and everything that we are.

Thus we ask God to go before us and behind us, by His grace, that we may be continually given to all good works.  We're not just asking God to help us do nice things, like work in a homeless shelter.  Good though such actions may be, the "good works" of the Collect are the things of Godliness.  They are to seek Him in the Scriptures, worship Him in His Church, and obey His commandments.  And they are to love one another as Christ loved us, and as we love ourselves.  It is to do all the things taught in our Scripture readings for today, and to do them out of love for God and His creatures.  It is to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called. 

Let us pray.

L
ORD, we pray thee that thy grace may always prevent and follow us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
--
+R. Dennis Campbell
Bishop of Diocese of Virginia
Rector, Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
Powhatan, Virginia



[1] “you all”, normally pronounced “ya’ll”, is clear proof Paul was from the South.

No comments: