The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity.
The Collect.
O |
GOD, who declarest thy almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity; Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of thy grace, that we, running the way of thy commandments, may obtain thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of thy heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle came from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, the Fifteenth Chapter beginning at the First Verse. Paul tells us he is delivering the message he received, the Good News of the Saving Grace of God through Jesus. He recounts the death and resurrection of Jesus; noting the various witnesses to the resurrection, including himself. He goes on to say, if he, who he categorizes as the least of the apostles, not even meet to be called an apostle due to his persecution of the Church of God, can be forgiven and work the Work of God, who cannot? It also explains the willingness of the apostles and those around them to follow Jesus unto death. He was real, not a historical imaginary figure, but a real man, the real God, whose Word was truth and light.
B |
rethern, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.”
Today’s Holy Gospel started in the Eighteenth Chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke, beginning at the Ninth Verse. Jesus tells a parable to an audience which apparently consisted of some self-righteous people, which likely fits each of us. The parable is that of a Pharisee[1] and a publican[2] both of whom pray in the temple. While the Pharisee might well have been a “better” man than the publican, he clearly was not the man he thought he was, for he “prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.” Quite the holy fellow. The publican, quite aware of how much he fell shot of God’s perfection stood “afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” Jesus told his audience, “this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” None of us is truly good, we can only strive to be better and look to our Lord to help us. Only through Christ will we be accounted as just before God.
J |
esus spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
[1] Pharisee - One of a sect or party among the Jews, noted for a strict and formal observance of rites and ceremonies and of the traditions of the elders, and whose pretensions to superior sanctity led them to separate themselves from the other Jews.
[2] Publican 1. (Rom. Antiq.) A farmer of the taxes and public revenues; hence, a collector of toll or tribute. The inferior officers of this class were often oppressive in their exactions, and were regarded with great detestation.
Literally a Publican is one who farmed the taxes (e. g., Zacchaeus, Luke 19: 2) to be levied from a town or district, and thus undertook to pay to the supreme government a certain amount. In order to collect the taxes, the publicans employed subordinates (5: 27; 15: 1; 18: 10), who, for their own ends, were often guilty of extortion and peculation (defrauding the public by appropriating to one's own use the money or goods intrusted to one's care for management or disbursement; embezzlement). In New Testament times these taxes were paid to the Romans, and hence were regarded by the Jews as a very heavy burden, and hence also the collectors of taxes, who were frequently Jews, were hated, and were usually spoken of in very opprobrious terms. Jesus was accused of being a "friend of publicans and sinners" (Luke 7: 34).
Church of the Faithful Centurion - Descanso, California
Today’s sermon tied the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together and talked, as is oft the case, of the need for action, not simply diction.
Consider the words from the Collect, wherein we ask God … who declarest thy almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity; Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of thy grace, that we, running the way of thy commandments, may obtain thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of thy heavenly treasure; …
Once again, this Collect is kind of a follow-on to the last few weeks’ Collects. First, we acknowledge God’s power which is manifested not in terror, but in mercy and pity on our failures. We should note God has chosen to grant kindness and mercy to us; not the punishment we truly deserve. In this mercy, He shows His Almighty Power. It is important to note; with all the power in and of the universe, God manifests His Power by showing infinite mercy and kindness to us, not in causing us more tears. He is far kinder to us than we could ever possibly deserve. He provides the ultimate example of how we should act when great power and responsibility is given to us to handle. Like the servant of Matthew 18:23, we too often we act irresponsibly with said power and responsibility. Given our fallen nature we choose to cause misery rather than kindness. However, if we truly are following God’s will then we must choose to be kind rather than evil, and do good deeds with the help of the Holy Ghost, and resist our fallen nature. This leads into the Collect.
Thus, the Collect goes on to ask His Help in following His Commandments so we might gain the good which comes from following His WIll. This is a unifying theme found throughout all of the collects for a good reason. In order to get the good which comes from following Him, we first need to follow Him. Following requires active action. And we would hope we recognize the good which comes from acting and choose to continue to act for Him as opposed to our natural tendency to go astray. Following His Commandments is a sure way to stay on the course set for us, if we follow the Scriptures and His Commandments and take them to heart.
We have to not just talk the talk, but actually walk the walk. It can be extremely difficult; but this is what God has called us to do. He calls us to perform actions in alignment with His Word, in order to spread His Word. We cannot effectively spread His Word if we are not in alignment with His Word. The reason we have trouble with this is that we are imperfect creatures with not just free will, but manifold, perhaps rampant free will, the norm is to choose what we want, not what we need, then we come to calamity. We are each grievous sinners, some worse than others, none better. Yet, we all come before God equal in our sinful state. In equally big trouble, some more, none less. We are all equal by virtue of the fact we are hopeless sinners without the saving grace and faith of Christ. It is only through His Faith we are saved. Not our faith, but the faith of Christ who dwells within us.
This is the point Saint Paul is making when he says that first he gave unto us[1] that understanding he got directly from God as to the role of Jesus Christ. He recounts some of the factual information about Jesus’ time here on earth after the crucifixion, the descent into hell and the resurrection. He confirms the story of the Gospel as told to him. He notes the various witnesses, still alive or recently passed away. He makes the point we must propagate the Gospel so others might believe. To do that he infers our actions must be congruent with Scripture. He tells us we are saved by faith alone.
Our faith? Partly, but not chiefly and not first. Then, by whose faith are we saved?
We are saved by the perfect faith of Christ, our only mediator and advocate before the Father. It is not by our faith, but the faith of Him who dwells within us, that of Christ. Without Christ, we could not have any faith to begin with. The perfect faith of Christ allowed a single sacrifice to be made one time, to cook the books and account for the sins of all mankind for all time. His is the faith which saves us and our faith in Him allows Him to operate in us.
Because of their refusal to allow Him in, those who do not have the Holy Ghost in them do not believe in Him. The Holy Ghost will not enter into those who disavow Him. God will not force His Way in. We have to first ask Him to enter, then only then will He enter. God does not force His Way on people and neither should we.
Another thing to consider is Jesus is real, He is Who He says He IS. He is not a fictional character, he is not a great teacher. He is THE SON OF GOD and He came to save us: body, heart, mind and soul. There is no other way to view Him that makes as perfect sense as this[2].
If that is not enough to turn your heart, consider the parable of the publican and the Pharisee related by Saint Luke. The man who was proud of his performance was not the example Jesus chose for the one justified, rather the one who acknowledged his failures and asked God for forgiveness and help. This is to point us as an example of who we should be like. It can be said with confidence it is not the Pharisee. Think of these examples and who would we rather be like, the publican, or the Pharisee? Remember, the Pharisee’s job consisted of finding clever ways around the 613 Mosaic Laws. The publican was looking for help in actually following two:
Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith.
T |
HOU shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. BCP Page 69
And, just as importantly, he was not looking for ways around those two laws, he was looking for help to follow God and forgiveness when he fell short. In our day to day lives, let us strive to be more like the publican and less like the Pharisee.
Let us ask God for the help we need to follow His Will. For we must have His Help to act as we must here on earth!
Action counts. For by their actions ye shall know them.
Heaven is at the end of an uphill trail. The easy downhill trail does not lead to the summit.
The time is now, not tomorrow. The time has come, indeed. How will you ACT?
It is by our actions we are known.
Be of God - Live of God - Act of God
[1] Though Paul was writing to the people of Corinth, the information is just as applicable to us, perhaps more so now than ever before.
[2] This is the Trilemma of Jack Lewis in Mere Christianity - I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
