This week’s Readings and Sermon for the Sixth Sunday After Trinity
The Collect for This Week
Merciful God you have prepared for those who love you such good things as pass our understanding: pour into our hearts such love toward you that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
The Post Communion Prayer for this week
God of our pilgrimage, you have led us to the living water: refresh and sustain us as we go forward on our journey, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord Amen
The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 119: 105-112
105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. 106 I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws. 107 I have suffered much; preserve my life, Lord, according to your word.
108 Accept, Lord, the willing praise of my mouth, and teach me your laws. 109 Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget your law. 110 The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts. 111 Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. 112 My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and shall be forever. Amen
The Old Testament reading for this Sunday is taken from the Book of the Genesis, Chapter 25: 19-34
19 These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham was the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean. 21 Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. 22 The children struggled together within her; and she said, ‘If it is to be this way, why do I live?’ So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her,
‘Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.’
24 When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau. 26 Afterwards his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. 30 Esau said to Jacob, ‘Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!’ (Therefore he was called Edom.) 31 Jacob said, ‘First sell me your birthright.’ 32 Esau said, ‘I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?’ 33 Jacob said, ‘Swear to me first.’ So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The second reading for this Sunday is taken from the Letter of St Paul to the Romans, Chapter 8:1-11
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit[a] of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit[g] is life and peace. 7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
The Gospel reading for this Sunday is taken from the Gospel of St Matthew, Chapter 13: 1-9, 18-23
Hear the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ, according to Matthew Glory to You, o Lord
1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 Let anyone with ears listen!
18 ‘Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23 But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to You, o Christ
Note :All readings are shared from the Church of England Lectionary App and are subject to copyright . © The Archbishop’s Council
Although we do not have a service in our Church on Sunday, rev Chich Hewitt, has provided us with a sermon.
By now in this Gospel story, Jesus has a big following and prepares to teach a large number of followers. At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Chapter 5 of this Gospel, Jesus sat down on the mountainside; on this occasion, according to Chapter 13, he went out a short distance in a boat on onto the lake, the Sea of Galilee, and taught from there. New Testament scholar, Tom Wright, remembers a time when he was with a group at the same lakeside. There were a number of narrow inlets and their guide chose one and moved out a short distance in a boat. He began to speak, and every word he said could be clearly heard. Jesus was using the best public address system available at the time!
There are at least 6 parables in this chapter, and today’s Gospel, with explanation from Jesus, is the first and probably best known of these. The parable of the sower. We might expect the crowd to be enraptured, but this may not have been the case. Jesus had acquired a large following, and many of these were hopeful of a long expected Messiah figure, whom they hoped would lead them out of captivity from under Roman rule. They would have realised that this was not the case. Jesus was certainly teaching on a coming kingdom, but one of a different kind. Not all would understand the meaning of this parable, the explanation of which was reserved for his disciples but passed on to us. In between parable and explanation, in a quote from Isaiah and not in our reading today, Jesus makes it clear that some will hear but not understand. The kingdom he was proclaiming was to grow, but more slowly, and would not be some hasty uprising.
Jesus was very aware of the natural world around him, and it is very likely that the parables he told arose from observing all that was going on around him. Perhaps he saw a farmer scattering seed on the ground; this was also the context of his hearers who could identify with the world Jesus was describing. A lot of the seed thrown onto the earth seemed to go to waste. What bore fruit, bore it abundantly. Some have commented on the wasteful nature of the sower who seemed just to throw seed anywhere. But this makes sense when we remember the humour of Jesus, so often missed. This is perhaps how God sees our wasteful strategies; yet even with our inefficiencies, God can still use very effectively the things we get right. This is as much a parable about the way we might proclaim the Kingdom as it is a parable about those who hear the message. Jesus described 4 categories of growth, and they are worth looking at.
We were at a concert once, and the music was not to the liking of one individual in our row. We could not have been more than 10 minutes into the performance, when the young person made a marked point of walking out. This was clearly not for him, nor was it what he was expecting. The same is true of the seed which fell along the pathway in the parable - this seed fell on the pathway and was immediately consumed by birds.
The second category describes those whose roots were too shallow. Many years ago in my early ministry a colleague of mine who was a good evangelist, brought a young man to faith. The man was exuberant, almost too much so. He had a stereo set, and wanted to give it away as part of his new found faith. I remember suggesting to him that he should not act too spontaneously, but pray further about this. He didn’t give it away, because his new found faith faded within a couple of days, and I guess he may have regretted this action had he given it away. This was admittedly a very short lived experience, but I have seen other such instances. Let us, however, note a situation from Jesus’ ministry. In John Chapter 6, after saying he is the Bread of Life, some grumbled at this, and Jesus said to them that none could come to him unless the Father drew them. He told them that they could not have life unless they ate the flesh of the Son of Man, and drank his blood. Some said this was a hard saying and many of his disciples left him. Here were some whose roots were shallow, and when the going became difficult, they withered away. Jesus then asked the 12 if they wanted to go, and Peter said, ‘to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’ Their roots were deeper, and they remained with Jesus, followed him, learned from him, and they became more rooted.
The third category is even more challenging, relating to those who are choked by the realm of worldly temptation. We can be drawn aside by temptations all around us, some of which can be subtle. One of the biggest temptations is surely wealth, and one of the best illustrations is from Jesus’ own ministry where he was approached by a young man who wanted to be a follower. Jesus listed a number of commandments to him, which he needed to keep, and the young man assured Jesus that he kept all of these. In Jesus’ list he omitted one commandment, probably because he recognised that this would be a stumbling block, and should be kept to the end. ‘Go and sell all that you have, and then come and follow me’, was what Jesus said to him. And we are told that the young man went away sad, because although he wanted to follow the kingdom way, he was wealthy and this was ultimately more important to him. A very positive detail in this story is that Jesus was not dismissive of him, but sad. Jesus is delighted when we turn to follow him, and sad, rather than angry, when we don’t.
The final category is the one which advances the Kingdom. The seed in good soil in this story does not just grow on a one-to-one basis, so to speak, but yields growth as much as a hundredfold. Interestingly, Jesus takes the biggest number first. He does not say, 30-fold, 60- fold, wow, even 100-fold. He is thrilled with the high productivity, but a lower growth rate is also something at which to rejoice. One of the parables in the collection is about the mustard seed, which is so tiny, and yet grows into something expansive, providing shade and shelter. With all the communities that have come and gone over the centuries, look at the Christian legacy today, made up of many millions of people, all of which arose from the ministry of a tiny group of people on that day of Pentecost. Despite the unproductive seed, there is overwhelming growth for those seeds which take root. Many fall away for all sorts of reasons, but the Kingdom of God continues to advance and will not be overcome.
The challenge before us is big, but rewarding. Let us follow our Lord to the best of our ability, and do so within the community and strengthened by others. Let us stay rooted in prayer and scripture, and in service of others in the name of Jesus. And as we say the Lord’s Prayer along with others, let us develop a daily discipline on our own of saying this prayer that Jesus taught us, slowly and with focus on the 3 fold phrase, ‘thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’
And, as we pray this prayer, let us also reflect on the last verse in our New Testament lesson, from Romans, Chapter 8. It is a word of encouragement in an era when ministry is difficult. ‘If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit who dwells in you’
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