This week’s Readings and Sermon for the First Sunday After Trinity
The Collect for This Week
O God, the strength of all those who put their trust in you, mercifully accept our prayers and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing without you, grant us the help of your grace,
that in the keeping of your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ your Son 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
Eternal Father, we thank you for nourishing us with these heavenly gifts: may our communion strengthen us in faith, build us up in hope, and make us grow in love; for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 33, verses 1 to 12
1 Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, for it is good for the just to sing praises. 2 Praise the Lord with the lyre; on the ten-stringed harp sing his praise. 3 Sing for him a new song; play skilfully, with shouts of praise. 4 For the word of the Lord is true and all his works are sure. 5 He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the loving-kindness of the Lord. 6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all their host by the breath of his mouth. 7 He gathers up the waters of the sea as in a waterskin and lays up the deep in his treasury. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; stand in awe of him, all who dwell in the world. 9 For he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. 10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to naught; he frustrates the designs of the peoples. 11 But the counsel of the Lord shall endure for ever and the designs of his heart from generation to generation. 12 Happy the nation whose God is the Lord and the people he has chosen for his own.
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 12, verses 1 to 9
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on by stages towards the Negeb.
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 4, verses 13 to 25
13 For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.
16 For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, 17 as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become ‘the father of many nations’, according to what was said, ‘So numerous shall your descendants be.’ 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 Therefore his faith ‘was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ 23 Now the words, ‘it was reckoned to him’, were written not for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.
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 9, verses 9 to 13 and 18 to 26
Hear the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ, according to Matthew Glory to You, o Lord
9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.
10 And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ 12 But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’
18 While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, ‘My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.’ 19 And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. 20 Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, 21 for she said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.’ 22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And instantly the woman was made well. 23 When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute-players and the crowd making a commotion, 24 he said, ‘Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. 25 But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. 26 And the report of this spread throughout that district.
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
This week’s sermon is delivered by Rev Chich Hewitt
‘Who touched me? These are words spoken by Jesus to a woman who reached out to Jesus in the hope of being made well. It is part of our Gospel passage this morning where I am using the story before us told by Matthew, but told in more detail by Mark and Luke. Matthew begins his story with an official who comes to Jesus because his daughter has died. In Mark and Luke’s account, the official’s name is Jairus, and he has come to seek Jesus urgently because his daughter is very ill. He wanted Jesus to come and heal her and would have been frustrated by Jesus moving so slowly in a huge crowd, and then being stopped by someone else in need. According to Mark and Luke, people come to tell Jairus not to trouble the teacher any further, because his daughter has died. In all three accounts Jesus performs not a healing but a miracle of resurrection. The 12 year old girl was brought back to life when Jesus reached out to take her hand, asking her to sit up.
Today I want to focus on the woman who reached out and touched Jesus’ cloak. The crowd was so big that she did not believe she could get his attention and so be cured of a bleeding disorder which had plagued her for 12 years.I am not sure if there is any significance in the number 12, the age of the girl brought back to life, and the duration of the woman’s illness. Anyway, she managed to get close enough just to touch the hem of his garment. Mark tells us that she felt better immediately and that the bleeding had stopped.
‘Who touched me?’ These are words from Luke’s account. Try to imagine a dusty road, on what may have been a hot day, with Jesus being bumped and pushed in the crowd. Wasn’t that just the most ridiculous statement to make - ‘who touched me?’ The disciples thought so, and must have wondered if Jesus was losing it. ‘You see the crowds pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘who touched me?’’ But Mark tells us that as soon as the woman had touched his garment, he had felt power leaving him. In Luke’s account, Jesus responded to his disciples’ disbelief, telling them that he had felt power going out of him. The crowd had perhaps slowed down and gone quiet, and the woman realised she had to own up to what she had done. In fear and trembling she told him what she had done. Jesus commended her for her action. ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your disease.’
In this fast moving story, the attention now goes to Jairus, but let’s pause here. There is something unique about this story. In other cases where Jesus performs a sign, he is in charge, and knows what he is going to do. In this case, Jesus is not in charge of his action. He felt power go out of him. Is this the Holy Spirit at work?
Notice, by the way, that there is one other case where Jesus is not in charge - just before his crucifixion. After being condemned by the high priest, we are told by Mark that Jesus was blindfolded and told to prophesy. In Matthew's account they said, ‘who struck you?’
‘Who struck you?’ ‘Who touched me?’ After Jesus’ crucifixion and death, power would be restored to him. In the case before us today, power seemed to leave him beyond his control.
Pentecost was only two weeks ago, and we return again to the action of the Holy Spirit. Every now and then the Sprit acts in unexpected ways. John likens the Spirit to the wind who blows where it wills, and, although you cannot see it, you can feel it. So with the Spirit. In Greek and Hebrew the words for wind and for Spirit are the same.
I have had one experience of the Spirit moving with me in an unusual way. It was in my first curacy in South Africa, when I was preaching. I remember the text well, and it has become one which will always be with me - from Psalm 31 verse 2; ‘blessed is the Lord who has shown me his steadfast love, when I was as a city besieged’. I can’t remember the exact content and nor do I think it was anything out of the ordinary. But I was suddenly aware of a power within me as I was speaking these words in a way I had not experienced before, nor have I experienced since. At that moment there was a middle aged couple in the pews, and the man began to moan. At first I thought he was having some sort of seizure , so should I stop? But his wife next to him seemed unconcerned, and so I continued. In discussion afterwards, he had had deep experience of the Holy Spirit and was speaking in tongues. He developed a very deep prayer life, and a greater involvement in church life. Such a thing cannot be contrived, and was appropriate in the life of the Spirit for that particular time and none other. The Spirit was at work and it was beyond my control.
I have previously mentioned times in history when the Spirit was made manifest, which had led to something significant. As I was planning this address, I came across a wonderful example with which I will end. It involved Richard Rohr who has an international ministry of prayer and spiritual direction, and whom I have followed over the years. He shared this in the week of Pentecost, describing the birth of the new Jerusalem Community.
As a young priest in 1971, Fr. Richard was given charge of a youth retreat programme in Cincinnati, Ohio. To begin with he thought the boys were just tolerating him, but on an occasion when he was speaking on the Prodigal Son, the boys began to cry and embrace one another. He was pleased that he was getting through, but he was also scared. They began to sing in tongues which he said was very beautiful but he was frightened and did not know what to do. Eventually he said to them, ‘guys, I am going to put the pizzas in the oven - come across in 25 minutes. After 25 minutes no one had come to the refectory, so he went back to see what was happening. The boys were at the altar praying and singing, and this went on through the night. The following week the boys brought their their friends, and the Spirit came upon them. The young people then brought their parents and grandparents. On occasion more than 1,000 people met and a new community was born.
When God wants something to happen, it will happen. We cannot make such things happen, nor should we try. It is important to be obedient to Jesus and follow him closely, and, as it were, reaching out for the hem of his garment. Obedience and a continuing community is the best we can do, as we seek to know him better through word and sacrament, as we try to fulfil God’s plan in this place. O, that we could draw close enough to him, that we might hear his words, ‘Who touched me?’