Texts and Sermon for the Wednesday of Pentecost 6

 2025-7-23 Wednesday of Pentecost 6

 

Collect of the Day: O God, You have prepared for those who love You good things that surpass all understanding. Pour into our hearts such love toward You that we, loving you above all things, may obtain Your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

 

1 Peter 3:8-15

⁸ Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. ⁹ Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. ¹⁰ For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil
    and his lips from speaking deceit; ¹¹ let him turn away from evil and do good;
    let him seek peace and pursue it. ¹² For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
    and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” ¹³ Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, ¹⁵ but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,¹⁶ having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.  This is the Word of the Lord.

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the fifth chapter.               Luke 5:1-11    5 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, ² and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. ³ Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. ⁴ And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵ And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” ⁶ And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. ⁷ They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸ But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” ⁹ For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, ¹⁰ and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” ¹¹ And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. The Gospel of the Lord!

 

Sermon: O Lord, you are our light and our salvation; whom shall we fear? Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.

 

You cannot tell it from just listening, but in the first reading, after the first two verses, Peter seamlessly inserts Psalm 34:12-16. And, just as seamlessly, he stops quoting the Psalm and continues in verse 13 with a question: ^13 “Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?”

 

Psalm 34 is not randomly chosen. The Apostle Peter encourages the faithful to let God work in you so that you take on the characteristics of Christ Jesus. “all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. ⁹ Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.” When we are called into the faith by our Lord, we are called into a different way of interacting within the church and with the world. Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit operate with a unity of mind and purpose. The three persons of the Trinity work together for the salvation of humanity. In his ministry, Jesus exemplified sympathy, a generous love and tender heart. Jesus is humble. He is the very picture of humility in that he becomes fully human and dwells with us. Jesus dies a humiliating death on the cross so that we may obtain the blessing of divine forgiveness and eternal salvation. 

 

In his life among us, he did not repay evil for evil. Instead, he blessed those who crucified Him: Father, forgive them for they know not what they do! 

 

Earlier, I pointed out that Peter uses Psalm 34 in his letter to the church. The significance of Psalm 34 is that David, the son of Jesse, who became King David, wrote this when he fled from King Saul.  This is recounted for us in 1 Samuel. King Saul became increasingly, insanely, jealous of David.  He was insulted that the people loved David more than himself. Driven by jealousy, Saul decided to kill David. When Saul’s intentions were revealed to David, David could have stayed and fought. He could have led a rebellion. But, he respected the Divine call that was placed upon Saul. Saul is the Lord’s appointed and anointed king. David will not repay evil. He humbles himself for the sake of Saul, his family, and the nation. He puts them ahead of himself. So, he flees. In doing so, he trusts in the Lord for His life and future. He has faith that the Lord sees him and hears his prayers. For he will do no evil toward Saul. 

 

David’s actions point to Christ Jesus. Our Lord Jesus, trusts in the Father, in order to fulfill his mission. He trusts that the Father sees Him and hears his human prayers for help.    

 

We are called into faith that Jesus is the Christ. We are caught in God’s net. We do as Peter instructs. We let Christ rule our thoughts and actions so that Christ is glorified. 

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.