Video, Texts and Sermon for the Wednesday of Pentecost 18

Video of Divine Service

Wednesday after Pentecost 18

 

Collect of the Day: O Lord, we implore You, grant Your people grace to withstand the temptations of the devil and with pure hearts and minds to follow You, the only God; through Jesus Christ, Your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

 

The Epistle on this Wednesday after the 18^th Sunday after Pentecost is from Ephesians, the fourth chapter. (Ephesians 4:1-6)

4 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ² with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³ eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. This is the Word of the Lord

 

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the 14^th chapter. (Luke 14:1-11)

14 One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. ² And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. ³ And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” ⁴ But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. ⁵ And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” ⁶ And they could not reply to these things.

⁷ Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, ⁸ “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, ⁹ and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. ¹⁰ But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. ¹¹ For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” This is the Gospel of the Lord.

 

 

O Lord, your Word is lamp to our feet and a light unto our path. Let the words of  my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer.

The Epistle and the Gospel readings show us to two different ways of being a community. As the Gospel explains, on the Sabbath, Jesus is in the home of a prominent Pharisee. Jesus witnesses a community of faith that is exceptionally worldly in character. Men are striving with each other for the most prominent place closest to the host. Jealousy, pride, unabashed social climbing, are on full display. How is this different than a political or media event where “being seen” and “being seen with the right people” is everything? No difference at all. Then, tension rises in the room because it looks like Jesus is going to heal a man on the sabbath. Jesus comments on the judgmental looks he receives. Jesus operates with the knowledge that the Father and the Holy Spirit and he are in agreement that they created the Sabbath so that people may be made whole. Here, he encounters attitude born of a mixture of human tradition and short-sighted legalism. What matters to the Pharisees in the room is the letter of the law. No work is done on the Sabbath. This means healing because that is medical work. So, healing is forbidden. Thank the Lord, that Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit disagree. Jesus blessed a man who desperately needed his blessing, with health and the sudden absence of pain. On the Sabbath he is made whole so that he can truly rest in God’s grace. 

The combination of sins and behavior of the Pharisees stands in sharp contrast to the vision of baptismal unity that the Apostle Paul articulates in the Epistle reading. 

The epistle begins, “I therefore.” The word “therefore” indicates that the Apostle is building on a previous statement or idea. In the preceding chapter the Apostle waxed elegantly about how the Good News of Jesus Christ transforms us. The imagery of 3:16-19 is compelling and dizzying. 

“he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

That is quite a transformation. This transformation begins through receiving Holy Baptism. Through baptism, the Holy Spirit creates faith as Christ enters us. Through faith we are changed. Christ shapes our world view. Christ dwells in the Christian heart. He roots and grounds Christians in love. On account of Christ, therefore, the faithful learn to walk as Jesus walked among us: with humility, gentleness, patience, bearing others in love, desiring to live in a God centered peace. In Christ, there is unity of doctrine and purpose through love. Faith in Christ and his cross makes all the difference. 

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