Weekly Bible Notes
Ordinary 12 Year A (Trinity 4)
Introduction
Christians were fiercely persecuted in the first centuries after the ascension of Jesus. They gave their lives for the truth which they believed and their sacrifice challenged others to question their own belief. It has been said that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church. Surely it was a great act of witness and the ultimate test of the sincerity and conviction of those first followers. When Jesus called his followers to take up their cross he meant it. Many would literally have to suffer the same fate of crucifixion which Jesus suffered.
So where does that leave us today. In some parts of the world, Pakistan, Africa and the Middle East, Christians still today give of their lives for their belief. However most Christians do not have a tough time for their faith. This is good, but Christians have to be careful not to become complacent or lazy.
Opening Verses of Scripture Romans 6:11
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ
Jesus.
Collect Prayer for the Day — Before we read we pray
O God, the protector of all who put their trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that with you as our ruler and guide we may so pass through things temporal that we lose not our hold on things eternal; grant this, heavenly Father, for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Common Worship
Creator God, in the beginning your word subdued the chaos and in the fullness of time you sent Jesus, your Son, to rebuke the forces of evil and to make all things new. By that same power transform our fear into faith that we may have courage to follow in the way of your kingdom; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Methodist Worship
Gracious Father, by the obedience of Jesus, you brought salvation to our wayward world: draw us into harmony with your will, that we may find all things restored in him, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. Common Worship Additional collects
First Bible Reading Jeremiah 20:7-13
O LORD, you deceived me, and I was deceived ; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long. But if I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more in his name," his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. I hear many whispering, "Terror on every side! Report him! Let's report him!" All my friends are waiting for me to slip, saying, "Perhaps he will be deceived; then we will prevail over him and take our revenge on him." But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonour will never be forgotten. O LORD Almighty, you who examine the righteous and probe the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have committed my cause. Sing to the LORD! Give praise to the LORD! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked. (This is the word of the Lord—Thanks be to God)
Second Reading Romans 6:1-11
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (This is the word of the Lord - Thanks be to God)
Gospel Reading Matthew
10:24-39
Matthew "A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household! "So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny ? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn "'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-- a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.' "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (This is the word of the Lord—Thanks be to God)
Post Communion Sentence
Eternal God, comfort of the afflicted and healer of the broken, you have fed us at the table of life and hope: teach us the ways of gentleness and peace, that all the world may acknowledge the kingdom of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord Amen.
Commentary
You cannot help feeling sorry for the Disciples as Jesus outlined what they could expect as they went out on their mission to evangelise the whole world: no pay, hand to mouth living, endless journeying through hostile country among often hostile people. The passage ends with a very frightening warning, echoing Micah 7:6, that the Gospel will not immediately bring in peace and harmony but will be damaging and divisive. Even those who should love and respect one another will become enemies because of the Gospel. Why should that be? Why should the assurance of God’s love bring disagreement and enmity? Why should being shown the way to salvation cause rows even in close families? Because The Way isn’t all puppies and sunshine! It causes trouble because it is vitally important, not a bland bolt-on to people’s lives. It is a faith which can change us to our very core. The Gospel contains tough commandments and tells us that we should seek justice, be truthful and share resources, so of course Christianity means strife. The passage would have been deeply upsetting to Jesus’ first hearers. In His society the extended family was the basis of all order. Members of the family knew their place within the hierarchy and owed obedience and loyalty to their senior members. What Jesus is suggesting is that anarchy may be the result of following Him! The idea of a child opposing the views of his or her parent was not only upsetting but wicked in their eyes. I believe that we might also read Jesus’ words in terms of the internal conflict that we humans face, when we try and live the Way that Jesus taught. If we do as Jesus tells us then we will need to be in a constant state of war with our baser selves, our selfish desires. The implication of Jesus’ commands is that we each of us stage a permanent revolution within ourselves, as we attempt to root out our own faults and failings. I believe that that the last two lines of the passage are, in part, about the willingness to give up the self in order to gain the kingdom of Heaven. Re-read them and see what you think. Rev Dr Joan Crossley
Meditation
It is time to put my hands up and admit I may have been wrong, (yes it can happen!). I used to be very mocking about Victorian “Muscular Christianity”, with its emphasis on manliness and Imperial mission. But I may have been too quick to dismiss the other virtues within the writings of people like Dr Thomas Arnold and G.H.Henry the poet (author of “Play up and play the game!”) While it is true that they were often laughably bigoted and sexist to our eyes, they did demand that individuals take responsibility for their actions, that they try and endure dangerous and demanding situations with courage and determination and asked that people try their best. Above all they taught that we should place our trust in the Lord. These Victorian tough guys would have been mystified by our “blame culture” in which people are encouraged to blame everyone but themselves. Maybe we should try harder to emulate our Lord, who was generous, honest and forgiving to everyone else but was disciplined and courageous (even hard) on Himself? Rev Dr Joan Crossley
Hymns
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224 He who would valiant be (Monk’s Gate)
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99 come on and celebrate
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428 Lord for the years (Lord of the years)
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590 Seek ye first (we sing during communion)
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143 Fight the good fight (Duke St)
Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead
Additional Material
Meditation
Let us work as if success depended upon ourselves alone; but with heartfelt conviction that we are doing nothing and God everything. Ignatius Loyola
Commentary
The passage from Matthew today begins with both warning and
reassurance. Matthew uses the words of Jesus to warn disciples that as
surely as night follows day, commitment to him will lead to persecution. This is important, following Jesus does not mean that life will be ‘hunky
dory.’
There are some distortions of Christianity which proclaim material blessing
will follow those who have faith. Some other faiths teach that as spiritual
faith grows so physical and material blessings will follow as a reward.
Jesus has no part with this at all. Followers must recognise that committed
disciples walk into the fire of persecution. The phrase ‘the blood of the
martyrs was the seed of the church’ was coined to express how those early
Christians spilled their blood for faith in Jesus. For us these words may
sound ridiculous, we do not have to suffer for our faith, indeed
Christianity for some means a good social life and new friends. But, this is
not the case everywhere. There are Christians today who are persecuted and
killed for their faith. The words of Jesus from today’s reading ‘Do not be
afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul‘ might ring a
little hollow for us, but we should be aware of the fact that many
Christians are today killed for nothing more than faith in Christ.
We should work even harder for understanding and tolerance between different
faiths when we realise that for Christians around the world persecution is a
daily reality as they are regularly persecuted for their faith by
fundamentalists of other faiths. However we will most likely face
persecution when we expose evil, challenge power, demand change or undermine
the status quo. Christians should be those who are unafraid to rock the
boat, and if we are faithful, there is a good chance that we too will at
times will face opposition. When that happens, we share Christ's cross, and
we are like our Master.
Do not be afraid.
Firstly, fear in the face of persecution is natural, but Jesus tells us not
to be afraid even in frightening circumstances. One reason why they should
not fear is that, "nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered." I am
often comforted by the fact that even when our motives and actions are
deliberately twisted by others, history will one day vindicate the righteous
deeds of us all. Perhaps it is only looking back that we realise where truth
lay and who our true friends have been.
Secondly, we should not fear the limited power of our opponents. They can
kill the body, which dies all too soon anyway, but have no power over the
soul. Only God has power over eternity. The scriptures never suggest that we
should fear Satan. Evil has no power over the Christian, which is a truth
which makes such a mockery of those false Christian teachers who claim to
cast out demons weekly in their churches. Afraid of evil we should not be,
fear of God is far more important.
Finally we should not fear because of God's compassionate love. In Luke
12:6, Jesus speaks of five sparrows sold for two pennies. Matthew speaks of
two sparrows sold for one penny. This is like Tesco, ‘buy four get one free’
The person who spends two pennies receives an extra sparrow thrown in, as if
it had no value at all. God cares even for that apparently worthless
sparrow. The God who cares for a trivial bird also cares about our trivia --
even the number of hairs on our head, surely a helpful thought for those
with receding hairlines!
Next in our passage, we are asked to imagine a courtroom setting. If we
acknowledge Jesus before other people, Jesus will acknowledge us before the
Father in heaven—he is our advocate, surely there could be no better
representation. If Jesus is our advocate, we cannot lose, without him we
cannot win.
Of course we acknowledge Jesus by deeds as well as by words. As Christians
we have to seek to make what we sing about on Sundays, what we live out for
the rest of the week. The words of our mouths and the works of our hands
need to be consistent if our witness is to be effective. Faith in Christ
impacts every aspect of life. The First Commandment (Exod 20:3) calls us to
serve God to the exclusion of all other gods. Jesus tells the disciples that
he requires loyalty to himself even above loyalty to family. Jesus' point is
not disloyalty to family but even greater loyalty to God.
Jesus calls his disciples to "take up the cross and follow me." For us this
is a remote metaphor, but Jesus' hearers had seen men take up their cross.
They knew that when this happened and the man went off with a group of Roman
soldiers, he was on a one-way journey. He would not be back. Thus, for them,
taking up the cross stood for the utmost in renunciation of the claims of
self.’ By the time that this Gospel was written, Christians were familiar
not only with the cross of Jesus but also with crosses borne by Christians
on their way to martyrdom. Jesus' promise is that "those who lose their life
for my sake will find it."
We live in a "What's in it for me!" kind of world where the focus is on what
we can get rather than what we can give. Truly happy people are those who
are who live for something larger than themselves. The endless pursuit of
happiness achieves only broken relationships and unfulfilled dreams. Jesus
promises that it will be quite different for those who "lose their life for
my sake."
Hymns
- See how great a flame aspires, 781
- God’s spirit is in my heart, 315
- God is working his purpose out, 769
- Go forth and tell, 770
- Revive thy work, O Lord, 780
Prayers
Grant to me, O Lord, a humble, lowly and quiet
heart. Give to my waking hours patience, kindness and tenderness of soul.
Let all my words, my works and my thoughts be overshadowed by the gift of
your most Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
Thomas More, 1478-1535
Holy and loving God, in Jesus you walked the hills of Galilee and the busy
streets of Capernaum; you addressed multitudes and had time for individuals.
Renew in us each morning the light of your presence, that whatever the day
brings we may be channels of your renewing Spirit, and share in your good
purposes for the world, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Robin Hutt, former Chair, Newcastle District