Weekly Bible Notes  Ordinary 27

Year C, Colour = Green

Introduction

So watch yourselves. "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.
If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him."   Jesus  Luke 17
 

Following some of the atrocities which have taken place recently in Iraq and Russia, people have understandably been shocked and frightened. Are there no place of depravity to which men and women will not go in order to achieve their goals? We have seen innocent men beheaded and filmed in the process, children shot without mercy in Beslan

It is at times like this that people will question 'how can we be expected to forgive.' Jesus has teaching on this in Luke Chapter 17. When his disciples ask how many times we must forgive, Jesus tells that they must forgive 'seven a day,' or in other words, 'over and over again.'

But it is interesting that Jesus calls on the person who has sinned to do something as well. They must repent and seek forgiveness. Perhaps our prayers must be that God will turn the hearts of violent men and women and bring an end to the hatred and bitterness which enflames their hearts and degrades their religion.

This might be a tall order, but if we have faith, even a tiny bit, then God can work miracles.

Opening Verse of Scripture 

The land has yielded its harvest: God our God has blessed us Psalm 67:6

 

Collect Prayer for the Day —Before we read we pray

Almighty and everlasting God, we offer you our grateful thanks for your fatherly goodness and care in giving us your gifts and the fruits of the earth through the seasons. Give us grace use them rightly, to your glory, for our own well being, and for the relief of those in need; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

First Bible Reading  Habakkuk 1: 1-4, 2: 1-4

Gospel Reading    Luke 17: 5-10

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you. "Suppose one of you had a servant ploughing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.' "
(Reader: This is the word of the Lord - All: Thanks be to God)

 

Post Communion Prayer

Bountiful God, you entrust your creation to our care. Grant us the grace so to order our common life that we may use your gifts to your glory, for the relief of those in need and for our own well-being, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Commentary

"If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree,
'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you. Jesus

Do you fancy giving it a go? I am going to guess that nobody has ever done this. If you have ever tried to move a tree in the garden you will know that it is not easy. The roots of a tree are bigger under the ground than above it. Furthermore, even if we were able to move a tree, planting a tree in the sea is a sure way to kill it. Which must lead us to the conclusion that Jesus sometimes said things using exaggeration (hyperbole) to make a point. We can see him doing the same thing when he tells his disciples to chop off bits of their body which cause them to sin. If we took statements like that to their logical conclusion there would not be many ‘bits’ of us left.

Jesus is not being serious, but he is making a very serious point. Professor George Caird wrote that faith in God

"is a power that takes impossibilities in its stride."

Christian faith is something for which we have no proof and yet from the humble acknowledgement of who Jesus is, faith can growth in an amazing and remarkable way, almost imperceptibly. What Jesus is saying is that there is no excuse for anybody not to believe. We don't need to swallow a theological textbook and sign up to thousands of beliefs and practices—we are called to simple trust in Jesus and who he is.

From those humble beginnings the truth can grow and take root in our lives. Your faith might have humble beginnings and yet it cannot be dismissed, it has a destiny. Our faith might be small and insignificant and yet God can transform our meagre faith into something beyond our expectations.
It is not the size of our faith which matters but the quality of the person in whom we place our faith—Jesus. There are things which we might get wrong along the way, ideas which might creep in and which we have to clear out now and then. This is because we are a people on the way, not a people who have arrived. Faith is learning to live with the questions which we cannot answer, in the light of the answers which we have. This parable of the tree is not about triumphalism, it is about those who journey. The kingdom has started but it has not yet arrived. There is much for us all to learn and yet we know that we can trust the one who holds our grain of faith securely in his hand. Charles Royden

 

Meditation

Forgive endlessly

Jesus seems to be asking for something difficult, but not the impossible. If we are honest most of us do find it in our hearts to forgive people when they are really sorry and repent. If somebody admits their offence and is really sorry, owns up to their crime and apologises, then takes their punishment, most of us will be pleased forgive in these circumstances.
This is very different from having to forgive people who don’t show any remorse. It is hard to forgive those horrible little thugs who keep smashing up bus shelters, spraying graffiti on the walls and stealing handbags. So how do we forgive people who show no remorse but kill mercilessly or show no concern for others? We know how we all feel towards those who killed those people and little children in Beslan, or those who beheaded the American hostages and are still keeping Ken Bigley a prisoner in a cage.
What I find quite remarkable is that divine forgiveness goes far beyond our human capacity to forgive. Jesus forgives those who show no remorse, even when they are nailing him to the cross. It seems that divine grace in God, overwhelms any human sin in us. To really forgive really is divine.

Charles Royden

 

Hymns

1. Come ye thankful people come

2. Who put the colours in the rainbow?

3. We eat the plants that grow from seed

4. For the beauty of the earth.

5. We plough the fields and scatter

6. For the fruits of all creation.

7. Praise the  Lord, ye heavens adore him.
    

Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead

"Prayer is a plant, the seed of which is sown in the heart of every Christian.

If it is well cultivated and nourished it will produce fruit, but if it is neglected, it will wither and die."

Dear Lord help us so to order our common life that we may use your gifts to your glory, for the relief of those in need and for our own well-being; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Holy God, creator, sustainer and renewer of life, grant that, secure in your goodness in the past, and rejoicing that you meet our needs in the present, we may work and pray for the coming of your future Kingdom, which is peace and prosperity, justice and joy;
through Jesus Christ, who lived and died and was raised to life that all may share. Amen

Sioux Prayer: At Harvest Time You, O God, are the Lord of the mountains and valleys. You are my mother and my father. You have given rain to make the corn grow, and sunshine to ripen it. Now in your strength the harvest begins. I offer you the first morsels of the harvest. I know it is almost nothing compared with the abundance of the crop. But since you have provided the harvest, my gift to you is only a sign of what you have given to me. You alone know how many suns and moons it will take to finish reaping. You alone know how heavy the crop will be. If I work too hard and too fast I forget about you, who gave me the harvest. So I will work steadily and slowly, remembering that each ear of corn is a priceless gift from you.

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Additional Resources

Opening Verse of Scripture Psalm 67:6

The land has yielded its harvest;: God our God has blessed us.

Collect (Before we read we pray)

Bountiful God, you entrust your creation to our care. Grant us the grace so to order our common life that we may use your gifts to your glory, for the relief of those in need and for our own well-being, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

First Bible Reading Lamentations Chapter 1:1-6

How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave. Bitterly she weeps at night, tears are upon her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is none to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies. After affliction and harsh labour, Judah has gone into exile. She dwells among the nations; she finds no resting place. All who pursue her have overtaken her in the midst of her distress. The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gateways are desolate, her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she is in bitter anguish. Her foes have become her masters; her enemies are at ease. The LORD has brought her grief because of her many sins. Her children have gone into exile, captive before the foe. All the splendour has departed from the Daughter of Zion. Her princes are like deer that find no pasture; in weakness they have fled before the pursuer. (This is the word of the Lord—Thanks be to God)

Second Bible Reading Luke 17:5-10

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you. "Suppose one of you had a servant ploughing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'" (This is the word of the Lord—Thanks be to God)

Post Communion Prayer

And now we give you thanks because you have given to us the fruits of the earth in their seasons, bread with which to remember your body and the fruit of the vine to recall your blood shed for us.

Commentary

"Increase our faith!" the disciples say to Jesus in this morning's Gospel. Jesus replies with the parable of the mustard seed (Luke 17:6). Jesus frequently speaks in hyperbole and the images are not to be taken literally. A small child on hearing Jesus words said, 'He didn't really mean that, he just said it to make it more interesting.' That is the point, a story told to show that a little faith can have a huge impact. These are encouraging words to people in small congregations, small religious communities around the world, because small numbers of faithful people can make a big difference in the world. Yet when numbers are down, or when we feel overwhelmed by life's odds, many feel they are failures. Today is a good time to examine our thoughts and feelings about being like the mustard seeds in God's dominion.

Jesus' words are meant to encourage his disciples and to encourage his followers everywhere. The message of faith's victory is consistent in the Bible. The Scriptures are full of examples of the potency or strength of small groups of faithful people, and the power of small or insignificant people. David slew the giant Goliath with a slingshot, against all odds (1 Sam. 17:50). In Acts, when the first followers gathered in small clusters and prayed and shared all things in common (Acts 2:43-45), great numbers are said to have become followers. Timothy is reminded by Paul that even though he is young, he is able to be a leader in the community (1 Timothy 4:12). Despite small numbers, youth, or lack of status or prestige, the faith of these people can make extraordinary things happen.

As we face war, we struggle with fear, anger, and confusion. We want to do the right thing. Each of us has been given a measure of faith (faith the size of a mustard seed is sufficient), and now is the opportunity for us to commend the faith that is in us. In the words of the prayer attributed to St. Francis, each of us in our small way can be an instrument of God's peace. "Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair hope; where there is darkness light; where there is sadness, joy..." Jesus turns the disciples' request around on them. "Increase our faith," they ask, and he points out to them that they have enough already. In spite of their fears, anxieties, they have what is needed, and each of his hearers is encouraged to take their rightful place in the exercise of spiritual authority.


Meditation

"Littleness" or "minority" is embraced as a vocation by some Christians. For instance, followers of St. Francis are reminded that they are "little brothers (or sisters), friars minor." Being part of a small group in the church or world does not mean that that group or individual is missing something. Smallness is in many ways a gift. Small groups can take on tasks or living situations that are outside the scope of larger institutions: small groups of Christians living in neighbourhoods that are predominantly non-Christian can witness to the power of Christ in a different way. Small groups of concerned Christians can embrace social outcasts, showing the love of God in a particular place and time. Change in our churches and other social institutions generally comes from the fringe, a dedicated minority that won't go away; the embrace of the church has become more generous, more inclusive over the years because of the voices and experience of little people on the edge with great faith.

Being small also means that a group doesn't have to get it right all the time. It is easier to change tactics, to adopt a different focus, or simply to admit an error and mend one's ways in a small group. The small mustard seeds of faith scattered throughout the world generally fall in places and situations where people are struggling to make sense of what it means to be human in the world.


Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead.

Bring to fruition Creator God, the work of your kingdom in our lives. Make us part of that joyful harvest in which your loving purpose is completed. Help us to realise how important the smallest words and deeds are. Thank you for others who have set before us an example of > Christian living and who have sown the seeds of faith hope and love in our lives.

Lord we pray for your blessing on every kind of harvest that we enjoy. Thank you for the harvest of the land and the sea. Bless too the harvest of factory and mine and workshop. Bless the harvest of research and of creative art. May we work together with you in every area of life to produce what is worthwhile, good and fruitful. May you be glorified in it all.
Amen

Hymns

(All hymns will be found this week on the special service sheet)

Come ye thankful people come 355 Hymns & Psalms, 2) Who put the colours 288 Junior Praise , 3) Let us with a gladsome mind 27 Hymns & Psalms, 4) The Saviour will come 5) We plough the fields and scatter 352 Hymns & Psalms

 

 

Intercessions for Harvest 2001

 

 

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