Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity. Our Church Services this morning are at the usual times of 9.15 at St Agnes' and 11.00 at St Thomas'.
If you are unable to be with us in person, you will find resources below to worship at home.
Our first hymn this morning is "Beauty for Brokenness"
Today's Gospel
Luke 18: 9 -14 The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt:
"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, `God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.'
But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, `God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted."
Reflection
Reading today’s parable, I was reminded about a TV comedy sketch from the 1966 satirical programme the Frost Report – it starred John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett and parodied the social class system of the era.
John Cleese was an upper class city gentleman, Ronnie Barker a middle class, management worker and Ronnie Corbett a working class labourer. The sketch is about relative superiority and inferiority of the socio economic status of the three people and is reinforced visually, by the difference in physical height of the 3 actors and the clothes they are dressed in. It shows the absurdity of how people of different standing either look down on people or look up to each other depending on wealth and upbringing. (If you’ve never seen it, I’ve included a link at the end of the reflection).
In today’s parable, Jesus similarly juxtaposes two extreme examples to make his point about how we see ourselves and how we should approach God in prayer.
If we look at the pompous, self-centred Pharisee, we see a person who is pretentious and self-important. A person who thinks he is better than most and looks down his nose at other people. Even in the Temple whilst praying he feels the need to ‘grandstand’ and show off how much better he thinks he is. We picture him standing by himself at the front in prominent sight of everyone else – it’s almost like he’s trying to get to front of the queue. Does he mistakenly think that God will see and hear him ahead of everyone else?
He is trying to impress everyone and show that he is more important than he actually is.
We see his arrogance compounded when we look at his words of prayer. He starts by trying to prove to God and those around him how much more righteous he is than other people, especially the tax collector. (Tax collectors were despised by most people as cheats and collaborators with the Roman Empire.) He is trying to shift the focus to others and at the same time totally ignoring his own sins. His sins of greed, and selfishness, the ways the Pharisees invented new laws to make life harder for people, and the way they also took money off the poor. Instead he is shining the spotlight on everyone else in the mistaken belief that his sins are not as bad. But all sins are wrong and we need to own up to them and repent. By not asking for forgiveness he is missing the opportunity to ask for God’s grace.
In his arrogance he fails to see the need to ask God for what he really needs - He does not recognise that his sins are taking him away from God.
In contrast, the tax collector is acutely aware of his shortcomings. Even the manner in which he approaches God with humility and deference says much about his demeanour and his respect for God. He is addressing God in a humble manner – When we pray we should remember that ‘The Lord lifts up the humble’. [Psalm 147:6].
The tax collector focusses his prayers on what he needs and is asking for what is truly important in his life – God’s mercy. He says a version of what is now known by many as the Jesus prayer - `God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' [Luke 18:13].
He does not try to judge or blame others or pretend that he is better than he is. He tells God about the burden of shame he is bearing because of his sins. We do not know why he was a tax collector, maybe it was the only way that he could support his family – but he is clearly troubled and sorry about his ways and he knows that he needs to turn to God and ask for His grace. His conversation with God is full of genuine contrition, sorrow and repentance.
We too need to have that same approach – we may do lots of good things in our lives but we are also sinners. It’s no good trying to pull the wool over His eyes, because God knows what is truly on our mind and more importantly what is in our hearts. So when we pray, we should do so with a contrite heart and humility, and not be afraid to admit where we have let ourselves and God down. We should recognise that we need to ask God for the greatest gift he has for us – His mercy. Paul
Guide us by your Spirit, to examine our deeds and thoughts and admit our failings.
Give us a humble and contrite heart,
That we may come to you in humility,
And ask for your mercy.
Amen
Today's final hymn is "Thou Whose Almighty Word"
Notices
Everyone is most welcome to join us for our service for All Souls next week. If there is anyone you would like us to pray for by name, please let us know.
Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity. Our Church Services this morning are at the usual times of 9.15 at St Agnes' and 11.00 at St Thomas'.
If you are unable to be with us in person, you will find resources below to worship at home.
Our first hymn this morning is "Jesus, Stand Among Us"
Today's Gospel
Luke 18:1- 8 The Parable of the Persistent Widow
Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, `Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, `Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'" And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
Reflection
In the last 2 chapters of Luke he has shown us how Jesus stresses the need for faith – faith in God the Father.
Putting it simply, there are three key points to this parable -
1)Take your concerns to God
2)Be persistent
3)Don’t be discouraged.
As we go through the trials and troubles of daily life, we will all face adversity and sometimes, it’s fair to say, we may be at a loss to see how things will change or be made right.
We may see this at a personal level or at a national or international level. My wife often tells me I’m turning into a “grumpy old man” (not so sure about the old bit!), when I grumble out loud at the news which seems to show a constant stream of stories about unjust wars, corruption and endless abuse of power. I grumble about injustice and people being treated unfairly or exploited.
In Jesus’ parable of the unjust Judge we see many of these things exposed. The Judge is clearly out of line and the Hebrew people at the time would have rightly been shocked by the parody that Jesus outlines. A couple of weeks ago I wrote how Hebrew law repeatedly states that the Israelites should look after the orphans and widows. They were considered to be the most vulnerable in society because they were destitute and had no one to stand up for them - so when the Judge ignores the widow’s request for help he is clearly going against expectations and religious teachings of the day.
Jesus gives no reason as to why the judge behaved so unfairly, so we might assume he was probably being selfish because the widow had nothing to give him for his services. But the widow refuses to give in and in the end the recalcitrant judge gives in.
Reading this translation it almost gives the impression that he did so because the persistent widow ground his will down and he just wanted to get her off his back.
However, in the original Greek version we learn that the widow was so persistent she eventually threated to resort to violence and give the judge a black eye to expose his unjustness. The judge would no doubt suffer deep embarrassment, so he gives in and does the right thing to save face, both physically and metaphorically. The widow was indeed very persistent and was rewarded for her resilience.
You may wonder why Jesus needs to tell His disciples this, and to understand this it is useful to look at the end of the previous chapter. In Luke 17:22-25 Jesus tells them quite bluntly about the suffering and rejection He will soon face. He also tells them how, at the end of times, He will return to judge the living and the dead. He is describing the ’Coming of God’s kingdom’, a time when ultimately all will be judged when the Son of Man returns.
Jesus knows that they too will face persecution and suffer in His name. So he wants to reassure them that when they pray to God persistently and trust in Him, their prayers will be answered. It is a message of hope and faith that He will make all things right when he makes all things new and He will wipe every tear from the eye of the suffering,
For me, this the heart of faith, that we pray and share our concerns with God, trusting that He will always hear us and respond in the way that He sees best for us. And when I might be in a ‘grumpy’ mode listening to the news, I am also praying to God that things will change. When I see or hear about people’s worries and ailments and concerns, I am compelled to pray for them time and again.
We may at times feel a little frustrated when things don’t seem to change in the world or when our requests aren’t answered immediately - but then Jesus reminds us to not to lose heart. The last thing we should do is be disheartened or discouraged, because God hears all our prayers and will answer them when the time is right in the way that is right. We should never give up on God because He will never give up on us.
He never gives up on us, even when we have broken our promises. God listened to His people when they cried out because they were enslaved by the Egyptians. He listened to their cries when they were thirsty and hungry in the wilderness. Even when they broke their covenant with Him and were exiled, He listened to their cries and rescued them. We should all have faith that when we pray to Him, He is listening and he will be there to help when the time is right. And unlike the judge in the parable, He will not do it grudgingly - when God does respond He will do so willingly because He loves us. Paul
Our Prayers
Heavenly Father,
We thank you that you are always there,
Listening to our prayers and concerns.
We know that you know what is best for us. Help us to be persistent but also patient,
Give us hope and confidence that you will always respond as and when it is right,
Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity. Our Church Services this morning are at the usual times of 9.15 am at St Agnes' and 11.00 am at St Thomas'.
If you are unable to be with us in person, you will find resources below to worship at home.
Our first hymn this morning is "Lord, for the Years"
Today's Gospel
Luke 17:11-19 Jesus Heals Ten Men With Leprosy
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him.
Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean.
Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"
Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."
Reflection
Unfortunately, we missed the normal lectionary reading last week as we celebrated our Harvest Festival. The Gospel reading was all about faith, and there is strong element about faith in our Gospel passage today as well as gratitude and thankfulness.
It’s maybe hard to grasp the enormity of what Jesus did without understanding the impact of Leprosy on the people at the time. It was truly awful and devastating.
People’s skin would go snow white and flake away. Fingers and limbs would lose feeling and literally rot away and eventually fall off. Sufferers would be covered in sores all over their body. The outcome was always death although the sufferers may well live for twenty years or more. They would also be repulsive because the smell of their flesh condition. On top of that there was the emotional and psychological suffering – the stigma of having to leave their family and friends, being social outcasts and having to shout to everyone and warn them not to come too close because they were unclean.
Leprosy was a death sentence and it was the priest’s duty to examine people with any kind of skin infection, and if they suspected leprosy they were to declare them unclean and cast them out of the camp. [Leviticus 13:45-46]. It was also the priest’s job to examine those deemed to be cured and perform rituals on them before they could be declared clean and readmitted to society. This was why Jesus instructed the ten to show themselves to the priest.
The reality however was that no one was ever cured from the disease, although there could have been instances where a person had been mis-diagnosed and subsequently recovered from some other kind of skin infection. Bear in mind, 2000 years ago medical knowledge was virtually non-existent and fear of leprosy probably led priests to err on the safe side and cast out people when they were unsure what was wrong.
It is unclear from the reading what the ten lepers expected. We are merely told that they asked Jesus to have mercy on them. Were they expecting pity, food, clothes or money? They would probably have heard of the many rumours of Jesus’ kindness as His reputation grew in the region. But it is unlikely they expected to be cured. No one was ever cured of leprosy at that time.
But nevertheless, they did what Jesus told them to do. They set off to see the priest. They couldn’t have had any idea what would happen. They had not been miraculously cured on the spot. They would have still been in pain with all the other awful symptoms described above. The journey would probably have taken quite a while, let’s not forget they were crippled – but still they set off. They had some sort of belief that Jesus was going to make something extraordinary happen, but surely no reason to think they would be miraculously healed; that their damaged body parts would be restored and their skin made like new. But still they set off with belief in Jesus. They had faith. At the depths of their despair they had faith and did what Jesus asked.
Here’s the point. If they hadn’t trusted Jesus and set off in pain and agony. They wouldn’t have been healed. If they’d looked at each other and said, nothing’s changed we’re as ill now as we were before we met Jesus, so why bother? - they wouldn’t have been healed.
Like the woman who was healed when she touched the hem of Jesus’ cloak, faith came before the miracle.
There are always times in our lives where things don’t go as we want. Illness, bereavement, losing a job, financial stress. But in the midst of all our turmoil and issues, God is still present and still loves us. When we can’t see the way out of difficulties, we need to have faith that God has still ‘got our back’. Because nothing pleases God more than when we have faith in Him.
It is not for us to bargain with God or put conditions on our faith by asking Him to fix these issues in my life and I’ll pray more often or go to church more. Or, make my worries go away and I’ll do more to help others. Having faith is about understanding that when we trust in God and obey His will – He will always make things work out according to His plan, not ours. We cannot know what God has in store for us but we need to look hard and recognise where God has been and is working in our lives.
We need to take stock of all the positive things and above all say thank you. We should be confident that God loves us all, even the outcasts, and He will heal us in ways we can’t imagine. God who sent His only Son that we might all be saved and healed. Paul
Our Prayers
Loving Father,
You pour out endless blessings upon us.
Open our eyes to see your hand at work,
And to give you thanks for all you continue to do for us.
Lord, we pray that we have faith to trust in all you do
And obey your will.
Amen
Today's final hymn is "Through all the Changing Scenes of Life"
