FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
Readings:
*Today’s Epistle is moved up from Trinity 16, since its repeated calls to “be strengthened” and “not lose heart” better fit today’s theme. The Epistle traditionally assigned for today actually fits Trinity 16 better, as we shall see.
Key Verses (using the World English Bible):
Eph. 3:16, 17, 19: “[May you] be strengthened with power through [the Father’s] Spirit in the inward [human]; that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith… that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Luke 17:15-16, 19: “One of [the ten lepers], when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks; and he was a Samaritan… Then [Jesus] said to him, ‘Get up, and go your way. Your faith has healed you.’”
Reflection
An acquaintance of mine recently asked me about my being religious. I rarely get asked a question like that, and I seldom know how to respond for a few reasons. One, I don’t like to preach or proselytize. I firmly believe that faith is a personal conviction, and that it’s not my duty to tell anyone what they should believe in, how, or even if. But two, because faith is so important to me, I can go on and on about the central role it plays in my life—especially after a few drinks!—something which many frequently find boring. I just don’t know how to respond to that kind of question with one word or sentence.
The answer I usually settle upon is that faith reminds me that this world is not all there is. There are still so many things about life that we can’t explain, so many coincidences and little miracles that, I believe, challenge the materialistic worldview which we in the West have so eagerly embraced. On another level, faith reminds me of the many things that transcend this life, things that “money can’t buy”, things like love—just like Paul writes in today’s Epistle, “Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge.” These two reasons together inspire yet a third one for me: gratitude. Faith directs my gratitude for the inexplicable mysteries of life away from the empty limbo of mere luck and coincidence, and towards a Higher Power with purpose and intention.
This is how I read today’s Gospel story. In it, ten lepers beg Jesus for mercy and, presumably, healing. Jesus sends them away to the priests. On the way, they become cleansed from their leprosy, but only one of them comes back and thanks Jesus, who then tells him, “Your faith has healed you.” Note that, although all of the lepers were cleansed, only one was healed, that is, made whole, “filled with all the fullness of God,” as the Epistle says. For me, this is an important distinction. Only the one who really recognized where his cure came from—only the one who wished to align himself with this power by acknowledging it and giving thanks—only he is the one who was healed.
I can see why the ancient Church selected this story for this Sunday, the illumination of sloth. Remember that, for them, sloth was more like indifference or apathy, the type of lazy attitude that just takes things at face value without digging deeper. I think that describes the nine lepers. They start out by crying out to Jesus for help, but never look back once their cries are answered. How often are we like them? We desperately cry out to the Universe for help, and then, having gone off on our way, we forget to acknowledge any answer we receive. If we got what we wanted, then great!—we lucked out! But if not, we lose heart, give up, and move on. Either way, we don’t dig deeper for more meaning. We just settle for the cure, instead of looking to be healed.
Faith calls us away from an indifferent and uncaring worldview, and into the inexplicable Mystery of Life, which we call God. And, through the lens of these readings, what do we learn about that Mystery? We learn that the Divine visits us all, unconditionally, with healing. We don’t have to acknowledge it, but when we do—when we give glory and thanks with a loud voice, or even just quietly bow our knees before it—we open ourselves up to a new way of living, one that is above all that we ask or think, because it’s a power that begins to work in us, and through us, turning us into new, and whole, people.
Prayer of the Day
Almighty and everlasting God,
increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and love;
and, so that we may obtain what you promise,
make us love what you command;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
—Collect #1 for Trinity 14 from the 5th-century Gelasian Sacramentary; found also in the Sarum Missal, and the Book of Common Prayer, 1662.
Almighty and everlasting God,
grant that we may always show forth
a will that is devoted to you,
serving you with sincere hearts,
for you are the majesty and mystery of life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
—Collect #2 for Trinity 14 from the 5th-century Gelasian Sacramentary, translated and adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015.
Hymn: “O love of Christ that fails us not”
(Words: Eben E. Rexford, in Songs of Conquest, 1912; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015
Tune: melody by Charles H. Gabriel, under the pseudonym S. B. Jackson)
O love of Christ that fails us not,
O anchor for the drifting soul,
Be all but this by us forgot:
When sick with sin, you made us whole.
O love so boundless, deep, and so divine,
What joy to know that you are mine!
O wondrous love of Christ that fails us not,
Be all but this by us forgot.
O love that saves us from our sin,
And washes every stain away;
That makes us clean outside and in,
What shall we offer you today?
So poor we are, that we, O Lord above,
Have naught but gratitude and love.
O love that saves and keeps us from our sin,
That makes us clean outside and in.
O love unfailing, free, and true,
O Christ, Redeemer, Lord and Friend,
Teach us to trust all things to you,
For you go with us to the end.
In every joy or sorrow, gain or loss,
O keep our eyes upon the cross.
O love of Christ, unfailing, free, and true,
Teach us to trust all things to you.
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