THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 2021
 
 
Collect
 
Lord God, mercifully hear us, we humbly pray, and grant that we, to whom you have given a sincere desire to pray, may be defended by your mighty power, and strengthened in all dangers and adversities; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
 
 
Holy Scripture
2 Chronicles 33 : 9 - 13
 
But Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem, astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.
 
The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. So the Lord brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. In his distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.
 
 
1 Peter 5 : 5 – 11
 
Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,
 
    “God opposes the proud
       but gives grace to the humble.”
 
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
 
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
 
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
 
 
HUMBLE ACCESS
 
It is key maxim of the Word of God that it is only the humble who receive the grace of God. Such humility is by no means a human virtue or a necessary qualification or merit for salvation. True humbling wrought in the heart of a believer is a work of grace and simultaneously the flip-side of the gift of faith. Martin Luther describes humility as the other side of the spiritual “coin of faith” (but he naturally suggests no notion of any purchasing power of this metaphorical coin).
 
Faith and humbleness are inseparable. Pride, arrogance, haughtiness is the sinful attitude of man that collides with the powerful resistance of divine repulsion and revulsion, immediately and perpetually, until it is caused to subside by the influence of the Holy Spirit. As Peter quotes from the Psalter, “God opposes the proud.” He also attests that all the children of God are to be clothed with humility. This vesture is not optional. It is the uniform or standard garb for all the people of God and we are to be carefully attired and modest in our internal life and its expression.
 
Likewise, in external ecclesiastical bearing, all clerical costume ought to be modest and never regarded as necessary, or appear splendidly gaudy. Simple clericals can emphasize the solemnity of ministerial office, and prepare the mind for duty and other-worldly worship, but it must never excite the sense of personal grandeur or self-importance of those who represent Jesus Christ. Every bishop ought best be graced by a humble eye and a sinner’s blush - the sheer “sartorial” fussiness of some. Bishops are servants of the servants and those who do not, as a priority, preach the word are not bishops at all.
 
A comment was once made by a high church Anglican that John Bunyan was not to be greatly regarded, as he did not belong to “the proper Church” (institutionally). But instead, the admirable Bunyan was indeed a true shepherd of his flock, as described by Peter elsewhere in his epistle, and, accordingly, the worthy Bedfordshire tinker, was known and honored by his people as “bishop”, faithfully feeding his flock the bread of life and romping with “the lambs”, the little children, of his various families on their cottage floors.
 
Whatever the qualities of genuine pastorship, a key attribute is lowliness. The scholarly pastor is without doubt an invaluable asset, if approachable, but the Lord has greatly blessed men of what may be deemed rather ordinary background and character.
 
Charles Simeon of Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, gentleman and scholar, highly regarded John Stittle, founder of what became Eden Chapel in the same city. He rendered to Stitlle, a man who could not write, and was mocked by students, moral and financial support, and owned himself grateful that the dissenting minister took good care of Trinity’s strays.
 
Titles and attainments should never separate Christians into first and second class. Mutual respect is imperative, and working class and artisan parishes are often populated by men of honest and very able minds. At least, nowadays, no Anglican is obliged to address his bishop as “my lord!

Our English Reformers were generally men of great humility, courtesy and gentleness, as eminent and accomplished as they were, and grace established in them even the submissive spirit of martyrdom. One of those precious martyrs, Hugh Latimer, inveighed against the arrogance of certain holders of princely and fake episcopal office. Archbishop Marcus Loane observes in his book Masters of the English Reformation that Latimer became the friend of the poor, stating that “They in Christ are equal with you. Peers of the realm must needs be. [But] the poorest ploughman is in Christ equal with the greatest prince that is.”
 
God is not moved by pomp and pretentiousness of any kind. Before him all are weak, wicked and unreliable. And he will soon reveal to his chosen ones their evil nature, vulnerability to temptation, fluctuations of purpose and resolve, and coolness of devotion, love and obedience (without me you can do nothing). Paul was delivered from the snares of pride in the highest possible levels of spiritual experience; “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me.”
 
However, the kindness of the Lord, after tempering pride, is enormous. In the guise of God-created humility an odious apostate such as Manasseh can be restored to God’s acceptance. We ourselves may find the welcome of the Lord as we humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand in all matters and moods of life. The motto of the great leader of the 18th century Awakening in the north of England, William Grimshaw, was “keep the proud chit down”; that is, to humble the childish vanity within each of us and bring it way down low, and under discipline at all times.
 
Humble access to God is the way of the lowly and contrite. It is that beautiful sentiment which is expressed by Thomas Cranmer in the prayer of humble access he composed for the Service of Holy Communion in the reformed Church of England: “We do not presume to come to this thy table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy . . . ” We stoop before the Lord’s table.
 
All our self-reliance, boastfulness, and self-promotion, as it is being checked by the restraints and chastisements of the Lord, abates and bowed spirits usher us, undeservingly, into the comprehensive care of the Father. The mighty hand “will lift us up in due time”, his capacious lap will receive all our anxieties. Paul is able to affirm, “He cares for you”.
 
Pride is the barrier to the Lord’s infinite range of blessing - all grace (v10). Pride is Satan’s key to our manipulable minds and hearts. We shall never in this life shed the horrid tendency of pride. It is innate and always ready to surge in a multiplicity of subtle and not so subtle ways. But God makes its taste nauseating to the mouth and we yearn for its extinction. The Lord Jesus, lofty and lowly, says to us, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” Matthew 11:29.
 
RJS

THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


Collect 


Lord God, the unfailing helper and guide of those whom you nurture in your steadfast fear and love: Keep us, we pray, under the protection of your good providence, and give us a continual reverence and love for your holy
Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 




The Gospel reading from Holy Scripture 
Luke 14 : 15 - 24 


When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” 


Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. 


The first said, ‘I have just bought a field and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ 


Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I am on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 


Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ 


The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ 


‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ 


Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”




GRACE AND INGRATITUDE 
A Parable of Lame Excuses 


The man at the table where Jesus was dining came out with one of those statements that evidence trite religion and false piety, the kind of silly sentiment that is so disappointing when it follows a matter of great seriousness. The reference to the blessing of the kingdom falls into the category of religious cliche that dampens the importance of acute and weighty insight often prevalent, for example, in student questioning following a profound address from an eminent and godly specialist in his professional field. 


Quiet and contemplative departure is the best conclusion to a communication of superior quality. Those who try to prove themselves among their peers in public can deflate a carefully cultivated mood of elevated awareness. The spell is broken. We are not permitted to dwell for a while in the charm of the mystery of that which has been imparted. 


The table talk of the Lord Jesus was reduced to mind-numbing mundaneness by the guest who wrongly estimated himself as a fount of wisdom quite able to fittingly sum up the thought of the Savior. We revere Jesus’ word with due deliberation that blocks out cheap familiarity. The fellow-diner’s saying is comparable to that of the woman in the crowd who cried out, after a very solemn and terrifying discourse delivered by Jesus, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you” (Luke 11:27). This is an expression of unwarranted sentimentality at the conclusion of a dire warning. Jesus countered it with verbal realism of the most serious kind, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” (Luke 11:28). Folk are always tempted to tame the tongue of Messiah to the level of conventional twitter.


As it happens, unregenerate human nature has no aspiration toward the kingdom of God (John 3:3). It is simply a high-sounding phrase until the event of new birth and spiritual understanding. Those not born from above are averse to divine realities. Their entire concentration is upon this earthly life, even given their highest ideals along with their material desires. This universal tendency is succinctly illustrated in the parable of the great banquet. Man has no appetite for God and his ways. The allure and joy of heaven is proffered to mankind in terms of a rich and satiating feast of the most generous, enjoyable and convivial kind. But the appetite among the self-satisfied and contented is not there.


The excuses for absence are unpardonable in terms of social convention in Jesus’ time. The guests were issued an invitation well before it was intended that they should come. The splendid occasion for which they were specially selected for privilege and celebration would take time for planning and preparation. Its lavishness would be stunning and the requirements for the guests carefully calculated and supplies sufficiently available. Organization would be of careful exactitude - nothing overlooked or amiss. When the day of completion was at last predictable the guests would receive notice of readiness and their commitment to be present gratefully acknowledged by host and household upon arrival. It would be absolutely shocking to receive refusals at this rude juncture. But the invitations are not prized by the recipients and the catalogue of cancellations is patently untrue and insulting. 


Three examples are cited for non-attendance. The first ingrate mentions a field he has just bought and he must examine it. But would anyone purchase a property without first inspecting it? No way! The transaction would require careful preparation for assessment of suitability and arrangement of finance. The man lies and even blatantly disregards the preparatory arrangements effected by the host that he has deceived.


The second ungrateful individual has just bought five yoke of oxen and must “try them out”. Would a farmer acquire a John Deere tractor with out checking it over before handing over its price? This is another untruth revealing contempt for the lord of the banquet. The third man is a downright twister of marital circumstances. In Jewish society the custom was to relieve newly-wed males from one year’s military service. It was not relief from normal social undertakings however inconvenient.


Thus we have three defaulters defying voluntary obligation sealed by solemn promises. Their behavior is inexcusable. These are just examples of a general unwillingness to attend the banquet, hence the master of the house orders a wide and indiscriminate bidding to fill his hall to capacity with guests who formerly would never have shared a cup of tea with the nobility - the socially deprived and scorned of circumstance. When these are gathered, the immense compassion and generosity of the man of enormous affluence is manifested in a further command to his servants. The outcasts and itinerants not suited to well-ordered town life, not wanted among accepted citizenry because their impolite lifestyle, rough appearance and awkward behavior were socially offensive or shameful, these undeserving folk were to be ‘made to come”, effectually persuaded by the strongest possible words of insistence, the word of mercy wherever the wretched and helpless happen to be. Likewise, it is the insistence and effectual call of God that brings the unworthy into his kingdom, as Augustine asserts. It is pride, deviousness, and selfishness that denies the willingly unwilling the ability to enter. 


RJS