2nd Sunday After Trinity

Readings: Genesis 3v8-15; Psalm 130; 2 Corinthians 4v13-5v1; Mark 3v20-end.

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth, and the thoughts and meditations of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.

A Word: In the reading from Genesis, we hear the first man and his wife talking with God in the Garden of Eden. This conversation took place just after the serpent had tricked the man and the woman into eating the fruit of the forbidden tree. Eating the fruit made both of them notice things they had never seen before, including realising that they were naked. So, when they heard God strolling in the garden, they hid themselves from God. However, when God questioned them about their knowledge and how they had come by it, the man blamed his disobedience on the woman; whereas the woman owned up and said that she had eaten it after being tempted by the serpent. In response, God dresses them in strong clothing, before turning them and the serpent out of Eden. This account is called “The Fall”. It was an account that was known by the religious scholars of Jesus’ time and an account that tells us that in this life Satan is always on the lookout for ways to trip us up and take us away from God. This account was so well known in Jesus time that as we hear in Mark’s gospel, when Jesus returned home and a crowd gathered around making demands on him, Jesus’ opponents spread false rumours about the origin of Jesus’ spiritual powers. For they accused him of using Satan’s powers. But Jesus confronted this slander using a wise story, making clear that it made no sense to accuse him of using Satan’s powers to defeat Satan. Jesus also warned that what they were saying was slandering God and risking cutting themselves off from the very one who could save them. An important warning for all of us.

However, this account is not just about being warned – for it is also about a promise. For while all this was happening, Jesus family and friends came to rescue him from both the crowds and those trying to discredit him. But, instead of getting up and going with his family when they arrived, Jesus used their arrival to explain that everyone who obeys God is his family. As we listen to what Jesus says in the gospel, we hear that we are part of his family when we choose to obey God. This is a choice we have to make for ourselves, for as Paul tells the people of Corinth in his 2nd letter to them, we have a God who raised Jesus back to life, a God who is pouring out his grace into the world, during the good times and the bad; a God who one day will raise his people back to life and give them new bodies that will last forever. For as the psalm tells us, we have a God that we can ask for help and mercy. For God is a God of forgiveness, a God who prefers to wipe away the record of all of our wrongdoing. A God who brings love and redemption, to redeem his people and buy them back from captivity to sin. A God who is well worth living our whole lives for as we listen to, watch for and wait upon God’s arrival.

Today, I hope and pray that we all seek the true meaning in the words of the Bible, and see that from the beginning that God was, is and will always be there to help us, especially when we make mistakes and sin. I hope you choose to put your faith in the God who made his first people strong clothes, even whilst he was throwing them out of Eden. The God who down the ages has kept his word to forgive us and redeem us from our sins. The God who the New Testament tells us raised Jesus back to life. The Jesus who tells us that all people who obey God are his family.

Let us pray: Day by day dear Lord, of you three things we pray: to see you more clearly, to love you more dearly and to follow you more nearly, day by day. Amen

Thank you for joining us.