15th Sunday After Trinity

Readings: Isaiah 35v4-7a; Psalm 146; James 2v1-17; Mark 7v24-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 book of the prophet Isaiah we hear the prophecy about the signs that will be seen when God’s promised Messiah would be revealed. For, as Isaiah foretold, God promised to save his people and when the saviour arrived: the blind would see, the speechless speak, the incapacitated leap; and the wilderness deserts made into lagoons of water. In the gospel of Mark, we hear that the people of Tyre and Sidon were witnesses to these signs being fulfilled in their sight. First the Gentile woman’s daughter was delivered from evil; and later the friends of the man unable to hear or speak were granted their request for the man to be given hearing and speech. Both of these signs were interesting because in the first, the gentile woman was initially refused and in the second the healing took place in the context of rituals and prayer.

As we ponder the wonders and mysteries of the promised signs of the Messiah in Isaiah and the miracles performed by Jesus in the gospel, we are called to make a decision. Do we dare to suspend our understanding of the way that nature and science usually work and focus on the ancient promises and the witness of those who saw the promises fulfilled; or do we bury our heads in the sand and try to justify disbelief? I for one, have suspended what I know of science and nature, and have come to believe that the signs foretold in ancient times were fulfilled by Jesus. Being able to make this leap of faith has made me glad and revealed the wonders contained for us in the Bible. For as the psalm says: we have a God who made the heavens and the earth; a God who keeps his promises for ever; a God who gives justice to the wronged and food to the hungry; a God who sets the bound free and lifts up the oppressed; a God who gives sight to the blind and takes care of the stranger, the widow and the orphan; a God who loves the just and turns the ways of the wicked upside down. A surprising God who delights in giving good things to his creation, a God that James in his letter declares: is a God who has chosen the poor of the world to be rich in faith and the heirs of his kingdom; a people who should not be treated with disapproval or narrow-mindedness. For if we do, we shall find ourselves so treated by God when the time comes for us to be judged, for the poor and needy are a people that God expects us to treat with respect and care for whilst we are in this world.

This is the calling of all God’s people, a calling that is difficult to deliver when our world is so full of people who are out to scam and trick us. A calling that we need to discern with care – so we act justly, sensibly and in line with God’s expectations.

Let us pray: Loving Lord God Almighty, generous and merciful to all of your creation. Teach us how to eagerly follow your teaching, inspire us to understand your what you need us to do in the world, help us to discern your calling with accuracy, then send us out into active service in the world, living honourable lives as shining examples, pointing ever towards your salvation. Amen

Thank you for joining us.