Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity, Sunday, September 29, 2013
Fr. Todd Bragg
St. Margaret Anglican Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
"Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." (St. Matthew 22:37)
In today's Gospel passage from St. Matthew, we hear that the Pharisees had heard that Our Lord had put the Sadducee's to silence and they saw this as their opportunity to put Our Lord in His place. Now, they probably should have known better but they took their chances and sent out a lawyer which, St. Matthew reminds us was "tempting Him" and asked: "Master, which is the great commandment in the Law?" Now, this lawyer might not have been the sharpest knife in the bunch because it seems if he was trying to trip up Our Blessed Saviour, it seems like he would have picked a tougher question than this. You see, any devout Jew would have known the answer to this question, let alone a learned Rabbi such as Our Lord. And, so Our Lord responds very easily: "Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all they mind." (St. Matthew 22:37.
Now for us listening today to these words, they can be a bit overwhelming, can't they? I mean when we hear the words: . . . . with all thy heart, with all thy soul and with all thy mind . . . . especially if we emphasize the "all" . . . it can be a bit overwhelming especially to those of us who lead busy lives. If you are anything like me, you are constantly doing things and going from one place to the next. So, your day, your week, your month is broken up into "pieces." In other words a piece of your day goes to work; another piece goes to doing things at home; another piece goes to relaxation; another piece goes to shopping; another piece goes to running errands; etc. And in between running errands and relaxation and going to work, etc., if you have some spare time in between you give this "piece" to God.
Now, there is no way getting around being busy. All of the things I just mentioned are very important in their own right and need to be done, but the key is to somehow involve God in each one of our tasks, whether it be going to work, or doing chores, or fixing up the house, or going shopping, etc. If we find a way to involve God in each one of our tasks on a daily basis, it is at that point that we can truly say that we love God "with all of our heart, all of our mind, and with all of our soul."
Now, interestingly enough, even though today we celebrate the 18th Sunday after Trinity, September 29th is also the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels or as called in our Anglican heritage, Michaelmas. Now, you know what St. Michael the Archangel was known for, don't you? He was the Prince of the Heavenly Host and he had a fierce battle with Satan and kicked Satan out of Heaven:
"And there was a war in Heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." (Revelation 12:7-9)
Now the reason why there was a battle resulting in Satan and his angels being thrown out of Heaven is because, quite frankly, Satan got a little bit too big for his britches. In other words, even though he was an angel, and was supposed to be in service of Almighty God, he decided that he didn't want to be in service of God any longer. He wanted to do things his way and not God's way.
"How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." (Isaiah 14:12-15)
As you can see, the problem with the old serpent Lucifer was that he got to be too good for God. In other words, he was too big for God and did not need God any longer. He thought he was so good and so mighty and so powerful that he did not need God any longer. He was in Heaven but Heaven was not enough for him, he wanted more than Heaven.
In a strange sort of way, this story reminds me of another episode also heard about in the Old Testament. Go back to the Book of Genesis. We hear the following conversation between that old serpent and Eve in the Garden of Eden:
"For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took fo the fruit thereof and did eat." (Genesis 3:5-6)
Now, we know the rest of the story: Eve got her husband Adam to eat of the apple as well . . . . because we know that all husbands do exactly as they are told . . . and they both did something that they should not have done. They knew that they should not have done it because God told them not to. But despite the fact that they were in Paradise, paradise was not good enough for them. They wanted more than paradise. They wanted it all. They wanted paradise plus more just like Heaven wasn't good enough for Satan. He wanted Heaven plus more.
As Christians, we are called to acknowledge the fact that we are in need of God. As Christians, we are called to acknowledge the fact that we are not perfect, that we are fallen, that we are in need of the Messiah. Lucifer, and also Adam and Eve, decided that they did not need God. They could do things on their own, and in their minds, better than God since they didn't need to rely on God. We, on the other hand, acknowledge that everything we have is a gift from God.
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ Our Lord." (Romans 6:23). God gives the gift of Christ to us on a daily basis. God gives of Himself to us especially in the Blessed Sacrament so that He can nourish us, fortify us, and strengthen us for the journey of life.
"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 St. John 4:10) God loved us before we were even born. God has loved us every day that we have been alive. Whether we are 30 or 70 or 90 years old, no matter what our age, God has thought about us every single day our entire life. Can we say the same thing about God, though? Have we thought about Him every day? God has given the gift of His Son to you. Give God the gift of your love and devotion to Him.
In today's Gospel passage from St. Matthew, we hear that the Pharisees had heard that Our Lord had put the Sadducee's to silence and they saw this as their opportunity to put Our Lord in His place. Now, they probably should have known better but they took their chances and sent out a lawyer which, St. Matthew reminds us was "tempting Him" and asked: "Master, which is the great commandment in the Law?" Now, this lawyer might not have been the sharpest knife in the bunch because it seems if he was trying to trip up Our Blessed Saviour, it seems like he would have picked a tougher question than this. You see, any devout Jew would have known the answer to this question, let alone a learned Rabbi such as Our Lord. And, so Our Lord responds very easily: "Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all they mind." (St. Matthew 22:37.
Now for us listening today to these words, they can be a bit overwhelming, can't they? I mean when we hear the words: . . . . with all thy heart, with all thy soul and with all thy mind . . . . especially if we emphasize the "all" . . . it can be a bit overwhelming especially to those of us who lead busy lives. If you are anything like me, you are constantly doing things and going from one place to the next. So, your day, your week, your month is broken up into "pieces." In other words a piece of your day goes to work; another piece goes to doing things at home; another piece goes to relaxation; another piece goes to shopping; another piece goes to running errands; etc. And in between running errands and relaxation and going to work, etc., if you have some spare time in between you give this "piece" to God.
Now, there is no way getting around being busy. All of the things I just mentioned are very important in their own right and need to be done, but the key is to somehow involve God in each one of our tasks, whether it be going to work, or doing chores, or fixing up the house, or going shopping, etc. If we find a way to involve God in each one of our tasks on a daily basis, it is at that point that we can truly say that we love God "with all of our heart, all of our mind, and with all of our soul."
Now, interestingly enough, even though today we celebrate the 18th Sunday after Trinity, September 29th is also the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels or as called in our Anglican heritage, Michaelmas. Now, you know what St. Michael the Archangel was known for, don't you? He was the Prince of the Heavenly Host and he had a fierce battle with Satan and kicked Satan out of Heaven:
"And there was a war in Heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." (Revelation 12:7-9)
Now the reason why there was a battle resulting in Satan and his angels being thrown out of Heaven is because, quite frankly, Satan got a little bit too big for his britches. In other words, even though he was an angel, and was supposed to be in service of Almighty God, he decided that he didn't want to be in service of God any longer. He wanted to do things his way and not God's way.
"How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." (Isaiah 14:12-15)
As you can see, the problem with the old serpent Lucifer was that he got to be too good for God. In other words, he was too big for God and did not need God any longer. He thought he was so good and so mighty and so powerful that he did not need God any longer. He was in Heaven but Heaven was not enough for him, he wanted more than Heaven.
In a strange sort of way, this story reminds me of another episode also heard about in the Old Testament. Go back to the Book of Genesis. We hear the following conversation between that old serpent and Eve in the Garden of Eden:
"For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took fo the fruit thereof and did eat." (Genesis 3:5-6)
Now, we know the rest of the story: Eve got her husband Adam to eat of the apple as well . . . . because we know that all husbands do exactly as they are told . . . and they both did something that they should not have done. They knew that they should not have done it because God told them not to. But despite the fact that they were in Paradise, paradise was not good enough for them. They wanted more than paradise. They wanted it all. They wanted paradise plus more just like Heaven wasn't good enough for Satan. He wanted Heaven plus more.
As Christians, we are called to acknowledge the fact that we are in need of God. As Christians, we are called to acknowledge the fact that we are not perfect, that we are fallen, that we are in need of the Messiah. Lucifer, and also Adam and Eve, decided that they did not need God. They could do things on their own, and in their minds, better than God since they didn't need to rely on God. We, on the other hand, acknowledge that everything we have is a gift from God.
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ Our Lord." (Romans 6:23). God gives the gift of Christ to us on a daily basis. God gives of Himself to us especially in the Blessed Sacrament so that He can nourish us, fortify us, and strengthen us for the journey of life.
"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 St. John 4:10) God loved us before we were even born. God has loved us every day that we have been alive. Whether we are 30 or 70 or 90 years old, no matter what our age, God has thought about us every single day our entire life. Can we say the same thing about God, though? Have we thought about Him every day? God has given the gift of His Son to you. Give God the gift of your love and devotion to Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment