“Collect for the Twenty Fourth Sunday after Trinity
O Lord, we beseech Thee, absolve Thy people from their offenses; that through Thy bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the grip of those sins, which by our frailty we have committed: Grant this, O Heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ’s sake, our Blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen
The Epistle Colossians 1:3-14
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you.
In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The Holy Gospel of St Matthew 9:18-26
18 While Jesus was speaking to John’s disciples, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.
20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”
22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.
23 When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, 24 he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. 25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this spread through all that region.
Bishop Ian’s Thoughts
Today’s Epistle Reading is taken from St Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians Chapter 1, Verses 3-14.
St Paul commences this portion of his Epistle with a warm greeting to the Colossian Christians, and thankfulness to God for the love they have showed to all God’s people:
“3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people.”
St Paul had not visited Colossae but he had heard, from Epaphras, of the Colossian Christians’ faith and devotion to the Lord Jesus which was made evident by the love that they showed for all “God’s people.”
St Paul immediately declares the source of the Colossians’ faith and devotion:
“5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you.”
Their faith in the Lord Jesus and the resulting love for all God’s people is a perfect coupling and natural consequence of any persons hearing and believing the Holy Gospel.
The true believer has a sure hope stored up in the Eternal Kingdom of the Lord Jesus. The true believer cannot but love their neighbours in response to the perfect love of God shown to themselves.
The reference of St Paul to the “true message of the gospel” immediately suggests that there were false teachers in Colossae who were presenting a distorted gospel which differed considerably from the Holy Gospel.
One of the greatest enemies of the Holy Gospel in the late first and second centuries AD was Gnosticism.
The term Gnosticiism came from the Greek word “Gnosis” which meant knowledge.
Gnosticism was a false spiritual belief system that incorporated many facets of human thought and teaching, and found its roots in classical Greek thought.
Gnosticism was based on the concept of secret knowledge that was hidden from the common man but was able to be gleaned by those who had been initiated into a Gnostic cult, and had then delved into the realm of ancient mystic writings, Greek philosophy coupled with Jewish “magic” and “occult” all mixed up with the misuse of much Christian teaching.
In its full blown state Gnosticism denied man’s ability to know the things of God, and the humanity of the Lord Jesus, which it replaced with an ethereal, non-corporeal spectre, who did not die to pay the price of our sin, but only appeared to die. Other facets of the Lord Jesus’ life were relegated to almost “ghostly” appearances and happenings.
The Gnostics would have entirely rejected the Holy Gospel as an impossible event.
It is in this context of pending attack from Gnosticism, that St Paul urged the Colossian Christians to hold fast to the “true message of the gospel” that has come to you.”
This is the Colossians life line and anchor in the coming storm.
St Paul continues:
“In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.”
St Paul commended the Colossian Christians on the way that their upright lives, and good works have become the fruit of the Holy Gospel, from the very beginning when Epaphras, with the authority and commission of St Paul. first preached the Word of God among them.
St Paul takes care to note that the Holy Gospel was firmly planted in Colossae by the use of the phrase “since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.”
“Truly understood God’s grace” are the key words.
St Paul then beseeched God to give the Colossian Christians all the wisdom that is available through the Ministry of the Mighty Holy Spirit:
“9 “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.”
They key words in this portion of our Epistle are “endurance and patience.”
The Lord Jesus will equip all His people, with Heavenly Grace and courage, so that they are able to complete the work that He has given them.
All the attributes and qualities that He has promised will be given, but in His own time as He sees appropriate.
St Paul concludes our Epistle Reading by summing up the meaning and significance of what was received, and believed, by the Colossian Christians from the first rime that they heard Epaphras proclaim the Holy Gospel:
“13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
May God give to us today all things that are needed by us to grow in grace, love, and wisdom, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and especially patience and endurance as we await the return of the Lord Jesus on the Great day of Judgement, when His Everlasting Kingdom will be revealed and inaugurated. Amen.
Today’s Holy Gospel Reading is taken from the Holy Gospel of St Matthew, Chapter 9, Verses 18-26.
This portion of St Matthew’s Holy Gospel gives us an account of the raising, from the dead, of the daughter of a Synagogue official and the healing of a woman who had a discharge of blood.
St Matthew records the scene:
“18 While Jesus was speaking to John’s disciples, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.”
The Synagogue Leader had a faith that believed a touch of the Lord Jesus’ hand would heal his daughter. It is possible that the man believed that the Lord Jesus was a “thaumaturge” (a worker of wonders and miracles).
That the Synagogue Leader obviously had more than an Old Testament Jewish faith in the Lord Jesus, is shown by the fact that he knelt before Him.
A Jew would not kneel before any person or idol, but only before God.
The text does not specify whether the Synagogue Leader had become a believer, however his kneeling before the Lord Jesus is powerful sign that he regarded the Lord Jesus as being a Divine Emissary from God.
The Lord Jesus immediately responded to the man’s plea for help and set off, with His Disciples, for the Leader’s house.
As they started for the Leader’s home they were held up by a woman with a discharge of blood:
“20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”
The woman obviously had a menstrual condition that resulted in a constant discharge of blood.
This was not only medically serious but the constant flow of blood made her ritually unclean and as such she was excluded from the spiritual life and fellowship of her community.
The Old Testament Book of Leviticus Chapter 15, Verse 25 specifies:
25 “‘When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period.”
To be ritually unclean would effectively render a woman an outcast from her people.
The fact that the woman came up behind the Lord Jesus would suggest that she was unable to speak to Him face to face for fear of ridicule from the crowd. She shows her faith in the Lord Jesus by believing that to just touch the hem of His garment would heal her.
The Lord Jesus responded to her touch and her display of faith:
“22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.”
It might easily seem that the woman was superstitious, and that the hem of the Lord Jesus’ garment was regarded, by her, as a lucky talisman.
The Lord Jesus’ command to the woman “take heart daughter” together with His declaration “your faith has healed you” leaves us in no doubt that the healing was through her faith in Him.
The arrival and action at the Synagogue Leader’s house is recorded by St Matthew:
“23 “When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, 24 he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him.
The noisy crowd and pipe players were a common feature at the family home of a deceased person. These people were professional mourners and were hired by the family to assist in the mourning activities.
It is no wonder the Lord Jesus told them to “Go away,” as he declared that “the girl is not dead only asleep.”
The response from the crowd was to laugh at him.
After the insincere, and money motivated crowd, together with the pipe players, were put outside the Lord Jesus took the girl by the hand and she arose, and was restored to her parents:
25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this spread through all that region.”
News of this raising of the Synagogue Leader’s daughter by the Lord Jesus quickly spread throughout all the region.
In the miraculous healing of the woman with a discharge, and the raising from the dead of the synagogue leader’s daughter we see the Lord Jesus’ Lordship over all things, both in the physical world, and in the spiritual realm.
As the pre-existing Son of God and the second person of the Holy Trinity the Lord Jesus has absolute authority over all things and is able to bring about a complete reversal of all normal processes, including life and death.
Nothing is beyond His control.
Let us always praise and thank God that we have been saved and secured by the Holy Gospel, and forever more we are clothed in the Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In that Holy Righteousness that nothing can separate us from the Love of God in Christ. Amen.
Bishop Ian