The Collect for the First Sunday after Trinity
O God, the strength of all who put their trust in You, mercifully accept our prayers ; and because of the weakness of our mortal nature we cannot do anything good without You, grant us the help of Your grace, that in keeping Your commandments we may please You, both in will and deed ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
The Epistle. 1 St John 4:7-21
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
The Holy Gospel of St Luke 16:19-31
19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Bishop Ian’s Thoughts
Today’s Epistle Reading is taken from the First Epistle of St John Chapter 4 Verses 7-21.
This passage from the First Epistle of St John is one of the most challenging portions of Holy Scripture to fully understand and then apply it in our daily lives, or to expound it’s ramifications in a sermon to fellow Christians. Even more challenging is to convey it’s message, and application, to Non-Christians.
The crux of the message is simple, and crystal clear. God is Love and everyone who claims to believe in God, His only Begotten Son the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, must have this same God given Love, for all people.
This is easier said, than done.
St John opens this passage by declaring the origin of Love and its manifestation:
"7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love".
I believe that St John intended his first letter to be read by, or to, Christians only, and that the term Love applies primarily to those who profess faith in the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is conceivable that a pagan may love his family and friends and have no regard for the Holy Gospel, so how could the love of the True God abide in that person, although God loves pagans without a reciprocal response.
St John then tells us how God showed His love to mankind, and on what basis He demands the same of those who call themselves His people:
"9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."
The Apostle Paul tells us in his Epistle to the Romans Chapter 5, Verses 6-8, that God loved us first and sent the Lord Jesus to save us from Judgement:
“6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
On a personal note, it was verse 6, of Chapter 5, of St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, quoted above, that, in June 1969, first started the thought process that lead me to believe, and accept the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus, and so become a Christian.
The verse was written on an small Christian mission sign, on the side of one of the the platform buildings of Sydenham Railway Station, in Sydney's south west. It was written in both English and Italian.
I read that sign each week as I travelled home, after escorting my first girlfriend, Kerry, home on a Saturday night, following an evening out at the movies or dinner. After we parted ways, in March 1970, the message of the sign kept coming into my mind and I, at last, read the Epistle of St Paul to the Romans, and the four Holy Gospels.
It was at that point that I realised that I needed God's Holy Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and my life literally changed overnight. By the Mighty Power of the Holy Spirit I had received faith in the Lord Jesus and the Forgiveness of God through the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus.
I thank God for that sign, placed there by people unknown to me, but known to God.
St John then tells us how to show the love of God abides in us:
“13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.”
The Holy Spirit gives us the power to acknowledge that the Lord Jesus is God’s only Begotten Son and that any person who believes in the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus, has God and His Love, dwelling in them, by faith, and His Love will never fail or abandon them.
St John guarantees that God’s Love abides in those who love God and His beloved Son:
"God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them."
St John then declares that God’s Love removes fear of God’s Judgement and punishment from us, as we are clothed in the Holy Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ:
"17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."
St John concludes this portion of his Epistle by warning that any person who claims to love God and yet fails to show love to a brother or sister cannot possibly have the Love of God abiding in them:
"19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister."
The Lord Jesus gave His disciples a New Commandment, to love one another, before He left them to face the ordeal of crucifixion. The giving of the New Commandment is recorded in the Holy Gospel of St John Chapter 13, Verses 34-35:
“34 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Let us give humble thanks to God that He gave us the Great Gift of His Love in sending His only Begotten Son, the Lord Jesus, to bear the punishment that was due to us as guilty sinners. Let us also give thanks to God for granting to us the Holy Gift of Adoption as His Children, and so Heirs of His Eternal Kingdom. Amen.
Today’s Holy Gospel Reading is taken from the Holy Gospel of St Luke Chapter 16, Verses 19-31.
St Luke opens this portion of his Holy Gospel with the Lord Jesus teaching His Disciples about Love and Charity by telling them a parable (an earthly story revealing a heavenly truth) about two men from very different social classes:
“19 There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores."
One man was a very rich individual who lived a life of luxury. Presumably his house was large and comfortable and he had a number of servants and slaves to carry on his business and to provide for all his comforts. He obviously enjoyed fine food and the best of wine.
The other man, named Lazarus, was a beggar who used to sit by the rich man’s gate and beg for food, clothing, money and whatever he could obtain from the rich man’s garbage.
We are told that Lazarus’ body was covered in sores, which were more than likely from diseases caused by the lack of vitamins and other nutrients from good meals.
To make matters worse dogs used to come and lick Lazarus’ sores. This was abhorrent to Jews as dogs were considered an unclean animal in the Jewish Faith.
St Luke then tells us that both men died:
“22 The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried."
After his death Lazarus was carried, by Angels to Abraham’s side. This description means that Lazarus’ spirit was carried to Heaven to join his ancestor Abraham, the Father of the Jewish race, to rest in peace, in God’s presence, as the world awaited the Great Day of Judgement.
The rich man’s spirit was sent to Hades (the place of the dead) where he was in suffering in the fires of Torment. He looked up to Heaven, which is described as being far away, and saw Abraham, with Lazarus by his side:
“23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.”
The rich man called to Abraham for pity, and asked if Lazarus could be sent to dip his finger in cool water and touch the rich man’s tongue to give some relief from the fire of Torment:
"24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'"
Abraham rebuked the rich man and reminded him that in life he had every good thing.
Lazarus, on the other hand, had only bad things but presumably Lazarus had faith in God’s Holy Word and promises, revealed in the Old Testament by His Holy Prophets. God’s Great promise was to send to His faithful people His Holy Messiah to deliver the faithful remnant of Israel from their earthly troubles, and to exalt them to His side in His Everlasting Kingdom:
“25 But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony."
Abraham then told the rich man that there is an impassable chasm (a deep gorge) that God has fixed between the Kingdom of the Righteous and the domain of the unrighteous. None may crossover this barrier in either direction:
“26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us."
Realising that he was not going to receive any relief from his torment the rich man begged Abraham to send Lazarus to his five brothers’ families so that they would not end up in Torment:
“27 He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment."
Presumably all the rich man’s family and his brothers’ families were all wealthy and uncaring when it came to mercy shown to the poor.
Abraham refused the rich man’s request:
“29 Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.”
The rich man appeals to Abraham saying that God’s teaching in the Old Testament was not sufficient to bring about his families’ repentance and to produce a more caring attitude to the poor, but if someone was to rise from the dead and confront them, then that might succeed in convincing them to repent:
“30 No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’”
Abraham refuses the rich man’s appeal and told him that if the families will not listen and obey God’s commands, as revealed by Moses, and the great Prophets of the Old Testament, then they will not listen even if someone, raised from the dead, returned to exhort them:
“31 He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
The Lord Jesus’ purpose in telling the story of the rich man and Lazarus was to emphasise that the Old Testament teaching given in the Law of Moses, and reinforced by the teaching of the Great Prophets of Israel, was more than sufficient to reveal God’s desire that His people should show mercy to wards other people, together with His Command that those who have an abundance of this world’s wealth must share it with those less fortunate.
Being rich carries a responsibility to ensure that out of those riches, provision must be made to help those who do not have access to many of the things that the rich take for granted.
Let us thank God for His many Gracious Gifts given to us to make our lives comfortable and happy. Let us also ask God, through the Lord Jesus, to instill in our hearts, by the Holy Spirit the desire to share our good gifts with others who are less well off than ourselves, and so show forth the Love, Mercy, and Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Bishop Ian