The Collect for the Sunday Called Quinquagesima
(The Sunday Before Lent)
O Lord, Who has taught us that all our doings without love are worth nothing; Send Your Holy Spirit, and pour into our hearts that most excellent Gift of Love, the very bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whoever lives is counted dead before You: Grant this for Your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.
The Epistle, 1 Corinthians 1:1-13
13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
The Holy Gospel of St Luke 18:31-42
31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. 32 He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; 33 they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”
34 The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.
35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”
38 He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
39 Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?”
“Lord, I want to see,” he replied.
42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” 43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God.
Bishop Ian’s Thoughts
Today’s Epistle Reading is taken from St Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians Chapter 13, Verses 1-13.
This passage from St Paul’s First Epistle to the Church at Corinth, is perhaps one of the most beloved passages in the Holy Bible, and ranks alongside the passages which contain the very words of the Lord Jesus.
In this portion of his Epistle St Paul goes to great length to impress upon his readers that Godly Love is at the very heart of our God’s relationship with mankind, and that the pinnacle of that Love is the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is God’s Love for all people that moved Him to send His Only Begotten Son into the world to give His Perfect Life as a Ransom for all those who accept, by faith, this Priceless Gift of God.
The Great Love of God is summed up in what is the best loved verse in the entire Holy Bible, taken from the Lord Jesus’ discourse with Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish Ruling Council, and recorded in the Holy Gospel of St John Chapter 3, Verse 16:
“16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. “
Also, in his Holy Gospel, St John further records the Lord Jesus’ giving of a new commandment to His Disciples in Chapter 13, Verse 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.”
In his first general Epistle St John declares in Chapter 4, Verses 8-12:
“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”
It is on this unshakeable cornerstone of the Christian Faith, that St Paul exults Love above all the Gifts of God, and other attributes that must be displayed by the people of God:
“1If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
St Paul then defines the qualities of Christian Love:
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
St Paul then defines the endurance of Christian Love:
“8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.”
We are then told, by St Paul, that the deep mysteries of Heaven, and God’s Great Workings will be fully revealed to us by the Lord Jesus, after the Great Day of Judgement and the establishment of God’s Eternal Kingdom.
St Paul contrasts what we now see and know, with what we will see and know at that future time:
“9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
St Paul concludes our Epistle Reading with a wonderful declaration on the great importance of Love, that God has revealed to us. Love is the chief quality embodied in God’s Only Begotten and Beloved Son, and which, in turn, the Lord Jesus has made known and bequeathed to all His faithful believers:
“13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
St Peter, the Lord Jesus’ Chief Apostle, gives us a valuable insight into Christian Love in his First Epistle Chapter 4, Verses 7- 8:
“7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
The Love of God in the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has covered all believer’s sins forever.
Let us always thank God for His Great Gift of the Lord Jesus, Who has paid the great price for our sins and has marked all faithful believers as God’s Adopted Children, and may we all look forward to seeing and knowing all the Great Goodness, and experiencing the Great and Perfect Love of God through His Blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today’s Holy Gospel Reading is taken from the Holy Gospel of St Luke Chapter 18, Verses 31-42.
In this passage of His Holy Gospel St John records the solemn teaching of the Lord Jesus given to His Disciples prior to the Lord Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem and the Divine Destiny that awaited Him there:
“31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. 32 He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; 33 they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”
I am of the opinion that the Disciples, in spite of their witnessing the miracles of feeding, healing, and driving out of demons, that the Lord Jesus performed, still did not fully comprehend the scope of the Lord Jesus’ Person, and Ministry, as the Great Messiah of God:
“34 The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.”
I am certain that the Disciples had no comprehension that the Great Messiah would come as a suffering servant, despite the great Prophecy of the great Old Testament Prophet Isaiah recorded in his Old Testament Book, and which occupies the entire Chapter 53:
" 1Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.”
As the Lord Jesus was drawing close to Jericho, a town on the road to Jerusalem, he encountered a blind man at the roadside begging. When the blind beggar heard the crowd, and learned that it was the Lord Jesus passing by, he called out to Him:
“35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”
38 He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
The blind beggar must have known of the Lord Jesus and His Power to heal the sick and restore sight to the blind, together with something of the Lord Jesus’ lineage as he called out to the Lord Jesus addressing Him as” Jesus Son of David.”
It was known, in the Lord Jesus’ time. that the Great Messiah would come from the lineage of the great King David.
The crowd told him, in no uncertain term, to shut up and not to bother the Lord Jesus, but the more they tried to silence him the more he persisted in shouting out “Son of David have mercy on me:”
39 Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
The Lord Jesus stopped and asked for the man to be brought to Him. He asked the man what he wanted Him to do for him:
“40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man states his request to the Lord Jesus:
“Lord, I want to see,” he replied”
The Lord Jesus replied to him and granted his request:
“42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” 43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God.”
The Lord Jesus obviously saw that the blind man was sincere and most persistent in his shouting to attract His attention. The Lord Jesus recognised the man’s overwhelming faith and rewarded him accordingly.
The blind beggar, now having received his sight, and realizing that it was a blessing from God followed the Lord Jesus and praised God as he did so.
May God give us thankful hearts for the unwarranted Gift of the Righteousness of the Lord Jesus, and may we always be faithful in telling other people about God’s Wonderful Gift of Love, that God’s Kingdom may be filled with those people whose faith and trust is in the Lord Jesus Christ. and with whom we may live forever in God’s Perfect Love. Amen.
Bishop Ian