The Collect for the Fourth Sunday in Lent
Grant, we beseech You, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds deserve to be punished; by the comfort of Your Grace, may mercifully be forgiven; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Collect for Ash Wednesday
Almighty and Everlasting God, who hates nothing that You have made, and forgives the sins of all those who are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts that we, being truly sorry for our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may, obtain of You, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle 1 Galatians 4:21-31
21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.
24 These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written:
“Be glad, barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
shout for joy and cry aloud,
you who were never in labour;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband.”
28 Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30 But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son. 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
The Holy Gospel of St John 6:1-14
6 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near.
5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
Bishop Ian’s Thoughts
Today’s Epistle Reading is taken from St Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians Chapter 4, Verses 21-31.
In this portion of his Epistle, St Paul impressed upon the Galatian Christians the infinitely greater value of the New Testament Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, as compared to the Old Testament Law, given to the Jewish Leader Moses.
The Old Testament Law was common;y referred to as “the Law of Moses,” or just “Moses.”
The Christian Churches in Galatia were composed predominantly of Jewish converts to Christianity. A number of these Jewish converts, known as Judaizers, sought to require all new, non-Jewish (Gentile) members, to believe in the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus and to keep the Law of Moses, given some 1500 years before.
They also wanted to require all Gentile males undergo circumcision in obedience to the Law of Moses.
St Paul calls this a “different gospel” to the Holy Gospel first given to them (Galatians). It can be described as a “Gospel Plus” teaching .
St Paul’s description of the Galatian perversion of the Holy Gospel is recorded earlier in St Paul’s Letter to the Galatians Chapter 1, Verses 6-9:
“6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!”
Prior to this current controversy at Antioch, (a large city in Galatia), St Paul had been accepted, by the leaders (Elders) of the Jewish Christians at Jerusalem, as the Lord Jesus’ Apostle, chosen to minister to the Gentiles (non-Jewish people). These elders included St Peter (Jesus’ Chief Apostle, also known as Cephas), St John, and St James, the half brother of the Lord Jesus and the leader of the Church in Jerusalem.
The account of St Paul’s acceptance, by the Apostles and the Jerusalem Church, is recorded in his Epistle to the Galatians Chapter 2, Verses, 1-10:
“1 Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. 2 I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. 3 Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. 4 This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. 5 We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.”
“6 As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—they added nothing to my message. 7 On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised. 8 For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. 9 James, Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. 10 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.”
When St Peter visited Antioch, at the time the false gospel (“another gospel”) was being preached, he at first, ate and shared fellowship with the non-Jewish Christians, however when a group of Christian men, from the Church of Jerusalem (exclusively made up of Jewish Christians) visited Antioch, St Peter withdrew from fellowship with the non-Jewish Galatian Christians, so as not to be seen to extend full fellowship to them lest he incur the anger of the group from the Church in Jerusalem.
St Paul argued with St Peter (Cephas) at Antioch, face to face, about St Peter’s hypocrisy. This argument is recorded in St Paul's Epistle to the Galatians Chapter 2, Verses 11-21:
“11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
“14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?”
“15 We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”
“17 But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.”
“19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
A Council (meeting) was held at Jerusalem to resolve what should be required of Gentile Christians. The Council, and it’s decision is recorded in The Acts of The Apostles Chapter 15, Verses 1-20:
“1 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. 3 The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.
5 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”
6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
12 The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. 13 When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. 14 Simon[a] has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. 15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
16 “‘After this I will return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
and I will restore it,
17 that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’—
18 things known from long ago.
19 It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.”
St Paul began our Epistle Reading, for today, by confronting the Judaizers regarding the Law:
“21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says?”
St Paul declared that although they wished to be under the Law they did not know what the Law meant.
St Paul then further confronted the Judaizers by comparing the Law of Moses with the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus, using an example from the Old Testament relating to the wife, and the slave, of Abraham, as “it is written,” in the Old Testament Book of Genesis Chapter 16:
“1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”
6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:
“You are now pregnant
and you will give birth to a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,
for the Lord has heard of your misery.
12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward all his brothers.”
13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.”
St Paul continues by summarising:
“22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.”
“24 These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written:
“Be glad, barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
shout for joy and cry aloud,
you who were never in labour;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband.”
St Paul skillfully contrasted the Covenant of Law as being represented by the slave woman Hagar, and her children, who have been conceived and born in the normal course of life, while Sarah and her children represent children born through the Promise of God.
Hagar and her children represent earthly Jerusalem, while Sarah and her children represent the New Jerusalem, that is above, created by God.
St Paul concluded his argument by declaring that just as the children of Hagar persecuted the children of Sarah, in the time described in Genesis 16, and will not inherit the Promises of God and share in His Eternal Kingdom, so in St Paul's time, the Judaizers, who were persecuting the Galatian Church, will not inherit the Kingdom of God:
“28 Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30 But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”
Like Hagar and her slave children, the Judaizers must be driven out of the Church, so that only the children of the Promise of Grace (the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus), will inherit the Promises of God and share in His Eternal Kingdom.
St Paul concludes our Epistle Reading by declaring that he, the Galatian Christians (and all Faithful Believers of God’s Holy Word, in every age), are children of the free woman, the Children of Grace, through the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ:
“31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman”.
Let us thank God that we are the children of the the free woman, through the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and shall share, as our inheritance, the Lord Jesus’ Blessing of Eternal life, with Him, in God's Eternal Kingdom. Amen.
Today’s Holy Gospel Reading is taken from the Holy Gospel of St John Chapter 6, Verses 1-14.
St John opens this portion of his Holy Gospel with the account of the Lord Jesus providing a meal for a crowd of over 5,000 people. We know that there were in excess of 5,000 people present as the text states that the number only included men. No doubt many woman and children were also present.
The Lord Jesus had crossed to the opposite side of the Sea of Galilee from where He had been. He was accompanied by a large crowd, who had seen the miraculous signs of healing the sick, that the Lord Jesus had previously performed:
“1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near.”
When the Lord Jesus saw the large crowd He knew what they needed, and what He would do to meet their need,, however he first tested His Disciple Philip:
“5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.”
While Philip answered in an accurate and descriptive manner, he however missed the significance of the Lord Jesus’ question:
“7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
Another Disciple, Andrew, who had overheard the Lord Jesus’ words to Philip, volunteered what would be a good solution if only a few people were present:
“8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
The Lord Jesus commanded that the people sit down and then began His Miracle.
The Miracle was preceded by the Lord Jesus giving thanks for God’s gracious provision of the food, and then the meal was distributed to all the people, each person taking as much as they wanted:
“10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
The meal is concluded and the leftovers are gathered together. The Disciples filled twelve baskets with the remains. The Greek term for the baskets indicated that they were small, hand held, baskets:
12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.”
These leftovers would have been shared by the Lord Jesus and his Disciples, and those other members of His group who had helped organise, and serve the crowd, during the Miraculous Meal.
St John records that the crowd noted the significance of the Miracle of the provision of so much food from only ”five small barley loves and two small fish.”
The people acclaimed the Lord Jesus as the “Prophet who is to come into the world:”
“14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
The Prophet that the people were referring to was God’s Great Messiah, whose coming was foretold in the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 18, Verses 14-19:
“14 The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so.”
“15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”
“17 The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him.”
“19 I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.”
God’s Great Messiah was, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s only Begotten and Beloved Son.
This Miracle of the provision of food for over 5,000 people was a separate Miracle to the provision of food to over 4,000 people.
The Lord Jesus confirmed that there were two miracles performed, when he gently scolded His Disciples over His warning to beware of the "yeast of the Pharisees and Herod" as recorded in Mark chapter 8, Verses 1-10:
“14 The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. 15 “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”
“16 They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”
“17 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
“Twelve,” they replied.
“20 “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
They answered, “Seven.”
“21 He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
The Lord Jesus was using the symbolism of "yeast" to describe the teaching of the Pharisees and Herod.
The “yeast” (teaching) of the Pharisees, King Herod, and all other Jews was based on the Law of Moses, which could do nothing except identify sin and condemn the sinner.
Only the Lord Jesus, Our Holy Saviour, could remove the stain and guilt of all sin, forever, through His Perfect, Holy, Sinless Life, and His Holy Blood, shed on the Cross of Calvary.
This Holy Gift is given to all believers through their God Given Faith in the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us always give thanks to God for the Gift of the Lord Jesus Christ and for the Holy Gospel, and may we always worship Him as our Lord and Saviour, and look for His Second Coming, at which time He will Judge all mankind, and we, His Adopted Children, will inherit God's Promise of Everlasting Life, in His Eternal Kingdom. Amen.
Bishop Ian