·
25 Louis, King of France, 1270 (also in the Philippines, alternative
commemoration for Charles Henry Brent) commonly known as Saint Louis, was King of France, and is a canonized Catholic and Anglicansaint. Louis was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the death of his father Louis VIII; his mother, Blanche
of Castile, ruled the kingdom as regent until he reached
maturity. During Louis' childhood, Blanche dealt with the opposition of rebellious
vassals and obtained a definitive victory in the Albigensian
Crusade which had started 20 years earlier.
·
27 Thomas Gallaudet, 1902, and Henry Winter
Syle, 1890
·
28 Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 430. Moses the Black,
Desert Father and Martyr, c. 400 ] was a Roman
African, early Christian
theologian and philosopher from Numidia whose
writings influenced the development of the Western
Church and Western
philosophy, and indirectly all of Western
Christianity. He was the bishop of Hippo
Regius in North
Africa and is viewed as one of the most
important Church
Fathers of the Latin Churchfor his writings in the Patristic
Period. Among his most important works are The City of God, De doctrina Christiana, and Confessions.
·
29 John Bunyan,
Writer, 1688
·
30 Charles Chapman Grafton, Bishop of Fond du
Lac, and Ecumenist, 1912
·
31 Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, 651. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, 687 Naomh Aodhán (died 31 August 651) was an Irish monk and missionary credited with restoring Christianity to Northumbria. He founded a monastic cathedral on the island of Lindisfarne, known as Lindisfarne Priory, served as its first bishop, and travelled ceaselessly throughout the countryside,
spreading the gospel to both the Anglo-Saxon nobility and the socially disenfranchised (including children and
slaves).
·
1 David Pendleton Oakerhater, Deacon and
Missionary, 1931
OLD TESTAMENT: Jeremiah
1: 4 - 10 (RCL)
Jere 1:4 (NRSV)
Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,
5 "Before I
formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were
born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a
prophet to the nations."
6 Then I said,
"Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a
boy." 7 But the LORD said to me,
"Do not say,
"I am only a boy';
for you shall go
to all to whom I send you,
and you shall
speak whatever I command you,
8 Do not be afraid
of them,
for I am with you
to deliver you,
qsays the LORD."
9 Then the LORD
put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me,
"Now I have
put my words in your mouth.
10 See, today I
appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to
pull down,
to destroy and to
overthrow,
to build and to
plant."
Isaiah 58: 9b - 14
(alt. for RCL)
Isai 58:9 (NRSV)
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of
the finger, the speaking of evil,
10 if you offer
your food to the hungry
and satisfy the
needs of the afflicted,
then your light
shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be
like the noonday.
11 The LORD will
guide you continually,
and satisfy your
needs in parched places,
and make your
bones strong;
and you shall be
like a watered garden,
like a spring of
water,
whose waters never
fail.
12 Your ancient
ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up
the foundations of many generations;
you shall be
called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of
streets to live in.
13 If you refrain
from trampling the sabbath,
from pursuing your
own interests on my holy day;
if you call the
sabbath a delight
and the holy day
of the LORD honorable;
if you honor it,
not going your own ways,
serving your own
interests, or pursuing your own affairs;
14 then you shall
take delight in the LORD,
and I will make
you ride upon the heights of the earth;
I will feed you
with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,
for the mouth of
the LORD has spoken.
Isaiah 66: 18 - 21 (Roman Catholic)
Isai 66:18 (NRSV)
For I know their works and their thoughts, and I am coming to gather all
nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory, 19 and I will
set a sign among them. From them I will send survivors to the nations, to
Tar'shish, Put, and Lud--which draw the bow--to Tu'bal and Ja'van, to the
coastlands far away that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory; and they
shall declare my glory among the nations. 20 They shall bring all your kindred
from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses, and in chariots,
and in litters, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain
Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring a grain offering in a
clean vessel to the house of the LORD. 21 And I will also take some of them as
priests and as Le'vites, says the LORD.
PSALM 71: 1 - 6 (RCL)
Psal 71:1 (NRSV)
In you, O LORD, I take refuge;
let me never be
put to shame.
2 In your righteousness
deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear
to me and save me.
3 Be to me a rock
of refuge,
a strong fortress,
to save me,
for you are my
rock and my fortress.
4 Rescue me, O my
God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of
the unjust and cruel.
5 For you, O Lord,
are my hope,
my trust, O LORD,
from my youth.
6 Upon you I have
leaned from my birth;
it was you who
took me from my mother's womb.
My praise is
continually of you.
71 In te, Domine,
speravi (ECUSA BCP)
1 In
you, O Lord, have I taken refuge;
*
let
me never be ashamed.
2 In
your righteousness, deliver me and set me free; *
incline
your ear to me and save me.
3 Be
my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe; *
you
are my crag and my stronghold.
4 Deliver
me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, *
from
of the clutches of the evildoer and the oppressor.
5 For
you are my hope, O Lord God, *
my
confidence since I was young.
6 I
have been sustained by you ever since I was born;
from my mother's
womb you have been my strength; *
my
praise shall be always of you.
Psalm 103: 1 - 8 (alt.
for RCL)
Psal 103:1 (NRSV)
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is
within me,
bless his holy
name.
2 Bless the LORD,
O my soul,
and do not forget
all his benefits--
3 who forgives all
your iniquity,
who heals all your
diseases,
4 who redeems your
life from the Pit,
who crowns you
with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies
you with good as long as you live
so that your youth
is renewed like the eagle's.
6 The LORD works
vindication
and justice for
all who are oppressed.
7 He made known
his ways to Moses,
his acts to the
people of Israel.
8 The LORD is
merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and
abounding in steadfast love.
103 Benedic, anima mea (ECUSA BCP)
1 Bless
the Lord, O my soul, *
and
all that is within me, bless his holy Name.
2 Bless
the Lord, O my soul, *
and
forget not all his benefits.
3 He
forgives all your sins *
and
heals all your infirmities;
4 He
redeems your life from the grave *
and
crowns you with mercy and loving-kindness;
5 He
satisfies you with good things, *
and
your youth is renewed like an eagle’s.
6 The
Lord executes righteousness *
and
judgment for all who are oppressed.
7 He
made his ways known to Moses *
and
his works to the children of Israel.
8 The
Lord is full of compassion and
mercy, *
slow
to anger and of great kindness.
Psalm 117, Mark 16:15
(Roman Catholic)
Psal 117:1 (NRSV)
Praise the LORD, all you nations!
Extol him, all you
peoples!
2 For great is his
steadfast love toward us,
and the
faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
Praise the LORD!
Resp. Mark 16:15 Go to
every part of the world,
and proclaim the
gospel to the whole creation.
NEW TESTAMENT: Hebrews
12: 18 - 29 (RCL)
Hebr 12:18 (NRSV)
You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and
darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice
whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. 20
(For they could not endure the order that was given, "If even an animal
touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death." 21 Indeed, so
terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I tremble with fear.") 22
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the
assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of
all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the
mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better
word than the blood of Abel.
25 See that you do
not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they
refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we
reject the one who warns from heaven! 26 At that time his voice shook the
earth; but now he has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the
earth but also the heaven." 27 This phrase, "Yet once more,"
indicates the removal of what is shaken--that is, created things--so that what
cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom
that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an
acceptable worship with reverence and awe; 29 for indeed our God is a consuming
fire.
The author has written: “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain’s ... he died, but through faith he still speaks” ( 11:4). The “sprinkled blood” (v. 24) of Jesus, his death and resurrection that established the new covenant, speaks much more definitively of forgiveness than Abel’s example. Then v. 25: greater punishment is in store for those who reject Jesus’ warning from heaven than for those who rejected his warning at Sinai (“on earth”).
In vv. 26-29, the author interprets God’s words spoken through the prophet Haggai as a reference to the Last Judgement. The kingdom that Christ has brought is unshakable, permanent, but those who “reject” (v. 25) him and his message will perish, be consumed with fire (v. 29), at the Last Day: God will “will shake not only the earth but also the heaven” (v. 26).
Verses 14-17: The necessity of pursuing peace and purity. [ NOAB] If the faithful tolerate “bitterness” (v. 15) or moral defilement, they will forfeit their inheritance, as Esau did. [ CAB]
Verse 15: There are similarities between this verse and the Septuagint translation of Deuteronomy 29:18: “Lest there be among you man, or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart has turned aside from the Lord your God, having gone to serve the gods of other nations; lest there be in you a root springing up with gall and bitterness”. [ NOAB] [ BLXX] Watch over one another to avoid straying from the faith. [ NJBC]
Verse 16: “like Esau, an immoral and godless person”: NJBC offers no fornicator or profane person like Esau. He says that fornicator may not refer to Esau. Esau’s profaneness is shown by his giving up his birthright for a single meal: see Genesis 25:29-34. JB translates this verse as And be careful that there is no immorality, or that any of you does not degrade religion like Esau, who sold ... . To degrade religion refers to the sin Esau committed when he surrendered the position that was his by birth, of being heir to the messianic promises.
Verse 17: Esau is an example not only of deviation from the faith but also of the impossibility of repentance after that sin. In 6:4-6, the author says “ For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, since on their own they are crucifying again the Son of God and are holding him up to contempt”. [ NJBC]
Verse 17: “chance to repent”: Per the NRSV footnote, chance to change his father’s mind is also a possible rendering. See Genesis 27:30-40 (Esau seeks Isaac’s blessing). [ NOAB]
Verses 18-19: See Exodus 20:18-21 (After God gives the Ten Commandments, the people are terrified by his display of natural phenomena – but he does not say “‘I tremble with fear’”); Deuteronomy 4:11-12; 5:22-27. [ NOAB]
Verse 20: In Exodus 19:12-13, Moses tells the people what Yahweh has told him: “‘You shall set limits for the people all around, saying, 'Be careful not to go up the mountain or to touch the edge of it. Any who touch the mountain shall be put to death. No hand shall touch them, but they shall be stoned or shot with arrows; whether animal or human being, they shall not live.' When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they may go up on the mountain’”. [ NOAB]
Verse 21: In Deuteronomy 9:19, Moses says “ For I was afraid that the anger that the Lord bore against you was so fierce that he would destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also”. [ NOAB] That Moses said ‘”I tremble with fear’” is not in the Bible, but is inferred. Further, Deuteronomy 9:19 is part of Moses’ speech given when the Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land, rather than at Sinai. [ JBC]
Verse 22: The author speaks of those who are still on the journey to heaven, yet since they already possess the benefits of Jesus’ sacrifice, he can speak of them as having already arrived. [ NJBC] He shows the now and not yet of Christian experience in this world. [ JBC]
Verse 22: “the heavenly Jerusalem”: In 11:10, the author says that Abraham “looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God”; Galatians 4:26 (the allegory of Hagar and Sarah; Sarah “corresponds to the Jerusalem above”); Revelation 21:2 (“the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God”); 2 Esdras 8:52 (“... it is for you that paradise is opened, the tree of life is planted, the age to come is prepared, plenty is provided, a city is built ...”). [ NOAB] [ JBC]
Verse 23: “the firstborn”: These may be either the angels of v. 22 or the entire assembly of the Christian faithful. [NJBC] They may also be the Old Testament exemplars of Chapter 11. [ JBC]
Verse 23: “the spirits of the righteous made perfect”: In 11:39-40, the author says “Yet all these [exemplars of the Old Testament] , though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect”. [ JBC]
Verse 24: The blood of Abel cried out for vengeance (see Genesis 4:10); that of Jesus brings access to God. Genesis 4:10-11 says: “the Lord said, "What have you done? Listen; your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground! And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand”. In 10:19, the author writes “... we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus”. [ NJBC]
Verse 24: “the sprinkled blood”: 9:14 says: “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!”. See also 13:20.
Verse 24: “Abel”: After Cain kills Abel, Yahweh says: “‘What have you done? Listen; your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground! And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand’” (see Genesis 4:10). [ NOAB]
Verse 25: The author argues from the lesser to the greater, as he does in 2:2-4: “For if the message declared through angels was valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty, how can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was declared at first through the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him, while God added his testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will”. [ JBC]
Verse 25: “who warns”: NOAB says that the Greek can also be translated as who is.
Verses 26-29: “At that time” is at the time of the giving (making) of the covenant at Mount Sinai. Since then, through Haggai, God has promised to shake both the earth and the heaven. The author takes this as a promise to shake out from all that he has created all that are ungodly. At the end of time, after the shaking, only the unshakable will remain; the unshakable will be the faithful. So “we” (v. 28), being faithful, “are receiving”, i.e. both have received and are heading towards the fullness of, membership in the kingdom of God, “a kingdom that cannot be shaken” from fidelity. So “let us give thanks” (v. 28), thereby worshipping God properly, i.e. reverently and with due awe. In v. 29, the author switches metaphor: from shaking out to “fire”. In refining gold, heating the ore separated the gold from the dross, the faithful from the ungodly. So Comments says In vv. 26-29, the author interprets God’s words spoken through the prophet Haggai as a reference to the Last Judgement .
Verse 26: The quotation is from Haggai 2:6, 21. [ CAB]
Verse 29: See also Deuteronomy 4:24; 9:3; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8. In Matthew 3:12, John the Baptizer says of Christ: “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire”. [ NOAB]
GOSPEL: Luke 13: 10 -
17 (RCL)
Luke 13:10 (NRSV)
Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11 And just then
there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years.
She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. 12 When Jesus saw
her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your
ailment." 13 When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up
straight and began praising God. 14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant
because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There
are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured,
and not on the sabbath day." 15 But the Lord answered him and said,
"You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his
donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? 16 And ought not
this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be
set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?" 17 When he said this, all
his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful
things that he was doing.
Jesus’ rebuttal is clever, for while untying an ox or a donkey on the sabbath was forbidden in one part of the Mishnah (a Jewish book of laws), it was permitted in another. Jesus has “set free” (v. 12), untied, the woman who was tied to Satan. If you untie animals on the sabbath, why not humans? Honour and “shame” (v. 17) were, and are, important in Near Eastern cultures. Realizing that Jesus is right, the “leader” (v. 14) and other “opponents” (v. 17) are shamed before the crowd, who rejoice in this wonder-worker. The kingdom is open to all when they turn to God.
In this rich passage,
found only in Luke, the evangelist shows in action the meaning of God’s
kingdom, which he will illustrate through parables in vv. 18-21.
[ NJBC]
Verse 11: “with a spirit”: In 4:33-37,
Jesus cures “a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon”. [ JBC]
Verse 12: “saw her”: Jesus always had an eye for the
needy. [ JBC]
Verse 13: “he laid his hands on her”: Jesus heals and
blesses, in accordance with Old Testament usage: see Genesis 48:14-20 (Jacob
lays his hands on Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and blesses them) and
Leviticus 9:22 (Aaron
blesses the people). In the New Testament, see also Mark 1:41 (Jesus
heals a man of leprosy) and 5:23 (Jairus
asks Jesus to lay his hands on his daughter, that she may be made well again
and live). For laying on hands for healing, see also Mark 6:5; 7:32;
Luke 4:40;
for laying on hands in blessing, see also Mark 10:13, 16;
Luke 24:50.
Jesus does not use the imposition of hands for exorcism; but this and
absolution make the chief uses of the action in the liturgy of the early
Church. [ BlkLk]
Verse 14: “because Jesus had cured on the sabbath”: On
this subject, see also:
- Matthew 12:10-12:
Jesus cites the example of saving a sheep on the Sabbath as showing that
doing good on this day is in accord with the law.
- Luke 6:6-11:
on the Sabbath Jesus heals “a man [in a synagogue] whose right hand was
withered”. When criticised, he asks “is it lawful to do good or to do harm
on the sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?”.
- Luke 14:1-6:
Jesus sees a man with dropsy. He asks religious leaders whether it is “ lawful
to cure people on the sabbath” – they do not reply. He cures the man. He
then cites the example of “a child or an ox that has fallen into a well”,
and asks whether they would not “pull it out on the sabbath day”. Again
they are silent.
- John 5:1-18:
Jesus heals a paralysed man at the Beth-zatha pool on the Sabbath. [ NOAB]
Verse 14: The “leader of the synagogue” recalls one of
the Ten Commandments: see Exodus 20:9-10.
[ NOAB] Detailed rules with
regard to the kind of work allowed on the Sabbath, according to the urgency of
the injury, were published by the rabbis. A prohibition is found in CD
(Damascus Document) 8:22-23: No man shall help an animal in its
delivery on the Sabbath day. And if it falls into a pit or ditch, he shall not
raise it up on the Sabbath. [ BlkLk]
Verses 15,16: “untie his ox ... whom Satan bound ... be set
free ...”: BlkLk offers
for these verses: Jesus answered him and said, “Hypocrites, does not
each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or ass from the manager and lead him
away and water him? This woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has tied up –
see! – eighteen years, was it not right that she should be untied from her
bonds on the sabbath days?”. “Untie” (v. 15)
and “set free” (v. 16)
are translations of the same Greek verb; “bound” is a translation of the
opposite Greek verb. BlkLk’s translation brings out the sense of what Jesus
said better than the NRSV. REB goes
part way in making the sense clear.
Verse 15: “untie his ox ...”: Per the Mishnah (Shabbath 7:2),
tying and loosing knots are among the 39 kinds of work forbidden on the
sabbath, but Shabbath 15:1-2 exempts certain kinds of knots. [ JBC]
Verse 15: “lead it away”: CD (Damascus Document) 11:5-7
says that a stubborn animal can be led up to “a thousand cubits” (i.e. half a kilometre)
on the sabbath. [ JBC]
Verse 16: “daughter of Abraham”: In 19:9,
Jesus declares the chief toll collector, Zacchaeus, to be a “son of Abraham”. [ NJBC]
Verse 16: “whom Satan bound”: Satanic forces are in
conflict with God’s purpose for salvation in his covenant with Abraham, and are
the concern of his saving activity. In Matthew 12:24,
the Pharisees attribute Jesus’ healing power to evil forces hostile to
humankind. In Matthew 4:1-11,
Jesus is tempted by the devil (“Satan”) to misuse his powers to his own
advantage. The devil and “Satan” are names for evil conceived
of as a personal will actively hostile to God. [NOAB]
Verse 16: “be set free from this bondage ...”: What
Jesus does on the sabbath is truly a celebration of its deep meaning, i.e.
release from the effects of the fallen order. The sabbath’s purpose, according
to Jesus, is fulfilled not by forbidding works of compassion, but by
encouraging them. Jesus has released her, a captive, from bonds of evil ( 4:18).
[ NJBC]
Verse 17: “wonderful things”: BlkLk offers glorious
deeds and says that the Greek word is fairly widely used in the Septuagint. Luke is the only evangelist
to use the word. It is found in the Septuagint translation of Sirach, e.g.
Sirach 44:1.
Verse 18: “He said therefore ...”: To try to avoid being
seen only as a wonder-worker (“all the wonderful things he had been doing”,
v. 17),
Jesus asks (rhetorically): “‘What is the kingdom of God like? And to what
should I compare it?’”. BlkLk says
that it is Luke who ties together material from one source (up to and including
v. 17)
with material from the sayings source known as Q (vv. 18-21).
© 1996-2019
Chris Haslam
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