Adelphoi,
A meditation for the coming Sunday on the traditional collect, epistle and Gospel.
"Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen."
Epistle: Galatians 4:21-31 Gospel: St John 6:1-14
The Gospel, Epistle and Collect for this Sunday, the mid-point in Lent, are a threefold cord. The Epistle spiritualises the Gospel; the Collect takes it up as spiritualised and turns it into a prayer.
The Gospel provides the account of the feeding of the 5,000 - thus the ancient title for the day, Dominica Refectionis, Refreshment Sunday. This miracle of providing bodily sustenance and physical healing to weary souls may be seen as a fulfilment of the promise of Jesus: "Come unto me all that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you" (Matthew 11:28). The bodily refreshment is symbolical of our higher refreshment by his grace.
The Epistle describes another kind of weariness, that of guilt under the law of God, which Christ also relieves. There are two covenants, that of the Law and that established in and by Christ. The terms of the covenant of the Law are, "The man that doeth the works of the law shall live" but none of us can fulfil it! In contrast, the terms of the new covenant are "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (who fulfils the Law and bears it curse) and you shall be saved". So there is comfort and refreshment for the guilt-laden soul in union with Jesus Christ and in membership of the new Jerusalem, the heavenly Mother of those who believe the Gospel (so this Day is also called Mothering Sunday - "Jerusalem above is free and is the mother of us all" [Galatians 4:26]).
The Collect begins by recognizing that before God's court we all stand condemned as those who both break his commandments and fail to obey them; thus in our consciences we know that we deserve his punishment ( as the Covenant of the Law clearly states). But it does not stop there. It prays that by the comfort of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be relieved and refreshed (here we hear the invitation - Come unto me all that travail.).
This is a perfect Collect for mid-Lent if we have been taking Lent seriously and are much aware of our sins though self-examination and penitence.
This Sunday is a day when the Church encamps in a green pasture to be relieved, refreshed and fed by the Lord Jesus Christ so that we may serve his Father not only in the rest of Lent but in Easter power and grace unto our life's end with out Mother, the new Jerusalem which is above.
P.S. There is a great sermon to be preached on the theme of Refreshment from Exodus 15:27 -- the Israelites came to an oasis called Elim after making bitter trial of the waters of Marah and there they found refreshment with the twelve wells of water and the 70 palm trees...
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon
No comments:
Post a Comment