7th Sunday after Trinity + Mark 8:1-9 & Romans 6:19-23 + July 15, 2018
Grace and Peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
The
Collect of the Day collects all the thoughts of the Sunday into one brief
prayer. It’s tempting to think that because it’s brief it’s generic. But each
prayer summarizes the main thought for each Sunday’s readings and ties them
together. This makes the Collects good for more than just Sunday mornings. The
Collect is for each day of the week, rooting each day in Sunday’s thought. If
you use the Collect each day of the week you’ll find that it, and the readings
for Sunday, conforms your prayers to its thought. Consider today’s Collect, the
prayer for the seventh Sunday after Trinity. “O God, whose never-failing
providence ordereth all things both in Heaven and earth, we humbly beseech Thee
to put away from us all hurtful things and give to us those things which be
profitable for us.” It sounds generic. It also sounds like something the
prosperity preachers could pray. We pray for two things. First, put away from
us things that are hurtful. Second, give us things that are good for us. But it’s
far from generic. Nor is it a prayer for an easy life free of care. Today’s
appointed Gospel and Epistle lessons teach us how God gives us those things
which be profitable for us and how He puts away from all hurtful things.
St.
Mark writes in his eighth chapter that a great multitude had gone out into the
desert to hear Christ teach God’s Word. Not only had they made the trek into
the barren wilderness, they had been there, listening attentively to Him for
three days. Because of that they now had nothing to eat. If Jesus dismisses
them with empty stomachs they will faint on the way home. But Christ is not a
stingy God. He tells His disciples, “I
have compassion of the multitude because they have now continued with me three
days and have nothing to eat.” Christ has compassion on those who hear His
word and continue with Him in faith. He takes seven loaves of bread and a few small
fish. He gives thanks for the food, teaching the multitude that all our food is
a gift from our heavenly Father, no matter how we get it. He has the disciples
distribute the bread and fish. On that day, seven loaves of bread and a few
small fish feed a very great multitude. It satisfied each person, too. Mark
writes, “So they ate and were filled,
and they too up seven large baskets of leftover fragments.” It is only
then, after he has recorded this miracle that St. Mark defines what he means by
a very great multitude. “Those who had
eaten were about four thousand.”
The
miracle shows us precisely what we said of God in today’s Collect. His “never-failing
providence ordereth all things in heaven and earth.” Christ shows us that He
will care for us in all our bodily needs. By feeding four thousand with seven
loaves and two small fish Christ shows that He has compassion on those who hear
His Word and continue with Him in faith. We see clearly that He gives us those
things which be profitable for us. For as He feeds this multitude in the
wilderness, so He promises daily bread to all mankind, that is, all that our
bodies need, not just food. But He did not feed the multitude immediately. In fact,
He first let them suffer hunger and lack by leading them into the wilderness. This
shows us that the Lord often allows trials and misfortunes to come upon those
who attentively hear His Word and learn it. It is human nature to balk at this situation and
say, “Christ did not give them good things immediately because He let them
hunger! He led them into a hurtful situation!” The same is true in you and me.
Our flesh desires to be well-fed and comfortable at all times. That’s what we
assume is profitable for us. The truth is, though, that when our bellies are
full and we are comfortable, we are less likely to attend to God’s word and
preaching. When God sends lack, when He delays our daily bread of food, health,
or companionship, that is still profitable for us because in that lack He
teaches us that we do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God. This is how Paul could write to the Philippians
(4:12-13): “I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound.
Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both
to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me.” Whatever God sends
us as far as daily bread goes is profitable to us and for our good.
In
this Sunday’s appointed Epistle lesson, Paul teaches that those believe the
Gospel and have been justified by faith are no longer slaves to sin but slaves
to God. Being enslaved to sin is hurtful to us because “the end of those things is death.” Our sins merit us death and
condemnation. But again, we pray that God would “put
away from us all hurtful things and give to us those things which be profitable
for us.” Our sins are not profitable for us. They earn us death and Hell. But
God has had compassion on sinners and sent His only-begotten Son to bear our
sins in His own body and die upon the cross to atone for them. The gospel
promises that all who believe in Christ and look to Him for mercy shall find it
and be declared righteous by the faith that believes that promise. Through
faith in Christ, God puts away from us the harmful punishment we justly
deserve. He transfers us from the kingdom of the devil and brings us into the
kingdom of His Son.
Since
we belong to the kingdom of Christ, we are no longer slaves of sin but slaves
of God. Since Christ daily absolves all our sins by faith, we should now strive
to put away those sins from us each day. If we willfully remain in our sins
then we are enslaving ourselves to sin once again. And if we are enslaved to
sin, the fruit of those works is death. We are daily tempted to go back to the
servitude of sin, but Christ promises to aid us in temptation. Temptation is
one of the things hurtful to us which we pray God will put away from us. The
Holy Spirit promises in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you
are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you
may be able to bear it.” He puts away temptation by giving us His Word so
that, in the moment of temptation, we should meditate upon it and use it as our
defense and shield. As He puts away temptation from us when we flee to the refuge
of His promises, He gives us holiness, which is profitable to us. Our holiness
is not profitable for our salvation. Our salvation is through faith alone and
not works of the Law, even works of righteousness done in faith. But the holiness
that God gives us is profitable to us in that it is a sign to us that we are
slaves of God and not slaves of sin. So we pray that God would put away from us
our sins, which He does through faith in Christ’s merits. We pray that God
would put away from us temptation, which He does by giving us the Word as our defense.
When
we pray today, and each day this week, that the God would “put away from us all
hurtful things and give to us those things which be profitable for us,” we aren’t
praying that God would give us easy and comfortable lives. Scripture teaches us
that that isn’t always what is profitable for us and in some cases ease and
comfort can be hurtful to our soul’s salvation, leading us into complacency and
sin. Anything that can harm our salvation we pray that He take that away. In
compassion, He takes away your sins when you repent of them and confess them as
He has promised to do. He takes away temptation by fighting in you through His
Word. And He gives you what is profitable to you: faith which receives the forgiveness
of all your sins and then brings forth works of holiness that fight sin. That
is what is truly profitable to you. He also promises you daily bread. But even
should He withhold it for a time, remember that even in that He is giving you
what is profitable for you according to His good and gracious will. Amen.
May the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding guard your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.