Third Sunday after Pentecost: Proper 6

Track 1: The Miracle of Birth

Genesis 18:1-15, (21:1-7)
Psalm 116:1, 10-17
Romans 5:1-8
Matthew 9:35-10:8(9-23)

Today let us look at some miraculous births. Birth, itself, is a miracle. The psalmist wrote;

God appeared to Abraham in the form of three men. While he was entertaining them, they promised that he would be given an heir through his wife Sarah, even they were both of advanced age. Sarah overheard what they had said and laughed. She knew that it would take a miracle for that to happened:

So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?’ The Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, and say, “Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?” Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.’    (Genesis 18:12-14)

Sarah was right. It took a miracle. Abraham was a man of faith. From Hebrews we read:

By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, ‘as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.   (Hebrews 11:11-12)

Let consider another miraculous birth. This one by the virgin Mary. Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. God demonstrated his power through the faith of a man and a woman who were of low estate.

Jesus gave up his divinity that he might be clothed in the weakness of flesh. Only then could be offered up as the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The Apostle Paul wrote:

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person– though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.   (Romans 5:1-8)

Even in our frailty and weakness God is able to bring new life into being. In this case, God brought new life to all of us through the death and miraculous resurrection of his Son. On the cross Jesus appeared weak. But by the power of the resurrection he has given a new birth to all who will believe.

Today, God is still birthing himself in us. The Apostle Paul had a weakness from which he sought relief. He wrote:

Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.   (2 Corinthians 12:8-:8-9)

The power of God is continually giving us new birth. Will we accept it by faith, or will we be so overcome by circumstances which the enemy devises to steal away or faith? Let us look to Jesus, the auth0r and finisher of our faith. The Apostle Paul wrote:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though  outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.   (2 Corinthians 4:16)

 

 

Track 2: A Priestly Kingdom and Holy Nation

Exodus 19:2-8a
Psalm 100
Romans 5:1-8
Matthew 9:35-10:8(9-23)

God called his disciples to be shepherds of the lost sheep. Is he calling us” Reading from today’s appointed Gospel:

Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.    (Matthew 9:35-10:1)

Before he sends us out he first calls unto himself. He grants us the power of the Holy Spirit. Now we are ready if we have responded to his voice. We are then ready to do the same works 9f JesusP

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.   (Matthew 10:5-8)

The Israel was called by God to be a Holy Nation:

The Israelites had journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.”   (Exodus 19:2-6)

Did Israel listen to God? Our nation has been grafted into Israel..Are we listening? The Apostle tells us that we have been called to share the glory of God, his manifest presence:

Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person– though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.   (Romans 5:1-8)

Jesus sacrificed himself to pay the price of our sin, Now he is asking us to sacrifice ourselves. God has made a covenant with us. We are called to be like Israel a Priestly Kingdom and Holy Nation. This is an impossible task by human effort. We are living in troubling times. The forces of darkness seem to be ruling the land. Are wearing us down? Jesus’ disciples lived in a time of great darkness, but they had the light of Christ. God does not grow weary:

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
    and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
    and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
    they shall walk and not faint.   (Isaiah 40:28-31)