Twenty Fourth Sunday after Trinity - 2013

The Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity.

Psalm 125

Qui confidunt

1. THEY that put their trust in the Lord shall be even as the mount Sion : which may not be removed, but standeth fast for ever.

2. The hills stand about Jerusalem : even so standeth the Lord round about his people, from this time forth for evermore.

3. For the rod of the ungodly cometh not into the lot of the righteous : lest the righteous put their hand unto wickedness.

4. Do well, O Lord : unto those that are good and true of heart.

5. As for such as turn back unto their own wickedness : the Lord shall lead them forth with the evil-doers; but peace shall be upon Israel.

The Collect.

O LORD, we beseech thee, absolve thy people from their offences; that through thy bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the bands of those sins, which by our frailty we have committed: Grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ’s sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.

Old Testament Reading: Malachi 3.13-4.3

Psalter: Psalm 129, 130, 131 | 144, 145

Epistle Reading: Colossians 1.3-12

Gospel Reading: St. Matthew 9.18-26

Barbee and Zahl: “This prayer has two points of view, that of the victim and that of the victimizer. But the latter looms larger than the former. The petition is for the forgiveness of offenses committed. This is the primary request. But the prayer goes on to see us sinners as victims also, victims of compulsion: “ . . . the bands of all those sins which by our frailty we have committed.” Sins bind us, yet we commit sins because we are frail. The sequences of the human tragedy goes this way: Our frailty or need  leaves us open to temptation. When we fall, we become as it were imprisoned. Each sin is another brick in the wall, or what Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol described as the links of the chain we wrought in life….For release to be accomplished, forgiveness is needed. Thus the prayer asks God to do the one thing sufficient to break the bondage. Father, forgive! ( . . . ) The Good News, then, is for the victimizers or sinners first, and for the victims or those sinned against second. ( . . . ) Victimizer and victim co-exist within every single human being. No self-righteousness allowed” (117)!