Faith Daily | 1 October 2021

PRAYER of the DAY - PENTECOST APBA p586

O God,

you declare your almighty power

chiefly in showing mercy and pity:

mercifully grant us such a measure of your grace

that, running in the way of your commandments,

we may obtain your gracious promises,

and be made partakers of your heavenly treasure;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

GOSPEL for the Day: Luke 10: 13-16

13 ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14But at the judgement it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades.

16 ‘Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.’

GOSPEL Reflection: Contributed by: Peter Galbraith

The inclusion of these three towns seems to add a further dimension to the previous words of Jesus. In the previous passages shaming had been directed at failure to welcome His followers as guests in whatever place they found themselves. Here it is failure to acknowledge the many acts and miracles that Jesus had performed in the streets of these well-known towns, let alone to recognise the significance of the One who performed them, and thence the One who sent Him. Chorazin we scarcely recognise, Bethsaida was the hometown of Andrew, Peter and Philip, and the site of a loaves and fishes miracle. In Capernaum Jesus had wrought more wonders than almost anywhere.

Choice, by Jesus, of the Gentile cities of Tyre and Sidon for negative comparisons must have been additionally infuriating to the inhabitants of these Jewish towns. The Old Testament makes clear that pride was the characteristic most associated with Tyre and Sidon.

So what are underlying messages that inhabit this narrative? Perhaps a major one is that actions have consequences – and so does failure to act. We meet it first in the Garden of Eden, find it reinforced throughout the history of Israel, in the Gospels (as here), and through to Revelation in the messages to the seven churches of Asia. As the message to the Laodicean church in Revelation 3 bluntly points out – there is no room for fence sitting.

FINAL PRAYER: APBA p560

God of the covenant,

in our baptism you called us

to proclaim the coming of your kingdom:

give us courage, as you gave it to the apostles,

that we may faithfully witness to your love and peace

in every circumstance of life;

in the name of Jesu Christ our Redeemer.

Amen