Faith Daily | 15 October 2021

PRAYER of the DAY - PENTECOST APBA p591

Almighty God,

in your wisdom you have so ordered our earthly life

that we must walk by faith and not by sight:

give such trust in your fatherly care

that in the face of all perplexities

we may give proof of our faith by the courage of our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen..

GOSPEL for the Day: Luke 12: 1-7

Meanwhile, when the crowd gathered in thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. 2Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 3Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.

4 ‘I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. 5But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. 7But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

GOSPEL Reflection: Contributed by: Kay Murry

Jesus continues preaching and teaching with no holds barred, and not surprisingly, the Pharisees' noses (and beliefs) are seen to be seriously out of joint!

But the people feel so drawn by Jesus' strong, compelling words that they keep coming and even trampling on one another to hear them.

Why is Jesus so against yeast, I wondered. He's equating it to the hypocritical words of the Pharisees (and Saducees, in Matthew's gospel). Is it because yeast makes bread rise, and so be 'full of hot air', as we might say? If so then Jesus is saying that Pharisees, Saducees, (or we) might think we've convinced people with secret and untruthful 'hot air', but make no mistake, it will come into the open and be recognized as such. ( e.g. Scott Morrison a making a colourful news grab attacking only the Queensland Premier about insistence on the needs for health funding, when it is on record (and reported soon after on all news networks) that in fact all state Premiers are worried about health funding, and pressuring for more...)

And for any of us, Jesus makes it forcibly clear, secret hypocrisy will come back to bite us... From verse 4, it gets even more uncomfortable, with the injunction to fear as a result not just death, but eternal punishment. Still, God knows the number of hairs on our head, and we are more valuable than the sparrows, not one of them forgotten in God's sight! And we do know how to respond - forget the hypocritical teachings of the Pharisees and Saducees. Follow the teachings and the way of Jesus, and we'll be alive, truthful, righteous, unafraid 'sparrows'!

FINAL PRAYER: From 'Man of the Spirit". Bruce D. Prewer

God of truth and grace,

your Jesus was a man of the Spirit

as no one else has ever been,

attuned to the melodies of your kingdom

beyond all other souls,

aware of the light and shade of earth,

surpassing all prophets and saints,

at home, yet never at home

on this planet of buried dreams.

Give to us, his sisters and brothers,

a mind like his mind,

and may his Spirit

attune us to your kingdom

and Make us lovers of your light.

Amen.