This week’s Readings and Sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Epiphany
The Collect for This Week
Almighty God, in Christ you make all things new: transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace, and in the renewal of our lives make known your heavenly glory; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
The Post Communion Prayer for this week
God of glory, you nourish us with your Word who is the bread of life: fill us with your Holy Spirit that through us the light of your glory may shine in all the world. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Psalm 40, verses 1 to 12
1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. 2 He brought me out of the roaring pit, out of the mire and clay; he set my feet upon a rock and made my footing sure. 3 He has put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many shall see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. 4 Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, who does not turn to the proud that follow a lie. 5 Great are the wonders you have done, O Lord my God. How great your designs for us! There is none that can be compared with you. 6 If I were to proclaim them and tell of them they would be more than I am able to express. 7 Sacrifice and offering you do not desire but my ears you have opened; 8 Burnt offering and sacrifice for sin you have not required; then said I: ‘Lo, I come. 9 ‘In the scroll of the book it is written of me that I should do your will, O my God; I delight to do it: your law is within my heart.’ 10 I have declared your righteousness in the great congregation; behold, I did not restrain my lips, and that, O Lord, you know. 11 Your righteousness I have not hidden in my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your loving-kindness and truth from the great congregation. 12 Do not withhold your compassion from me, O Lord; let your love and your faithfulness always preserve me,
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and shall be forever. Amen
The Old Testament Reading for this Sunday is taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah Chapter 49, verses 1 to 7
1 Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away! The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb he named me. 2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away. 3 And he said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’ 4 But I said, ‘I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my cause is with the Lord, and my reward with my God.’ 5 And now the Lord says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honoured in the sight of the Lord, and my God has become my strength— 6 he says, ‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’ 7 Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the slave of rulers, ‘Kings shall see and stand up, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.’
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The New Testament reading for this Sunday is taken from the First Letter of St Paul to the Corinthians, Chapter 1 verses 1 to 9
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, 2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, 5 for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— 6 just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The Gospel reading for this Sunday is taken from the Gospel of St John, Chapter 1, verses 29 to 42
Hear the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ, according to John Glory to You, o Lord
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming towards him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” 31 I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.’ 32 And John testified, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” 34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.’
35 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’ 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ 39 He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated Anointed). 42 He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter).
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to You, o Christ
Note :All readings are shared from the Church of England Lectionary App and are subject to copyright . © The Archbishop’s Council
This week’s sermon is delivered by Rev Chich Hewitt
First of all - an introduction to our Old Testament lesson this morning. Nearly 600 years before Jesus was born, the Jewish people in the Southern Kingdom of Judah, in and around Jerusalem, were carried off into exile by the Babylonians. Prophets had been warning of this, but the rulers took no notice. The poorest people were left behind, while the rest were taken into captivity. It was a time of despair, and some prophecies brought hope. Some 70 years or so after the fall of Jerusalem, the Babylonians themselves were defeated by Cyrus of Persia, who allowed the Jewish people to return to their land. They were distressed at what they saw on their return. But some had vision, and as told in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, the walls of the city were rebuilt, despite opposition from surrounding peoples.
The returning Jews believed that their sin of intermarriage with local people and the worship of foreign gods had been their downfall, and they resolved to keep themselves to themselves. It was as if God had chosen his people for that reason and none other. But there were prophets who believed God was giving them a different vision. For instance , read the short and delightful book of Jonah, where God showed that other nations could be important to him as well. It is a good read.
And there was another great prophet, presumably living some 500 years before the time of Jesus, and often called Second Isaiah. His language is beautiful, his message inspirational, and incidentally his call for the care of creation worthy of note. But very significant are his four servant songs, one of which is before us today. There is debate about whether the mysterious servant to whom he refers is an individual, or Israel. Maybe it is both. In the famous fourth song, the servant is so disfigured that people struggle to look on him, but he is a saving figure. Christians see this as a remarkable reference to Jesus, and if that is true it is a remarkable prophecy some 500 years before the life of Jesus.
In the passage before us today, the second servant song, the prophet seems to have a more universal vision than that related simply to Israel. Note the opening verses, ‘Listen to me you coastlands, pay attention you peoples from far away.’ Here immediately is a call beyond the boundaries of Judah. Now let’s turn to the closing verses; ‘And now the Lord says, who formed me in the womb to be this servant…he says, “it is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel, I will give you as a light to the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth”’.
This is a remarkable revisioning to the people of Judah where in danger of becoming introverted and seeing their role as a chosen people to be only that. God’s plan was that Israel was chosen to be God’s instrument to reach to all nations. God says to the servant through the prophet, ‘it is not enough, tough as it is, to speak only to your own people. I have a bigger task for you - I want my salvation to reach to the end of the earth.’
Centuries later the baby Jesus was brought into the temple for the purification, and was met by the aged Simeon who had been waiting for this moment, before his own death, ‘Lord now let your servant depart in peace…for my eyes have seen thy salvation…to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of your people Israel’. It is breathtaking that a prophet so long before this time, at a difficult moment during the return of exiles to their broken city, could have a vision of someone who was to fulfil the purpose of Israel. Christians recognise this fulfilment of Israel’s purpose, found in the birth of a small and very special infant. This passage from Isaiah is also read at this season of Epiphany with the wise men coming from Gentile lands with gifts for the Christ child.
This message seems obvious to us so many centuries later, but it took a prophetic voice to bring that purpose to the people of Judah, so long before the revelation of the birth of Jesus. It should have been obvious to Jesus’ disciples and to his immediate followers, yet it wasn’t. At the very end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus said to his followers, ‘go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit’. Yet those very early disciples and followers of Jesus were reluctant for Gentiles to be admitted to their fellowship. Peter had to explain himself when he allowed Cornelius and his band to receive the blessings which they had received.
Early believers felt that Gentiles should be circumcised; they should become Jews first. ‘Unless you are circumcised you cannot be saved’ In Acts 15, there was the first great council of the Christian church where the admission of Gentiles was the major issue. Fortunately, that earliest of big meetings made the decision it did. Barnabas and Paul had to tell the assembly about the wonders that the Spirit had performed among the Gentiles to convince the sceptics. The council decided not to make life difficult for the Gentiles who were turning to God, but rather write to them advising them to live according to practices they were observing. If it was difficult for Jesus’ immediate followers to get the message, how amazing it was that a prophet centuries earlier had a grasp of Israel’s purpose.
Let’s turn finally to some words from our Gospel readings. John the Baptist knew what Jesus’ ministry was to be. John was standing with some of his disciples, when he saw Jesus pass by. ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’ Two of his disciples then broke away to follow Jesus. As Israel was to be the servant of God in reaching out to the world, so John the Baptist saw that he, too, was an instrument in pointing to the person who had this role, and that it was not John’s role to be saviour of the world.
When these 2 disciples turned to follow Jesus, they said to him ‘where are you staying?’ Jesus said, ‘Come and see’. One of the two was Andrew, who went and found his brother, Simon. Jesus said to him, ‘you are to be called Peter.’ Within two days there were four disciples of this new world movement.
For us the visionary work about a world movement is in progress. With great foresight, Isaiah saw it, and so did John the Baptist. In all of this we too have a role. Let me suggest two things. First of all, like Isaiah, let us not be introverted and inward looking, but rather look outwards beyond ourselves. Secondly,, reflect on those words, ‘come and see’, which we used as a theme two years ago. Jesus first used these words, and when Nathaniel queried Jesus’ validity because he came from Nazareth, the disciples didn’t argue the point, but used Jesus’ words, ‘come and see’. Years ago in planning for a parish mission in Johannesburg, we used these words as a theme. I well remember an Anglican priest in South Africa who had a successful ministry in a difficult parish in Durban. They used to invite people to evening worship, saying they had a special service, so ‘come and see;. I asked what was special about the service, and the reply was that it was their normal act of worship. It was the presence of Jesus in the service which was special.
So if people are curious, or sceptical or interested in what we do during worship, we don’t have to say, ‘well first of all we sing a hymn, then we have a welcome, etc’. It is preferable to say, ‘all are welcome, come and see’, and let the servant with a mission to the world do the rest.