O God who hast prepared for them that love Thee
such good things as pass man’s understanding…
(Collect: Trinity VI)
 
          
Trinity tide is all about fertility. It is the green season, and in it we focus on God’s spiritual harvesting of virtue in our souls. The green vestments and Altar hangings of this season remind us of spiritual growth as we move from things earthly to things heavenly. Thus, we are to be moved and inspired to grow the fruits of God’s seed, His Word, in our hearts and souls. Yet the end of our spiritual endeavors relates specifically to certain Divine promises – such good things as pass man’s understanding. Today’s Collect tells us that loving God above all things is the key to obtaining His promises, which exceed all that we can desire.
          
Of course, loving God above all things is a high calling indeed. Most of us, if we are honest with ourselves, don’t love God above all things. We love our spouses, our families, and our friends more than we love God. We love our earthly riches and our possessions, with the comfort they bring, more than God. And as noble as these passions might be, they are ends within our understanding and adjusted to our desires. Furthermore, they are bound to disappoint us. Who is not frustrated with unrequited love from spouse or family members? Who is not disappointed that earthly riches don’t bring spiritual happiness? And who is not surprised by joy when he realizes that God loves us with a perfect love, never changing, never diminished, always faithful and always true? Who is not elated when he realizes the extent of God’s love toward us, in that He send His only Son to die for our sins, to open the door to His Kingdom, and to seal us with the ever-present determination of the Spirit to help us to embrace His love? On the one hand, we shall always be disappointed by lesser loves. On the other, we should be overjoyed that God wishes to give us true love, love that can redeem and save us forever. 

So, the point of the Incarnation is to secure us within that true and lasting love which can satisfy our desire to know God and love Him in return. We hope to love God above all things, because He desires for us to obtain His promises. His promises comprise salvation. And as we all know, salvation will free us from all toil and labor, struggle and sacrifice, sadness, disappointment, and despair. Salvation will fill us with peace, fulfillment, joy, and unending love.
But to have God’s promises fulfilled in us, we must work with Jesus Christ to obtain them. In this morning’s Epistle, St. Paul reminds us that if we hope to be saved, the all-saving facts of Jesus Christ’s life must be alive and operative in ours.

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. (Romans vi. 3-7) 
 
Baptism into the death of Christ is necessary for new life that leads to God’s kingdom. Christ died once for all to sin, death, and Satan. He invites us to partake of the merits and blessings of His death. In Christ, we too can be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans vi. 11) In Christ, we can be freed from sin and its diabolical hold over us. But to be freed, we must desire the effectual operation of Christ’s Grace in our hearts because serving sin is evidence of the lesser loves that bind and disappoint us.
        
Dying to sin thus enables us to live in Christ. But living in Christ is a call to embrace those virtues that always moved and defined Christ in His earthly pilgrimage. The exact nature of them comes out in our Gospel for today. Jesus reminds us this morning that except [our] righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, [we] shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. (St. Matthew v. 20) He means that we must embrace a kind of righteousness that is equal in quality with God’s love. Righteousness for the ancient Jews – of the Scribes and Pharisees – was the law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This was the Law of Moses and was administered by the scribes and pharisees. It was punitive and exacting. But Jesus found something lacking in it. Ancient Jewish Law was obsessed with finding sin and punishing it. The exercise was wholly negative. No thought was given to God’s mercy and love and how they could be applied to the sick soul of a sinner to help him out of his sin and into righteousness. The Temple’s ministers, the Scribes and Pharisees, had become possessed by evil and unrighteousness in other men’s lives. Their control over it ensured their power. Thus, by the time of Jesus, the Jewish religion had lost its way. Her ministers were full of arrogant pride, and poor sinners had little by way of help out of their sinful lives. Judgmentalism reigned supreme. The system was so corrupt that publicans and sinners in Jesus’ day had come to despair of any real hope for redemption or salvation.

But Jesus came into the world to break the chain of sin and unrighteousness through the spirit of love and the forgiveness of sins. Today, He teaches that the problem with the spiritual character of the scribes and pharisees’ righteousness is that it is bound up in judging others with anger.
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: but I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: (Ibid, 21)
 
Jesus noticed that the religious elders of his own day were angry with their brothers without a cause. The Jewish priests judged the common lot of men, who had done them no wrong. And they certainly showed no love for sinful men by helping them out of their sin. They judged and condemned others. While they might have been angry about sin, they certainly should have loved the sinner. God is merciful and patient with all men. God in Christ showed the same. Furthermore, when Jesus tells us that our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and pharisees, (Idem) He means that our righteousness should exceed that of those who don’t honor their own teaching, for the scribes and pharisees are hypocrites who tell others to follow the moral law, when they themselves disregard it, as St. Augustine reminds us. (C.A.)

Jesus goes on to reinforce his point. He says that Whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council….(Ibid, 22) Raca is tongue-murder, as Matthew Henry puts it, and cuts down other men as unworthy of God’s Grace. Jesus concludes with, but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. (Idem) When our anger concludes with thou fool!, we have despaired of God’s Power and grieve the Holy Ghost. And it all begins, again, with angrily judging other men as evil, without cause, since we must hate the sin but not the sinner. Jesus insists that righteous anger and indignation against sin must never become unrighteous disgust of others that treats them as incurably damned.  
        
Jesus teaches us that the real threat to loving [God] above all things is internal and spiritual. Anger or wrath threatens to damn us all. Its loveless judgment, its malicious council, and its Hellish despair should terrify us all. Anger or wrath kills the soul inwardly and spiritually. When we are angry at other sinners, we forget our own sin. Jesus insists that we be reconciled with [our offending] brother… [and] agree with our adversary quickly… lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. (Ibid, 24,25) Enslavement to anger and judgment might bring upon us an exacting sentence beginning here and extending into Hell’s eternal grip.
        
God’s wrath against our sins has been crucified in Jesus Christ. Christ brought God’s wrath against our sins to death on His Cross. When we begin to remember that in Jesus Christ God’s anger against our sin is overcome with His Love for our salvation, we cannot help but die in Him to be freed from our sin. Here is found a very good thing that passeth man’s understanding. Here is the reward of obtaining God’s promises because we have loved Him above all things. Here the limited imagination and desire of fallen human nature can be crucified with Christ and come alive to righteousness in His forgiveness of our sins. Here we will come to know that the only form of anger and judgment suitable for our spiritual journey is what we direct against ourselves as we persistently seek to conquer our own sins.
        
Agree with thine adversary quickly. (Idem) St. Augustine teaches us that in doing so we are really seeking to be reconciled with the Image and Likeness of God in our neighbor. (Idem) What we ought to love in all men is Christ’s Righteousness waiting to be brought alive by by faith in His Grace. For God in Jesus Christ wants us, through faith, hope, and love to imagine such good things as pass man’s understanding for ourselves. Loving Him above all things we pray that we might obtain His promises which shall exceed all that we can desire. And this desire for miraculous incorporation into the new life of Jesus Christ makes enemies friends and all of us heirs together of His eternal promises because He transforms our righteousness [to] exceed that of the scribes and pharisees (Idem).    

Amen.
©wjsmartin

 
 …The people pressed upon him to hear the Word of God…
(St. Luke v. 1)
 
Trinity Tide, as we have said, is all about growing in the knowledge and love of God the Holy Trinity. We wear green vestments during this season to symbolize harvest and fertility. What should most concern us in this season is the harvest and fertility of goodness or virtue in our souls. The virtue we must grow and perfect in our hearts is essential to our hoped-for salvation. But we cannot find this virtue or goodness in ourselves. Human goodness doesn’t save. Divine goodness does. The latter is found in Jesus Christ. Jesus brings God’s goodness down from heaven to save us from ourselvses. To encounter this goodness, we must press upon Jesus to hear the Word of God. To grow and harvest its goodness in our lives, we pray for God’s Grace. Jesus gives it and we must use it.  St. James tells us today to be…doers of the Word, and not hearers only. (St. James i. 22)

Of course, God’s goodness in Jesus Christ can come to us only once we’ve realized our own limitations and utter need for it. In today’s Gospel, we see a picture of how men come to experience both. Jesus uses nature and man’s life in it to generate both knowledge and desire. Jesus never destroys nature but perfects it. Today, he uses the natural world and men’s occupation in it to lead His Apostles from nature to Grace, from the earthly to the heavenly, and from pursuing a limited good to finding the means to an eternal one.

So we read that Jesus comes into the fishing village of Gennesaret. Next, He entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. (Ibid, 3) If men would press upon [Jesus] to hear God’s Word, they must allow Peter, Christ’s minister, to thrust out a little from the land (Ibid, 3) away from the hustle and bustle, confusion, and noise of human life, to be freed from those earthly preoccupations that would distract us from Christ’s work. God’s Word must stand alone with men of prayer to address them from a place of concentration, that they might learn the truth and experience its power.

Notice that in today’s Gospel, some are on shore and some are in the boats with Jesus. Some can only hear the Word. Others, who have been with Him and studied His Word, can now benefit from its power. Peter, James, and John are with Jesus in the ships.  And while the faith of both groups is intended to be harvested by Christ, or to be caught up in the net of Christ as his spiritual fish, as Archbishop Trench reminds us, the Apostles must be converted first so that they may then become Christ’s doers of the Word and, thus, fishers of men. Saints Peter, James, and John represent the Church’s ministers. The people on the shore represent the fish that will be caught up on land once the Apostles have been caught up in Christ’s Net from the deeper spiritual waters of the sea. There are different levels and stages of faith, trust, and obedience that pass first from Christ to His Apostles, and then from His Apostles to all others who would be saved. Some men are ready to hear but not yet digest. Others will hear the Word and then experience the Power of its Love.

First, the faith of the Apostles, who have thrust out from land and onto the sea with Jesus, must be tested. We read: Now when He had left speaking, He said unto Simon, launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.  (Ibid, 4) Simon, like his fellow fishermen and unlike the crowd on the shore, has had a long and unsuccessful night of fishing. Most of the other fishermen are on the shore, exhausted, cleaning their nets, licking their wounds, and perhaps downcast at another night of failing to catch any fish. Matthew Henry tells us that One would have thought this should have excused [the Apostles also] from Christ’s sermon; but it was more refreshing and reviving to them than the softest slumbers. (Comm. Luke V) The fishermen on shore did not see much sense in thrusting off onto the waters again with Jesus. But the Apostles did. While others slept, Christ would use the Apostles’ powerlessness, failure, and fatigue as a tool for growing and harvesting their faith. The Apostles worked their bodies hard to catch fish, but when they failed, fully spent, they turned to Christ for the reviving of their souls. Christ knows our weakness, but will use our weakness to exhibit the strength of His Grace. His Grace will conquer our weakness and grow our faith.

Simon Peter responds to Jesus: Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net. (Ibid 5,6) Peter is weak but Christ is strong. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. (Ibid, 6,7) Peter, James, and John are overwhelmed by the catch. They called on their partners to bear the weight of the treasure trove of fish that was sinking their boats. Where the Apostles’s human ingenuity and reason had failed, God’s Grace in Jesus Christ would triumph. 

When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: and so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. (Ibid, 8-10) 
 
St. Peter is overwhelmed by the Power and Love of God in Christ and nature’s response to it. Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Cor. i. 24) is the Lord of nature and the meaning He will cull from it. Human ingenuity is one thing, but to be caught up in the provision that God’s Word yields is quite another. Peter feels his own deep sense of unworthiness as radically other than the Power and Love of God in Jesus. He falls down as one undeserving of such a gift. Archbishop Trench tells us that the deepest thing in a man’s heart…is a sense of God’s holiness as something bringing death and destruction to the unholy creature. (Miracles, 102) The faith in Peter that Christ grows and will harvest is a miracle far greater than the draught of the fishes. Peter knows himself as an unholy creature in the presence of an all-holy God. God’s Word in Jesus Christ is heard, and its power felt.

The fish that Peter, James, and John have caught are still alive, flailing, thrashing, and thwacking with all their might to return to life in the sea. Peter and his friends begin to realize that they symbolize fallen men to whom they will minister, but whose resistance, obstinacy, and determination to return to their earthly gods will be difficult to overcome. God’s Grace alone can accomplish it.

Christ catches Peter, James, and John in His Net. They find themselves 
 
in a state of Grace, in which all the contradiction is felt, God is still a consuming fire, yet not anymore for the sinner, but for the sin…[for they are in] the presence of God…[whose] glory is veiled, whose nearness…every sinful man may endure, and in that nearness may little by little be prepared for the…open vision of the face of God. (Trench, Idem) 
 
Jesus says, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. (Ibid, 10) Jesus intends that Peter, James, John, and the other Apostles should come alive as fishers of men.
Peter had begged Christ to depart from him, because he was a sinful man. (idem) Christ and His Grace have a greater work for Peter and his friends to do. So, we read that when the [Apostles] had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed Him. (Ibid, 11) The Apostles were called to be fish out of water  –to leave behind their earthly work for a heavenly catch of men. They were called to be all of one mind, having compassion one of another, loving as brethren…pitiful…courteous; not rendering evil for evil…but contrariwise blessing…eschewing evil, ensuing good, seeking peace and ensuing it. (1 Peter iii. 8,9) Forsaking all means leaving behind fishing for fish, to fish for men. Forsaking all will mean coming to know God’s goodness in Jesus and embracing the virtue in their hearts for the salvation of the world. We press upon Jesus to hear the Word of God (Idem), leave our earthly occupations, and thrust out a little from the land. (Idem) We launch into the deep with Jesus and cast our nets out for a draught. Trusting with faith in the Word of the Lord alone can sink the ship of our sinfulness so that we might be caught up in Christ’s Net. Faith in God’s Grace can flourish and bloom [only if] it is welcomed; it can act [only if] it is activated, [for] all the infinitude of its power comes from the adoring passivity in which it lies open to God. (Mouroux, p. 217) The Apostles could have returned to fishing for fish. But another miracle is at work here. God’s Power in Jesus Christ will grow and harvest their faith.

Fear Not. The Son of God alone, wholly removed from His natural glory and bliss in Heaven, is the real fish out of water. We can become fish out of water also as Christ catches us up in the Net of His death for our future life in Heaven. Being caught up into Christ’s Net, His power will enable us to be followers of that which is good…suffering for righteousness’ sake…so that happy we may be (Idem), serving Him in all godly quietness (Collect) and fishing for men.

Amen.
©wjsmartin

Trinity III
July 6, 2025
 
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God,
that he may exalt you in due time: 7
casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
(1 Peter v. 6,7)
 
         The first half of the Christian Year ends with our vision of God the Holy Trinity. The second half begins from the same vision and encourages our moral effort and responsibility. In Trinity Tide, you and I are encouraged to translate our vision of God into virtue. What this means is that our God intends not only to be known but to be loved, as we desire to acclimate our hearts to His nature. And God intends to be loved not for His own need but for ours, for with His love alive in our souls, we hope to reach His Kingdom. On Trinity I and II, we contemplated the love of God that moved our Maker to send His son to save us. Our first two Sundays after Trinity involved remembering that we love God because He first loved us and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. (1 John iv, 10, 19) If we love God, we keep His commandments and love one another (1 John iii. 23, 24). Then, the principles of God’s love are alive in our hearts. Next, starting today, we gain a deeper sense of God’s love as the Grace that seeks us out, finds us, and makes us right with God. Today, we are encouraged to contemplate God’s Grace as the fire of His love, which touches us to inspire not only our adoration but also that humility which will ensure its effectual operation in our souls.
        
Beginning with today’s Gospel, we read, then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. (St. Luke xv. 1) The love of God as Grace is most appreciated by those who need it most. The publicans and sinners, like you and I, are those who have a natural aversion to the religious elites in every age, the scribes and pharisees in Jesus’ time, and pompous clerics in our own. We flee them mostly because we do not detect that they carry the love of God to our sorry and sinful condition. Like today’s publicans and sinners, let us listen to Jesus. For while the self-righteous and envious clergy fear what Christ may do for us and murmur against Him, we must seek His help.
        
Jesus gives us two parables. In the first, He compares Himself to any good shepherd. What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? (St. Luke xv. 4) Like any good shepherd, Christ loves us so much that He is willing to leave His pious flock to find you and me as individual sinners. Note, our sin is never so great that He does not seek us out to find us in the wilderness of our sin. Each and every one of us is so loved by Jesus Christ, that we must never consider ourselves as outcasts to His Grace. And far from expecting us to find Him, first He sets out to find us, knowing that by reason of our sins, we are weak, confused, lost in darkness, and on the precipice of despair. The Church too often tries to limit God’s Grace, those whom Christ is always in search of for salvation. But the parable gives us hope because in it Jesus reminds us that He is forever searching for each one of us. When He finds us, He layeth us on His shoulders, rejoicing. (ibid, 5) Next, He returns home to the Father and the Spirit, enjoining them to share in His joy. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. (ibid, 7) When He finds us, He intends that we should repent because He has found us in our sin and rescued us from it. We need not only His love as Grace, but we need repentance, or to confess our sins and sorrow over them. Our true need is to be found by Jesus Christ. We don’t deserve His Grace, but we desperately need it for the repair and redemption of our lives.
        
Next, Jesus tells another parable, that of the lost coin. He compares Himself to the woman who has ten pieces of silver and loses one. (ibid, 8) Christ is comparing us to something of great worth and value to Him. We are so precious to Him that, like the woman, He will light a candle, and sweep the house of the world, and seek diligently till He finds us. (ibid, 9) In the illuminating light of the Father, through the Spirit, Christ will labor persistently until He finds us. The light is needed to shine in the dark world of sin, where we are lost. His determination to find us reveals the love of His Grace. God’s Grace is not limited by time but reveals His ongoing tenacity. The light of the Father is Christ as God’s Word and Wisdom. The labor of His love sweeps away the dust of sin until He finds us. With the woman, there is rejoicing at having found her lost coin. With Christ, in Heaven, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. (ibid, 10) God’s joy is always shared by the good angels, our fellow creatures. God’s joy is personal, because, as Canon Scott reminds us, it is not we sheep who are lost, but it is God who has lost us. The loss is His, and the joy is His. (M. Scott, Harmony of the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels) Through these parables, we must see the perfect love of God in Christ, who ceaselessly searches for us to save us from our sin. Similarly, we are bidden to rejoice with Christ, to find our joy in His love for us.
        
But there is more. Having been found by Jesus Christ, the good shepherd, and the conscientious woman, we must make good with His Grace. St. Peter reminds us this morning that because of what Christ has done for us we must be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud and giveth Grace unto the humble. (1 St. Peter v. 5) We can only be exalted if we are humbled. And we are humbled if we recognize that God’s love as His Grace has found us to habituate us to His nature for the salvation of our lives. As He has cared for us in finding us, so He continues to care for us in giving us His Spirit, the Spirit of rejuvenation, repair, and redemption. We are not once saved, always saved, as some proudly imagine. Rather, we are works in progress, slowly but surely learning to surrender to God in Jesus Christ by heartily praying (Collect Trinity III) for His Grace each and every day of our lives. St. Peter also reminds us that we shall be tempted to sin and distracted by the Devil.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. (ibid, 8,9)
 
Humility demands moral effort on our part. We must be prepared to resist the Devil with our steadfast and determined faith. As Christ persisted in finding us, so we must persist in His Grace, ever determined to allow His goodness to mold and shape the new lives that He has won for us with the Father. And lest we become proud and self-pitying, we do well to remember that temptation as affliction is common to all men, and especially to the Saints, whom the Devil detests.
        
In summary, St. Peter reminds us that the God of all Grace…hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus. (ibid, 10) In Christ, we are justified and made right with God the Father. But our justification needs sanctification. Our being made right with God requires us to say yes to the Spirit, who intends to make us better and better, having suffered a while, making us perfect, stablishing us, strengthen us, and settling us. (idem) Without moral effort and cooperation, our having been found will be to no effect.
        
And so today, we pray that by God’s mighty aid, we might be defended and comforted in all dangers and adversities. (idem) Because we have been saved by Jesus Christ does not mean that we must cease to heartily desire to pray and supplicate Christ. A hearty desire to pray is the habit of life that must characterize our spiritual lives. It will seal us until the great and dreadful day of Judgment. It will reveal that, truly, we are always in need of being found by Christ and given ever-increasing value that will move from us to others, who will, we pray, find their need for Him also.

Amen.
©wjsmartin