Collect, Readings & Psalm 5th Sunday before Advent
Collect for the day
Blessed Lord,
who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Help us to hear them,
to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them
that, through patience, and the comfort of your holy word,
we may embrace and for ever hold fast
the blessed hope of everlasting life,
which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
Deuteronomy 34: 1-12
34Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo,
to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and
the LORD showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, 2all
Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah
as far as the Western Sea, 3 the Negeb, and the Plain—that is, the
valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees—as far as Zoar.
4The LORD said to him, ‘This is the land of which I swore to
Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, “I will give it to your
descendants”; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall
not cross over there.’ 5Then Moses, the servant of the LORD, died
there in the land of Moab, at the LORD’s command. 6He was
buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no
one knows his burial place to this day. 7Moses was one hundred
and twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and
his vigour had not abated. 8The Israelites wept for Moses in the
plains of Moab for thirty days; then the period of mourning for
Moses was ended.
9 Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because
Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him,
doing as the LORD had commanded Moses.
10 Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses,
whom the LORD knew face to face.
11He was unequalled for all the
signs and wonders that the LORD sent him to perform in the land
of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire
land,
12and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays
of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.
Psalm 90
1 Lord, you have been our refuge ♦︎
from one generation to another.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or the earth and the world were formed, ♦︎
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn us back to dust and say: ♦︎
‘Turn back, O children of earth.’
4 For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday, ♦︎
which passes like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away like a dream; ♦︎
they fade away suddenly like the grass.
6 In the morning it is green and flourishes; ♦︎
in the evening it is dried up and withered.
13 Turn again, O Lord; how long will you delay? ♦︎
Have compassion on your servants.
14 Satisfy us with your loving-kindness in the morning, ♦︎
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Give us gladness for the days you have afflicted us, ♦︎
and for the years in which we have seen adversity.
16 Show your servants your works, ♦︎
and let your glory be over their children.
17 May the gracious favour of the Lord our God be upon us; ♦︎
prosper our handiwork; O prosper the work of our hands.
1 Thessalonians 2: 1-8
2You yourselves know, brothers and sisters,* that our coming to
you was not in vain, 2but though we had already suffered and
been shamefully maltreated at Philippi, as you know, we had
courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of
great opposition. 3For our appeal does not spring from deceit or
impure motives or trickery, 4but just as we have been approved
by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so
we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our
hearts. 5As you know and as God is our witness, we never came
with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; 6nor did we
seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from
others, 7 though we might have made demands as apostles of
Christ. But we were gentle* among you, like a nurse tenderly
caring for her own children. 8So deeply do we care for you that
we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God
but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to
us.
Matthew 22: 34-46
34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the
Sadducees, they gathered together, 35and one of them, a lawyer,
asked him a question to test him. 36‘Teacher, which
commandment in the law is the greatest?’ 37He said to him, ‘ “You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind.” 38This is the greatest and first
commandment. 39And a second is like it: “You shall love your
neighbour as yourself.”
40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’
41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked
them this question: 42‘What do you think of the Messiah?* Whose
son is he?’ They said to him, ‘The son of David.’ 43He said to
them, ‘How is it then that David by the Spirit* calls him Lord,
saying,
44 “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet’ ”?
45If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?’ 46No one
was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone
dare to ask him any more questions.
Reflection
Navigating our way Today’s society has a very efficient way of getting from A to B. Most phones will have an app called
Google Maps, or Waze or something similar ….. this app acts as a replacement for the old maps and can give you the precise route you need to follow in order to arrive at your destination
The Question
The lawyer in the Gospel reading asks Jesus which commandment is the most important. It appears he
may have been trying to trap Jesus but, whether that is the case or not, the question is helpful for all of
us. It is really the question of how to live our lives – what direction should they be going in
The reply of Jesus is precise …. , ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You
shall love your neighbour as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’
This famous summary by Jesus became known as “The Golden Rule” and when people think of the 10
commandments they often quote this summary thinking it is part of the 10 commandments
The Ten Commandments are from Exodus 20.1–17,
1. You shall have no other Gods but me.
2. You shall not make for yourself any idol, nor bow down to it or worship it.
3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
4. You shall remember and keep the Sabbath day holy.
5. Respect your father and mother.
6. You must not commit murder.
7. You must not commit adultery.
8. You must not steal.
9. You must not give false evidence against your neighbour.
10. You must not be envious of your neighbour’s goods. You shall not be envious
of his house nor his wife, nor anything that belongs to your neighbour.
When we look at the commandments, they form a very interesting
‘shape’ the first 4 deal with a ‘vertical’ relationship that we have with God
The next 6 deal with a ‘horizontal’ relationship that we have with each
other And when we look at the commandments in this way we see
the – vertical and horizontal form a cross
• In practical terms Leviticus 19:9-18 for instance spells out what is involved in loving one’s
neighbour. It is not an exhaustive or exclusive list, but it does give a flavour of what it meant in Old
Testament terms to love a neighbour:
• -Will not reap the fields bare but will leave some for the poor (vv. 9-10).
• -Will not steal (v. 11).
• -Will not deal falsely (v. 11).
• -Will not lie (v. 11).
• -Will not swear falsely by God’s name (v. 12).
• -Will not defraud a neighbour (v. 13).
• -Will not keep a labourer’s wages overnight (v. 13).
• -Will not “revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind” (v. 14).
• -Will not render an unjust judgment (v. 15).
• -Will not be partial to the poor or defer to the great (v. 15).
• -Will judge the neighbour with justice (v. 15).
• -Will not engage in slander (v. 16).
What does it look like?
The New Testament outlook The writer John makes the linkage explicit: 1 John 4:20
“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates their brother or sister, they are a liar; …… for the one who doesn’t
love his brother or sister whom they have seen, …..how can they love God whom they have not seen?”
Biblical love is a way of acting in relationship to our neighbour—and it is expressed more by action than feelings.
In our own day Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said … Because we cannot see Christ, we cannot express our love to him; but our neighbours we can always see, and we can do to them what, if we saw Him, we would like to do to Christ.
Here in the slums, in the broken body, in the children, we see Christ and we touch him.
The proof of our ‘Love of God’ is in the way we treat our neighbour, who sadly are not necessarily the people we like, or those who are like minded, or who happen to like us—
As the story of the Good Samaritan has shown us—each person is ‘our neighbour’ in Christ. The way in which we love can be in a hundred different, but practical ways: – small ‘kingdom acts’ of kindness , done to people we may not instinctively like or who can reciprocate
The route
This is the route Jesus has shown us, directions on how to live to our lives….. a bit like a map …. a map that guides us ….. We Love God by loving our neighbour, whoever they may be, because they are precious to God. We may not understand why he loves them or why they are precious; but we are not commanded to judge our neighbour, we are called to love them