Sep 11, 2023
(Col.2:6-15; Ps.145:1-2,8-11; Lk.6:12-19)
“Coming down from the mountain with them,
He stopped at a level stretch where there were many of His disciples.”
In our gospel, the Lord has gone “to the mountain to pray, spending the night in communion with God.” Then at daybreak He chose His twelve apostles. On His way back down the mountain He comes upon those who have been waiting for Him, and He takes pity on this “large crowd of people” and reaches out His hand to heal them.
Yes, He in whom “the fullness of deity resides in bodily form,” as Paul tells us in our first reading, has come down from on high, from His union with the Father, to walk amongst us, to dwell with us – to “pardon all our sins.” He “who is head of every principality and power” has bent down to the level of the humble creature dead in sin and circumcised him with the circumcision “which strips off the carnal body completely.” He has accomplished this by taking the claim against us, our debt for our sins, and “nailing it to the cross.” And baptized into Him and His cross we are “not only buried with Him but also raised to life with Him.” The grace that comes from this sacrifice, the healing we find in the touch of His hand and by the power of His word and His blood, we must now treasure. And so Paul tells us we must “be rooted in Him and built up in Him, growing ever stronger in faith,” lest we make His sacrifice void.
“The Lord is good to all and compassionate toward all His works,” sings David in our psalm today; and how can this be greater shown than in His coming down from heaven to teach us and to heal us, and to fulfill this teaching and healing in dying on the cross? What more could He do for us than to die for us to save us? What greater love could our God impart?
Do not be deceived, brothers and sisters, by “any empty, seductive philosophy… based on cosmic powers rather than on Christ.” Avoid any teaching that does not recognize Jesus as the Son of God, as God Himself “in bodily form.” Without Jesus there is no salvation, and failing to recognize “the fullness of deity” in Him, we cannot “share of this fullness” to which we are called. Rather, let us sing with David, “Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever.” Always in the Lord Jesus let us take our refuge, and in His love; let us ever wait for His coming down from the mountain to touch and heal our hearts. Alleluia.
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O LORD, power goes out from your Son
to heal us of all our sins –
let us come to Him, and remain with Him.
YHWH, your power resides in Jesus, He who is God in bodily form. He it is who took our sins and nailed them to the tree that we might have new life in company with Him in your eternal presence. In the fullness of His power we now share, with all His apostles and disciples; let us ever grow in faith and strength before you.
How compassionate you are, O LORD! And how that compassion is revealed in your only Son, He who died for our sins, He who came down from Heaven to heal us of all our ills. And how He provides for us whom He loves by appointing His apostles, that indeed we might all become His disciples, anointed by His blood.
Let us join Jesus our Savior in His union with you. In prayer let us enter your presence and there remain. O let us praise your NAME forever and ever, never ceasing to bless you for the glory you share with poor creatures such as us. O LORD, in Jesus let us live and thrive.