Tossing the seed – parable of the sower

July 11, 2026

Pentecost 7 – 2026

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Marian Free

In the name of God whose, wild, careless generosity spreads love and goodness without regard, without distinction and without expectation. Amen.

Parables are perhaps the most contested area of study when it comes to the gospels. In trying to discern their original meaning scholars are faced with millennia of  previous interpretations. In their original form parables had a sting in the tail that was intended to bring Jesus’ listeners up short, to make them see the world in an entirely new way. This is particularly obvious in two of the parables recorded by Luke – those we know as the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. In the former Jesus sets up the scene such that his audience – good, observant Jews expect that it will be one of their number who reaches out to the injured man. It is hard for us to imagine their utter shock when it is a complete outsider, one of the despised Samaritans who is the hero of the story. The latter describes a father who defies convention and is totally without shame. No self-respecting, first century, Palestinian man would divide his inheritance before his death, let alone run down the road to the son who had so publicly shamed him. Jesus’ listeners were confronted by the impossibility that a Samaritan might be good, the idea that God would be so undignified that he would run towards a sinner, and with the absurdity that a shepherd would leave 99 sheep exposed to thieves and predators while he goes off in search of one.

Over the centuries the shock that Jesus intended has become domesticated to the point that most modern listeners find these parables comforting and worse, instead of being confronted and changed by them have reversed the stories to make them more about themselves than about God or the kingdom. So, the Good Samaritan, instead of being a story about the wrong people doing the right thing, has become an example of good people doing good deeds. Likewise, the story of the forgiving Father has become a story about God loving us instead of a story about God’s inclusion even of those who embarrass and shame him. 

We should not be surprised then to learn that the parable of the sower has also been adapted in a way that makes it more about us than about God. We insert ourselves into the story asking what sort of soil we are and making judgements about those who have not accepted the gospel whereas it is really a parable about the sower, not the soil, about God, not about us. (As I have revisited the parables over the last couple of weeks I have been amazed to realise that in some ways we have managed to reverse the gospels and have made faith more about what we do for God, rather than understanding that faith is all about what God does for us.)

With this in mind, let’s have a new look at the parable of the sower. 

The first thing to notice is the utter carelessness of the sower. In a country in which good ground is a scarce commodity and few farmers can afford waste, this sower tosses the precious seed with wild abandon, allowing it to fall in places in which it has absolutely no chance of growing.  The resulting crop is not the primary consideration. The main concern is that the seed be spread as far and wide as possible. Another factor that seems to escape our notice is that soil is neutral. Soil is passive, it does nothing in and of itself. Unless the soil has been tended carefully by a third party it is simply fertile or infertile, rocky or not rocky, weedy or cleared, watered or not. Soil may be improved by the addition of compost or fertiliser – but it cannot improve itself. Someone has to tend the soil – break up the hardened patches where people have trodden it down, pull up the weeds, add water when it does not rain – the soil itself is not responsible for what it produces. Seeds on the other hand will do everything they can to grow – often putting down roots in the most extraordinary of circumstances.

Seen in this way, it is clear that the parable has nothing to do with the way in which people (the soil) respond to God, but everything to do with what God does. God tosses God’s love, God’s word, God’s healing power with a wild generosity, completely indifferent as to where it might land and how the soil might respond. God keeps tossing the seed regardless of whether or not it will grow and bear fruit, confident that when it does hit the right spot it will produce more than can possibly be imagined.[1]

God continues to toss the seed indiscriminately into a world that is sometimes uncomprehending,  sometimes ungrateful and often indifferent, because God knows that the soil is not wholly responsible for its reaction, but the soil, good or bad, rocky or weedy needs to know God’s forgiving, non-judgement love. In other words, the parable suggests, God continues to shower the world with love, because the world needs love. God knows that there are people whose life circumstances have closed them off to the possibility that they are loved, people who have been so mistreated and abused that they have withdrawn into themselves, become bitter and angry, or have sought solace in addictive substances or the pursuit of wealth and possessions. God knows that some people will be harder to reach than others and that only unconditional love will bring about the conditions that will allow them to heal.  

Seen in this light, the parable might be intended to be explanatory, a non-judgement justification for why some people don’t respond to Jesus. Jesus is challenging his listeners to ask themselves what it is that leads some people to close themselves off to Jesus’ message? Are they so hurt, so damaged that they simply cannot believe that they might be loved? Are their lives so filled with worries about how to feed their families, how to meet the deadlines of their job, how to face another day that there is no room to stop and see that there might be anything good? Have they been disappointed so often that they cannot trust that this won’t be another way in which they might be let down?

God will keep on tossing the seed of God’s love, God’s word and God’s healing power, because God knows that people who are loved unconditionally will eventually open themselves to love and healing. Our task, it seems, is to join God in the indiscriminate, unjudgmental, generous distribution of God’s love, to be understanding, compassionate, generous and nurturing even of the most difficult, most closed off and most negative people – not expecting them to change but believing that there is a possibility that love will bear fruit – 30, 60 or 100-fold.

As the sower tosses the seed of love and compassion with wild abandon so should we.

[1] A yield of 10 fold is what might be reasonably be expected let alone 30, 60, 100-fold.

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Giving our burdens to Jesus

July 4, 2026

Pentecost 6 – 2026
Matthew 11:15-19, 25-30
Marian Free

In the name of God Source of all Being, Eternal Word, Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith unto all that truly turn to him:
Come unto me all that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. St Matthew 11:28.”

Those of us who were brought up with the Book of Common Prayer will have heard these and verses of scripture Sunday after Sunday in our worship. Coming as they do between the Absolution and the Prayer of Thanksgiving, they are verses that assure us that forgiveness is real, that our shortcomings have been overlooked and our misdeeds put behind us. These words have been seared into our memory, and they assure us (should we need assurance) that in Christ we are forgiven and set free. No wonder they were called comfortable words. Their repetition week after week after week, means that they are phrases to which we can hold on, words that we can pull out of our memory when the going gets tough or if doubt threatens to grasp hold of us.

“Come unto me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”. This comforting, wonderful, liberating saying occurs only in Matthew where it brings to a close a difficult passage in which Jesus expresses his frustration with all who are deaf and blind or resistant to his life-giving presence among them, and in which he voices his annoyance that nothing he does seems to be moving the hearts and minds of some his audience.

Jesus has concluded his instructions to the twelve and sent them on their mission while he himself continues to teach and proclaim his message. At this time John the Baptist, whose truth-telling has become a thorn in Herod’s side, is in prison. Perhaps his imprisonment has put a dent in his confidence, because he seeks assurance from Jesus that he really is the one who is to come. Jesus’ points to what he is doing as saying as evidence that yes, he is the one. “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” (Mt 11:5,6)

“Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” These words set the tone for the remainder of the chapter.

Jesus’ response to John’s disciples leads him to reflect on the different ways in which people have responded to John and to himself. It seems that between them they are in a no-win situation. Neither have conformed to the expectations of the people who have rejected them – John’s ascetism has left them cold and Jesus’ engagement with life is regarded as unnecessarily frivolous. Those at whom Jesus takes aim are offended by both John and Jesus because neither fit the mould, neither meet their expectations of a prophet – not someone as wild and as passionate as John, but definitely someone more serious and more law-observant than Jesus. Both Jesus and John make them feel uncomfortable. John’s asceticism shows up their love of a good life, and his strict adherence to the law exposes their failure to observe to its every detail. Jesus’ engagement with all comers – tax-collectors, prostitutes, sinners – exposes their pettiness and their focus on the letter rather than the spirit of the law and his enjoyment of life demonstrates that it is possible to be both godly and to enjoy God-given pleasures. John is too holy and Jesus is not holy enough.

Jesus is frustrated not people’s indifference to and rejection of him, their misunderstanding of what it means to be a part of the kingdom, and perhaps most of all by their antagonism to him and to what he represents.

He is frustrated, angry even, but all is not lost. It is true that those who should have recognised him – the wise and educated – have been blind and deaf to his message and his deeds, but those who have no expectations, no prior conceptions are able to see and hear clearly. The knowledge and learning which should have led the priests, the scribes and the Pharisees to recognise Jesus are the very things which prevent them from seeing who he really is. Relying on their own interpretation of ancient documents and of the law, they cannot see beyond their own fixed ideas. On the other hand, those whose knowledge is based on experience can see clearly that Jesus has been sent by God.

These are the “infants” whose innocence allows them to be open and receptive. It is presumably these whom Jesus addresses when he invites the weary and heavy laden to come to him. It is the poor, the uneducated, the marginalised whose burdens Jesus wants to lift. He wants them to know that faith in him, membership in the kingdom is not onerous, does not depend on exacting adherence to laws and practices, and does not demand the sort of self-denial that is soul destroying and destructive. Those who follow Jesus will not have burdens imposed, but burdens lifted. They will not be bound to regulations that limit and define them but set free to live life as fully as they can. They will not be forced to follow mindless rituals, but liberated to worship God in body, mind and soul.

Those who have made up their own minds about what to believe and how to practice their faith are unable to hear Jesus and to recognise him for who he is. They have become so dependent on their intellect, their concept of right and wrong, their confidence that they know what God wants that they have come to believe that the burdens they carry (knowledge, piety, certainty) are evidence of their faithfulness. They cannot believe that letting go will free them to be truly dependent on and nourished by God. They simply cannot understand that God wants nothing of them!

It is the innocent, the trusting, those who are willing to admit that they need help, who know and welcome Jesus. They will readily lay their burdens down and trust in the one who makes no demands and imposes no rules, asking only that they love – him and one another.

These comfortable words have a sting. They are also uncomfortable words for they ask us to lay down our burdens of certainty, and self-reliance, and pride, to let go of the desire to please God or impress others, and to suspend our need to know. Being truly set free comes at the cost of leaving behind all those things that allowed us to feel secure, and truly believing that our only security comes from God through Jesus.

What are the burdens that you are carrying? Burdens that allow you to feel good about yourself, burdens you willingly bear believing that in doing so you please God, burdens that you you impose on yourself because you don’t believe God loves you as you are. If you are burdened by these or any other burdens isn’t it time to accept Jesus invitation to lay down our burdens and to accept his easy yoke?

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Receiving a cup of water

June 28, 2026

[Today’s Old Testament reading about the sacrifice of Isaac is very confronting. You might like to read the sermon by the Rev’d Suzanne Grimmet. You can find it here. https://anglicanipilly.org.au/2026/06/28/turning-this-dark-gem-of-a-story/?fbclid=IwY2xjawStrvhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeKmPHFZml_NaG9rntmYImzqUOa2Iq6Ch0TngedgxGBFZxjyYe5vykAG1gOsg_aem_YWdncwBbaPtKfuXeOgSKxq5ZiZ6i&brid=YWdncwGzd4MctsrFZRMPEGHjM3mQ]

Pentecost 5 – 2026

Matthew 10:40-41

Marian Free

In the name of God, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-Giver. Amen.

For centuries mission societies saw their role as one of converting “the heathen” to Christianity. In retrospect we can acknowledge that missionary activity was often associated with colonialism and with an air of condescension. There was a commonly held view that Western civilisation was superior to all other civilisations and that “the heathen” not only needed to accept Jesus, but that they had to adopt Western values and behaviours. During the last century most missionary societies have recognised the arrogance of this approach and the damage that was been done as a result – loss of culture and language being just two examples. Today, these organisations work alongside local cultures assisting them to identify their needs and providing resources and education to help them achieve their goals.

Jesus’ “mission charge” (to which we have been listening over the last two weeks) instructed the disciples to “proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” (Mt 10:6-8). Two weeks ago, we explored the apparently exclusive nature of this mission. Jesus tells the disciples, “go nowhere among the Gentiles. Go only to the lost sheep of Israel.” Even though the disciples are going only to their own, Jesus informs them that sharing the good news will come at a cost. Jesus knew from experience that those with power, wealth and authority would not welcome the disciple’s message, just as they had not welcomed his message. Jesus warns, the disciples that they could expect to be hated, persecuted and betrayed.

What I find interesting about this “missionary discourse” is that nowhere does Jesus mention that the disciples are to convert people from one form of belief to another.  Their task is to bring hope and healing and the good news that the kingdom is near.

Today we come to the end of Jesus’ instructions to the disciples. For reasons that I don’t understand, these three verses are often misinterpreted. Whereas the wording suggests that those who are rewarded are those who welcome and support the disciples, it is usually read to mean that the disciples who do good works will be rewarded. Both the commentaries I read this week suggested that Jesus’ meaning was that if we welcome a prophet, give “one of these little ones” a glass of water that it will be credited to our account. Indeed, as Chelsea Harmon points out the conclusion to Jesus’ instructions is often called the “rewards” section. That is, after Jesus has carefully delineated the problems and the dangers the disciples will face and the near certainty that they will be persecuted, Jesus turns to what it is that the disciples will receive. 

It is certainly tempting to believe that Jesus concludes his descriptions of all the trials that the disciples will face, with a promise of reward or recompense.  

But is that what the text says? Does Jesus actually say that the disciples who are open, kind and generous will be rewarded. OR, does it the text say that those who are open, kind and generous to the disciples will be rewarded? I suggest that the text refers to what other people give or do to us not what we give or do to others.

 “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”

“Whoever welcomes you welcomes you welcomes me.”  “none of these” (not “none of you”).  Jesus is not speaking of what the disciples will do for others, but what others will do for them. 

If this is the case, it completely upends the idea that our role is to “do good” and to bring others to faith. If this reading is correct, it makes much more sense of the confronting and exclusive direction with which Jesus began his discourse, go only to “the lost sheep of Israel.” It shatters the notion that Jesus thought that everyone had to believe in him in order to receive the reward (presumably eternal life).  The “lost sheep of Israel” (as we saw two weeks ago) were a special concern of Jesus because they had gone astray. Those who did not belong to the house of Israel were not outside Jesus’ line of sight, but it seems clear from today’s gospel that their welcome and support of Jesus’ representatives, was an indication of their acceptance of him and of the one who sent him – even if they didn’t themselves become disciples. 

There is no evidence here that the disciples are being sent out to make people believe in him, no suggestion that Jesus want the disciples to compel people to change, and certainly no implication that if the disciples give someone a drink of water that they will be rewarded.

If this interpretation is correct it means that narrowly limiting a “reward” to those who profess faith in Jesus misses the mark. Openness, welcome and generosity towards those who profess faith seem to be the prerequisites for receiving a reward. 

Jesus concludes his directions to the disciples with a statement that completely undermines any notion of exclusivity and any idea that it is only the lost sheep of Israel who will be saved (rewarded). Jesus appears to be saying that those who will receive rewards will not be exclusively those who belong to the house of Israel, or that rewards be given only to those who profess faith in Jesus. The reward it seems will be extended to those who recognise that someone has a message from God, those who accept that a person is righteous and those who offer something as apparently insignificant as a cup of cold water to someone who does believe in Jesus.

It is not our task to think about whom God rewards and why. Our task is spread the good news, to bring hope and healing and, instead patting ourselves on the back because we have done so well, we are to politely and thankfully  receive from those who are different from but gracious to us.

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Of more value than the sparrow

June 22, 2026

Pentecost 4

Matthew 10:24-39

Marian Free

In the name of God who sees, hears and supports the outcast, the oppressed and the persecuted. Amen.

It is not often that our lectionary brings us readings that support one another, but today Jesus’ warnings and reassurances to the disciples facing a hostile reception from their fellow countrymen and women is fortuitously matched with the account of Hagar being sent out into an unforgiving desert because of Sarah’s insecurity. In both cases, those who are persecuted (or at risk of persecution) are assured that God sees, God hears and God will strengthen them.  At their most exposed and fearful, those who face persecution, opposition or abandonment can be certain that they (and their trials) are not beneath God’s notice.

When people are afraid, insecure or vulnerable they have a tendency to assert control over or to tyrannise another (others). This gives them a sense of power and affirms (to themselves and others) that they are entitled to protect what they have – be it knowledge, wealth or power.

I do not want to excuse Sarah’s behaviour (behaviour condoned by Abraham), but despite having an apparently loyal husband, she has until recently been denied the one thing that gives her status in her community – a child, specifically a son. In desperation, she has followed the practice of using another woman to bear an heir for Abraham. This, instead of giving her the peace she seeks, only serves to diminish her self-confidence when Hagar, having conceived with apparent ease, “looks down on her”. Finally, Sarah has a son of her own, but it is not enough. Now she sees the son of Hagar as a threat – he is after all Abraham’s first-born. Even though Ishamel is not Abraham’s heir, Sarah obviously feels that the future of her son, Isaac is not secure as long as Hagar and Ishmael remain with them. As a consequence, she insists that Abraham thrust Hagar into a forbidding, uninhabited desert to survive as best she can.

Hagar’s back story is unknown to us. We know that she was an Egyptian and that, probably when she was quite a young girl, she was separated from her family and sold into slavery. At some point she has been bought by Abraham and given to his wife Sarah. Hagar has been torn from her family and all that was familiar to her and has been thrust into servitude, and enslaved to people of a different culture, with different gods, who are living a nomadic life in what was often a hostile country. Her owners can control every aspect of her existence, even her own body. 

What is important about Hagar’s story is that even though she is a rank outsider with no agency, she is not outside God’s sphere of attention. Earlier, when Hagar ran away, God saw and heard her. Now, when she is despairing of life, God provides for her and promise that her son will become a great nation.

Fast forward some 2,000 years. Jesus is addressing the twelve, preparing them for their mission and warning them of the dangers that might lie ahead. Jesus knows from experience that the radical nature of the good news he has commissioned them to share will, in all likelihood, threaten the status quo, undermine the religious leadership and destabilise the family unit. No one likes change, particularly change that challenges their position in society, questions their wealth, upends their understanding of the world (or their faith) or which creates an imbalance in the family structure. Most people will do almost anything to resist change and to ensure that their lives and beliefs continue much as they always have.

It doesn’t take great foresight for Jesus to see that if his message is met with resistance the disciples will also meet resistance from every level of society, but especially from those who have power, authority or wealth (or typically all three). If we read the verses that immediately precede today’s gospel we will remember that Jesus has already warned the disciples that they will be hated and persecuted, betrayed even by members of their own families. They will be flogged in the synagogues and dragged before governors. Just as Jesus has been considered to be the devil, so they can expect the same reaction to their mission. In other words, they are being cast out into the wilderness where any number of dangers will confront them.

It is no wonder that Jesus continues his directions with words of encouragement and assurance. He tells the disciples not to be afraid or timid but, as it were, to shout the gospel from the rooftops – no matter what the consequences. Nothing is to be kept hidden. They will be engaged in radical, subversive, life-threatening work, but they need not be afraid for the Spirit of God the Father will speak through them. More than that, no matter what the consequences of their mission, Jesus insists that their value to God is incalculable.  

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (10:29,30)

The story of Hagar reminds us that no-one, not even a disposable Egyptian slave girl is beneath God’s notice. Jesus’ words of assurance to the disciples reinforce this concept. God may not always intervene as he did for Hagar, but this does not mean that God is indifferent. 

God sees, God hears and God will provide strength and encouragement in the most difficult of circumstances. No matter what difficulties we face, God who values us more than we will ever know, will be beside us, within us and before us, giving us strength, and courage and insight.

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Harassed sheep and selfish shepherds

June 13, 2026

Pentecost 3 – 2026

Matthew 9:35-10:8

Marian Free

In the name of God who overturns earthly rulers, subverts earthly values and equips disciples for ministry without distinction. Amen.

I have often struggled with Jesus’ command to the Twelve that they should go nowhere among the Gentiles but only to the lost sheep of Israel. Why, at this point in his ministry is Jesus being parochial and exclusive.

The answer I think may lie in the political subtext. 

We tend to get distracted by images of sheep and shepherding, thinking of the lost sheep and the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. 

But shepherding in the context of the ancient Near East is a political image. Kings were referred to as shepherds and the symbol of their rule was a shepherd’s crook. While in practice it was rare, the primary responsibility of kings was to guide, protect and care for their subjects. Also kings were seen to be an intermediary between the divine and the people. 

That this was a commonly held view is evidenced in the OT. Moses asks God to raise up someone so that the congregation might not be like sheep without a shepherd. David, king and shepherd was, according to Psalm 78 to tend and guide the sheep – the people of Israel. Sadly, more often than not the kings fail in their role and the prophets castigate them accusing them of being stupid, and of not inquiring of the Lord. As a consequence, the sheep have not prospered and the flock has scattered. (Jeremiah 10:21) When this happens God has to step in to “seek the lost, bring back the strayed, bind up the injured and strengthen the weak (Ezekiel 34:16).

So, when Jesus speaks about sheep without a shepherd, it is highly probable that he calling out the leaders of his time – the religious elite, chosen by Rome, who have aligned themselves with the colonial power and who have become complicit in the social, economic and political abuse of the people. Who rather than tending and nurturing the people have instead exploited and oppressed them and made impossible demands of them. 

Interestingly, nowhere in this gospel does Jesus claim to be a shepherd, but right at the beginning of the gospel Matthew has informed his readers that Jesus is the fulfilment of God’s promise to provide a ruler who will shepherd the God’s people of Israel (Matt 2:5,6).  

Those who are supposed to shepherd Israel have failed so God has raised up someone who will.

Jesus as shepherd/ruler declares his “political” agenda, by proclaiming a different political economy – “the kingdom of heaven” – a kingdom in which justice, freedom and equity will prevail. The kingdom he announces upends the ideas of kingdom which prevail – that in which there are rulers and ruled, rich and poor, advantaged and disadvantaged, powerful and powerless. Not only that, but he also completely subverts the notion of shepherd or ruler. To begin with, Jesus shepherds as God would shepherd. He takes to himself none of the privileges of ruler. He does not isolate himself in a palace but immerses himself in the lives of the people. He gathers the sheep, seeks the lost, heals, strengthens and raises the flock.

Perhaps more shockingly, in the context of his time Jesus expands the definition of shepherd by appointing twelve to share equally in the role of shepherd. The chosen twelve are not distinct in any way. They have no qualifications, no status, no birth-right nor any other credential that might give them authority, yet Jesus commissions them to shepherd the sheep – not as his lieutenants, but as equal partners. He empowers them to do everything that he has done and will continue to do. They are sent out to “to proclaim the good news, that the kingdom of heaven has come near and empowered to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.”

Further evidence of the redefinition or reclamation of the language of shepherd is Jesus’ injunction that as they received without payment so they should give without payment. In order words, their newly received authority is not something to be used for their own advantage, nor is it an excuse to lord it over others. They are commanded to be vulnerable and dependent in the same way that Jesus has made himself vulnerable and dependent. For only in this way will they avoid the traps that come with authority – the temptations to exert authority, to exploit others for their own advantage or to seek to enrich and protect themselves.

Understanding that Jesus’ political agenda is to challenge and replace the shepherds who are derelict in the duty and to show compassion to the harassed and helpless sheep may help us to make sense of the jarring language of 10 v 6 “go nowhere among the gentiles, go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.” The role of the shepherd is to attend to the flock, the flock which at this point in time is not being shepherded by those whose responsibility it is.

Elsewhere however, Matthew makes it quite clear that Jesus’ overall programme is to expand the kingdom to open it to all people. This is heralded by the visit of the Gentile magi, reinforced by the quote from Isaiah that Jesus will proclaim justice to the Gentiles and bring them hope in his name (Matthew 12:18-21) and reinforced by the risen Jesus’ great commission when he sends the disciples out to make disciples of all the nations (28:19). Shepherding the few will become shepherding all. What offered to one nation will now be open to all comers.

In our increasingly fractured world, there are many who are feeling harassed and helpless, vulnerable and unwelcome, lost and alone. We are called to be shepherds, not of a few, but of all. Through our baptism we are commissioned to proclaim the good news, to heal the sick, to seek out the lost and to do everything without favour or distinction and with no expectation of reward.

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All are included in the people of God

June 6, 2026

Pentecost 2 – 2026

Romans 4:13-25

Marian Free

In the name of God who creates one family of many diverse people. Amen.

A major problem for the earliest Christians was whether and how those from a non-Jewish background could be included in the people of God. If Gentiles were to be included two major questions had to be answered: did Gentiles first have to be circumcised and, as believers in a Jewish Jesus, did they have to observe the Jewish Law? Paul deals with these questions in his letters to the Galatians and to the Romans. Paul is utterly convinced that the sole criterion for membership in the people of God is faith and in both these letters he refers back to Abraham, the father of Judaism, to make his point.

Paul’s letter to the Romans is his most considered and therefore the best structured of all his letters. It is generally thought to be his last letter and, because he is writing to a community which he didn’t found, his letter-writing is less rushed than his previous off-the cuff responses to issues in his communities that were causing him some concern. The letter itself informs us that Paul’s purpose in writing to Rome was his plan to visit the community there and his hope that they would send him on his way from there to Spain. A reading of the text suggests that in writing to the Romans Paul is also keen to make it clear that Jew and Greek are on an equal footing: “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (3:23), and that both Jews and (uncircumcised, non-observant) Gentiles belong to the people of God and that all are children of Abraham by virtue of their faith and not through anything that they have done (or not done).  

In making this argument, Paul is keen to make it clear to his readers that the inclusion of Gentiles is evidence of the faithfulness of God. It appears that members of the Roman church were concerned that the inclusion of uncircumcised Gentiles who did not keep the Jewish law was a sign that God had been unfaithful to God’s promise to the Jews – a promise that set them apart. 

For the Jews, being a descendant of Abraham (a member of the people of God) meant being circumcised and keeping the law. Both were signs of identity which made them distinct from the community around them. It was impossible at least for some of them to imagine that Gentiles as children of God, descendants of Abraham without circumcision and the law. 

And yet, something new had happened. People who were not circumcised descendants of Abraham were coming to faith in Jesus Christ and joining communities of faith. What could this mean in relation to the historic faith?

In order to respond to this problem, Paul masterfully uses the foundational story of Judaism to prove that God’s choice of, promise to and covenant with Abraham already presages the inclusion – not only those physically descended from Abraham, but of all who have faith. Paul argues that in including the Gentiles, God has not broken God’s word but has been entirely faithful to the promise to Abraham.

The Jews based their origin story on Genesis 17 in which God’s promise to Abraham is sealed with the covenant of circumcision. What Paul does is to take his readers back to God’s promise to Abraham in chapter 15 of Genesis. Here God promises Abraham that despite his age and Sarah’s apparent barrenness, he will become the father of a multitude of nations. It is important to note that, at this point, Abraham is not circumcised, and has done nothing except trust that God will provide Sarah and himself with a child. In other words, he is still a Gentile! – proof positive Paul would claim – that God’s promise is to both Jew and Gentile. As he says in Romans 4:11: “The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.”

The covenant of circumcision on which the Jews relied was made after the promise and the law, on which so much weight would be placed would not come into being for another 430 years. 

Using the foundation story of the Jews then, Paul claims that belonging to the people of God, being a descendant of Abraham relied not on circumcision or the observance of the law, nor on anything a person did or did not do but solely on faith. 

If we accept as Paul does that faith is the sole criterion for being righteoused by God we, like the Romans and Galatians, have to revisit all the criteria we have used for keeping people out. We have to abandon all the standards to which we would have people of other cultures adhere and by which we have judged the quality and strength of their faith. And we need to repent for all the often unnecessary (often Western) conditions that we have imposed on people of other faiths. 

Our failure to accept difference has caused great harm throughout centuries of missionary endeavour. I think for example of all the women abandoned by their husbands in parts of Africa because their husbands were forced into believing that polygamy was inconsistent with being a Christian, or of the Chinese Christians coerced into abandoning the social and familial glue of the veneration of ancestors or our indigenous peoples who were made to feel lesser because they did not conform to our norms and experienced God in the world around them, and all other peoples and cultures who have been compelled to do things the way we have always done them.

Paul states: “For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us).”

May we have the wisdom, the courage, and the openness of Paul, so that we too might see that God’s only requirement is that we have faith in: “the God in whom Abraham believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.”

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Three in one and one in Three – Trinity

May 30, 2026

Trinity Sunday – 2026

Matthew 28:16-20

Marian Free

In the name of God source of all being, Word of life, Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Icon of the Trinity by Andrei Rublev[1], is perhaps the most commonly used depiction of the Trinity. Created in the early 15th century, the work depicts three figures seated at an outdoor table. They are facing each other and there is a chalice or bowl on the table between them. It is a believed that Rublev was, at least in part, inspired by Genesis 18:1-2 “The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him.” The Lord appeared as three men. Abraham welcomed the men and Sarah provided them with food. 

In this somewhat domestic scene, the three are sharing from a common bowl, deep (it would seem) in conversation. The positioning of the figures is such that room is left at the foreground, no one has their back to us and the openness of the figures combined with the gestures of their hands suggests an invitation to the viewer – “do join us”. This sense of invitation is reinforced by what some scholars believe to have been a small mirror inserted into the now empty rectangular hole in the centre front of the table[2]. The mirror would the face of the viewer, making them the fourth person at the table, bringing them into communion with the Trinity.

These speculations coincide with the images of the Trinity that we find in the fourth gospel and the letters of Paul. (Not that the word “Trinity” existed at that time, but that John’s gospel gives us a glimpse of the first Christians’ lived experience of the three-fold God. Rather than struggling to come up with careful academic definitions of the Trinity, the early church appears to have unselfconsciously taken for granted that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, though distinct were also one and that in coming to faith believers were drawn into the relationship between the three. 

The eighth chapter of Romans provides a good example of this, Paul uses the language of Christ Jesus, the Spirit and the Father interchangeably. He doesn’t seem to feel any need to explain the connection between the two but expects those to whom he is writing will share his experience of God as Father, Christ and Spirit[3]. Believers are brought into this relationship through “the Spirit of the one (God) who raised Jesus from the dead”. (Romans 8:11)

In John’s gospel too, as we have seen, believers become an integral part of the three-fold God.

Through language such as abiding in, being one with, and seeing, John expresses the unity between Jesus, the Father and the Spirit. Though the three persons of the Trinity are separate, John understands that they are in some way so intertwined that to know one is to know all. Being a part of this intimate relationship is extended to the disciples as Jesus says in his Farewell Discourse: “On that day you will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you.” (John 14:18).

Throughout the gospel Jesus has emphasised the closeness of his relationship with the Father, so close that to see/know Jesus is to see the Father[4]. Now Jesus introduces the Spirit into this relationship. Through the gift of the Spirit the disciples are included in the divine relationship: “the Spirit abides with you and will be with you.” “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them”(14:23). 

As the members of the Trinity make their home with us, so we are drawn into the eternal and inseparable union of the Father, Son and Spirit. As Chelsea Harmon puts it: “Our eternal destiny is to exist among the persons of the Trinity.” As we have seen (Easter 7), for John eternal life begins now. We are united now in an unbreakable bond with the Trinity. Death cannot break the relationship that we have formed in the present, because we are already caught up in the eternity that is the Triune God.

The Trinity, which is the community of Father, Son and Spirit, invites us into the very heart of God, into a relationship with the divine which is immutable and everlasting. It is a mystery which no words can adequately describe, and no theories can possibly explain.

[1] Also known as The Hospitality of Abraham.

[2] There are still traces of glue on the icon

[3] For example, Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.  3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.”

[4] Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. (John 14:10)

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Breathing in the Spirit – Pentecost

May 23, 2026

Pentecost – 2026

John 20:19-23

Marian Free

In the name of God who breathed life into creation, who breathed the Spirit onto the disciples, and who continues to empower us through that same breath. Amen.

Breathing is essential to life. Without breath we die.

Over recent decades an interest in Eastern religions has taught us the importance of breath – to slow us down, help us to focus, and to reduce stress. Breathing techniques are an important aspect of a number of forms of meditation and their ability to help a person calm down and/or to breathe well has been recognised by medical doctors and psychologists and other professionals.  Exercise physiologists know the importance of the breath for oxygenating our muscles. 

In a spiritual or religious sense, the very act of being still and focusing on the breath is a way to stop the constant activity of the brain, to free us from distractions and to enable us to be fully in the present and to be present to the Spirit in and around us.

Breathing is essential to life. Without breath we die.

Breath is not empty it contains within it moisture, nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and number of trace elements that provide a way for medicos to determine a person’s metabolic health. Breath is also intimate and transactional as we learnt to our cost during COVID. We breathe in air that others have breathed out. They breathe in air that we have expelled. We take in something of them and they of us. This means of course that viruses and germs can be transmitted from one person to another through the simple act of breathing. It is not all negative. The breath of one person can resuscitate another when their breath has stopped. The breath of one can enter another for good and for ill. 

In John’s gospel the giving of the Holy Spirit is a very intimate and personal event, vastly different from the wind and flames of Luke’s account of the Day of Pentecost.  The only detail that the two accounts have in common is the gathering of disciples “in a room”. According to John the giving (transferring) of the Holy Spirit occurred in the evening of the day of Jesus’ resurrection, when the terrified and grieving disciples are still in shock. The disciples (not Thomas[1]) are together in a locked room “for fear of the Jews.” Without any kind of fanfare, Jesus comes among them, offers them “peace” and, perhaps to assure them that it is actually him, he shows them his hands and side. He gives them “peace” for a second time before – in what may be an unwelcome gift for the disciples who now know the consequence of Jesus’ mission – Jesus commissions them to continue his work in the world. Then he breathes the Spirit on them – what was his is now theirs including the power to forgive and to hold[2].

All this John records in just five verses – appearance, assurance, commission and equipping for ministry and the authority to forgive.

The account in Acts is vastly different. It has none of the details recorded by John. Instead, Luke depicts a dramatic, terrifying, life-changing event – a violent wind, flames of fire, and speaking in a cacophony of other languages. (The commissioning of the disciples has already occurred, immediately before Jesus’ ascension into heaven.) Now they spill on to the street, “speaking about God’s deeds of power” with so much noise that they draw the attention of the crowds. Then follows a long speech from Peter who explains the events of Jesus and the prediction that the Spirit would be poured out on all flesh. This plus some information about those who believed as a result takes all of 47 verses to report.

Such a public, noisy, impersonal event stands in stark contrast to the simple, quiet, personal experience of John’s gospel. In Luke the disciples are fired up, driven and empowered by the Holy Spirit to declare the gospel. The risen Jesus doesn’t play a role.  Having remained with the disciples for some 40 days after the resurrection, Jesus has now been absent for a week or so. In that time the disciples have been inactive – waiting for the promised Holy Spirit. 

John places Jesus right at the centre. Jesus who has promised the disciples that they will not be left alone and who has assured them that he will send the Holy Spirit now, on the very day of resurrection, comes in person to provide proof of his resurrection, to give comfort and assurance to his grieving, frightened friends, to send them out to continue his work and to equip them for that work by breathing the Holy Spirit on them.

Jesus breathes the Spirit into his disciples as God breathed life into the first human being. Jesus – in person – hands over something of his very self, breathing peace and power into his disciples. What was Jesus’s has now been passed on – the Spirit which empowers and equips, the Spirit that reassures and emboldens, the Spirit which enlivens and holds others fast. 

At that moment, the disciples truly become one with Jesus as Jesus is one with the Father and the Spirit. 

May we consciously breathe the Spirit in and breathe it out so that others to may experience its life-giving power.

Word to reflect on

1 Breathe on me, Breath of God, 

fill me with life anew, 

that I may love the way you love, 

and do what you would do. 

2 Breathe on me, Breath of God, 

until my heart is pure, 

until my will is one with yours, 

to do and to endure.  

3 Breathe on me, Breath of God,

and all my life refine,

until this earthly part of me

glows with your fire divine.

4 Breathe on me, Breath of God, 

so shall I never die, 

but live with you the perfect life 

for all eternity.

Edwin Hatch 1835-89




[1] Cody J. Sanders suggests this is because Thomas is the only disciple who is not afraid to be out in the world. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/day-of-pentecost/commentary-on-john-2019-23-6

[2] In the same article Sanders reminds us that the word sin doesn’t appear in the second half of Jesus’ saying. He quotes Schneiders who states: “The community that forgives sins must hold fast those whom it has brought into the community of eternal life.”

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Eternity now – John 17

May 16, 2026

Easter 7 – 2026

John 17:1-11

Marian Free

In the name of Christ who came that we might have life and have it abundantly. Amen.

During the week I tuned into the radio when the programme Big Ideas was playing.  A panel of three authors were discussing the topic: “How to Live and Die Well”. At the point at which I joined the show the panel were discussing death. They were saying things like: “Getting people to talk about death is really an exercise in how to talk about life.”  “Can’t live a good life without thinking about death.” They referred to App called ‘We croak’ which five times a day reminds those who have it, that they are going to die.” Apparently, this derives from a practice in Bhutan that believes that in order to live a good life you need to remember five times a day that we are going to die. The thesis of the panelists’ argument seemed to be that being aware that we are going to die makes us more appreciative of the good things that we have in life. 

Another point of the discussion was that we do not do death well. The panelists commented that they felt that we were afraid to talk about death, that we do not plan for death and a funeral alone does not allow time for the process of saying “goodbye”.

I have to be honest, the little I heard pressed a few of my buttons. I like to think that while I love life, I am not and never was afraid of death. If we live, we die that’s the reality. 

It is probably true that our society is increasing disconnected from death. Few people die in their own beds, families no longer wash and prepare the body for burial, and it is not practical, and in some places, it is illegal, for a body to be laid out in a home for people to visit and pay their respects. The work of death happens far removed from everyday existence.

It does frustrate me however, that our increasingly secular society having rejected belief in God has also distanced itself from the rituals of the Christian faith which used to give us ways in common to mark the significant moments of our lives – birth, adolescence, marriage, and death. Those who have abandoned the Christian faith, have at the same time abandoned the cultural practices that are associated with faith, rites of passage which served to mark significant transitions in our lives – including death[1].   

Today marks the end of the Easter season – next week is Pentecost, then Trinity and then the “ordinary[2]” Sundays which take us all the way to Advent. But at the same time, Easter does not come to an end, for we are Easter people. We are Easter people because we celebrate life, but at the centre of our faith is a death – a death that was necessary for newness of life. Jesus’ death, and subsequent resurrection is ever before us, representing not only the cycle of birth and death, death and birth, but also the assurance that death of the body is not something to fear, but the beginning of something new and transformative. 

The death of Jesus is always before us, challenging us on a daily basis to undergo our own little deaths and subsequent resurrections. Indeed, much of our Christian imagery focuses on the idea of death and life, life and death. Jesus says that we must lose our life to gain it; that unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit:  Paul says that we are to die to ourselves and live to Christ. Even our baptism liturgy – based on chapter 6 of Romans speaks of being buried with Christ. Death is ever present to us, in both a literal and figurative sense. Dying and rising with Christ is a constant part of our existence as we let go of all the destructive and unhelpful elements of our lives and allow what is divine to fill us with new life. Throughout our lives we undergo so many “little deaths” that death holds no fear, because ready or not, that is when like Christ, we will be united with God, drawn into the union between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We do not have to wait for our physical death for this union to become a reality as Jesus said in the gospel reading for last Sunday: “Those who love me will keep my word and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them (14:23).” “We will come to them and make our home with them”. Eternal life begins when we begin to believe. As Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure, he makes it clear that those who believe do not have to wait for their physical death to begin to experience eternal life, to be part of the divine life – the life that he, Jesus, shares with the Father and the Spirit. Jesus affirms this in this morning’s gospel; “this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

Eternal life begins when we know God and Jesus Christ. Eternal life is to be caught up in and to be part of the relationship between the three persons of the Trinity! Eternal life is not some distant, unpredictable future event but is our lived experience as God abides in us and we in God. Eternal life is not: “pie in the sky when we die” a future hope reserved only for those who have met certain criteria. Our life with and in the Trinity begins in the here and now. Death is not the beginning of eternal life, but rather death serves to remove the final barrier – the earthy vessel of our body being the last thing we shed before being gathered to and absorbed into the divine life of the Trinity of which we have been a part all along.

This relationship with the divine is not and cannot be destroyed by death. Death is not to be feared or avoided, may our daily deaths fashion us more truly into the image of God prepare us more fully for the eternity of which we are now a part.

[1] Many of these people are adopting practices from Eastern traditions, without realising that they are not vastly dissimilar from those of the Christian faith.

[2] “Ordinary” here comes from ordinal – Sundays that are counted.

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Not as orphans

May 9, 2026

Easter 6 – 2026

John 14:15-21

Marian Free

In the name of God who never leaves us to face our fears alone. Amen.

As is usual for the gospel of John, this short passage is dense and the symbolism within it is far from consistent. There are a number of themes contained in these six verses – love, keeping the commandments and Jesus’ words (which are not his but the Father’s), another Advocate, being in Jesus and in the Father, and being loved by the Father to mention just a few. Added to these is the confusing message that Jesus – who is going, is coming, and the Father will send another Advocate who, we will discover, will not come if Jesus does not go (15:7).

Of course, the author of this gospel does necessarily not want us to untangle these themes, but rather (at least as I see it) wants the ideas to seep into our consciousness where they will somehow create a coherent message – a message of Jesus’ deep love for his disciples (and for all who will follow in their footsteps). That love will empower us to behave in ways consistent with Jesus’ commandments, the primary one being love of one another. 

In this passage, as throughout chapters 14-17, Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure. (This is one of the reasons that many scholars believe that at least some of the content is Jesus’ speaking after the resurrection.) He is alerting the disciples to the fact that his risen presence will not remain with them, at least in the way that they are experiencing in the present. He will return to the Father from whom he came, but the disciples need not despair because the Father will send the Spirit who will be with them forever. 

The relationship between the Father, and Jesus will extend to include the disciples – and all who love Jesus. Indeed, given that the Spirit will abide in the disciples, believers are assured that they are somehow caught up in the relationship between Father, Son and Spirit – that the Trinitarian[1] God abides in them and they in the threefold God.

We will learn much more about the Spirit in the following chapters – the Spirit of truth who will testify on Jesus’ behalf and who will guide the disciples into all the truth – but a key focus of this passage is Jesus’ assurance that the disciples will not be left alone. “Jesus will not leave them orphaned.”

“I will not leave you orphaned.” In the nineteenth century William Chatterton Dix incorporated these words into a hymn – “Hallelujah! not as orphans.” 

I could probably take you to the exact place where I was when these words engraved themselves into my memory and deepest being. The words are so evocative they touched me in a way that I cannot explain, so haunting that I have carried them with me since that time when I was about nine or ten years old. They, and that verse of the hymn, come to me from time to time and with them an inexplicable sense of assurance and comfort. They came to me when I was on the ordination retreat before my Diaconate and have been a refrain throughout my ministry. “Hallelujah! not as orphans are we left in sorrow now.” 

In full the verse reads:

Hallelujah! not as orphans,

are we left in sorrow now;

hallelujah! he is near us, 

faith believes, nor questions how;

though the cloud from sight received him

when the forty days were o’er,

shall our hearts forget his promise,

‘I am with you evermore’?[2]

It would be decades before I realised that Dix took these words directly from John’s gospel.

In today’s gospel, Jesus, as I have said is speaking to his disciples. We can tell from the responses of Thomas, Phillip and Judas (not Iscariot) that they are confused and anxious. After three intense years following Jesus, they are about to be without him. They have to face not only their grief but their uncertainty. What will they do? How are they to behave? Where will they find the strength?

 In this, his farewell speech, Jesus prepares the disciples for life without him. Above all Jesus assures them that they need not be afraid because even though he will be physically absent from them they will still be aware of his presence. More than that, they will be sent the Holy Spirit who will equip and teach them and never leave them.  Even better still, as the Father abides in the Son, so the Father and the Son will abide in those who believe – the union between the Father and Son will be replicated in them. 

John’s gospel is not meant to be linear or to make “logical” sense. Rather it is intended to touch our souls, to bind us together in love and to assure us that the presence of God – Father, Son and Spirit – lives in and with us so that we will know the truth and we will never, ever be alone. 

May you know Jesus abiding in you and you in Jesus.

Questions for reflection:

How has the gospel of John touched you? Which are the words that have been absorbed into your deepest being? Which give you comfort and assurance? Are you confident that you are never alone?

[1] Of course, at this time the language of Trinity did not exist, but it is clear from this passage that the three-fold nature of God was very much a part of the experience of early believers.

[2][2] William Chatterton Dix, 1837-98, in Together in Song, 517.

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