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Fifth Sunday after Pentecost • Year C
July 13, 2025 • Proper 10
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Historical Collect
Richly inspire us, O Lord, to consider and accomplish what you see is good. For we know that we cannot live without you, but that with you, we shall prevail. And so, we pray through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Leonine Sacramentary, 6th Century)
Thematic Collect
God of mercy and tender compassion, through the life, death, and resurrection of your Son the depth and breadth of your mercy is profoundly revealed. By your Spirit empower us to lead lives that are faithful reflections of your own gracious mercy; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.
The Common Thread
If no one else will take care of the poor, God will see to it. Yet, he would use us to do so. This is his will, as in having us care for the poor, he fulfills the commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:39). In this, we honor God, and he blesses us. If you would “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,” considering the needs of the poor is a great start. Indeed, we are commanded to love God with our whole beings, but also our neighbors as ourselves.
First Reading • Leviticus 18:1–5, 19:9–18
We must obey all the decrees of God, difficult as they seem. Part of his law is that we keep back for others part of what we have sown. I know some Christian farmers and wonder if any of them keep from harvesting the edges of their fields so that the poor may eat. Of course, there is more than one way to do so. When we fail to do this, farmer or not, we have stolen and broken the command of the Lord. Part and parcel of being faithful is loving our neighbor as ourselves.
Psalm • Psalm 41:1-13
So often one hears of somebody who has met the need of another and says that she was more blessed than the one whose need was met. “Happy are those who consider the poor” (Psa 41:1). This must never be one’s motivation, for even when the one we feed bites the hand of the one who fed, it is God who has been served — not the poor and certainly not ourselves.
Second Reading • Colossians 1:1-14
Paul stresses that we are to lead lives that are worthy of the Lord. We are to bear fruit that is worthy of Christ himself. You will do greater deeds than these (John 14:12). Our salvation is not dependent upon these works but the deeds are a kind of proof of having been transferred from darkness into the kingdom of the beloved Son.
Gospel • Luke 10:25-37
Notice how Jesus does not jump straight to the Gospel with the lawman. He gives him what he needs and understands: the Law. No one will come to God’s grace until they recognize their need. This man, like so many of us, wishes to justify himself — to show he is good enough to inherit eternal life. Jesus does not simply tell him he is not good enough; he shows him.
Resources
Links to Worship Resources for this Service
