Proper 26 Series C

Proper 26 C 

(October 30 - November 5)

Isaiah 1:10–18

2 Thessalonians 1:1–5 (6–10), 11–12

Luke 19:1–10

Collect for Proper 26: O Lord, we pray that the visitation of Your grace may so cleanse our thoughts and minds that Your Son Jesus when He shall come, may find in us a fit dwelling place; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever.

Collect for Reformation: (31 October)  Almighty God, gracious Lord, pour out Your Holy Spirit on Your faithful people. Keep them steadfast in Your grace and truth, protect and comfort them in all temptations, defend them against all enemies of Your Word, and bestow on the church Your saving peace; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One god, now and forever.

Collect for All Saints: (1 November) O Almighty God, by whom we are graciously knit together as one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of Jesus Christ, our Lord, grant us so to follow Your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living that we may come to those unspeakable joys which You have prepared for those who unfeignedly love You; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever.

Collect for the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed: (2 November) Almighty God, in whose glorious presence live all who depart in the Lord and before whom all the souls of the faithful who are delivered of the burden of the flesh are in joy and felicity, we give you hearty thanks for Your loving-kindness to all Your servants who have finished their course in faith and now rest form their labors and we humbly implore Your mercy that we, together with all who have departed in the saving faith, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, in both body and soul, in Your eternal and everlasting glory; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, now and forever.

The God Who Saves

The theme for this coming Sunday goes beyond forgiveness. Salvation is a broader theme which embraces forgiveness. In the Gospel lesson (Luke 19:1-10 salvation comes to Zacchaeus in and through Jesus Christ. The Israelites are saved through forgiveness for their sin of idolatry by virtue of God’s merciful nature and Moses’ intercession. In the Epistles lesson the fact of salvation has occurred, for Paul is writing to those who are “saved” whose faith and love are growing during hard times. 

The Lord Comes to Save and Call Us to Himself by the Tree of His Cross

God will judge “those who do not obey the gospel” (2 Thessalonians 1:8), but “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven” (2 Thessalonians 1:7), He will “be glorified in his saints” (2 Thessalonians 1:10). For by His cross, you are “considered worthy of the kingdom of God” (2 Thessalonians 1:5). Therefore, “give ear to the teaching of our God” (Isaiah 1:10), and “let us reason together” by faith in His Gospel (Isaiah 1:18). “Make yourselves clean” (Isaiah 1:16), not by “the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats” (Isaiah 1:11), but by the blood of Christ. His salvation comes to you by grace, as it came to Zacchaeus. That man sought “to see who Jesus was,” but he could not “because he was small in stature” (Luke 19:3). 

It is by way of a tree that Zacchaeus is found by the One he sought, for Jesus Himself “was about to pass that way” (Luke 19:4). The Lord calls Zacchaeus down and goes “in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner” (Luke 19:7). So also, He visits us as sinners, securing eternal redemption for us through the tree of His holy cross.

Luke 19:1-10

Jesus and Zacchaeus. 

Luke 19:1 

Καὶ εἰσελθὼν διήρχετο τὴν Ἰεριχώ.

He (Jesus) entered Jericho and was passing through.

Luke 19:2

καὶ ἰδοὺ ἀνὴρ ὀνόματι καλούμενος Ζακχαῖος, καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν ἀρχιτελώνης καὶ αὐτὸς πλούσιος• 

And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich.

Luke 19:3

καὶ ἐζήτει ἰδεῖν τὸν Ἰησοῦν τίς ἐστιν, καὶ οὐκ ἠδύνατο ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου ὅτι τῇ ἡλικίᾳ μικρὸς ἦν. 

And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature.

Luke 19:4

καὶ προδραμὼν εἰς τὸ ἔμπροσθεν ἀνέβη ἐπὶ συκομορέαν ἵνα ἴδῃ αὐτόν, ὅτι ἐκείνης ἤμελλεν διέρχεσθαι.  

So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 

Luke 19:5 

καὶ ὡς ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον, ἀναβλέψας ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν• Ζακχαῖε, σπεύσας κατάβηθι, σήμερον γὰρ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ σου δεῖ με μεῖναι.

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today."

Luke 19:6

καὶ σπεύσας κατέβη, καὶ ὑπεδέξατο αὐτὸν χαίρων. 

So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.

Luke 19:7

καὶ ἰδόντες πάντες διεγόγγυζον λέγοντες ὅτι Παρὰ ἁμαρτωλῷ ἀνδρὶ εἰσῆλθεν καταλῦσαι. 

And when they saw it, they all grumbled, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner."

Luke 19:8

σταθεὶς δὲ Ζακχαῖος εἶπεν πρὸς τὸν κύριον• Ἰδοὺ τὰ [e]ἡμίσιά [f]μου τῶν ὑπαρχόντων, κύριε, τοῖς πτωχοῖς δίδωμι, καὶ εἴ τινός τι ἐσυκοφάντησα ἀποδίδωμι τετραπλοῦν.  

And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold."

Luke 19:9

εἶπεν δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι Σήμερον σωτηρία τῷ οἴκῳ τούτῳ ἐγένετο, καθότι καὶ αὐτὸς υἱὸς Ἀβραάμ ἐστιν•  

And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 

Luke 10:10

 ἦλθεν γὰρ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ζητῆσαι καὶ σῶσαι τὸ ἀπολωλός 

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. 

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The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition. Copyright © 2010 by Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software

English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

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