Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost • Year A

Historical Collect

Almighty, eternal God, increase in us your gifts of faith, hope and love; and in order that love may abide in us, help us to celebrate what your love has done for us. Grant this, 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

Gracious God, you welcome all who cry out to you, and no one is beyond the reach of your mercy. Through our gathering around word and meal, strengthen us to be living signs of your healing and mercy so that all may know your glory and grace; through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

The Common Thread

It was promised of old that salvation would come, that God’s righteousness would be revealed so that his way might be known throughout the earth. So it is that in Christ, many have been gathered and still more will be gathered. Even those who are considered lost will be found and receive the Lord’s irrevocable gifts of mercy, grace, and salvation. God will have mercy even on Gentiles and the lost sheep of Israel—even on you and me.

First Reading • Isaiah 56:1, 6-8

It is too common and too easy to only understand holding fast to the covenant of God as a response to the law. Many think like this: God says, do this, so I will do it in order that I will be accepted. This is a fine enough way to think but not the only way to think about holding fast to the covenant. There is the gospel side, as well. Luther says that the one who holds fast to the covenant is the one who trusts God’s promises (Luther’s Works, Concordia, vol 17, p 263). The one who holds fast to God’s covenant is the one who, when unable to perform the law, still trusts God’s promises. 

Psalm • Psalm 67:1-7

God bestows his blessings upon us through his word, and is not limited to blessing his people only when they keep his word. “God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us.” Hear the blessing and be blessed. 

Second Reading • Romans 11:1-2a, 13-15, 28-32

There may yet be mercy, even for those who have been disobedient. God will not reject anyone who believes—Israel or the Gentile. Though both have been disobedient (v32), God remains faithful to himself. He has promised salvation. The disobedience of people becomes a means of displaying the mercy of God.

Gospel • Matthew 15:21-28

Note the mercy of a true king; it extends beyond his own people. The mercy of Jesus reached further than the house of Israel. The faith of a foreigner, indeed, a Canaanite, that old enemy of Israel, roused the healing power of Jesus. Moreover, her faith stirred his heart.

One wonders at such insistent faith. How many importune God without giving up? Is there such faith in all the Church (Matt 8:10)? There should be because there is mercy with her Lord.