The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity
October 1, 2023
(Ephesians 3:13–21, NIV84) “I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory. For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
When a tree – or any plant – has a good root system, it is able to stand. We can remember the man of God in Psalm 1: “he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.” (Psalm 1:3, KJV)
When the child of God is rooted and established in the love God gives, he has strength – power from God – to see and understand just how great, how large the love of God is that his only-begotten Son loved us so much that he sacrificed his holy life for us
Isn’t this the prayer of every Christian? We want one another – all believers – to be rooted and to grow up in Christ. We think of this picture, also from the Psalms: “Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace.” (Psalm 144:12, NIV84)
Paul wants us to be filled with all the spiritual blessings God offers!
For all these kinds of things, we can only praise God as Paul does in these words!
Prayer
We beseech thee, O Lord, to keep thy Church in thy perpetual mercy; and because man without thee cannot but fall, keep us always through thy help from all things hurtful and lead us to all things profitable for our salvation. This we ask through Jesus Christ, thy Son, Our Lord. Amen
