Ember Saturday after Pentecost
Today marks the most solemn of the Ember days, in which ordinations took place. There are consequently more readings than usual, which enables us to reflect on the significance of the occasion.
The first lesson from the prophet Joel looks forward to a future time when the Holy Spirit will be poured out on all flesh. The sons and daughters will prophesy, the old men dream dreams and young men visions. There would be wonders in heaven and earth before the coming Day of the Lord. “And it shall come to pass that every one that shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
The prophet Joel preached repentance as the remedy for the sufferings of the people in the present time. Despite the bleak pessimism of the present situation, he had faith that in the long term the forces of evil would be defeated. In the messianic age of the future the Holy Spirit would be poured out on all flesh and prophecy would not just be a special prerogative of a few, but open to all, young and old.
There are two readings from the book of Leviticus. In the first Moses is instructed to speak to the Israelites: “When you shall have entered into the land which I will give you, and shall reap your corn, you shall bring sheaves of ears, the first fruits of your harvest, to the priest: who shall lift up the sheaf before the Lord, the next day after the sabbath, that it may be acceptable for you, and shall sanctify it.” They should then count from the morrow after the sabbath seven full weeks, that is to say, fifty days, and then offer a new sacrifice to the Lord, two loaves of the first fruits and two tenths of flour leavened. Since it would be a holy day they should do no servile work.
The second reading from Leviticus records that Moses was instructed to tell the Israelites that if they walked in God’s precepts and kept his commandments they would prosper. God would set his tabernacle in the midst of them and would walk among them.
The Israelites had been rescued from slavery in Egypt and been led by Moses to Mount Sinai, where he received the Law which would govern their lives as the chosen people of God. It provided the blueprint for a democratic theocracy in which all, high and low, rich and poor, would have equal access to dignity and hope. The central maxim of the book of Leviticus is that the people are to be holy as God himself is holy. They had been chosen to be different from the nations that surrounded them and this was to be demonstrated by their lives.
The reading from the book of Deuteronomy states that Moses said to the Israelites that when they had conquered the land they had been promised they should take the first fruits and go the place that God himself would choose. They should say: “I profess this day before the Lord thy God, who heard us, and looked down upon your affliction, and labour, and distress; and brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand, and a stretched out arm, with great terror and signs and wonders; and brought us into this place, gave us this land flowing with milk and honey. And therefore now I offer the first fruits of the land which the Lord hath given me.”
The Book of Deuteronomy records the words Moses spoke before his death as the people were about to enter the land of promise. The Israelites were instructed never to forget the lessons they had learned in their wanderings in the wilderness. The land they had been promised was one of milk and honey, but they were warned that they should not allow themselves to be corrupted by the ways of surrounding nations. If they remained faithful to God, they would prosper. Infidelity would bring disaster upon themselves and the ultimate ruin of their nation.
In the epistle from St. Paul to the Romans (which we heard today) the faithful are told that since they have been justified by faith they now have peace with God through Christ, through whom they had been given access by faith into the grace wherein they now stood. They could therefore glory in the hope of the sons of God. “And not only so, but we glory also in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience trial, and trial hope; and hope confoundeth not: because the charity of God is poured forth into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us.”
The Israelites had been defined as a people that dwelleth alone that shall not be numbered among nations by their obedience to the Law received through Moses. But they had not been faithful and had ultimately suffered the collapse of their nation as a consequence. The hope of the prophets was that this was not the end of the matter, for in the future God’s kingdom would finally come on earth as it is in heaven and the Holy Spirit would be poured out on all flesh.
St. Paul devoted the majority of his epistle to the Romans to explaining that in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the hope of Moses and the prophets had now at last found fulfilment. Although Israel had not kept the Law as they had been commanded there was one Israelite who had been faithful. He had taken the evil of the situation that confronted him upon himself and had somehow subsumed it into good. He had condemned sin in the flesh and inaugurated the new covenant through his own blood, in which the law was no longer written on tablets of stone but in the hearts of men. The people of God were no longer defined by race, but by faith in Christ. All had sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but were justified freely by his grace at work in Christ reconciling the world to himself. All nations were now summoned to renounce idolatry, repent and be baptised for the remission of their sins. The love of God would be poured into their hearts by the Holy Spirit that had been given to them. The period of preparation was over, for they were now living in the days of fulfilment. They would be enabled to endure in spite of all the trials and tribulations that beset them in this life.
Let us pray for grace and the strengthening guidance of the Holy Spirit that has been given to us, that we will remain faithful to that same gospel proclamation in our own time and place.
by the Revd Dr Robert Wilson PhD (Cantab), Old Roman Apostolate UK
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