According to the Church calendar, the theme of the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost is “Truth and Error”.
A Christian must struggle in life to distinguish truth from falsehood and right from wrong. Knowing God and seeking his will lead a person to the truth. We must enter through the narrow gate and walk the hard road, as the Saviour says in today’s Gospel (Matthew 7:13–14).
According to St Augustine, so few find and enter the narrow gate not because Christ’s yoke is harsh or his burden heavy, but because few truly desire to be freed from their own burdens and saved solely by God’s grace. Few wish to trust the Lord when he calls: “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30). This is why, Augustine adds, the Lord points at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount to the meek and humble in heart, who are ready to exchange their burden for Christ’s yoke and rest.
Yes, being a Christian is active and practical: a daily struggle against temptation and dying to sin, loving God by serving our neighbours. Yet it is not an anxious effort to accumulate points in heaven, for Christ Jesus himself lives and works in the baptised person who trusts him. St Paul writes to the Corinthians of this same experience: “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).
Welcome to St Elizabeth’s Church to meet the gracious God today at 10:00! Coffee will follow.
