The Monday after the Seventh Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 4, 2025 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 12:1-9 (NKJV)
12:1 In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.
4 “And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!
6 “Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
8 “Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. 9 But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.”
Devotion
Recently the divisions on our nation were once again made evident by a scandal over a list and who knew the contents of the list. The particular facts of that sordid episode are not our concern here, except insofar as we hear echoing once again the words of our Lord: “For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.” Men devote a great deal of energy to their secrets: the careful concealing of that which is not to be known (save to a trusted or initiated few) is common across human history because people are inherently deceptive—and ashamed of what they have done.
Our Lord’s words turn our concern where it should be, to the precious good news which cannot and should never be concealed. “Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.” The Christian faith must never be concealed or muted by those who are called to believe and confess it. The world deceives and is deceived; the Church has the unchanging, saving Truth, and that Word will be confessed to the end of the world.
Collect: O God, Whose never-failing Providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth: We humbly beseech Thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things which be profitable for us; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
