Homily for Holy Communion Tuesday 14 July 2026
Isiah 7:1-9
Psalm 48:1-8
Matthew 11:20-24
The mighty works of God.
I am told that, in an earlier generation, the evangelical cry of the Church was something along the lines of “God is alive and well!” It was a response to the great cultural heavings of the 1960’s and 70’s, when people were rejecting God en mass and creating their own ideas of who we are and how we ought to live.
This idea, that God is alive and well, is a good response to the worries and concerns raised by both the prophet Isaiah as well as our Lord in today’s two readings. The prophet is talking to the king and his cronies, who see oncoming armies and, as a result, their “hearts shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind”. (Is 7:2) Their enemies have “devised evil” against them, yet they are told “be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint”. (v. 4) Then the prophet stands aside to let God speak: “It shall not come to pass”. (v. 7)
Fear surrounds us on every side. Or, the potential for fear does, at least. Because if God were not alive and well, then what hope would we frail and fickle humans have? But God is alive and well, and he speaks, and he speaks comfort to us and doom to the enemy.
In our Gospel passage, the Lord Jesus is pronouncing woes upon the cities who, upon hearing the Gospel, have not turned back to God. He talks about “mighty works” performed in them, works that they ignored. (Matt vv. 21, 23) Indeed, if Sodom, that city of such evil and wickedness that ended up being wiped out completely (and is still a wasteland to this day) had experienced the mighty works of which Jesus speaks, then they would have repented and believed, and it would still be here.
Again, there is this undercurrent of an idea that God is alive and well, and is active among us, doing things, and pointing us back to him. It is up to us whether we watch and listen and respond.
As Christians, we have seen and heard something of God, and have responded in faith. At the same time, we should continue watching and hearing and responding. Our relationship with God is ongoing. He is still doing things in our lives and in our world; he is still talking to us; we still have things we need to turn away from. Our readings this morning remind us of two important things: first, as the prophet said so many years ago, that when fear surrounds, we are to listen to God speaking peace to us. He is our fortress and mighty defender, and there is nothing we need to fear. And from our Lord, we can take the reminder to ourselves to keep watching and listening for when God is doing things around us. Because he is alive and well, and he isn’t done with loving us and renewing us – and he never will!