31 January 2020 - start small

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Of its own accord the land yields fruit,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

The Kingdom grows within us as long as we welcome it with good soil. The degree that we are open and receptive to the Spirit is the degree to which we bear fruit. Faith is required, because the fruit is not immediate. Neither is the growth obvious. Indeed, the Holy Spirit nurtures his gifts inside of us long before they crack the surface. They begin to mark our actions before our awareness. And the point is this: We don't need to despair when we don't see growth. We don't need to keep changing plans desperately until something obvious happens. We do need to keep the soil of our hearts free from things hostile to growth and to water it with our life of prayer and with the word of God. 

But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants
and puts forth large branches,
so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.

Big dramatic changes in our lives can produce little meaningful impact. But small changes and decisions anointed to the Spirit can bring unexpectedly great benefits. We tend to think that only very great actions of very great people can change the world. Jesus tells us it is in fact the small and hidden opportunities to prefer love and true to fear and lies that matter most.

Let us trust in the LORD for our fruit. Let us pay attention to him in the small and in the hidden and to welcome him there. Then we will be in a secure place against temptations.

From the roof he saw a woman bathing, who was very beautiful.

David had already failed to go with his army into battle. He was already vulnerable. He allowed choices to accumulate one upon another. We must allow the Spirit to keep us in the will of God. He will keep the continuity of the small and hidden will of God even when something dramatic is required of us, like going to war with our troops. When something like this is demanded of us and we respond we will be surprised to find that the fruit that has been nurtured within us is sufficient. We have grace enough for the task at hand. We can do all things in Christ who loves us.

30 January 2020 - to be made known

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket
or under a bed,
and not to be placed on a lampstand?

The Kingdom starts small and hidden. It is almost imperceptible. It grows from the heart as an intimate contact with Jesus himself. Yet it must not remain hidden within us. There was a time in the life of Jesus when the fact that he was the messiah was not openly revealed. He did not permit demons to speak of it. This allowed for initial growth without misrepresentation. So too does the fact of the identity of Jesus begin as hidden within us. So too must it then be proclaimed.

Even the good works we do, those done by our left hand that we hide from the right, even they will eventually be known and proclaimed so that the glory and the grace of God at work within us may be celebrated. We hide them now from ourselves so as to not misrepresent the origin of the power at work within us to ourselves or to others. But there is nothing hidden that will not be known.

For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible;
nothing is secret except to come to light.

That hidden things will be known is something in which we should be able to delight. The Kingdom may be growing, we know not how, but it is growing, and longs to break through the soil. But perhaps there are some hidden things in us which we would not be delighted to see made public. This is a lack of integrity within us. These places should be brought more to the LORD. Even our weaknesses don't finally need to be a cause of shame for us if we constantly turn them over to the LORD.

The LORD has promised great things. The Kingdom which we await is one of love, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. May we ask the LORD to let the light of Christ to shine forth from each of us, enlightening our own darkness as it does, to reveal that Kingdom already in our midst.

Do, then, bless the house of your servant
that it may be before you forever;
for you, Lord GOD, have promised,
and by your blessing the house of your servant
shall be blessed forever.”

29 January 2020 - the house of God

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Thus says the LORD:
Should you build me a house to dwell in?

In our zeal we run the risk of getting so involved in our self-chosen projects which we undertake for God that we miss those things to which God is actually calling us, which he is doing.

I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins,
and I will make his Kingdom firm.
It is he who shall build a house for my name.

It sounds so great to be at work building the house of the LORD, making it a beautiful place for his presence to dwell. But it is only going to turn out to be beautiful if it is the thing that the LORD is doing. If it is his initiative and we are called to join him then we must by all means build. But the fundamental thing that the LORD wants us to remember when we listen to him and discern what we should do next is that our Christian life isn't really about what we can do for the LORD.

If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and its fullness are mine (see Psalm 50:12).

Our walk with God is about what he can do and especially what he has already done for us.

Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me;
your throne shall stand firm forever.

He has raised up Jesus on the throne of David and made his Kingdom to endure forever. We are called to be a part of that Kingdom and not to build our own. That Kingdom is the place where we find refuge and safety from the enemies that surround us.

I will fix a place for my people Israel;
I will plant them so that they may dwell in their place
without further disturbance.

Let us be open to the seed the sower is sowing. Let us not be a path to rocky to receive his word or not deep enough to let his plan take root in us. Let us give him good soil so that the vine that bears abundant fruit may also burst forth from the seed the Spirit plants in us.

For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.

28 January 2020 - model family

 

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of God
is my brother and sister and mother.”

We are called to be more closely united to Jesus than any natural bond of family or friendship. We are indeed called to forsake any natural relationship that comes into conflict with the primacy of Jesus. This is the case precisely because our relationship with Jesus is something more than a natural family bond and not less.

We are called to enter into the life of the Trinity, to become partakers of the divine nature (see Second Peter 1:4). The Fatherhood of God is the source of earthly fatherhood (see Ephesians 3:15). When such earthly family life comes into conflict with the archetype on which is built it becomes malignant, something less than it was meant to be.

We might think that we ought to dismiss than merely natural to prefer the supernatural. From this statement of Jesus we might believe that we are called to shun our earthly families for a purely spiritual family. But this is not so. We are called to ensure that our earthly families, insofar as it depends on us, embody the archetypal family. We are called first to receive the Holy Spirit who cries out, 'Abba! Father!' in our own lives. Having received him we are called to let him make our families more like the Trinity.

“Your mother and your brothers and your sisters
are outside asking for you.”

Things will be different when the Trinity is our closest kin, our first family. God will have first claim on us, heart and soul. We cannot allow ourselves to be called away from this center. Instead, everything else must be organized around it.

David shows us how to place our concern for the LORD first. He shows us how to do so without regard to what people might think. In doing so, he shows us the joy that is the result.
Then David, girt with a linen apron,
came dancing before the LORD with abandon,
as he and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD
with shouts of joy and to the sound of the horn.

When the LORD is first we have more to offer. We have draw others along with ourselves to the bread that satisfies unto eternal life.

He then distributed among all the people,
to each man and each woman in the entire multitude of Israel,
a loaf of bread, a cut of roast meat, and a raisin cake.

 

27 January 2020 - taking a stand

Today's Readings

(Audio)

If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

Jesus stands because he is undivided always willing the will of his Father in heaven. We falter in our Christian walk because we are divided. We do will some good. We do chase some demons out from our lives and the lives of our loved ones. But we welcome others, or if we don't welcome them exactly we still look the other way and ignore their presence as they cause harm to ourselves and our loved ones. The risk in living this way is that we eventually collapse.

But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property
unless he first ties up the strong man.

On our own we are not strong enough to has complete victory over the enemy. On our own, it is more like whack-a-mole. Our efforts in one area seem to leave the rest even more vulnerable. This is why we need the Holy Spirit so much. Living a victorious life without him is impossible.

But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
will never have forgiveness,
but is guilty of an everlasting sin.

Blaspheming the Holy Spirit can mean despairing of forgiveness or of assistance in living as we are called. It means insisting on relying on ourselves even to the point of self-destruction. May we never do this! Instead, let us ask the Holy Spirit to free us from our strong enemy and to unite all the disparate parts of our hearts in one pursuit. Just as David united the all of Israel under one throne and it was thus that Israel prospered more than at any other time so too does Jesus want to unite each heart, within itself, to him, and to his people. Then we will walk in victory, unwavering in the strength he gives.

I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him,
That my hand may be always with him,
and that my arm may make him strong.

26 January 2020 - the people who sat in darkness

Today's Readings

(Audio)

the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death
light has arisen.

What was the shadow? It was the shadow of death itself. It might have seemed to think for the light to pierce. The problem might have seemed to intractable. Human suffering, heretofore unmitigated throughout history, seemed to be a permanent feature of reality. Yet there was a light that could comprehend this, make sense of it, and cast it out.

What was this light? It was nothing other than the presence of Jesus. Simply by being in that region it was changed from a place of darkness to a place illuminated by a great light.

He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea

The presence of Jesus in a situation is the only thing needed to change it from darkness to light. He himself is the only way that we can make sense of pain, sorrow, and suffering. But the way he does so is not complicated, not mysterious, nor abstract. If it were, only the very wise could make sense of it.

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel,
and not with the wisdom of human eloquence,
so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.

Many look for wisdom or for mighty deeds (see First Corinthians 1:22). But it is the simple and the childlike that have the best perspective to receive what Jesus is doing. It is they who simply rejoice in the light of his presence, not needing to control it by comprehension or explanation. They are the ones who might not be able to give all of the doctrinal reasons why something is true but, when pressed, can say, 'I'm not sure about that. But I am sure of this: I love you, and Jesus loves you.' Somehow this is more compelling than any Summa or Catechism. Somehow this is the light shining in its purest form.

You have brought them abundant joy
and great rejoicing,
as they rejoice before you as at the harvest,
as people make merry when dividing spoils.

There can be joy in any circumstance, not because mighty deeds change it, nor because wisdom makes sense of it, but because even there the light of Jesus can shine. May we welcome him wherever we find him and follow him wherever he goes.

“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
At once they left their nets and followed him.

25 January 2020 - regain your sight

Today's Readings

(Audio)

On his  journey, as he was nearing Damascus,
a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him.
He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him,
“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

Hopefully the LORD doesn't need to knock us to the ground and blind us to get our attention. But he does want our attention. No matter how dramatic was the conversion of Saint Paul compared to our own often much more mundane experiences the resulting conversion is meant to be the same.

“Saul, my brother, the Lord has sent me,
Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came,
that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

The LORD gives us new sight and fills us with the Holy Spirit just as he did for Paul. To appreciate this it helps to be aware of the metaphorical blindness that we all suffer without Jesus and the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is a blindness such that even when we try to do good things we often end up doing just the opposite.

‘I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.’

The Holy Spirit enlightens our hearts and teaches us how to love. He reveals the ways in which our old attempts at justice were actually persecution. The body of Jesus, the Church, still endures this persecution on a large scale when it proclaims the message of the love of Christ. It is precisely then that we see our supposed freedom of religion constrained and apparently on the verge of collapse. But even within the Church, those who make the call to love more intimate, more explicit, and more present, still risk alienating those members who are just coasting on the status quo. So we need to pray that the world experiences the conversion of heart that Paul did. But we ourselves also need an ever deeper conversion.

As for Paul, Jesus has plans for us.

‘The God of our ancestors designated you to know his will,
to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of his voice;
for you will be his witness before all
to what you have seen and heard.

Like Paul, we are chosen instruments of Jesus, to carry his name before Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel. We too will encounter suffering. Like Paul, we can suffer for the sake of the name of Jesus.

Let us ask for a deeper conversion, a more clear spiritual sight from the eyes of our hearts, and for more of the Holy Spirit.

“Saul, my brother, the Lord has sent me,
Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came,
that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

May we, like Paul, be transformed into Spirit filled evangelists, spreading the Gospel far and wide.

Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.

24 January 2020 - with him

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted
and they came to him.

We are called by Jesus. He wants us. Let us come to him. We are not all Apostles, but we are still included in his calling of the Apostles by the bishops of the Church who are their successors. We are called to be present to Jesus in union with them. We are each called to share in their work to some degree, both to do it and to receive it.

He appointed Twelve, whom he also named Apostles,
that they might be with him
and he might send them forth to preach
and to have authority to drive out demons:

The priority here is that they might be with him. This is the priority for us as well. From that vantage we too are called to live lives and even speak words to preach the good news of the Kingdom. We too are given authority.

Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you (see Luke 10:19).

The authority of the Kingdom and the call to preach are such dramatic things that they can obscure the first thing which is the most essential. Even here at the source of this missionary calling we find the call to be a contemplative, to simply be with Jesus, and to choose the good portion.

but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her (see Luke 10:42).

If we start with Jesus and abide with him he will be able to work powerfully through us. If David hadn't been attentive to the promptings of the LORD and to the Spirit who rushed upon him he would not have shown mercy to Saul. It would have been easy to charge on through and complete what could easily be seen as a victory the LORD gave him over the most significant problem he then faced. So too in our lives. It is easy to take what the LORD is doing into our hands and to start making and acting on our own assumptions. It takes faith to believe that leaving the hostile king alive can actually work out for a greater good.

May the LORD reward you generously for what you have done this day.
And now, I know that you shall surely be king
and that sovereignty over Israel shall come into your possession.

Let us ask the LORD to unite us with the Apostles, who, in union with Peter, build the Kingdom in present day. May we all, in the midst of noise and haste, find the time to simply be with Jesus and then, from there, to be sent out.

In the shadow of your wings I take refuge,
till harm pass by.

23 January 2020 - making room

Today's Readings

(Audio)

He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd,
so that they would not crush him.

Do we give Jesus room to do what he wants to do in us? Often times we are a crowded mass of conflicting desires all pressing in upon him, threatening to crush him. Are we at least willing to have a boat ready for him? Can we grant him an escape route for when his goals aren't those on which we insist? We should indeed pursue Jesus. We should be willing to leave where we are to go where he is going. To do so, we must be willing to leave carnal minds. Our following after him requires a purification of our own intentions.

"But the ship waiting upon the Lord in the sea is the Church, collected from amongst the nations; and He goes into it lest the crowd should throng Him, because flying from the troubled minds of carnal persons, He delights to come to those who despise the glory of this world, and to dwell within them."

- St Bede from the Catena Aurea by Thomas Aquinas

It is good a right to press in on Jesus for our needs.

He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases
were pressing upon him to touch him.

We must allow the process of pursuing him to change us. This is the whole secret of prayer. It isn't ever that we change God's mind, even when he does in fact act through miraculous cures. Rather, this was always his plan. A closer look reveals it is our own hearts that have been changed, having become agents of his love.

Saul's desire for pride and vanity threatened to crush David. But at least for the time being he was willing to be reminded by Jonathan that David had been acting entirely in good faith, for the sake of Saul and his kingdom.

Saul heeded Jonathan’s plea and swore,
“As the LORD lives, he shall not be killed.”
So Jonathan summoned David and repeated the whole conversation to him.
Jonathan then brought David to Saul, and David served him as before.

Like Jonathan, may we be willing to take up our part for the LORD's anointed. When our minds are pressed with carnal desires, for vanity, pride, and the rest, let us be willing to come away from the world, to the place where Jesus is, to the place we can be healed.

For you have rescued me from death,
my feet, too, from stumbling;
that I may walk before God in the light of the living.

22 January 2020 - the battle belongs to the LORD

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?

We too can become set in our ways. Like the Pharisees, we can become convinced there is only one right or God-approved way for things to be. We can find ourselves missing opportunities or even rejecting legitimate goods just because don't come to us in the ways with which we are familiar. We are called to keep our eyes and hearts open to the new ways in which the LORD wants to do good and to save life. We must not let our familiarity and comfort get in the way of the new things the LORD is doing.

Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert (see Isaiah 43:19).

Why were the Pharisees so invested in the sabbath? In the first place, because it was a command of the LORD they weren't about to abandon it for false or trivial reasons. That makes sense. But what hardened their hearts so much that they couldn't stand to see a man healed?

Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out? (see Luke 14:5).

The Pharisees were more invested in their own sense of being correct than in the will of God. Their identity was constructed on this basis, that of people who were so meticulously obedient. Yet we can use the familiar as a shield in the same way. We can allow our history with the LORD to blind us to our future with him. We too can refuse to be flexible when to do so allows us to prefer ourselves to others and to God. And it is especially tricky because we can convince ourselves that we are doing this for God or for truth. If we do not stay open to the presence of God in the moment we almost certainly will so deceive ourselves occasionally.

David was not limited by his own self-image or by what God had done for him in the past.

You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar,
but I come against you in the name of the LORD of hosts,
the God of the armies of Israel that you have insulted.

David had never done this before. The world, and Saul in particular, didn't think it could be done. But David was able to remain open to what God wanted to do through him, not in calm circumstances, but even in the midst of battle.

All this multitude, too,
shall learn that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves.
For the battle is the LORD’s and he shall deliver you into our hands.

Our horizons are too limited. Our battles are stacked against us and our opponents are overwhelming. The whole world whispers together that we cannot succeed. Let us learn from David to let ourselves be used by the LORD even when our enemies seem too great for us. Let us learn from Jesus to be open to his salvation even when the odds against it seem impossible.

Blessed be the LORD, my rock,
who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war.

21 January 2020 - the letter kills

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?

We need to go beyond the more superficiality of obedience to the dynamic depth. The LORD is very concerned with keeping holy the sabbath. It is meant to teach us to enter into the rest that God has in store for us. Work on the sabbath that is not necessary appears to be putting the world before God in our priorities. In general, such work is a surrender to the tyranny of the world and its necessities. But not always. The merely superficial doesn't tell the whole story.

The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.
That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.

The LORD and his action in our lives may dictate priorities that change how we are called to honor the sabbath. It is not that we ignore that command. It is just that it now takes on a new light as we recognize where Jesus is and where he is leading us on the sabbath. It turns out that any place to which he calls us can be rest even when it seems to be work. Avoiding such work for the sake of the law would ultimately leave us hungry. 

With any discernment, we must look beyond appearance to try to see as the LORD sees.

Not as man sees does God see,
because he sees the appearance
but the LORD looks into the heart.

We must be open to the work of Jesus in the hearts of those around us and in our own hearts. He will not abolish the law. But he will show us unexpected ways in which it is to be fulfilled. On our own we only perceive the letter of the law which brings death. Jesus teaches us how to read it through the Spirit who gives life (see Second Corinthians 3:6).

and from that day on, the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David.

We need the Spirit to rush on us as well. We have received him in baptism and been strengthened by him at confirmation. But we cannot leave him as an artifact of the past if we want to follow Jesus in our daily lives.

That my hand may be always with him,
and that my arm may make him strong.

20 January 2020 - something new

Today's Readings

(Audio)

No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak.
If he does, its fullness pulls away,
the new from the old, and the tear gets worse.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.

We have received new cloth and new wine in Jesus. We can't just patch our old cloaks or fill our old wineskins. What we receive from Jesus is something entirely new that can't simply be used to patch up the old. The old containers are inadequate to contain his gifts. 

When we try to make our response to the LORD just another aspect of our lives we risk ending up like Saul. He does some of what the LORD commands but not all. Yet he justifies the part he omits to himself by saying it is for the LORD.

I have brought back Agag, and I have destroyed Amalek under the ban.
But from the spoil the men took sheep and oxen,
the best of what had been banned,
to sacrifice to the LORD their God in Gilgal.

The LORD asks obedience of us. It is not an item to be fit among others on the list of our priorities. It is rather that it is meant to order the entire list. It is not one checkbox among many, but the principle by which our list is ordered. This is why our old lists can no longer be used. This is the new wine that our old wineskins cannot contain.

Obedience is better than sacrifice,
and submission than the fat of rams.
For a sin like divination is rebellion,
and presumption is the crime of idolatry.

Let us not be presumptuous about the command of the LORD. If there is ambiguity in what he asks let us seek clarity from him first. At the very least we need to at give him the opportunity to change our direction if we are potentially about to go the wrong way.

Let us dance to the dance Jesus gives us to the music he himself is playing. Let us feast in his presence and fast in his absence. He is meant to be preeminent in all things (see Colossians 1:18). May he be so in our hearts.

I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.
He that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me;
and to him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God.

19 January 2020 - that he might be made known

Today's Readings

(Audio)

but the reason why I came baptizing with water
was that he might be made known to Israel.

John's one concern is that Jesus be made known. He is called to baptize to make Jesus known. But he knows that his baptism is temporary, meant to give way to something more real, more all-consuming, more life changing.

18 January 2020 - the Divine Phyiciain

 

Today's Readings

(Audio)

He had a son named Saul, who was a handsome young man.
There was no other child of Israel more handsome than Saul;
he stood head and shoulders above the people.
We may not be particularly handsome like Saul. That may seem like a superficial qualification to be king. But we may feel ourselves to have even less to recommend us to the service of the LORD. He is building a Kingdom. Yet it is not how we appear on the outside that matters to Jesus.

People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart (see First Samuel 16:7).

The LORD judges the heart.  But what of those whose hearts are messy, broken, and sinful?

“Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

These are exactly the sort of hearts that the LORD seeks. They are hearts who are not convinced of their own righteousness. Because they are not, they are able to recognize the Divine Physician.

As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus,
sitting at the customs post.
Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”
And he got up and followed Jesus.

We may feel utterly unqualified, ungifted, or useless. If so, perfect. We are exactly the sort of people for whom Jesus is searching. He himself qualifies the unqualified.

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God (see First Corinthians 1:27-29).

What should this mean for us? It should give us the courage to be unafraid to come to Jesus, to follow him when he calls, even when our rational minds offer every reason why we can't. Nothing against our rational minds, but they don't have faith as a frame of reference. And we are called to walk by faith and not by sight (see Second Corinthians 5:7).

Then, from a flask he had with him, Samuel poured oil on Saul’s head;
he also kissed him, saying:
“The LORD anoints you commander over his heritage.
You are to govern the LORD’s people Israel,
and to save them from the grasp of their enemies roundabout.

The anointing we receive is more than that of Saul. We are made priests, prophets, and kings, sharing in the eternal Kingship of Jesus himself. On our own we would fail. But this anointing is the grace of the presence of the Trinity itself at work within us. If we yield to it failure is impossible. We are healed by the Divine Physician. We are made beautiful by the gospel.

 O LORD, in your strength the king is glad;
in your victory how greatly he rejoices!

 

17 January 2020 - like other nations

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Not so!  There must be a king over us.
We too must be like other nations,
with a king to rule us and to lead us in warfare
and fight our battles.

We may underestimate how much having a king looked like a good idea. Great, prosperous, victorious nations had a king. It was the modern way to govern, and it marked all of the nations surrounding Israel who seemed great and strong. The people were happy enough to have Samuel judge them. But as Samuel grew old they became increasingly aware of their direct dependence on the LORD. Samuel's children did not follow his example. What would happen to the people after he died? Rather than trusting in God they wanted to implement a system that would make trust in God unnecessary.

16 January 2020 - i do will it

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“If you wish, you can make me clean.”

The LORD can heal us. He can heal our souls, our minds, and our bodies. We see so much of his ministry in the gospels is compromised of healing those who need it. We know that even in our own day miraculous healings still occur. Disease is banished without a trace. Depression is destroyed. Addiction is released. Yet even if we know and believe this, have we ourselves stopped asking or expecting healing in our own lives and the lives of those we know?

Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched the leper, and said to him,
“I do will it. Be made clean.”

Sometimes it requires patience to wait for the healing hand of God. But sometimes we get so comfortable waiting that we actually give up before the healing is received. And this is a problem because healing is not meant only for ourselves. We are made more whole for the sake of the Kingdom. It isn't simply so that we can brag about the supernatural power of God. It is rather so that we can take the place among God's people which he intends for us.

Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”

Our motives for desiring healing are purified by waiting in patience for Jesus to come and have pity on us. We must not be like the Hebrews who decide for themselves to bring the ark of God into battle. This is exactly the sort of battle that ends in defeat. It is the sort of request for healing that leaves us disappointed. Rather we must wait for Jesus. The healing is not something our wills can effect. When it comes it comes as mercy and not as our own triumph. Desperation drives us to drastic measures. But the only measure that matters is longing for Jesus and calling out to him. 

Just as the presence of the ark didn't prove God's power to the Philistines so too are any of the miracles of God in our day. They do often give reason to believe in God. But they will never be a bludgeon we can use in apologetics because they rely on the openness to mercy shown by the leper in order to be received.

The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.

We may imagine that we are still being patient when we have in fact surrendered hope. The LORD wants to reignite in our hearts the desire for his mercy and the belief that he wants to offer it to us. For this, let us pray: "Redeem us, Lord, because of your mercy."

15 January 2020 - speak, your servant is listening

Today's Readings

(Audio)

When Samuel went to sleep in his place,
the LORD came and revealed his presence,
calling out as before, “Samuel, Samuel!”
Samuel answered, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

Do we give the LORD space to speak to us? There is so much noise in this modern world. There is so much we can be doing, hearing, watching, or saying. We sometimes complain that we don't hear from God. But don't we? What if he is speaking and we don't recognize his voice because it is merely one among so many? Samuel needed to provide this space for the LORD in order to hear him. So too do we. After all, Jesus tells us that his sheep know his voice (see John 10:27). We are meant to hear and know the voice of Jesus. But if we don't stop to say, "Speak, for your servant is listening" there is the real possibility his voice will be lost in the noise.

Rising very early before dawn,
he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.

Even Jesus shows us the importance of giving God silent spaces into which to speak. One might think that the second person of the Trinity wouldn't bother, being united to the Father wherever he went, no matter by whom he was surrounded. But he did go to the trouble, did so all the more when circumstances were overwhelming from a worldly point of view.

Simon and those who were with him pursued him
and on finding him said, “Everyone is looking for you.”

It is OK to spend time with God even when the whole village is at the door with various diseases and demons. The more fundamental thing is to spend time with God. If we do not make this centrally important to us we become less effective in our missions. If we do choose to prioritize it we are even more effective when we go forth from solitude to serve. We are even more tuned in to our purpose. We become a sharpened blade in the hand of the LORD (see Isaiah 49:2-3). Listen to how clear Jesus is about his own purpose:

"For this purpose have I come."
So he went into their synagogues, preaching and driving out demons
throughout the whole of Galilee.

Without time apart we quickly lose the sense of purpose driving our actions. Let us quiet ourselves and come to him. We don't have to do anything complicated. We just need to give him the space to speak.

14 January 2020 - he spoke with authority

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The people were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.

There is something different about the way Jesus teaches. No one before or after him speaks with the same authority. It is no particular defect of the scribes. Not even great philosophers and founders of religions can claim the authority which is natural and always present in the voice of Jesus.

The voice of Jesus makes unclean spirits afraid.

he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are–the Holy One of God!”

The spirits know they must be subject to this voice.  It is a voice which can bind and compel demons.

Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet!  Come out of him!”
The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.

Though this voice has the power to bind demons it chooses not to exert power over men and women but rather to invite us. It is this authority which Simon, Andrew, James, and John hear when Jesus says "Come after me". Yet they were not compelled. They could hear the truth attested in the words he spoke. But the response was theirs to make.

Unclean spirits must obey him. But he only ever invites us. The choice to come and follow him is ours. He will only unleash his power in us to the degree that we accept his invitation. To come to the one whose words are truth and whose voice is power can be intimidating. Nevertheless, we should come. He has come to destroy the works of the evil one (see First John 3:8) but to seek and to save the lost (see Luke 19:10).

We have needs and desires that for which we pray and wait with longing in our hearts. The best thing to do with such intentions is to entrust them to the authority of the LORD.

I will give him to the LORD for as long as he lives;
neither wine nor liquor shall he drink,
and no razor shall ever touch his head.”

Even the detraction and lack of cooperation from others will not ultimately hinder us if we are able to leave our intentions in the hands of God.

Do not think your handmaid a ne’er-do-well;
my prayer has been prompted by my deep sorrow and misery.”
Eli said, “Go in peace,
and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

May our hearts exult in him!

13 January 2020 - leaving our nets

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The Kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the Gospel.

Repenting means something different and much greater than beating ourselves up for our past sinfulness. It calls for conversion, an complete change in the orientation of ours lives.  The word metanoia calls us to change our minds, or even better, to transcend them. We are called to get beyond our limited ways of being and thinking in this world. In practice, this can be quite a radical transformation.

“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Then they left their nets and followed him.

Simon and Andrew set aside everything they knew about surviving and taking care of themselves in this world. Without their nets, which were not trivial to replace, they placed everything in the hands of Jesus and his Gospel.

He walked along a little farther
and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They too were in a boat mending their nets.
Then he called them.
So they left their father Zebedee in the boat

The brothers James and John also surrendered everything into the hands of Jesus. Changes such as these are quite dramatic. Perhaps we are called to such a radical break with our present lives. Or perhaps we are called to conversion in ways that, while less dramatic, still require the same surrender of heart and mind to Jesus. Even if we are called to remain in the situations in which circumstances have placed us we still need to be able to surrender them to Jesus. We need to be just as willing to follow Jesus as Simon, Andrew, James, and John.

The LORD is able to provide for us better than we can provide for ourselves. But this is not to say that fidelity is without challenges. Hannah has to be patient at first before her trust in the LORD is vindicated.

Her rival, to upset her, turned it into a constant reproach to her
that the LORD had left her barren.

Maybe we are at the spot in our lives where we find Hannah. Maybe we feel barren, unable to produce fruit for the kingdom, mocked by the world around us. Even so, let us follow Jesus! Even so, may our nets be guided by his command! He has such good plans for us. The catch, if we follow him, may not be immediate. But how can we doubt that he will accomplish his plans in us? 

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope (see Jeremiah 29:11).

12 January 2020 - for all righteousness

Today's Readings

(Audio)

beginning in Galilee after the baptism
that John preached,
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and power.

The Spirit hovered over the waters at the dawn of creation. After the flood the dove descended on the ark to reveal that creation had been renewed. But creation succumbed to sin. The flood wasn't enough to wash it away. These were only preludes to the new creation that is revealed in Christ Jesus.

Others had experienced God's favor in the past. Pharaoh recognized the Holy Spirit in Joseph. By the Spirit Moses led the people. The Spirit began to stir in Samson, he rushed on David. Yet with none of these was God perfectly "well pleased." The Spirit aided them but flesh often still won out. Only in Jesus do we discover the one in whom God was well pleased.

After Jesus was baptized,
he came up from the water and behold,
the heavens were opened for him,
and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove
and coming upon him.
And a voice came from the heavens, saying,
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

What flesh weakened by sin could not accomplish God himself accomplished in his Son Jesus. Now in him we too become new creations.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (see Second Corinthians 5:17).

Now, by welcoming Jesus into our hearts, we too can become pleasing to God.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship (see Romans 12:1)

The Spirit descends on us at first in baptism. He claims us as sons and daughters in Jesus Christ. He makes us new creations and enables us to bear fruit for the Kingdom. But it doesn't end with baptism. We must constantly depend on the Spirit for the renewal which makes us acceptable. Just as the anointing was the beginning and not the end of the ministry of Jesus so too for us.

I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,
I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.

May his fire fall upon us today. May he renew us in the certainty of sons and daughters. May he give us the power for the missions he has set before us.

11 January 2020 - wonderful exchange

Today's Readings

(Audio)

We know that anyone begotten by God does not sin;
but the one begotten by God he protects,
and the Evil One cannot touch him.

What does it mean that we go on sinning? It means that we haven't entered fully into union with the the only one truly and completely begotten by God, Jesus Christ. Only he is God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made. We are united with him in baptism. The Holy Spirit is given to us and makes us adopted sons and daughters in the Son. Yet although this new and transformed self is a reality, indeed, the deeper reality, yet the old self persists.

Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him-- (Colossians 3:9-10).

We have put on the new self. But this must become a stable habitually disposition if it is really to set our lives in order.

that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth (see Epheisans 4:22-24).

John the Baptist helps us to see this in practice.

You yourselves can testify that I said that I am not the Christ,
but that I was sent before him.

He is not so invested in his old self that he insists on it when he sees God doing something new here and now. He is ready for all that he is, all he has until know understood himself to be, to be lost in order that the new might increase.

He must increase; I must decrease.

To us perhaps this might sound dour. But to John it is precisely here in this exchange of self for Jesus that he expects and finds complete joy.

The one who has the bride is the bridegroom;
the best man, who stands and listens for him,
rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice.
So this joy of mine has been made complete.

I can be so for us as well. Let us decrease that Jesus may increase.

10 January 2020 - he does will it

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”
Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said,
“I do will it.  Be made clean.”

If we believe in the power of Jesus to touch and heal our circumstances we will regularly invite him to do so. We can ask. We need not presume. We set ourselves up from disappointment when we try to make the change happen by simply believing harder or better. It is rather that all such requests must stem from encounter with Jesus and from the genuine belief that his presence inspires in us. He wants to convince us that he loves us, that he is the manifestation of the Father's love for us. He wants to convince us of this in our daily lives so that we become more able to live our lives based on the hope we have for eternal life.

And this is the testimony:
God gave us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son.

Our belief may not be as strong as that of the man full of leprosy. Perhaps it is the first place we should ask Jesus to heal. Let us come before him. If he doesn't immediately inspire the confidence that the leper felt we can expose that truth to him and ask him to heal us. It is he himself that places the longing in our heart to believe more firmly and therefore to know him more.

We cry out "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (see Mark 9:24).

Jesus will certainly reply, “I do will it.”

Since it is his own will to do so Jesus will certainly give us the supernatural gift of faith that can only come from the Holy Spirit. This is the faith, the belief in the testimony of God, that conquers the world.

Who indeed is the victor over the world
but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

9 January 2020 - limit breakthroughs

Today's Readings

(Audio)

And his commandments are not burdensome,
for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world.
And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.

The commandments are not burdensome. We believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We love them by obeying his commandments. Loving God cannot exclude loving our neighbor who was made by God and who is intensely loved by God. Doesn't this already sound like a burden? Doesn't it sound like more work than we would otherwise have to do?

And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.

Through our faith in him we experience these commandments not as extra work but as victory. We feel the love to which we are called flowing from God through us, into our own faith and our own love. We find ourselves loving beyond what we thought were our limits. As we realize that this call to love does not rely on us and our strength but rather on the fact that we are begotten by God and have received his Spirit we begin to experience the commandments as genuine victory. It is not our own victory by our own strength. It is the victory of Christ manifest in us.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

We experience in ourselves what Jesus proclaims, because he has given us the same Spirit. As Jesus is anointed to bring glad tidings to the poor so too are way. As he proclaims liberty to those in chains whether physical, emotional, or spiritual, so too do we. As he heals the physically and spiritually blind we do as well. We too are called to set free all those who are oppressed. Through us the year acceptable to the Lord is now proclaimed.

“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

This "Today" is the same as when Jesus first proclaimed it because he is the same, yesterday, today and forever (see Hebrews 13:8). Let us enter more deeply into this union that Jesus offers us and so experience the victory he promises.

In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed;
all the nations shall proclaim his happiness.

8 January 2020 - perfect love drives out fear

 

Today's Readings

(Audio)

About the fourth watch of the night,
he came toward them walking on the sea.
He meant to pass by them.

He meant to pass them by. If they had been more mature they would have recognized him. His presence itself would have given them peace even if continued on his way, even if the wind kept blowing. But they did not yet recognize him. Perhaps the storm was so intense that they weren't seeing clearly. Since they did not recognize them Jesus went out of his way to reveal himself to them. His plans for them required that they be able to recognize him and trust him. They needed this in order to experience peace in times of storm.

They had all seen him and were terrified.
But at once he spoke with them,
“Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!”
He got into the boat with them and the wind died down.
They were completely astounded.

Jesus revealed God's love to the disciples. He wants to reveal it to us as well. He is the one who makes known the Father. He wants us to know and believe in the love God has for us.

This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us,
that he has given us of his Spirit.

It is this same Spirit that told Peter the true identity of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God (see Matthew 16:16). It is the same Spirit that cries 'Abba! Father!' from our own hearts as well (see Galatians 4:6). Knowing and believing in this love allows us to love with the same love we ourselves first receive.

Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us,
and his love is brought to perfection in us.

Jesus came to cast out the fear that the disciples felt during the storm. He wants to love us so deeply that fear can no longer dominate our lives either, no matter the circumstances.

 There is no fear in love,
but perfect love drives out fear
because fear has to do with punishment,
and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love.