17 January 2025 - through the roof

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd,

they opened up the roof above him.

Sometimes the straightforward paths to Jesus are blocked. The reason for this is sometimes attributable to his followers who fail to provide sufficient space for those in need. They were pressing in on Jesus, but perhaps inattentively, hindering rather than helping his mission. Or perhaps they did take note of the paralytic but felt that now was not the time to interrupt. In the course of his ministry the crowd was often an obstacle to Jesus. This is important for us to note since we often play the role of the crowd in relation to others who are seeking him. Might the crowd not at least have asked Jesus about what he desired to do about the paralytic? Perhaps they didn't know him well enough yet. They may not have been confident that he would respond favorably. But we, much more than they, have seen ample evidence of the compassion that fills the heart of Jesus. And so we should be ready to help to facilitate those in need being brought to him.

After they had broken through,

they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying.

Jesus was delighted at the display of faith. He could, no doubt, have told the crowd to bring the paralytic in without all of this hassle. His omniscience  meant he was certainly aware of his presence. But it was a greater good that they go to these greater lengths to seek him. He gave every indication of expecting it. He was not surprised or upset as the house was damaged but knowingly welcomed these new guests. Impressively, Peter, whose house it was, was not noted as protesting either. Jesus knew that the crowd would often be an obstacle so he wanted to demonstrate a special love for those like the friends of this paralytic and like Zacchaeus (see Luke 19:1-10) who found ways to circumvent the crowd and come into his presence.

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart (see Jeremiah 29:13).

These friends of the paralytic were truly good friends. It is hard to imagine many of us going to such lengths for the sake of a friend. We would probably just try to wait for a later, easier opportunity. But these friends knew Jesus was near, and knew that he had a recent history of healing others who asked. They knew this was an opportunity that might not come again and so they seized it. In many ways it was reckless and seemingly imprudent. But there was no negative judgment about this from Jesus. Rather, they seemed to be affirmed for seeking first the Kingdom.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him,

“Child, your sins are forgiven.”

After all of that effort the friends might have been disappointed to receive only this invisible token affirming their effort. They certainly desired a physical healing first and foremost. But Jesus knew of a deeper need. And, as usual, the physical healing would serve as a secondary sign. The paralytic already received what he needed the most even before Jesus made his divine authority obvious by means of a miracle. True freedom was freedom of spirit which the paralytic was given even before he was able to rise and pick up his mat.

Who but God alone can forgive sins?

These protesting voices weren't wrong. God alone could forgive sins. In order to demonstrate that Jesus did possess this authority he performed an act which, while of less magnitude than divine forgiveness, was more difficult to falsify. By his authority over the physical realm of time and space, and by the goodness he infused into it, he validated his claim of spiritual authority.

They were all astounded

and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”

Elevation Worship - O Come To The Altar

16 January 2025 - the remake

Today's Readings

(Audio)

A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said,

“If you wish, you can make me clean.”

The leper must have already had a fairly good sense that Jesus would in fact wish it, since he already did the unthinkable and approached him. He must have somehow known or sensed that his own ritual impurity was less powerful than the healing touch of Jesus. Jesus had already demonstrated ample power over demons and disease, and the even the leper must have heard of this and gained hope. Though perhaps it was also true that he was simply so desperate for help that he could not help but go to Jesus in whom he saw his only hope. 

Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,

touched the leper, and said to him,

“I do will it. Be made clean.”

In every healing and exorcism we see Jesus refashioning man into the image of God he was always meant to be. Man, who was poetically said to be molded from the dust of the ground, was now being remolded in a way that the original design anticipated but which the gift surpassed. Dust might eventually return to dust. But the supernatural life of which faith was the beginning would never end.

He spread the report abroad

so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.

When the leper came to Jesus it was he who was not free to enter any town openly. But now, because of the compassion of Jesus, he had freely taken this burden on himself instead. He was not contaminated by impurity as the leper had been. Instead he took upon himself the consequences of this suffering, just as he would do for all the sin and suffering of the world during his passion. The leper was reintegrated into the worshipping community of Israel but he may never have known at what cost this gift was given. Though, if he completed Jesus' command to offer what was prescribed he would have had at least a hint:

"The prescribed rite was to take two clean birds, one to be sacrificed and the other, dipped in the blood of the first, to fly away free (Lev 14:3-7)." ¹

We who have been freed of the spiritual leprosy of sin ought to encourage one another "daily while it is still "today,"" lest we forget what has been done for us and allow our hearts to "grow hardened by the deceit of sin". Our own healing too has come at a great cost. It is is simply a choice we make once and then forget. It is a reality which we must hold firm until the end.

1) Healy, Mary. Gospel of Mark, The (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture) (p. 54). Baker Book Group - A. Kindle Edition. 

Maranatha! Music - Here I Am To Worship

Newsboys - You Are My King

15 January 2025 - home visit

Today's Readings

(Audio)

On leaving the synagogue

Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.

Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever.

Now that Simon, Andrew, James, and John were disciples Jesus would not remain on the peripheries of their lives. He would not be a figure whom they would only hear preach in the synagogues on the Sabbath. Instead, to great consequence, he implicated himself in the details of their daily lives. He entered the home of Simon and Andrew and that home would not remain unchanged. Once he was present there they couldn't help but mention the difficulties facing that household. In explaining that Simon's mother-in-law was sick they may have been excusing the limited hospitality they were able to provide without her aid. But bringing their problems to Jesus changed things, as indeed it always does.

He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up.

Then the fever left her and she waited on them.

Jesus raised up this women in a quasi-resurrection event. She was restored to the fullness of health. But she too found that where Jesus was present things could not remain unchanged. Now her hospitality included Jesus and was thereby in service of his mission. What she was unable to do before because of illness she was now able to do in a new a greater way, ordered more perfectly to the glory of God.

When it was evening, after sunset,

they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons.

The whole town was gathered at the door.

The crowds had heard Jesus preaching with authority and now realized that he had authority over demons and the power to heal disease. Jesus' preaching prepared the way for the outward expansion of the Kingdom through the physical signs of exorcism and healing. His words drew people to seek out his power. And the people who benefited from that power did not benefit merely for their own sakes but became living witnesses drawing more and more other people to seek him out.

Rising very early before dawn, 

he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.

Jesus demonstrated that his top priority was not preaching or healing, much less seeking fame or adulation, or even resting comfortably on his laurels. Instead, above all else, he privileged his relationship with his Father in heaven. Disciples in every age would be tempted to allow one aspect of the Christian life or another to take priority over their relationship with God. But from the first Jesus left an example that demonstrated that even the best aspects of the life of discipleship were nothing if they weren't connected to God as by a spiritual lifeline.

Simon and those who were with him pursued him

and on finding him said, “Everyone is looking for you.”

He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages

that I may preach there also.

For this purpose have I come.”

Jesus did not apparently come to heal every possible individual there and then, although all who followed him would indeed eventually be fully restored and more. But first, and more importantly, his desire was to be known by them. The condition he desired in that town had been met in virtue of the fact that everyone was looking for him. So it was time to go and preach in other places to start this same cascade there.

that through death he might destroy the one

who has the power of death, that is, the Devil,

and free those who through fear of death

had been subject to slavery all their life.

Even those who were not themselves healed immediately could still experience the freedom from the fear of death that Jesus provided. No longer would they desperately need to protect their physical lives or do all in the power to calm and numb their egos against the inevitability of disintegration. A higher power had arrived on the seen, relativizing those old and very human fears. He demonstrated again and again that darkness, though it might persist for a little while, would not have the last word.

The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.

Josh Groban - You Raise Me Up

Ike Ndolo - Awake O Sleeper

14 January 2025 - as one having 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.

Jesus spoke in the synagogue about the meaning of Scripture. People were used to hearing opinions about possible interpretations of God's word. Even in those cases most people weren't experts explicating their own theories. They would have felt the need to substantiate their own points by pointing to correspondence in the interpretive tradition. But Jesus could say definitively what was the intended meaning of the word of God because he was himself the divine Word. He could correct when one part of the word had been overemphasized in a way that obscured the overarching meaning. He could point to what was intended "from the beginning" (see Matthew 19:8) and even broaden and deepen the content of the Scriptures as he did in the Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 5:17-48). It was clear this was a highly polarizing style of teaching. One could be enthusiastic about it or hostile to it, but little room was left for middle ground.

In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit;

he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?

Have you come to destroy us?

The preaching of Jesus was triggering for demons because they were only too aware of the authority contained therein. They knew what that meant for the own timebound and limited scope of authority. The power of the preaching of Jesus meant that the Kingdom of God was truly at hand. And that, in turn, meant that the kingdom of darkness was on its way out. In this case this demon thought to turn the tables by his knowledge about who Jesus was. Maybe this would allow him to retain some sense of authority, which he could then twist to his benefit. But Jesus was having none of it.

I know who you are–the Holy One of God!” 

Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet!  Come out of him!”

The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.

Just as the words of Jesus about the Scriptures were the definitive word about what they meant so too was his word of command to this demon definitive. His word was truth, and accomplished what it signified. The crowds who saw Jesus preach discerned this connection between what he said and what he did, a connection so profound that there was never before anything like it.

In “subjecting” all things to him,

he left nothing not “subject to him.”

Yet at present we do not see “all things subject to him,” 

but we do see Jesus “crowned with glory and honor”

We do not yet see all things subjected to Jesus in every circumstance of the world around us in the way that we do see, by faith, that this demon was so subjected. We do not yet individually attain the full truth into which he promised to lead us by his Spirit. But by faith we know that Jesus does possess all authority and all truth. And, in his Church, through our faith, we do already share in it. We recognize Jesus as "crowned with glory and honor" by faith. But it is a faith that welcomes his authority into the here and now even as it draws us onward toward the world to come.

Darrell Evans - Trading My Sorrows

13 January 2025 - now or never

Today's Readings

(Audio)

This is the time of fulfillment.

The Kingdom of God is at hand.

The Kingdom of God was at hand because Jesus himself had come and begun his ministry. The Kingdom of God was, by definition, the place where God reigned. This Kingdom existed from all eternity in heaven but was now breaking through on earth. In the Our Father Jesus taught his disciples to pray that it would come as fully on earth as it was in heaven (see Matthew 6:10), such that God's will was as perfectly accomplished here as it is there. So there was a not yet to the Kingdom ideal. But in Jesus there was also an already, since God fully reigned in the heart of Jesus. Anyone who believed in him and got onboard with his mission was already beginning to live within the Kingdom of God, even surrounded by a fallen world. The whole premise of the promise of Jesus was that this reign of God in the world was the answer to all of promises of all of the ancient prophets, and the possibility of experiencing the true fulfillment intended by God for his creatures. To repent, then, was to live in conformity with this Kingdom. It was to think, speak, and act in a way governed by God's paradigm rather than previous merely human ideas.

This is the time of fulfillment.

It is still the time of fulfillment. We might not realize this, imagining that there was a narrow window during the life and ministry of Jesus on earth when this was true. But Jesus did not leave us orphans when he ascended. He sent the Holy Spirit to help us and now reigns over us from heaven. This means that ever since this initial proclamation the time of fulfillment is a reality which is ever new and available to those with faith. This is why Paul wrote, "now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (see Second Corinthians 6:2). Therefore, not just when Jesus spoke, or when Paul wrote, but even now in this moment the fulfillment of Kingdom life is available to us.

Jesus said to them,

“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

The consequence of the inbreaking of the Kingdom into the world is that it totally relativizes normal human concerns. Even paradigms such as work and family take on a secondary importance compared to the expansion of the scope of the reign of the Kingdom of God on earth. After all, these things all find their own fulfillment only when properly ordered to the reign of God. And this means that sometimes they must take a backseat to the furthering of the establishment of that reign.

Then they left their nets and followed him.

If we truly understand what Jesus offers in his proclamation of the Kingdom we will experience the same lack of delay in following him as did these first disciples. Nothing the world offers will seem remotely worthy of preferring to the Kingdom. May Jesus help us to understand what he desires to do for this world and for us so that we would get over our own hesitation and go all in for him.

Matt Maher - Love Has Come

Paul Wilbur - Days Of Elijah Kadosh

12 January 2025 - the bath of rebirth

Today's Readings

(Audio)

I am baptizing you with water,

but one mightier than I is coming.

I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

John the Baptist desired to point out the Messiah to his audience. At every step he was careful in his preaching to let them know that he was not the one, but there was another, mightier who was coming. He saw his own popularity as a risk insofar as people who came to him might become so fixated on him as to not be able to transfer their attention to the one who was to come, the one John desired to make known. In his mission he carefully embraced humility and led all of his disciples to do so in his baptism of repentance. Seemingly this would keep him and his followers on one side and the Messiah, when he eventually came, on another, separated, exulted, and identifiable. But then Jesus actually did appear and for some reason insisted on being baptized himself. He refused to stay on the other side of a line of separation, even if that would have allowed him to more closely match the expectations of those who looked to his coming. No wonder, then, that John didn't want to do it. He understood that Jesus was not in need of repentance and that he was not one greater than Jesus who ought to be in a position over him, as it would seem that the one who baptized would be over the one who received baptism. But Jesus insisted. He would not be kept at a distance. It was in this way that all righteousness would be fulfilled.

After all the people had been baptized 

and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, 

heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him

in bodily form like a dove. 

It was never in seeking to exult himself that Jesus was made known. It was always precisely in his obedience, in his self-giving, his life as a servant, and his choosing to take the lowest place that he would be revealed. Jesus chose to share our lot and to take our sins upon himself. But the Father made it clear who he was. Here at the baptism of Jesus the Father declared that he was his beloved son in whom he was well pleased. The presence of the Holy Spirit who was always with Jesus was revealed to the world. The crowds were not left confused. Jesus chose to be with them and like them, but was in another way quite different. It was similar at his Passion, when what he chose to do and what he allowed to happen to him made him seem to be a sinner among sinners and a failure. But there too the Father vindicated Jesus by raising him to life in the power of the Holy Spirit. It was again in his humility and obedience that he was made known. And it could not be otherwise for one who desired to be as close to us as Jesus desired to be. From his incarnation onward he demonstrated that he didn't want to heal the human race from a distance. He came as close as he could conceivably come. He lived among us and would even live within us.

He saved us through the bath of rebirth

and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

whom he richly poured out on us

through Jesus Christ our savior

The baptism of Jesus transformed, not Jesus, but the waters themselves, to make out own baptism possible. By sharing in the symbolic death of baptism with us he gave the waters the power to bring us new life by the Holy Spirit. Just as he rose from the waters and heard the Father declare him to be a beloved Son so too does baptism make us into adopted daughters and sons of the Father. Just as he rose from the waters to experience the descent of the Holy Spirit upon him so too does the bath of rebirth infuse us with the Holy Spirit in order that we might begin to live a new life by his power.

A bruised reed he shall not break,

and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,

until he establishes justice on the earth;

the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

We see in Jesus a gentle Messiah who was always careful with the brokenness and limitations of his creatures. Since he knew that many would push back against a show of power because of their own prideful egos he instead chose to humble himself so that he could draw near without us trying to push him away and injuring ourselves in the process. Yet it is really easy for us, at this distance, after this many years of living as baptized Christians, to take this for granted. For most of us it is fair to say that we have hardly begun to avail ourselves of the graces given to us in baptism. But rather than receive this as a condemnation, let us instead discover opportunity and potential. There is a new seed of life within us that has only just begun to grow. Let us turn toward the Son, the source of grace, so that we can allow this promise to unfold in our lives.

Ascribe To The Lord

11 January 2025 - what has been given

Today's Readings

(Audio)

No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. 

They tried to provoke John by asking why both he and Jesus were both baptizing. If the one to whom John gave testimony was going to have his disciples perform baptisms ought not John himself step aside from that ministry? Or should not the one who was to come have had something new and different to offer? To the later we can answer that John had already promised that the one who was to come would in fact also baptize, albeit with the Holy Spirit and fire. But if that was beginning to take place ought not John have found a new role and reinvented his ministry in some way? Maybe even he felt this way to some extent. But listen to the humility in what he replied: "No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven". Maybe he would have preferred to do something different, just as he would have not baptized Jesus if left to his own devices. But he knew enough to stick with what had been given him from heaven. If he tried to invent something on its own it would have been without value. As it was, his continued baptizing, even in the vicinity where the disciples of Jesus were also baptizing, led to opportunities such as this where he could testify to Jesus and direct others to follow Jesus rather than John. What a humble ministry it was, where John claimed nothing as his own, but was glad to decrease as he saw his friend the bridegroom increase.

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. 

He must increase; I must decrease.

John might have thought that at least the ministry of baptism could be something uniquely his own. And when it was no longer such he might have insisted that he have something by which he could be known or stand out. But he was wise and humble enough not to be more clever or creative than the God who had revealed his plan to him. What he desired was not to be famous or renowned himself, but rather to make known Jesus, and to point him out as the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. But where did John find joy if not in fame or success? He found it where we are all meant to find it, in "bridegroom's voice". As long as he was permitted to hear that voice, and to help others to hear it, it was enough for him.

The joy of John the Baptist in the voice of the bridegroom was related to the confidence expressed by John the Evangelist in our first reading. They were both based on knowing and Jesus and listening to him. For the John the Evangelist, being rooted in God through Jesus Christ was a power even greater than temptation and sin, a power that, when fully realized was itself eternal life.

We also know that the Son of God has come

and has given us discernment to know the one who is true. 

And we are in the one who is true,

in his Son Jesus Christ. 

He is the true God and eternal life. 

Damascus Worship Featuring Seph Schlueter - Glory To God

Matt Maher - Canticle Of Zechariah