2 August 2025 - just curious?

Today's Readings
(Audio)

"It is not lawful for you to have her."

Herod wanted to silence John the Baptist in order that he might not have to hear words that stung his guilty conscience. He knew there was a formidable power that was working through John, and even found much of what he had to say interesting. He must have been concerned that someone with John's reputation would speak against him, and so put him in prison where his words couldn't easily reach the masses. Yet their opinion also helped to spare his life. The crowds regarded John so highly that, although he got away with imprisoning him, he wasn't at all sure how they would respond to his death. The fact that he imprisoned him rather than killing him outright meant that the troublesome and irritating voice that seemed to speak in the name of his own conscience was actually closer and louder than it had been. He may have prevented the world from hearing it, but only at the expense of being more subjected to it himself. And yet, this proximity, though it did not come without irritation and provocation, also became interesting to him in a way he did not anticipate.

When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly (see Mark 6:20).

The trouble for Herod is that the two chief motivating forces that seemed to control his life were the opinions of others and his own curiosity. His curiosity is what aroused him to pay regard to what John said, and together with the way the crowds viewed him, it made him concede that "mighty powers" were at work in him. If he had not believed that it would not follow that Jesus was John raised from the dead on the basis of the mighty powers at work in him. The regard of the crowds for John was for a while enough to ensure that his life be spared. But the trouble with caring so much about the opinions of others was that they were always shifting, and the particular representative sample that one heard could change from moment to moment. If one sample of individuals could help convince Herod to spare John another could just as easily persuade him to keep an oath requiring him to take his life.

The king was distressed,
but because of his oaths and the guests who were present,
he ordered that it be given, and he had John beheaded in the prison.

His concern for popular opinion and his curiosity might have remained sufficiently potent to keep him from killing John had his intellect not been entirely overwhelmed by the sensuality of the dance of the daughter of Herodias. It was something that seemed to short-circuit his already weak moral reasoning. He forgot about the crowds who believed in John entirely. His concern for popular opinion narrowed down to one specific moment in time, losing track of the ramifications of the larger situation. Suddenly the only ones he cared to please were the girl and her immediate audience. He promised her anything, and could not take it back because they had heard. The rationale didn't go any further down the path of potential consequences than that.

Herod was a case in point for how sin makes us stupid. It makes us willing to promise even up to half our kingdom for something that seems good in the moment but eventually turns out to be entirely trivial or destructive. He demonstrated how acting well merely because of what others think is not sufficient to keep us from sinning, and how curiosity is too tenuous a tie to the truth to keep us tethered in a time of trial. We may know that mighty powers are at work in Jesus, and may act rightly because we want to appear to act as a Christian should act in the eyes of others. But neither of these will be enough to save us in a moment of particularly pressing temptation. We need a tighter relationship to the truth, and a concern for what God thinks of a situation rather than public opinion about it.

It shall be a jubilee for you,
when every one of you shall return to his own property,
every one to his own family estate.

God isn't trying to trick us when he speaks to us through our conscience. He is trying to create the conditions necessary for robust human flourishing, so that we can set aside selfishness and menial concerns in order to celebrate an eternal jubilee. We sometimes fall short of this, but that is why he sent us Jesus to redeem us and restore us. Let us learn to listen to his voice above all, and to follow him even and especially in the hour of temptation.

Casting Crowns - Voice Of Truth

1 August 2025 - is he not the carpenter's son?

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Is he not the carpenter's son?
Is not his mother named Mary
and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?

When God spoke to Moses in thunder and flashes of lightning on Mount Sinai the people were afraid and begged that God would speak only to Moses and not themselves lest they die (see Exodus 20:18-21). But when God came to the people in the form of Jesus he was so approachable that they were indifferent and unable to recognize or appreciate him. The way God had appeared on Mount Sinai was beyond what normal human consciousness could parse or process. But the way he appeared in the person of Jesus Christ was accessible only to the eyes of faith. The approach on the mountain was not one likely to be subject to misunderstanding, but it was never going to establish the close relationship he desired. For this reason he chose to be born of a woman as part of the human family even though he knew this would be the source of misunderstanding.

Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?

It was not so much the wisdom or the deeds themselves that were in question as though he were being accused of deception of fraud in this instance. Rather it was precisely the juxtaposition of the extraordinary nature of the wisdom and the deeds with the apparently ordinary nature of Jesus himself. They assumed, perhaps, that God could only reveal himself through the extraordinary, as he had on Mount Sinai. But if so they forgot the lesson of Elijah who learned that "the LORD was not in the wind", nor the earthquake, nor the fire, but was revealed by the still small voice that followed (see First Kings 19:9-18).

Where did this man get all this?

Jesus was willing to take risks in order to draw near to humanity. He recognized the fact that he would be misinterpreted, but still wanted to give people at least an opportunity to recognize him and have faith. He was not content to remain distant from the human race even at the risk of provoking a backlash and causing some hearts to become hardened in response. 

A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and in his own house.

The native place of Jesus is within his Church were he made his dwelling among us. But isn't it within his Church that we are often the most set in our expectations about Jesus, and how he desires to work in our midst? We formulate elaborate programs of our own plans based on our preset understanding of Jesus, assuming that such things can advance his Kingdom. But we seldom stop to listen. We don't really accept the fact that he has come so close that he might actually speak to our current moment and present situation. We treat him as a story from the past from which formulae for dealing with our own day may be derived. But this approach makes it come down more to us and our wisdom than to his. What was missing then in the Gospel we read today is still missing now. We need a living faith if we really want to see Jesus move in power in our midst. 

These are the festivals of the LORD which you shall celebrate
at their proper time with a sacred assembly.

We might assume that the repetition of the liturgy would be a bad thing for cultivating living faith. It might seem to be something that would trap us in a crystalized version of past history. But not actually. The liturgy is not merely about the past, but is actually the place where heaven and earth have the closest contact. It is there that we receive the grace we need to have our hearts transformed and filled with the faith we need.

you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (see Hebrews 12:22-24).

 

 Singing Hallelujah

31 July 2025 - nothing but net

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.

The implication is that not every fish caught in the net of the Kingdom is one that will ultimately be retained at the end of the age. In this present stage of history the Kingdom is a net that, while it does collect many good fish, also incidentally collects some that are bad. Moreover, if it is designed to function like a net, attempting greater specificity such that only good fish are caught might prevent any fish from being caught at all. One implication of this is that we ought not avoid the catch that appears unsavory or unappetizing. Some of these turn out to be ideal for cuisine in the end. Nor will all the fish that look appealing at first turn out to be the best, with some perhaps being entirely inedible. Further, if the net is our starting place we ought not think of attempting to clean or prepare the fish for cooking before they are even caught. It is only once they are brought to shore that the true identity and usefulness of fish becomes manifest. As fish ourselves, those contained within the net, we would doubtlessly prefer to be more judgmental or discerning from the outset. But the fact is that if we attempt to do so we will miss out on some extraordinary flavors. If we rely on our own judgment we'll probably find ourselves unexpected poisoned or infected by something that was not superficially evident in some fish that looked good to our eyes.

"Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom
both the new and the old."

Whereas the scribes and the Pharisees were constrained to see everything only in the light of the old knowledge they already possessed the disciples were ready and willing to interpret what they already knew in light of what they were learning from Jesus. This idea of a big net seemed like anathema to the Pharisees from their reading of the Scriptures. They saw only the precedent of the bad things that happened when Israel mingled with the nations, was seduced by their ways, and chased after their idols. But the disciples saw Jesus fulfilling those same Scriptures in a way that made this big net approach make sense to them. It wasn't so much an abstract ideal Jesus was presenting as something that he revealed through his own life and example. He was a new paradigm in person, making it possible to engage with the world in heretofore unguessed ways. A transformation of society that would have seemed impossible without him seemed now to be necessary in the light of his coming. His approach wasn't leading Israel to idolatry, but rather, the Gentile nations to worship the living God. We too must learn not to live according to preexisting prejudice but rather in light of the revelation of Jesus. Only then will we bring in the robust catch of fish that Jesus desires. And that catch is necessary if the feast at the end of the age is to reach its full potential.

Robin Mark - Shout To The North

30 July 2025 - seeing for ourselves

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

"The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

The person that found the treasure discovered something that others had not found, recognized its value, and responded with joy. We don't always share every part of this experience. We have the treasure pointed out to us, are told of the value, and experience, not nothing, but something that falls short of pure joy. We don't appreciate the uniqueness of the treasure or how unlikely attaining it truly is. We grasp that it is valuable in some abstract sense of comprehension. But we don't really know what the value means for us. And this means that when we discover that obtaining it will cost all that we have we are often reluctant to do so.

What if we simply go and observe the treasure first hand, to see the reason for all the fuss? Perhaps a direct experience rather than hearsay will change the way we relate to the treasure. Maybe it is hard to appreciate the value through the lens of the experience of others. But maybe if we see it shining before our own eyes we will more easily understand the all surpassing difference it can make in our lives. Maybe then we will revalue it as a must have rather than a nice to have. If we must trade all that we have and all that we are for this treasure a half-hearted approach won't be enough. It is not meant to be a decoration alongside others in the art gallery of our lives. It will change everything about us in ways that are hard to fully understand before we acquire it. We may become poor in some ways, but rich in others which we had not guessed or even dreamed.

Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.

The merchant was able to recognize in the pearl of great price and culmination of all that he had desired and sought in his life. This pearl was the apex of value to such a degree that it was a worthy trade for all else that he possessed. Other pearls had some value, some luster, to be sure. They only hinted at the possibility that something like this pearl could exist. All of the other pearls together were not worth the price of this one. The merchant knew he was getting a bargain to receive it even in exchange for all that he had. He had two traits that helped make him ready to make this life-changing purchase. He was a connoisseur of value, and those things which had true value. And he dedicated himself to the search for the fulfillment of his desire for the highest value. This meant that when he discovered a value that surpassed all value, and a worth that transcended all else he had known, he was highly motivated to acquire it. We may assume that most folks aren't so systematic about their search for the highest things and, as a consequence, don't always recognize the true goods from those that are merely apparent. We may need to acquire a greater clarity of vision and of purpose if we are to have sufficient awareness to motivate us to obtain the Kingdom when providence brings it across our path.

How do we experience the treasure and the pearl? Do they seem worth the cost of discipleship? Well, they are worth the cost. And this means that if we do not experience them that way it is something about us, not about them. But it is something that is correctable, in light of this guidance from Jesus. As long as we believe him about the value of his Kingdom he can gradually work in our hearts to help us truly appreciate that value in a way that actually motivates us and transforms us. When we take Jesus at his word and live like his Kingdom is as valuable as he says it is we will more and more experience the reality of this claim. It is an experience so great it surpasses even that which made the face of Moses radiant before the Lord.

Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? (see Second Corinthians 3:7-8).

Lindell Cooley - Let The River Flow 

29 July 2025 - Lord, if you had been here

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Martha said to Jesus,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.

How do we respond when Jesus seems to ignore our prayers and apparently arrives too late? It seemed that Jesus did care about Lazarus, and that the request of the sisters for help ought to have been one that he found to be sympathetic. In our lives Jesus always has the ability to arrive in time, so when he seems not to do so we can only infer that it was intentional, as it in fact was in the case of Lazarus. What do we do when this happens? Do we assume that we had been wrong either about Jesus' power or his love for us? Martha was commendable in her own response. She expressed grief and confusion, but retained her confidence in Jesus:

But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.

She might have meant that she still believed that although he didn't grant this request he may yet grant others. Or she might have meant that although he didn't answer in the way she hoped there could yet be some unguessed way that he could answer. We suspect that she was expressing a trust in Jesus that was greater than her own understanding of what would be necessary to satisfy her desires. This was as though she said that although to her it was too late and therefore impossible to help she understood that all things were possible to God through Christ. From her point of view it seemed hopeless, but she knew that nothing could truly be hopeless were Jesus was present.

Jesus said to her,
“Your brother will rise.”
Martha said to him,
“I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.”

Martha did not find the resurrection on the last day to be a sufficient consolation to assuage her present sorrow. Lazarus was gone and she was grief-stricken. The fact that he would one day rise was something. But at that moment it did not seem to be enough. In order for her intuition about the hope present even in that difficult moment to be clarified she needed to come to a deeper understanding of Jesus. 

Jesus told her,
“I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

Jesus wasn't merely adjacent to the desired result, as though he were an observer or guide toward the resurrection. Rather he himself was the resurrection. And that meant that all who died in his grace were present with him, alive in him. That implied that even before Lazarus returned to physical life he was present in a mysterious way. His condition wasn't the tragedy Martha perceived it to be, or need not be, if she saw it through the eyes of this elevated faith in Jesus her Lord. Jesus didn't have to go and find the soul of Lazarus in some other world and reunite it to his body. He held that soul in his very hands, embracing it with his love. The fact that he did restore Lazarus to life was at least partially about expressing the deeper unseen reality that true life existed properly and perfectly in Jesus himself. But just as return to a physical life was an appropriate and implied sign of this truth for Lazarus, so too would all who died a physical death while united in friendship to Jesus rise again to life eternal.

She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.

Martha chose to agree in faith with the word of Jesus about a reality that went beyond her human reason or ability to understand. He was the Christ who was to come. He was the messiah who would deliver his people, not from earthly enemies, but from sin, and from death itself.

Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.

Matt Maher - Alive Again

28 July 2025 - small beginnings

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.

The appearance of the seed was no indication of future potential. With plants this isn't altogether surprising since all seeds are small relative to the plants into which they will one day grow. But in human affairs things seem to be different. There does not seem to be anything so innate in people or movements that a lack of resources or support can't thwart an effort, or that can't be made to succeed with sufficient investment of money and power. In most circumstances we tend to assume that those who look the best at the beginning will be the most likely to achieve their goals. But Jesus said that in the case of Christianity and the Kingdom things that seemed entirely insufficient at the outset would experience growth and success that entirely outpaced larger and evidently more well resourced seeds, including those of empires. It seemed, to human analysis, that preachers, prophets, and martyrs could never amount to anything against armies or in the face of persecution. Yet we see that the Church is currently a large bush to the extent that it embraces all of the birds of the sky, and empires like Rome are only remembered in historical records. This parable is still relevant for everyone pursuing the Gospel of the Kingdom. New initiatives that arise from following the impulse of the Spirit still continue to seem small relative to the opposing forces of the world. But there is something inherent within them that assures that, as long as they are planted and nurtured, they grow.

The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened.

The Kingdom of God was an ingredient that might go unnoticed in the batch at the beginning but that made a disproportionate difference in the results. The yeast would never stand out in such a way as to draw attention to itself. It might almost appear that the dough rose naturally by its own power. But if that yeast had not been added the loaf would have been entirely different. Just so, in our own world the influence of Christianity has had an impact on the wider culture and the entire world that is impossible to quantify. But we can be confident that this world, even the parts of it that are not specifically Christian, are better than they would have been without the influence of the Gospel. The ideas of human dignity and equality that stem from the fact that we are made in the image of God have become pervasive as a consequence of Christianity. And while it is true that both Christians and non-Christians fail to live up to these ideals, they are even honored and acknowledged in the breach, whereas prior to the coming of the Gospel they would likely have gone unremarked. This parable is still relevant in our day because it reminds us that even when we succeed there may not be much evidence of our impact on the results. This helps us avoid the vanity of needing to prove that we were the cause of the good we did. We can be confident that as long as we retain our identity as yeast we are not wasting our time being mixed in with the flour. We might otherwise be tempted to try to isolate ourselves so that the results our effort would obviously be our own doing. But yeast isn't meant to be used in that way. It's better to have a good loaf than full credit for a bad attempted bake.

I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.

It is only by listening to Jesus with faith that we will recognize genuine Kingdom growth and pursue it in the right way. It lays hidden until he reveals it to us. And it remains hidden to us unless we accept his word in faith. But when we do so we are empowered to bring his own blessings to the world, shelter, nourishment, and life. 

Newsboys - Secret Kingdom

27 July 2025 - when prayers aren't answered

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

And I tell you, ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.

Sometimes we ask but we don't receive. This is difficult since it seems to imply a contradiction with the apparent meaning of the promise of Jesus. It is similar to the place where Jesus said, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" (see Mark 11:24). The fact that we are sometimes surprised that our prayers are not answered proves that we did ask with some measure of faith and expectation, some reasonably robust belief that what we asked was a good and worthy desire. If we take the promise of Jesus seriously it leads us to wonder in what ways our prayers are deficient such that they seldom seems to produce miracles. We know we must pray in faith and for things that are consistent with the will of God. But is it the case, then, that our faith is insincere, or that our intentions are really so far from the will of God.

Father, hallowed be your name

We should go back to the beginning. The basis of our prayer is our relationship with God as our Father. This implies that we can and should trust him in a way similar to the trust of a human child in his earthly father. The child may believe he desires something good, and ask for that thing certain he will receive it. But the father sees a bigger picture. He may sometimes withhold things that are harmful, or even less good, for the sake of something greater he desires to give. A child need not be crushed, feel abandoned, or run away from home, every time he must defer to his father's wisdom and judgment rather than his own. He might not, will in fact probably not, see the chain of reasoning in every case, or even in most cases. But he can believe that his father really does have his good at heart even in such times, even in spite of his own feelings and reasoning. It need not make him doubt that his father would give him what he wants in the future, provided that what he wants will really be for his good.

I tell you,
if he does not get up to give the visitor the loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.

Sometimes we don't receive that for which we ask because God has better plans. But sometimes the reason we don't receive is because we don't ask in the right way, that being, with persistence. Jesus did not tell his disciples to ask once and then receive immediately. Rather, as the Amplified translation reminds us, he told them, "Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you" (see Matthew 7:7). The point of persistence, however, is not exactly to earn our request being granted by putting in sufficient spiritual work. There is not necessarily a proportion between the persistence required and the goal desired. But God does sometimes require persistence of us because he desires us to grow. He desires that our own desires for those things that are genuine goods because more than momentary whims but rather strong and fixed parts of our character, things that we pursue even without any obvious or immediate results because of how good and how important we believe them to be. This means that when we don't immediately receive those things that we request we are not necessarily to give up and assume that we are asking for the wrong things. They may well be the right ones. But we may need to press on and pursue them more, to fix our will upon them in a still greater way. But if so, how do we avoid the possibility of fixing ourselves on things that actually aren't God's will because we think we might just need to keep asking? 

Father, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.

We are meant to live in a relationship with God such that our prayer helps us to come to an ever deeper appreciation of his heart. If this is what is in fact happening then we can be confident that if we are asking for something harmful he will eventually help us to understand and let go of that request. If we are not asking for things as good as he wants to give because we don't yet really desire those things our life of prayer should help us come to desire them. We may be above the level of pursuing snakes and scorpions because they look exciting. But we might still be at the level where we prefer eggs or fish to the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is a normal, human level. But God wants to take us higher.

What father among you would hand his son a snake
when he asks for a fish?
Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven
give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

Songs In His Presence - The House Of God