29 September 2026 - in the presence of the angels

Today's Readings
(Audio)

 

"Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree."
Nathanael answered him,
"Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

To account for Nathanael's response we must say more than that Jesus simply happened to observe him in a human way, and thought that he seemed like a sincere individual based on appearance. Rather, his assertion, that there was in Nathanael no duplicity, was neither flattery nor assumption. Jesus could see both the surface and the depths of Nathanael's spirit. The fact that he observed him under the fig tree was not simply meant to describe the scene. Rather, Nathanael desired to be part of the messianic age in which "every man under his vine and under his fig tree" (see Micah 4:4). Jesus was not merely saying he happened to see Nathanael under any fig whatever. He was saying he saw Nathanael in the scene of that messianic age, in which Nathanael would have a place. This appears to have been the deepest desire of Nathanael's heart. There was no duplicity between his external action and his internal desire. But by saying he saw it in the way Jesus did, he meant in a way that was a divine and omniscient observation of the future. He went beyond the mere acknowledge of the desire to the confirmation that it would come to pass. It was this combination of insight and assurance that led Nathanael to confess that Jesus was not only a teacher but the Son of God and the King of Israel. Who else but the person described by those words could know what Jesus knew or promise what he had promised?

And he said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will see heaven opened
and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Jesus promised Nathanael more than he dared to hope or ask. The messianic age was going to be something far greater than he imagined, ushered in by a messiah who was more than he had dared to desire. The messiah would not merely restore the kingdom and restore the offering of right praise to Israel. He would do those things. But he would do so, not merely at a human scale, but by bridging the gap between heaven and earth, just as the ladder Jacob saw in a dream foreshadowed. Jesus himself would unleash the full blessings of heaven, which would be ministered to us by angels, doing so by removing the obstacles to those barriers, and uniting the heavenly and the earthly realms in his very person. Through Jesus the angels would bring the blessings of heaven, that had heretofore only been partial and unexpected exceptions, down to earth in a regular and reliable way. Through Jesus the angels would aid his people as they sought to lift up their lives to become worthy of life in that realm of the Spirit that was at the other end of the ladder of the incarnation.

We can see from the first option for our first reading how the same myriad of heavenly hosts that surround the throne of the Father are also servants of the great Son of Man. For our purposes this morning this includes especially Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels with particularly important roles in God's plans for our salvation. Why should we bother with them, or why care about them? Why not just focus all of our limited mental resources on Jesus himself? We should pay attention to them because God himself clearly did by the prominent role he gave them in accomplishing our salvation, a project with which he clearly didn't actually need any help. 

 

It is not the case that the victory accomplished through Michael over the Devil and his angels is merely a past event. Rather, as God chose Michael to conquer the Devil, so too does he use each of the archangels in accomplishing his will in our own lives and in our world. Saint Michael can help us achieve our own victories over the evil one. Gabriel can help connect us to God's will and teach us how to make Jesus present in our own lives. Raphael can lead us to healing and restoration of bodily ailments, relationships, and even spiritual afflictions. It is not only the psalmist, but ourselves too, especially in the mass, where heaven meets earth, who are meant to sing our praises in "the sight of the angels".

Chris Tomlin - Whom Shall I Fear (God Of Angel Armies)

 

28 September 2026 - good reception

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Whoever receives this child in my name receives me

The disciples were vying over who among them was the greatest, probably arguing amongst themselves about who of them had the greatest value for Jesus and his mission. No doubt they referred to their own achievements and accomplishments, or to their success in preaching and casting out demons with the divine authority given to them by Jesus. Jesus knew they had gotten things backwards. The talents that made them successful were entrusted to them by God. The spiritual gifts that operated through them were not functions of their individual greatness or merit. The very idea that they were could be a roadblock to the future reception of grace, since grace required ongoing openness. What truly mattered was not what they had on their resume of successes, but rather valuing what Jesus valued, as demonstrated by the figure of a child. A child did not count for much in the time and place where Jesus lived. But he explained to his disciples that accepting a lowly and weak person, such as that child, was equivalent to receiving Jesus, thus more valuable than all the disciples' previous jockeying for position. 

and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me
For the one who is least among all of you
is the one who is the greatest.

Willingness to share the heart of Jesus was key to receiving him, to truly being present to him in a way that transcended sitting at his right or his left. It was the condition necessary for mutual indwelling, in which we live in him and he in us. And because the heart of Jesus is always perfectly aligned to the heart of the Father who sent him it means that receiving the outcasts and the neglected is not only the door to receiving Jesus, but also the Father and the Spirit as well. That is not to say we earn God's presence by ensuring we perform corporate works of mercy to the right people. It is rather that when we do receive the marginalized we implicitly acknowledge that what matters is not what we have or what we accomplish, much less what society values, but rather, what matters to the heart of God is what has true value. In order to accept those who are small and childlike we must become, after a fashion, smaller still. In order to address those who are seen is the least in the world we must become lesser still. But it is precisely in this apparent nothingness of abnegation that God makes us everything he wants us to be.

Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name 
and we tried to prevent him
because he does not follow in our company.

Why did they care so much if this individual was in their company or not? Part of the reason was probably because they felt the need to be in control, which may have been motivated by a subtle desire to take credit for what the person was doing. Another reason may have been a desire to ensure that everything this person did followed the correct form and protocol. They did not want impressive miraculous deeds to allow the crowds to be led astray with false doctrine. Fair enough. But the implication of Jesus was that it was not always appropriate to try to be in control. The fact was that the person was helping to undermine the works of the evil one, and was, in that sense, on the same team. Even though the apostles would go on to positions of authority in which they would help people to know true doctrine from falsehood they would not necessarily maintain a rigid grip on everything taking place around them. In fact, too much desire for control could potentially stifle genuine works of the Spirit, which tended to spring up where he was least expected. At the very least they were to treat good things done by outsiders as good, and cross the bridge of dealing with partial or incorrect theology when and if they came to it. 

If we can let go of our own need to be in control to some extent we may find that the world is filled with more friends, more allies, and a greater amount of wonder, than we see when our desire to be in charge narrows our horizon and focus too much to see them.

Jesus said to him, 
"Do not prevent him, for whoever is not against you is for you."

Another level to being childlike and to relinquishing control is when we remain as children even in the midst of our suffering. This means not turning away from God, but turning toward him, not surrendering our trust in the Father, but doubling down, as did Job in our first reading.

Naked I came forth from my mother's womb,
and naked shall I go back again.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
blessed be the name of the LORD!"

Newsboys - Blessed Be Your Name

 

27 September 2026 - relaxing the past tension

Today's Readings

(Audio)

 

But if he turns from the wickedness he has committed,
and does what is right and just,
he shall preserve his life;

We tend to be less willing than God to allow for the possibility that people can change. Once someone gets canceled in modern society there isn't really a mechanism to rehabilitate his public persona, even if he diligently sought to address whatever offense landed him in that situation. We prefer a more simple world where those who commit injustice are punished immediately and those who do good are rewarded. But the immediacy that we desire foregoes the depth that God seeks. He is less interested in who we are in passing moments than who we choose to become as those moments shape our lives. 

He said in reply, 'I will not,'
but afterwards changed his mind and went.

Our society prefers to see those modern outcasts, who are our tax collectors and prostitutes, punished immediately. We don't often rejoice when we see someone who overcomes such life choices becoming successful. Instead we drag their reputations through the mud until it no longer amuses us to do so, and then forget about them. But to God an initial no does not preclude the possibility of an eventual yes that matters much more. Of course this is actually good news for us, since no one has ever lived a consistent yes throughout his life, save Jesus and the blessed virgin. 

The man came to the other son and gave the same order.
He said in reply, 'Yes, sir, 'but did not go.

We often fail to recognize why it is such good news that God gives sinners a chance to repent. The reason for this is because we tend to believe that we are righteous and in no need of forgiveness. We believe this because we mistake saying yes for living it. We do communicate this superficial yes through various actions, like going to church, saying the creed, and other superficially religious gestures. We feel like we are 'doing the thing'.  But what we busy ourselves about is mostly the appearance of doing the thing. Like the religious leaders in the time of Jesus we have information, and opinions, and a long list of ritual obligations fulfilled. But we haven't been transformed, in the way that the presence of Jesus transformed tax collectors and prostitutes, such that they way they lived together was forever different. Their neighbors were no longer people to exploit, or potential obligations to be avoided, but brothers and sisters. From isolated bastions of ego they came to share a common life and a common purpose as described by Paul in our second reading.

complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love,
united in heart, thinking one thing.
Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory;
rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves

The transformation of people who were obvious offenders is not meant to make us grumble and complain. Rather, it is meant to inspire us to believe that transformation is possible, whatever the starting point. This is truly good news since it means that whatever apparently intractable attitudes and behaviors we have not yet been able to change can be overcome with the help of divine grace. If we are willing to let our minds be changed, to have in us the "same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus", God himself will give us the grace we need.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God (see Romans 12:2).

Let's not take this forgiveness for granted. Doing so puts us closer to the category of the religious leaders who do not truly believe they need forgiving. It makes it more likely that we will only put on a facade of repentence rather than truly seeking to change our minds and our hearts. We are not fine and we are not OK. But as long as we are on our way, together with Jesus, we will certainly reach our destination.

Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice, 
and teaches the humble his way.

 

ILP Chorale - At  The Name Of Jesus

 

26 September 2026 - living with the question

Today's Readings

(Audio)

  

“Pay attention to what I am telling you.
The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.” 

Jesus transitioned abruptly from performing miraculous deeds that amazed everyone to a prediction of his passion that alluded to Isaiah's passage about how the suffering servant "poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors" (see Isaiah 53:12). This gave the disciples a great deal of cognitive dissonance, even mental whiplash. They couldn't make the leap from the Jesus, who seemed able to surmount every obstacle and overcome every problem that came his way, and this plan for him to be handed over or poured out for others. Implicit in such thinking was an idea with which guards would later taunt him, "He saved others; he cannot save himself" (see Matthew 27:42). From either end of that statement it was nearly impossible to see the other. If, as the disciples believed, he had saving power, he must also be able to save himself. If he was unable to save himself, as the religious leaders believed, than the previously reported miracles must have been deception.  

 

We are not so different. The goodness of the world that we sometimes experience in the beauty of nature, or the wonderful tenderness of human relationships, or the ingenuity of the arts and sciences, seems utterly incongruous with realities of suffering and death. Growing as disciples means coming to see how salvific suffering is a part of the divine plan. It means accepting on faith the fact that God allowed this universe to be the way it is because from it he could draw a greater good than had he not allowed disobedience and suffering in the first place. While it is possible for us to acknowledge these things abstractly here it is more difficult to allow them to shape our lives. There is a way in which the true depths of the meaning is still hidden from us, and perhaps in a way that is not entirely our fault. Maybe we are somewhat to blame if we are "afraid to ask" and pursue the issue, fearing that it might unsettle our faith. But it may also be the case that we are meant to learn over time by living as disciples and following Jesus. Too much too soon is not always helpful or even possible. If his disciples had immediately experienced the full horror of the cross it is unlikely that any academic explanation of its importance would have helped. They all may well have fled without looking back. They may not have been able to make themselves return so that Peter could strengthen his brothers. Peter might not have been able to muster the courage to dare to hope that repentence was possible. So instead God led them gradually, with repeated predictions of the passion and hints about the dark hour that was coming. They may not have understood, but by choosing to remain with Jesus even in spite of that they were strengthened for what was to come.

The situation of the disciples was similar to that of the youths to whom Solomon addressed himself in our first reading:

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth,
before the evil days come
And the years approach of which you will say,
I have no pleasure in them;

They were being prepared to remain faithful even in a time when all was not roses in and sunshine, hugs and puppies. The risk for them and for us is that if we don't plan on trials and suffering our faith might be shaken when they inevitably come. It doesn't matter that we can't understand precisely how the pain of this life could be beneficial. What matters is that we trust in the goodness of our God who assures us that, for those who love him, "all things work together" (see Romans 8:28). When we are in the midst of suffering we think what we want most are answers. But what we really need is a hope in God so robust that we can live with our questions and remain faithful. This is how we endure the growth, the breaking of the hard outer shell of our egos, the metamorphosis to the Spirit-led disciples we are meant to become.

Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.

 

 

CeCe Winans - Goodness Of God

 

25 September 2026 - an appointed time for everything

Today's Readings
(Audio)

  

Who do the crowds say that I am?

John the Baptist must have had an overwhelming and irrepressible personality, which we learn not only from the wild things he did and said, but from the fact that people couldn't accept he was gone when he was killed. He was larger than life to the degree that even Herod, who himself was the one who had John killed, gave some credence to the rumors that he had risen from the dead. After all, he seemed in many ways to be a modern version of the prophet Elijah. Had John been Elijah or someone similar it would have seemed that an ignominious execution could not have been his end. Elijah was taken up into heaven by flaming chariots. If that was not to be the destiny for John the Baptist, surely it was still not to be death by execution? They wrongly assumed that the return of Elijah would be more like a victory lap than a martyrdom. They couldn't accept, and were at least partially correct in not accepting, that it couldn't end  that way. Perhaps whatever the prophetic presence manifested in Elijah and John was not gone but not acting in the person of Jesus? In a way, this wasn't actually so far from the truth. But they were confused because they couldn't wrap their heads around the role suffering played in the plan of God. John the Baptist's role was not less perfect because he died for the truth, but more. The crowds were keyed in on signs of success and continuity with what had gone before. But these interpretive keys only gave a partial picture of Jesus himself.

Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.”

Jesus was more than merely the repetition of one preexisting archetype. Pointing to this or that Old Testament figure for reference could only tell a part of the story. This is because everything in the Scriptures referred to Jesus, and he was the fulfillment of all that had come before. People were capable of conceiving narrow ideas about how the future would fall into patterns found in salvation history. But they could not conceive of how all of the patterns would converge in the person of Jesus. One could not identify Jesus merely on the basis of similarity to a past figure, even David or Moses or Elijah. One needed rather to allow Jesus to give a personal revelation of his own identity and from that vantage point understand preceding history, and the destination toward which the future was being guided. The disciples were aware of the formulaic, stock answers about the identity of Jesus. But Peter remained sufficiently open to allow the Father himself to reveal the truth. This is still the right option for us in our day. Even though pithy, accurate summaries about the identity of Jesus exist, they mean little to us until they become revelation. We need to not only get the answer right, but to have the answer change our lives if it is to avail for us. We can mouth the words "Jesus is Lord". But it is when we say them by the Spirit that they have their true meaning and effect.

He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.

He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.

No wonder Jesus wasn't eager for his disciples to broadcast his identity far and wide. The crowds were as yet incapable of understanding the fact that the Son of Man not only would suffer but "must suffer". Suffering wasn't an unfortunate accident but rather a part of the divine plan. To be fair, even the disciples, even Peter were not yet fully on board with this idea. But since they had shown willingness to let Jesus define himself, rather than imposing their own ideas on him, they were better situated to survive the scandal. There would be a time to shout the Gospel message from the housetops. But for the time being it was best to keep it hidden. There is, after all, a time for every purpose under heaven. But only Jesus can reveal the "timeless" God has put "into their hearts".

The Byrds - Turn! Turn! Turn!

 

24 September 2026 - conflict of interest

Today's Readings

(Audio)

  

Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening,
and he was greatly perplexed because some were saying,

Herod was trapped in a world of vanity, a better translation for which is vapor. Born to Herod the Great, his life was defined by cycles of violence that showed no signs of subsiding. He was taught from a young age that power had to be aggressively sought and defended. Yet power and  whatever else he chased were obviously things that, like vapor, dissipated the more one tried to grasp them. His labor, if one could call it that, under the sun did in one sense profit him greatly. He wore fine clothes and lived in a palace. But for all that profit he was still obviously unsatisfied. He was unsatisfied because at the core of his being he knew that things were not as they should be. He was not as he should be. He couldn't help but listen with interest when John the Baptist spoke, even though he spoke critically of his life choices. Herod could not shake the truth of the criticism that drove him to have John the Baptist killed, even once he was dead and buried. But he did not see a possible way to escape. He thought that he was who he was, the world was what it was, and that no substantial change was possible. He found himself haunted by John and desirous of escaping his current predicament. Thus he listened with fascination when people began to spread rumors of something that truly was finally new and different.

“John has been raised from the dead”;
others were saying, “Elijah has appeared”;
still others, “One of the ancient prophets has arisen.”

Of course, one cannot learn the truth of Jesus merely from who others say that he is. One must address the question directly. In some sense Herod sought to do this. But he apparently never sought it any more sincerely than how he listened to John while he was imprisoned. It was more of a question of curiosity and abstract interest. It was not something he was truly open to receiving as correction. 

 

John, for his part, was the boundary between the old things which had been endlessly repeated and the new thing found in the Kingdom proclaimed by Jesus. So perhaps in John Herod discovered a little too much of answers which he had already previously heard but had found unsatisfying. It seemed his interest in Jesus was too directly analogous to his interest in John. On the one hand he was driven by curiosity. But on the other he hoped to silence another voice similar to John's that might suggest that he ought to change.

What has been, that will be;
what has been done, that will be done.
Nothing is new under the sun.
Even the thing of which we say, “See, this is new!”
has already existed in the ages that preceded us.

Jesus was not a rejection of all that had come before, in the sense that he did not come to abolish the law. But he did represent something truly new. In his death and resurrection the problems of sin and death, that had previously been addressed by priests through ultimately ineffective repetition of rituals (see Hebrews 10:4), were definitively solved. Jesus, and in particular his resurrection, were the fulfillment of what God promised through Isaiah: "Behold, I am doing a new thing" (see Isaiah 43:19).

Most of us probably have a slightly different problem than Herod. We've grown accustomed to the radical newness that is found in Jesus Christ. We no longer really believe that through him anything is possible. Yet we are wrong to think so. Chains that have long held us can be broken. Patterns of addictive behavior can be overcome. Illnesses that have shaped our lives can be healed. If we do claim to believe it, we don't really have hope that it might apply to us. We think we've seen everything that is possible under the sun and we agree more with Qoheleth than with Jesus. But Jesus explicitly said of himself that he was one (the only one) wiser than Solomon (see Matthew 12:42). So who should we really believe? Our past? Others who tell us things can't change? Or Jesus himself who promises that they can? His demonstrated that all of our previous expectations are faulty and that there is not a single thing that is excluded when he says, "Behold, I am making all things new" (see Revelation 21:5).

 

Big Daddy Weave - All Things New

 

23 September 2026 - what we leave and what we bring

  

Today's Readings
(Audio)

 

Take nothing for the journey,
neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money,
and let no one take a second tunic.

It is a potential pitfall of any missionary endeavor that we focus on the programmatic and logistical aspects more than the core message. Jesus wished to spare his disciples the temptation to become distracted by resource management. But the consequence of this was that they would need to depend more on God than would have otherwise been the case. Only if they put their trust in him would they be better off without the worldly encumbrances weighing them down. If not, they would always be worrying about from where their next meal would come. Sometimes we are called to put the Kingdom first and trust in God even those things we would normally attempt to prudentially provide for ourselves. Not always. But sometimes he does give us the opportunity, as he did for his disciples, to show that we trust him. This only works in practice when we remember that what he did give us for the journey, "power and authority", are of greater value than what he told us to leave at home. He does want us to have the experience of needing to depend on his wisdom and grace more than the resources we might otherwise bring to bear. Not always. But if the Lord does seem to be making such a call at some point in our lives it is important not to panic. He himself didn't need great wealth or other resources proclaim the Gospel. We should therefore realize that he is able to ensure our own mission as long as we remain faithful to his word.

Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there.

Another potential pitfall of our attempts to proclaim the Kingdom of God is that we have a tendency to always look for a situation that is even slightly better. We let the ideal or the perfect become the enemy of the good. What's more, by perfect, we often mean perfect for us. That is, we mean that we seek situations that are not only dynamic for the proclamation of the Gospel but also comfortable and convenient for ourselves. We could stay in whatever house we first enter and use that as our base of operations. But what if they make a better breakfast elsewhere? In the context of mission the main point is not to find a five-star B&B. It is the message, which is served just as well from anywhere that meets our basic needs. Jesus wanted his disciples to come to terms with such temptations in order to overcome them.

And as for those who do not welcome you,
when you leave that town,
shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them.

A third potential pitfall of missionary activity is the fear of rejection. Now, one might have assumed that the disciple of Jesus would never face rejection provided that they adhered closely enough to his instructions. But we can see in these very instructions that it was not the case. Rejection was part of the plan. Jesus sent his disciples to villages populated by people with free will. The invitation was meant to be made not only to those who would accept it, but also to those who would not. The point was not merely to officially seal their condemnation. It was rather that God desired all to be saved, to the degree that he desired to invite everyone, even knowing that some would refuse him. From this we can learn that we should not be too focused on communicating the message of Jesus only to those who seem likely to respond. In the mystery of grace even initial rejection is not the end of the story. And everyone has a right to hear the invitation.

Add nothing to his words,
lest he reprove you, and you will be exposed as a deceiver. 

 

We can discern a final temptation from our reading from Proverbs. We sometimes wish to add or subtract from the word of God to make it more congenial to our audience. This we must not do. It is not that we recommended the use shock tactics or suggesting that we ought to present the most extreme and hard to accept parts of the Gospel first. But we do no service to anyone if we neglect such realities as sin, judgment, and the last things. Without the full picture people may assume we are only presenting a spirituality that could serve as an interesting hobby for people who resonate with it. But it is a weightier thing than that. It is a vital thing. It is the one thing necessary, without which we don't really have anything else.

The word of Jesus gives us strength and comfort when we give it a central place in our hearts and in our lives, when we let it speak to us and direct us, just as Jesus directed his disciples in today's Gospel. With the psalmist, let us remember and repeat: "Your word, O Lord, is a lamp for my feet".

 

 

Amy Grant - Thy Word