15 May 2024 - consecrated in truth

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Holy Father, keep them in your name

that you have given me,

so that they may be one just as we are one.

The basis of our unity with one another and with the Father and the Son is that the unity of the love of the Father and the Son for us, resulting in their commitment to protect us in their own name. Normally, if someone wanted to get a loan, he would have to persuade someone else that he was worthy of credit in order to persuade that person to cosign with her own name. But Jesus gave us access to the his own name and the name of his Father because he knew that the power of those names was more than sufficient to make up for any shortcomings on our part. It was more than enough to ensure that none of the disciples were lost except Judas, so that Scripture might be fulfilled. His commitment to us did not result from our perfect past performance, but from his love and his desire to share his joy with us. This is not to say that those so loved by Jesus would not face obstacles. We see this in today's Gospel in the fact that Jesus does not ask us to be taken out of the world where we would face no danger, but to be kept safe in the midst of danger.

I do not ask that you take them out of the world

but that you keep them from the Evil One.

They do not belong to the world

any more than I belong to the world.

We see the same sentiment from Paul as he prepared to leave Ephesus. He knew that the flock would face danger, but knew also that the solution was the "gracious word" of God that would give them an inheritance with those who were "consecrated". Paul protected them by his presence as Jesus protected the disciples by his presence. But when he had to leave he knew that consecration in the truth, in the word, would be the thing that kept them from savage wolves and from the Evil One. This paralleled what Jesus prayed for his disciples, consecrating himself for them, "so that they also may be consecrated in truth". 

They do not belong to the world

any more than I belong to the world.

Although it is particularly true of the successors of the apostles it is true also of us that we do not belong to the world and yet remain in the world. We are exposed to dangers, the chief of which are spiritual dangers. But these spiritual dangers, unlike lesser ones, have a more certain remedy in the truth given to us by Jesus, that being the consecration in his own holy name which can shield us from the power of the Evil One. Our part is to remember that, although we are in the world, although we are accustomed to seeing it, smelling it, and tasting it, we are not of the world. The world can have a hypnotic effect on us if we let it. But then we will forget the higher truth that ultimately has the power to keep us safe and lead us to joy. 

And now I commend you to God

and to that gracious word of his that can build you up

and give you the inheritance among all who are consecrated.

Holy And Anointed One

14 May 2024 - remain

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Remain in my love.

Where can we find stability in a changing world, or what truly lasts? It is a safe bet that the world would propose a variety of options different from what Jesus taught. It would ask us to remain, not in love, but in its strength and protection and power and wealth in order to insulate ourselves from potential difficulties as much as possible. But Jesus taught us that there is a higher ground which we can occupy, a safe place amid the ever shifting sands of life in time and space. That place what we discover when we are rooted in the love of Jesus for us. Just as Jesus himself is rooted in his Father's love so too are we meant to be rooted in his love. The commandments describe what this looks like in order to help us stay on the path and avoid potential pitfalls. But the rules themselves are only representative of an openness to receive life from another. Jesus continuously receives all that he is, his entire being, from his Father, and we in turn are meant to receive all that we are from him.

I have told you this so that my joy might be in you

and your joy might be complete.

The world tells us that we can only have happiness when we are free to act independently with as few restrictions as possible on our exercise of individual agency. It suggests that it is this exercise of our choice itself, rather than the intrinsic value of anything, that creates value. But Jesus tells us that this is precisely backward. Joy comes from opening ourselves to the source of joy that is bigger than ourselves and our choices.

This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.

No one has greater love than this,

to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

We were not created to be receivers only, as the world might suggest. The world values accumulation and consumption, of feeding the ego by fulfilling every desire for pleasure or experience. But just as Jesus himself did not content himself with receiving from the Father but wished to gift this life upon us, so too are we called to give what we have received to others. It is ultimately in this giving that we realize what we are meant to be. Saint John Paul the Great loved to quote the Vatican II document Gaudium et spes which said "that man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself" (see Gaudium et spes, 24).

Jesus himself demonstrates the reality that it is being rooted in another that is the firmest foundation for oneself. He is the living example of what John the Evangelist wrote, that "the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever" (see First John 2:17). Thus, rooted in him, not only do we remain, but even the fruit we bear begins to take on lasting value. 

You are my friends if you do what I command you.

I no longer call you slaves,

because a slave does not know what his master is doing.

We are no longer slaves who obey merely to avoid punishment. We are now friends who understand the inner logic behind what our friend Jesus asks of us. We can clearly see that he asks it for our good and the good of the whole world. Since he himself has chosen to call us friends let us respond by acting as good friends and joining him in advancing his plan for our joy, and the joy of all.

Israel Houghton - Friend Of God

13 May 2024 - do you believe now?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now?

Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived

when each of you will be scattered to his own home

and you will leave me alone.

Sometimes we are inclined to think we are further along the path of discipleship than we actually are. We hear enough messages that the content starts to sound familiar. Because it sounds familiar and because we know how it fits into the larger picture of theology we tend to imagine that our own belief is mature and that, as a consequence, we should be able to live is mature disciples. But to know what Jesus is saying is different from living what he says. Faith does have a component of head knowledge that is useful for categorization and explanation. But it also has to do with the application of the truth to reality in our own individual lives. This is why it is one stage to know something but a higher stage to remain with Jesus even when we are put to the test. What was for lacking for the disciples in this case was not necessarily affection for Jesus. We must imagine that Peter held a deep affection for his Lord and yet nevertheless was among those who were scattered and who himself was among those who betrayed him the most deeply. 

But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

I have told you this so that you might have peace in me.

What was the "this" that Jesus told them so that they would have peace in him? He told them that although they would abandon him it did not mean he was alone for the Father was always with him. In a way he was saying that his plans could not be thwarted by our own failures. The key relationship in his life was always maintained. But he did not tell them this to condemn the disciple but rather so that they could have peace in knowing that even their failures were accounted for a factored into his plan for the salvation of the world. In advance he had taken their failures in hand and planned with his Father to use them to bring about our the redemption of the world.

In the world you will have trouble,

but take courage, I have conquered the world.

We tend to think that if we manage to optimize our knowledge or behavior we might then be able to live in the world without trouble. After all, this is a large part of what motivates us to work at it. And we can certainly go a long way to avoid trouble, especially the trouble which is so frequently of our own making. But it does not mean that the world will be transformed into a utopia or that a seemingly endless stream of new and difficult circumstances will stop coming at us. In order to stand tall even amidst such difficulties we need more than right knowledge or behavior. We need the courage that comes from knowing that Jesus has already defeated the difficulties that we still face. That means that even as we face them we can nevertheless have a direct connection to the truth that they will not only end, but end in a way that results in the glory of God.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (see First Corinthians 15:57).

for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (see First John 4:4).

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith (see First John 5:4).

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death (see Revelation 12:11).

In order to be connected to the victory of Jesus in a way that will make it real, applicable, and useful, in our lives, we need more of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one who gives us a living connection to our Lord Jesus, not merely one that is abstract. He takes our head knowledge but uses it to change our patterns of thinking in order to renew our minds, allowing us to live a new and victorious way of life. He helps us to realize that even our history of past failures need not define or limit our future hope. Since none of us lives in this victory of Jesus as much as we would like let us open our hearts more to the Spirit who will connect us ever more perfectly with the one who is himself the victor.

Hillsong Worship - This Is How We Overcome

12 May 2024 - God mounts his throne

Today's Readings (for the Ascension)

(Audio)

When he had said this, as they were looking on,

he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.

Jesus departed from the realm of immediate physical visibility to his disciples, but he did not abandon them by doing so. What they lost in the ability to see his body and to hear his audible voice would be more than balanced by his newly deepened spiritual closeness. He had promised, "I am with you always, to the end of the age" (see Matthew 28:20) and we read about the fulfillment of this promise in today's Gospel were Mark wrote that "the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs".

The Ascension was not a retreat or a withdrawal. It was not stepping aside and becoming inactive so that the disciples could now act instead, as though he were Aslan traveling to a distant land and leaving Narnia to fend for itself, perhaps to learn some important lessons. Rather the Ascension, as we hear in today's psalm, was an enthronement.

God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord.

Since the Son of God was never absent from the throne in his divinity we must infer that it was his glorified human nature that was now made to sit down at the right hand of the Father. And because his disciples and we ourselves are not actually distant from the risen and ascended Lord this has direct consequences for the Church and for us. The Ascension led directly to the sending of the Holy Spirit. It was by implicating our own humanity in the full Trinitarian life of God that the gift of Pentecost was made possible. It was the glorification of the humanity of Jesus, begun at the resurrection, but realized more perfectly in the ascension, that overflowed into the mystical body of Jesus, the Church, filling it with every grace and blessing.

And he put all things beneath his feet

and gave him as head over all things to the church,

which is his body,

the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

There are clearly some responses to the ascension that are not appropriate for Christians. The first one is "standing there looking at the sky" in a daze of disinterest in the world below. The disciples had heard from the master that it was not for them to know when Jesus himself would restore the kingdom. The temptation was no doubt to sit and wait for him to do so. But the temptation on the opposite extreme was equally invalid. There was no sense in trying to set about the work of establishing the Kingdom without his help as though he were absent and it was now their turn to work. Thus there was the insistence that the disciples would be the witnesses of Jesus throughout the world. But they could not do this until they first received power from on high in the form of the Holy Spirit. They needed this connection to the ascended Lord in order to be able to fulfill their mission. Just as the Spirit drove and directed Jesus in his own life on earth so too was that Spirit meant to guide the Church.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,

throughout Judea and Samaria,

and to the ends of the earth.

We can see that the Church Jesus founded was always meant to be in some sense Pentecostal or charismatic. The Spirit himself was meant to be the source of the power and the vital energy that filled her and made her children effective witnesses. Without the Spirit signs and wonders meant to be evidence for unbelievers would be absent and important roles and ministries would be unfilled. Not only would the Church be missing  prophets in such a case she would even by missing the pastors and teachers and evangelists whom the Holy Spirit himself wished to chose and anoint for their tasks. If we ourselves neglect the Holy Spirit in our own lives we risk neglecting many gifts he wants to give us and give others through us. We risk living a dry and boring Christian reality that was never the intention of Jesus himself. He longs to continue to work with us to confirm his word. Will we open ourselves to his presence in our midst?

John Michael Talbot - You Will Receive Power

11 May 2024 - that your joy may be full

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Amen, amen, I say to you,

whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.

Until now you have not asked anything in my name;

ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

Jesus promised his disciples a joy that no one could take away from them. Today we see that the perfection of that joy required cooperation on the part of the disciples. It was not a thing they could attain on their own as people in our own day try so desperately to do. It was not an answer that could be found in the self-help section nor even in the depths of psychological research, much less in drugs or other forms of escape. Complete joy was to be found in the name of Jesus, specifically when, in this name, the disciples approached the Father.

On that day you will ask in my name,

and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you.

Asking the Father in the name of Jesus was something more than merely putting Jesus between themselves and the Father. If that is what it was they would still be at a distance from the Father, still knowing him only vaguely and in figures of speech. But to go before the Father in the name of Jesus spoke of a much more intimate reality where they could truly experience the presence and the love of the Father himself. It was to be the same love with which he loved the Son that the disciples received, because their prayers in the name of the Son caused him to recognize and to love in them what he first loved in Jesus. 

For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me

and have come to believe that I came from God.

This experience of the Father's love for us is what will bring our joy to completion and perfection. It is not any specific things for which we ask in prayer, no matter how miraculously we may receive them, that can produce this fruit of joy in us. It is rather the result of experiencing in fullness the love for which we were created. The whole fallen world seems ordered to make us doubt that such love exists, or that, if it exists, we are worthy of it. Certainly our previous experiences of love in the world aside from this love have been partial and contingent, requiring us to perform perfectly and others to be in the right mood to result in even a facsimile of joy. But this love of the Father for us is not like any other love. It is the unshakable foundation of reality itself. And now we are privileged, through the name of Jesus, to enter in and receive this love as much as we could ever desire and then still more. This is the clear truth beyond figures of speech. This is the goal of creation and redemption. No wonder Jesus himself was eager to return to the Father. It must have been sorrowful to see him go, but in doing so he demonstrated the path that we ourselves may one day hope to follow. And if the joy we have in the Father now is so great, what awaits us then?

For king of all the earth is God;

sing hymns of praise.

God reigns over the nations,

God sits upon his holy throne.

Hillsong Worship - What A Beautiful Name

10 May 2024 - joy awaits

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn,

while the world rejoices;

you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.

For the Christian short term sorrow is destined to give way to lasting joy. In the moment, however, the world may seem to have preferred the better option. They rejoice in power, oppression, and pleasure. They snatch what they can get while they can get it and try to make the most of the brief moment of their lives. But the party that the sinful world is celebrating cannot last forever. The vindication of the righteous, though it is not something we can empirically verify, is nevertheless inexorably on the way. The reason for this is that the righteous one who suffered at the hands of the world has been vindicated by the resurrection. Sin and darkness seemed to be ascendent and the world rejoiced. But the Son of God rose and sin was condemned. Although the world itself has not yet been fully restored, and although the times and seasons are not given to us to know, we do know for sure that creation itself will share in the resurrection of Jesus and be set free.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God (see Romans 8:20-21).

The level of suffering that Jesus had to undergo was so great that it was enough to make the disciples forget about the promise of joy that awaited them. It is no doubt hard for a mother giving birth to think of much besides the pain. But the analogy is poignant in that it promises that the joy waiting to be revealed is so great that it will relativize all previous suffering which will one day be gone and forgotten.

But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice,

and no one will take your joy away from you.

The promise of joy Jesus gave was not merely a one time consolation for a particular trial. He promised a joy that the world could not take from his disciples. This promise that "no one will take your joy away from you" is surely one of the greatest promises of the Gospel, and it does not apply only to the first generation of disciples who witnessed the resurrection firsthand. It is meant to apply to all of us, in whom the Spirit bears witness to the risen Lord.

On that day you will not question me about anything.

There is a day in awaiting us in the future where all of our questions will be so satisfactorily answered that we will no longer have any need or desire to ask anything else. We will be so viscerally satisfied by the reality of the resurrection that all of the sorrow and hardship of the world will appear in the larger context of God's loving plan for humanity. We can draw nearer to this day by experiencing the reality of the resurrection here and now through the gift of the Holy Spirit. This will build up trust in our hearts in the power of Jesus and the goodness of the Father and teach us to pray prayers that will be answered, ushering the coming Kingdom into the world.

Matt Maher - Because He Lives (Amen)

9 May 2024 - a little while

Today's Readings

(Audio)

A little while and you will no longer see me,

and again a little while later and you will see me.

We know that the disciples had difficulty directly understanding the fact that Jesus would die before the resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Jesus tried to explain in a way that would allow them to cling to hope even when the hour of darkness was upon them. He virtually never spoke of his coming death alone but also always of the resurrection, the fact that the disciples would indeed see him again.

So some of his disciples said to one another,

"What does this mean that he is saying to us,

'A little while and you will not see me,

and again a little while and you will see me,'

and 'Because I am going to the Father'?"

So they said, "What is this 'little while' of which he speaks?

We do not know what he means."

Let us note how the disciples approached the question. They were afraid to ask the teacher so they speculated with one another. We may suggest that this was a flawed approach and therefore yielded no fruit. All it did was magnify their own existing confusion. They had some reasonable questions about what a little while meant, given that the resurrection of the body was something most Jews believed was reserved for the end of the age. They did not know what it meant to go to the Father by way of the cross, because, in human terms, how could the cross be the way to the Father? They did not yet see it in terms of obedience and self-offering. The love that was the inner logic of such an offering was still obscure to them.

Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them,

"Are you discussing with one another what I said

Jesus, for his part, was not content to leave the disciples isolated in their own confusion. Yet, knowing that the truth was difficult, he gave them another indirect approach by which they could begin to grasp it. He did not spell things out in literal and concrete terms at that moment because he was patient with their inability to bear some things right away. He knew that the Holy Spirit was needed in order to bring the reality of Paschal mystery home to their hearts. Only the Spirit that raised Jesus himself from the dead could fully enlighten them about this mystery.

Amen, amen, I say to you,

you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices;

you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.

It was not required of them just then that they gaze directly on the bright sun of the Passion. It was enough that they be able to understand that the impending sorrow they would see and feel would not be the end of the story. This hope was enough to give them something to which they could cling even during the the crucifixion of Jesus when all hope seemed beyond reach and even the sun in the sky was darkened. All that had been done, all that had been built, all that Jesus had accomplished and taught, seemed to be for naught. But Jesus anticipated this in advance and mitigated what would otherwise have been unbearable by his promise of hope. He does the same thing for us, in all of our circumstances, no matter what darkness we face.

But this speech of our Lord’s is applicable to all believers who strive through present tears and afflictions to attain to the joys eternal.

- Alcuin

Darrell Evans - Trading My Sorrows