8 July 2026 - apostolic foundations

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.

Jesus sent the twelve out with authority like his own, to do what he had been doing. He had already modeled for his disciples a heart moved with compassion for the crowds, who were like sheep without a shepherd. That compassion entailed setting people free from unclear spirits, curing diseases, and proclaiming the arrival of the Kingdom of God. But he did not intend to be the only one doing these things. There was an abundant harvest that could only be reaped if there were sufficient numbers of laborers set to the task. Moses did not govern alone, but appointed twenty-five men to help him with judicial disputes and seventy elders to share the burden of leadership (see Numbers 11:16 and Exodus 18:13). The kingdom of Israel was not been governed by Solomon alone. He appointed twelve district governors to supply provisions for the king and the royal household. So there was a strong historical precedent for Jesus sharing his own leadership role in God's covenant family. Indeed his chosen Twelve  would one day "sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (see Matthew 19:28).

Unlike the Pharisees, the purpose of the ministry of the Twelve was not to exploit the sheep that were already within the flock. It was rather to seek out those who were lost, to any degree, and to bring them fully into the flock. They were to do what the Pharisees refused to do and indeed tried to prevent, bringing the people of Israel into the Kingdom that had now arrived in the person of Jesus. They were to guide the people in the transition from worship according to earlier covenants to worship in the new and everlasting covenant that Jesus established at the Last Supper. They were to lead them to a new era of worship in Spirit and truth. The ministry of the Pharisees was often ultimately self-serving. But the ministry of the Twelve was meant to be based on compassion for the troubled and abandoned hearts of sheep, who were lost, and did not know how to respond to God, or live as they were meant to live.

The Church herself is built on the foundation of her apostles, which is why Revelation described the wall of the heavenly city as having "twelve foundations" inscribed on which "were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb" (see Revelation 21:24). This alludes to the concept of Apostolic Succession, in which these Twelve appointed successors who would continue their ministry and authority into the future, as we see with the selection of Matthias (see Acts 1:12-26). Are our leaders always perfect? No. Are they sometimes as corrupt as any Pharisee? To be sure. But they are far better by the King equipped to respond to his desire for his Church than were any leaders before them. Our leaders have been gifted with the Holy Spirit, working within them, moving and empowering them to minister to the sheep with love and compassion. If they don't always do so they will one day have to render and account for squandering such extravagant graces. 

Let us not spend overmuch time critiquing those few Church leaders who stand out for their infidelity and instead give thanks for all of those, ordained and otherwise, who have helped us come to know Jesus and live for him. We in turn are meant to play some part, however small, in sharing Jesus with others. In a world like that of Hosea, where abundance leads to idolatry, and poverty leads to despair Jesus desires everyone to do their part. We are to sow justice and reap piety, saying to the world "it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain down justice upon you". If, then, our world is, as is obviously the case, lacking in justice, may we step up our own efforts first and foremost.

Elevation Worship - There Is A King

 

7 July 2026 - nothing like this

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

“Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”
But the Pharisees said,
“He drives out demons by the prince of demons.”

There were many sheep that did not know exactly how to respond to Jesus on their own, but were primed to make a response. Yet their leaders, who should have been guiding them to Jesus as the promised messiah, were instead trying to direct them away from him, sowing seeds of doubt among them. Many of these sheep felt an internal pull toward Jesus. But the Pharisees did what they could to prevent them from responding to that impulse. This created feelings of trouble and abandonment in the sheep, leaving them at a loss as to what to do. We ought not take this depth of this inner conflict for granted. It made them second guess their own nascent faith in what God was doing in their midst. The Pharisees were, after all, the most obviously pious and religiously observant among them, at least in an external sense. They had expertise which should have helped them to recognize the messiah when he appeared. But rather than doing so, they concocted excuses for why Jesus could not be the messiah, however his apparent goodness and miraculous deeds made things seem. If Isaiah had proclaimed woe on those who called evil good (see Isaiah 5:20) than how deep was the darkness that was upon these Pharisees. 

They made kings in Israel, but not by my authority;
they established princes, but without my approval.
With their silver and gold they made
idols for themselves, to their own destruction.

Because they refused to acknowledge the one sent into the world by God, the Pharisees had no alternatives except idolatry. In their case it was typically the idolatry of pride and position. They implicitly set themselves up as alternative authorities, rivals to Jesus, whose authority came from God. If only they had been humble they could have submitted their own transitory authority to Jesus, to be used as he wished, for the glory of his kingdom. But instead they used it to attempt to undermine the spread of that kingdom. From this we can learn that rejecting Jesus does not leave one in a morally neutral space, but rather reconfigures him into a servant of rival claimants. And we can see how all rivals to Jesus are ultimately pawns of the devil. They led to Pharisees to reject goodness itself, at least in many particular instances. The more consciously one rejects Jesus the more dangerous the result is likely to be, the more directly Satan can work through it to spread his own demonic kingdom. Idolatry might not seem a live option in our day. But it is, after a fashion, an option so prevalent as to be hard to avoid. All paths but the path of Jesus ultimately lead to it.

Then he said to his disciples,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.”

The sheep aren't supposed to solve these kind of big problems on their own. They are supposed to ask for help from the one who is himself their shepherd. But they are not then excused to simply sit back and watch things unfold from the sidelines. No. Rather, they themselves must then be open to being called, to themselves being the ones sent by Jesus to address the trouble and confusion of the whole flock. Obviously this pertains primarily to clergy. But we are none of us exempt. Jesus wants to call and to use all of us the help others in ways for which he has uniquely gifted each of us. We should do more than assess our skills and then go out and use them on our own initiative. The risk of being overly self-directed is ending up like the Pharisees, more lost than we began. Instead we want to be responsive, responsive to the call of the master of the harvest. He has better plans for the ways, times, and places we can use our gifts for his glory than we can come up with on our own or in steering committees. This sometimes leads to the risk of discernment paralysis where we never begin to act because we never achieve a sufficiently perfect clarity about how to act. But we aren't suggesting that we wait until we hear an audible voice or receive a message from an angel. We rather suggest that we be open to holy impulses, discerning them through prayer, our own wisdom, and the wisdom of wise elder sisters and brothers in the faith. In general, when something seems inspired by God and no one can recognize an obvious downside, we ought not be afraid to proceed. If it is something that seems wild, like traveling across the globe, it may well still be God, but we should subject it to additional scrutiny before we attempt it. But if we listen at all we will hear a call of some kind. How will we respond? Let us resolve to do so faithfully and zealously.

The house of Israel trusts in the Lord.

John B. Miller - Speak Lord I'm Listening

 

6 July 2026 - speak to her heart

Today's Readings
(Audio)

“My daughter has just died.
But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live.”

What profound faith from one who seemed, in virtue of the fact that he was a "ruler", to be less likely to demonstrate such faith! To some extent it must have been desperation that drove him to it. There were after all no longer any feasible alternates for a daughter that was already dead. No doctors could help. It seemed beyond the reach of any typical healing ministries. In modern times, no matter someone's reputation for charismatic gifts of healing, one still would no typically bring a corpse to a prayer meeting and ask for help. And yet this man was moved to do something analogous because of what he believed about Jesus. The desert of earthly loss allowed God to speak to his heart and open this dimension of faith within him. The false and partial promises of earthly happiness had left him in a state of sorrow in which he was allured by the greater promises of God, promises with eternal consequences, after which there need no longer be tearful goodbyes, when he would gladden his people after their sadness (see Jeremiah 31:31).

When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand,
and the little girl arose.

The raising of the daughter of Jairus was a preview of what was to come when the resurrection on the last day would be the beginning of the final and irrevocable stage of the history, in which God espoused humanity to himself, just as he promised through Hosea. His own life became new life for the daughter of Jairus. And it has become our life through baptism. And it will be our life in fullness on the last day when all who hear the voice of the Son of Man rise from their graves to live in his presence forever more. But for us, as for Jairus, the path to life and to the marriage feast passes through the desert of earthly sorrow. As it did for his daughter, it will probably path through the desert of death, unless he returns during our lifetime. But all of this is precisely so that the bridegroom can demonstrate his unshakable fidelity to his bride, even in spite of the bride's tendency to be unfaithful to him. The desert is not in and of itself a good or desirable place. It was not on the original itinerary for the human journey. But God has made all things beautiful in their time (see Ecclesiastes 3:11). He not only makes them work together for the good of those who love him (see Romans 8:28) but himself draws us into that love when we stray.

Jesus turned around and saw her, and said,
“Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you.”
And from that hour the woman was cured.

Part of the purifying journey for Jairus was learning to allow his own needs and desires to be interrupted by those of others. He could not ask for love to be demonstrated at his request and on his behalf while rejecting the claims of others to that same love of Jesus. Obviously his whole world was tied up in helping his daughter. But this was just one piece of the larger plan to unite heaven and earth in Jesus Christ. And he needed to be open to all of it in order to receive any of it. To his credit, we do not hear him telling Jesus to hurry because there was no time to waste, or that the woman had recovered so he might as well keep moving. It is unclear how exactly he interpreted the event. But he may have recognized it as a sign of the power of Jesus. Since the woman had been suffering for a number of years equivalent to the age of his daughter it seemed to imply that even his daughter's death would not be a problem for Jesus. The healing power that flowed from him was sufficient even unto the raising of the dead.

A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him
and touched the tassel on his cloak.

We can truly sympathize with the desert of waiting, and the cycles of hope and disappointment with which this woman had to contend. She spent all she had on doctors hoping for a cure but never found reprieve. Yet, from that perspective, when it would have been easy to give up and despair she instead heard the alluring words of God directing her to hope in Jesus. The bridegroom had such a superabundance of blessings for the bride that even his touch would be enough to change her life forever. It was not obvious that twelve years of hoping and being disappointed would lead anyone to such faith. Not everyone chooses to listen to the voice in the desert, for it speaks quietly, while our pain and sorrow shout. The longer we endure those voices the easier it is for us to believe that we are a hopeless case. But in the desert, free from other distractions, we may learn to hope as the woman hoped and to believe as Jairus believed. When we have such faith we can, even here and now,  begin to experience the blessings that will be ours in fullness when Jesus consummates his marriage with humanity at the end of time.

Matt Maher - Gonna Be Alright

 

5 July 2026 - not debtors to the flesh

Today's Readings
(Audio)

I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to little ones.

We get the impression that those who saw themselves as sophisticated intellectuals had difficulty accepting the message of Jesus. They saw signs, but talked themselves out of believing in them, insisting instead on signs that were more according to their taste. They thought that in some ways Jesus was too lax, welcoming sinners, and sharing table with tax collectors. They thought that he ought to take a hard line against the occupying Roman force, perhaps even raising an army in imitation of the Judas Maccabeus. But instead Jesus had instructed his followers, "if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles" (see Matthew 5:41). In our own lives, whenever someone says 'Can't we all just get along?' it usually implies they don't appreciate the difficulties of the barriers dividing people. Yet Jesus seemed to suggest that peace without the need for violence was a genuine possibility. At other times he appeared naive in the strictness of his moral teaching. Not even look at someone lustfully? Was he not asking of them more control than was possible for weak flesh, however willing the spirit might be?

Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father. 

Apparently this superficial implausibility of the message of the Gospel was by design. The Gospel could not be unearthed by a sufficient philosophical or scientific explanation. It could only be revealed. The reason for this was that Jesus desired his followers to stand in the same current of grace flowing from the Father in which he himself stood. This was not a project of the ego, not something that could build up the pride of those who learned it. Instead it required the openness, humility, and vulnerability of love, of entrusting oneself to a lover, the lover of his soul. It was in fact intentionally resistant to human pride. As Paul wrote

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe (see First Corinthians 1:20-21).

The Son was not being purposefully obscure about what had been revealed to him by the Father. He desired to reveal him to others, and took delight when people like Peter had revelations that went beyond the limits of flesh and blood. He invited those who were frustrated by the eternal insufficiency of their own efforts to come to him and try his gentle yoke instead. He would show them how to become like him, open to the Father as he was, meek and humble of heart as he was, and so experience the rest of the soul that Jesus himself exemplified. Jesus invited his disciples to share the very lightness and ease which some must have found so off-putting about him. About his disciples too people may have said asked if they should not be more aggressive or strategic, or avoid some people while currying favor with others, or if they should not teach an actually attainable moral standard rather than something so lofty and angelic. But since the disciples would then be acting on the basis of their shared yoke of Jesus they could respond without retaliating. They could preserve their gentleness, persevere in humility, and maintain a restful spirit even in the face of hostility and aggression.

See, your king shall come to you;
a just savior is he,
meek, and riding on an ass,
on a colt, the foal of an ass.

Jesus seemed too impractical to be a king. And yet his apparently naive love has triumphed over the forces of violence and he now reigns over us from his heavenly throne. There are still many "debtors to the flesh" who feel like they have to do all that they can to push back their own mortality for even a few more years, months, or minutes. But we are meant to be debtors to the Spirit who believe and know that our lives are in the hands of another. It is in the power of his Spirit that we are meant to live. And it is by that same Spirit that the Father "will give life to your mortal bodies also", just as he did for Jesus.

The LORD is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The LORD lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.

Relient K - For The Moments I Feel Faint

 

4 July 2026 - while the bridegroom is with them

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?

The disciples of John approached Jesus and asked him why his own disciples seemed to be less committed than those of John and the Pharisees. Those groups seemed rigorous in discipline, whereas by comparison Jesus and his followers must have seemed like lax, as though they were living a never ending party. Even Jesus himself had somehow acquired a reputation as a "glutton and a drunkard" (see Matthew 11:19). This was, after all, the same Jesus who supplied abundant wine to the wedding feast at Cana when they ran out after three days of festivities (see John 2:1-12). 

The disciples of John were only thinking on the basis of comparison of themselves with others, with the only criterion being who could do the most. If some fasting was sometimes good, then wasn't more indicative of a greater spiritual seriousness? But such an approach was too inflexible. It neglected the appropriate response to the presence of the divine bridegroom, which was primarily supposed to be a response of joy and of celebration. And although they didn't realize they were doing it, ignoring the presence of the bridegroom, acting on their own impulses when they were in fact present at a wedding feast, was a response evinced a lack of gratitude. It was a little like those people in the parable who were invited to a wedding feast and yet made excuses in order to continue to pursue their normal affairs (see Matthew 22:1-14).

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.

It was not that the disciples of Jesus were never to fast. But it was rather by the measure of his presence that they learned when and why fasting would one day be appropriate. Jesus did not come in the first place to impose spiritual disciplines. Rather, he offered a relationship with himself that was to the the basis on the life of his disciples. They were not to go off and fast as much as they could. But neither were to eschew fasting entirely. Rather, they were to fast only after they were transformed by the joy of his presence. That was, as it were, the baseline of spiritual joy which they could then learn to prefer to physical food and drink. Without this reality as an anchor the individual teachings of the new law could do more harm than good. They could not simply be patched onto one's old life or poured into at as though they were simply more of what he already possessed. Living the new law of the Gospel required grace that one only received from coming to know Jesus as bridegroom and Lord. It was because his presence was so good and so worth seeking that his disciples would eventually fast. The new wine of the Gospel was then poured into the fresh wineskins, individuals who were new creations in Christ.

We can't merely add the disciplines and duties of the Christian life over the top of a life that is still fundamentally egocentric, one that is all about us, and expect good results. But when we have known the joy of the Lord, and realize that the preliminary stage of the wedding banquet has begun, we begin to understand how and why we ought to save room for the final course when the bridegroom returns. We don't want to be so sated on the things of earth that we lose taste for the better feast that awaits us. And we do this knowing deeply in our souls how much that feast will be, for even here and know we have a foretaste of it. This is why Church commands us to fast before receiving holy communion. It is not an epic achievement when we do so by any means. But it is practice in living out the logic of waiting for the bridegroom and setting our hearts on him in which we learn how well he rewards those who seek him.

David Ruis - We Will Dance

 

3 July 2026 - seven days later

Today's Readings
(Audio)

So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord."

But how could it be that they had seen him but Thomas had not? The most likely option from Thomas's point of view was that they hadn't really seen him. Their grief had caused them to believe they saw what they wanted to see. But if he accounted for the frustrating fact that they all appeared to be in the right minds, he might have had to conclude that they were speaking the truth. But that might even be worse. Because then, why had Jesus chosen them but neglected him? Did he care about them that much more than Thomas? No doubt modern skeptics look at believing Christians and also wonder. Are they deluded? Or is their gift of faith given to them simply because God loves them more than the rest, for whom it is impossible? And so, for sanity and self-protection, Thomas responded to the other disciples with words that sound very modern. 

"Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands
and put my finger into the nailmarks
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

Had he missed his first opportunity to see the risen Lord because he chose to be absent when he ought to have been together with the others? Even so, it seemed that one bad choice ought not disqualify anyone from receiving the gift of faith forever. And indeed, whatever the reason for his absence, it was not the end of the story. Even if it was strictly speaking the wrong choice Jesus still used it to bring about a greater good. The way the whole affair caused him to become deeply entrenched in his skepticism was actually part of Jesus's plan. 

Now a week later his disciples were again inside
and Thomas was with them.

Thomas must not have given up entirely, even with all of his deep doubts. After all, one who had done so would hardly have been willing to put up with the overwhelming exuberance of the others who claimed to have seen the risen Lord. His presence with the others the following week demonstrated both humility and docility, a willingness to remain in the place to which he had been called by Jesus even when it was uncomfortable and he didn't understand. One might even suggest that he at least wanted to believe the truth that now provided so much consolation for the other disciples. His barriers were still in place, however, and he wasn't going to budge on the basis of anything they could say to him. Woe to them if they thought they could talk him into it, if they thought they they were capable of changing the fundamental orientation of a human heart. But it was not left up to them.

Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."

The doors to the building were locked, but how much more were those to the heart of Thomas! And yet Jesus came through those doors as well and entered just as easily. For him apparently unbreachable barriers provided no obstacle. The walls raised by Thomas to protect himself from despair fell, but in the face, not of sadness, but of surpassing joy. Was it this vulnerability that made his subsequent expression of faith so profound? The others had come to know that Jesus was indeed risen from the dead. But Thomas confessed something more and greater in his presence.

Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

God did not merely prevent Thomas from doubting, nor did he simply hold it against him until he repented, but rather he made it work for his good, not because of his merits, but in order to bestow them. Thomas saw the human body of Jesus, living when he ought to have been dead. But he believed through what he saw in the invisible divine presence which was united with his visible humanity.

"He saw and touched the man, and acknowledged the God whom he neither saw nor touched; but by the means of what he saw and touched, he now put far away from him every doubt, and believed the other."

- Saint Augustine

Thomas, who apparently had the most profound doubts of any of the disciples, became the one to most explicitly confess his divinity. It is precisely because of his confession and others like it that we who have not seen may also believe. Our belief is very much predicated on the fact that some did see and gave testimony to future generations about what they witnessed. 

Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

Jesus was not accusing Thomas of having some kind of second-class, needy, inferior faith. What he saw was something less than what he began to  believe and proclaim. Even after Thomas had received this empirical evidence there was still an act of faith necessary. Rather than critiquing the specific experience of Thomas, Jesus was setting the stage of how the specific gifts given to some would later bless many others. Even those of us who have seen miraculous evidence of the power of the risen Lord at work in our world still depend for our faith on the testimony of Thomas. Thank God for his doubts since now, because of them, we may proclaim together with him, "My Lord and my God!".

Matt Maher - Christ Is Risen

 

2 July 2026 - you won't carry that weight

Today's Readings
(Audio)

And there people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,
"Courage, child, your sins are forgiven."

The friends of the paralytic spared no effort to bring him before the healing power of Jesus. Their friend had a real problem that severely impacted the quality of his life, that prevented him from thriving and him becoming all intended by God. Unless they were aware of the particular sins with which the man struggled they probably found the pronouncement of his forgiveness as anticlimactic. It would be like going to the ministry of some famous healer hoping for a cure to a longtime ailment but only being able to receive sacramental confession. This would probably feel like a let down, and yet to Jesus forgiveness is a greater and more important gift than merely physical healing. Healing of the soul, which lasts forever, takes primacy over healing of the body, which will again begin to decay the moment is temporarily restored. But this is not to say that Jesus does not care about the problems of the body such as sickness or disability.

But that you may know that the Son of Man
has authority on earth to forgive sins"–
he then said to the paralytic,
"Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home."

What was the main purpose of the healing? Was it to merely restore the man to health so that he could live the normal life of which he had been until that moment deprived? No. It had that effect, but that wasn't the primary point. Rather it was to help people to experience a spiritual truth through a physical sign. It was meant to help the friends who brought the paralytic to Jesus to appreciate that their effort meant more than they knew. It was to help those skeptics in the crowd who heard his words understand that Jesus was able to do something merely by speaking that would otherwise require the whole sacrificial system of the temple. It revealed that he was in the unique position to offer forgiveness on behalf of God himself, and this, ultimately, because that was who he was. It was very much a revelation, a pulling back of the curtain on his deepest identity.

He rose and went home.
When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe
and glorified God who had given such authority to men.

It seemed that the forgiveness of the paralytic followed by his healing had every effect Jesus intended. It resulted in the man rising and going home to a new life. It resulted in the crowds coming to understand a little better who Jesus was. But no doubt, the most profound result was actually in the soul, not the body, of the former paralytic himself. This part we don't see described in the story. We know nothing of the way sin had distorted his very identity. But we are sure that it was a deeper paralysis than the merely physical. It probably seemed even more intractable, more rooted in his very identity, more inseparable from who he was as a person. And yet, he left without that weight. However light his body felt when he stood for the first time (perhaps ever), we believe that his spirit felt lighter still. 

Darrell Evans - Trading My Sorrows