27 March 2026 - not a word problem

Today's Readings
(Audio)

I have shown you many good works from my Father.
For which of these are you trying to stone me?

To even engage with him about the many miraculous deeds he had done was already to concede more than they wanted. For instance, they could complain about what he had done on the Sabbath only by mentioning one or more of the healings had had performed. Jesus preferred to keep the emphasis on the way the power of God was obviously at work in the world through him. But they wanted to argue about words, and often about technicalities, to keep the focus away from this elephant in the room. Other of his opponents did not find success in impugning the conduct of his disciples, whether that of not performing ritual washings, or of picking grain on the Sabbath. These Judeans therefore ramped up their critique, making him out to be guilty of one of the chief crimes against the Law, that of blasphemy.

“We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy.
You, a man, are making yourself God.”

To their credit they did correctly understand what Jesus had implied about his unique relationship with the Father. Yet they wished to ignore all of the works that seemed to indicate that his claim must be true, that the finger of God was really at work in their midst. They therefore thought a verbal assault would be irrefutable. Their logic: men are not gods, but you claim to be God, therefore you are a blasphemer. 

Jesus answered them,
“Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, ‘You are gods”‘?
If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came,
and Scripture cannot be set aside,
can you say that the one
whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world

Jesus did not then go to great lengths to explain the reason why the incarnation was in fact possible, or how the Second Person of the eternal Triune God could, without contradiction, take unto himself a human nature. Rather it seemed that he didn't want them to get hung up at that point in words or merely verbal disputes and miss the reality that was unfolding all around them. Scripture had used the term gods for those who were merely creatures made in God's image, and whose leadership roles in some measure mediated his presence. The implication was not that the term was empty. It was rather that if even those individuals, who were wicked, and would be punished, could be described in that way, how much more could Jesus be rightly addressed as the Son of God. If there was any valid analogy at all between God and man then perhaps reality had always been designed to be open to the incarnation. In any case, the Scriptures had used the word in that way, and so the opponents of Jesus ought not to be so utterly flabbergasted when he appropriated the term himself.

If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me;
but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.

He wanted to direct their attention back to the works he did. The reason seemed to be that they had an excessive ability to deceive themselves in merely intellectual and abstract discussion. But if they actually gave their attention to the things Jesus was doing in their midst they would be more likely to "realize and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father".

Most of us probably know what it is like to spend too much time in our heads, in our own subjectivity. We are aware of our tendency to become confused and even deceived when we spend too much time on abstractions. Instead, let us focus more on the great things Jesus has done, just as Mary teaches us.

for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name. 
And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation (see Luke 1:49-50)

Matt Maher - Great Things

 

26 March 2026 - before and after

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever keeps my word will never see death.

Everyone who had ever spoken before, who had given words to the people, whether Abraham, Moses, or one of the prophets, had all tasted death. The notable exception was of course Elijah, but that was a privilege peculiar to himself. It wasn't something imbued into the power of the words he shared. The Judeans correctly understood the magnitude of what Jesus was claiming.

Now we are sure that you are possessed.
Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say,
‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’
Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died?
Or the prophets, who died?
Who do you make yourself out to be?

Indeed it would be hard to conceive as one greater than Abraham, through whom the promises of the covenant were given. It was indeed unthinkable for a young individual born so much later in history to have a more important role than all of the pivotal players of Jewish antiquity. His opponents clearly thought that Jesus was doing nothing more than bragging, in a way that was difficult to challenge or to falsify. Therefore Jesus clarified his purpose, which was not to glorify himself.

Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing;
but it is my Father who glorifies me,
of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’
You do not know him, but I know him.
And if I should say that I do not know him,
I would be like you a liar.

Jesus wanted to reveal his unique relationship to the Father. He could not pretend that he was not the incarnate Son of God merely to avoid unproductive conflict. He couldn't lie about his origins, because there was nothing more important to the salvation of the world than the truth of the claim that he came forth from the Father.

But I do know him and I keep his word.
Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day;
he saw it and was glad.”

In response to their question about whether Jesus was greater than Abraham he answered clearly in the affirmative, explaining that even Abraham himself acknowledged it. When Abraham laughed it was implied that he was rejoicing at the revelation, not just of the exile and return of Israel, but at the eventual coming of the messiah, the one through whom the promise that all the nations of the earth would be blessed would be fulfilled. Thus, although Abraham was born first, Jesus was prior in the sovereign plan of God, and thus was truly of greater importance to salvation history. The first in intention was last in execution, as the philosophers say. 

“You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?”
Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
before Abraham came to be, I AM.”

From the fact that Jesus claimed to have a unique relationship to the Father, and from the fact that he described his experience of time as having a perspective that was not limited to years of his mortal existence, they inferred that he was claiming to be something greater than merely human. He seemed to imply that he shared God's eternal perspective on reality. But far from being ready to discuss the point, they only sought to provoke him because they were eager to have grounds to take offense. Yet, as we have said, Jesus could not lie about such an essential truth. He told them directly, in unmistakable language that he shared his identity with the God who had revealed himself to Moses at the burning bush when he said "before Abraham came to be, I AM".

Rather than being ready to take offense let us be ready to rejoice at the hidden good at which our God is always at work. Let us take the advice of our psalm for today:

Look to the LORD in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought,
his portents, and the judgments he has uttered.

Newsboys - Joy

 

25 March 2026 - hail, full of grace

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

Gabriel addressed Mary in a way that echoed things God had spoken to a figure known as daughter Zion through the prophets:

Sing, Daughter Zion;
shout aloud, Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
Daughter Jerusalem! (see Zephaniah 3:14)

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he (see Zechariah 9:9).

Moreover, his greeting referred to something of which Mary may have been only dimly aware. He spoke of the fact that she had been filled with grace by God in the past in a way that continued until that moment. In some way Gabriel seemed to tie the fulfillment of the messianic hope spoken through the prophets to the grace that was present and at work in Mary. Is it any wonder she was greatly troubled? There was something unbelievably vast at work, a divine conspiracy in which she was now implicated. Since her youth she had seen herself as dedicated to God. But now her mind must have been running through various Scripture passages as she sought to put the pieces together and understand what was expected of her. And it was true that much was being asked of her. Humanly speaking, fear would have been a natural response to the call on the life of Mary. But the angel helped her to frame things correctly, from God's point of view.

Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.

It got more confusing before it became clear. Mary understood herself to be a virgin, and planned to remain in that state, as she indicated when she asked, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?". But it was this very commitment that helped qualify her to bear the savior of the world. She was sacred and set apart for the miraculous way Jesus would enter the world. In asking the angel how it would happen she did not mean to imply doubt that it was possible. Rather, she understood that her prior commitment meant that the birth of this child couldn't come about in the normal way. She was docile and wanted the understanding required to play her part well.

The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.

As the cloud of God's presence had once descended on the tent of meeting in the time of Moses so too would his presence overshadow Mary. It was this power and proximity of God that would be the direct cause of the birth of the child in such a way and to such a degree that he would, "be called holy, the Son of God". Mary was thus privileged and set apart. But she also became an example for us, an icon of the perfection of the Church at its beginning. From her we can learn how to allow the Spirit, who has now come to us as well through the Sacraments, to bring Jesus to birth in our own lives. If we remember this we will have the same cause for joy that Mary did, and the same sense of purpose animating our lives. We too will do our best to discern "How can this be" in our own lives, and respond to what we discover by imitating Mary's own assent to God's plan:

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”

Songs In His Presence - Bright As The Sun

 

24 March 2026 - when you lift up the Son of Man

Today's Readings
(Audio)

I belong to what is above.
You belong to this world,
but I do not belong to this world.
That is why I told you that you will die in your sins.

Since they belonged to the world they were destined to share its death directed destiny. Decay, entropy, and eventual dissolution were the ultimate defining realities of temporal existence. Humans were subject to "the ruler of this world" (see John 12:31) unless someone greater than the one who is in the world (see First John 4:4) set them free by plugging them in to a higher reality.

For if you do not believe that I AM,
you will die in your sins.

The point was not so much that he would punish them for unbelief as it was that unbelief would prevent them from availing themselves of their one opportunity for rescue. If they did not believe that Jesus had a unique connection to the Father, or that he was stronger than the forces of darkness, they would not open themselves to allow that power to come into their own hearts and work in them. An ark had been sent for their rescue. But they had to actually get onboard. Or, better, a power greater than death and stronger than the devil had finally appeared on earth. And now they needed to welcome that power into their own hearts so as to be transformed.

So they said to him, “Who are you?”
Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning.
I have much to say about you in condemnation.
But the one who sent me is true,
and what I heard from him I tell the world.”

He had been revealing the truth of his identity and the reason that he came to earth for some time by then. But the people who heard had not been a receptive audience. Jesus could have said much in condemnation about the hardness of their hearts. He could have gotten frustrated. He could have gotten mad and sought retribution. But he was too deeply rooted in his own mission and purpose for that. He was too committed to helping the world to know everything he heard from the Father.

When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will realize that I AM,
and that I do nothing on my own,
but I say only what the Father taught me.

When the Son of Man was lifted up upon the cross the people would have to reckon with the ugliness of sin. But as they looked on him whom they had pierced they could also experience the revelation of the ever greater love of God, love that was stronger than sin, more powerful even than death itself.

The one who sent me is with me.
He has not left me alone,
because I always do what is pleasing to him.

Although Jesus would in some way feel alone on the cross, bearing the alienation of the people from the Father, he always remembered that the Father was with him. Jesus remained on the cross, not out of weakness, but out of obedience. And his last words were words of trust in the Father as he handed over his Spirit. We see in Jesus the fact that death could not overcome the connection between the Father and the Son, even when it did its worst. This was meant to convince us that the Son is who he claims so that we might come to share in this connection. The only alternative is death. And we already know how toxic the is the poison of the seraph serpents. It only gets worse from here without the divine intervention of the great I AM. 

Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.

May we too hear the truth in the voice of Jesus and come to believe in him more deeply, that we may more fully share in his life.

The Maranatha Singers - Lord, I Lift Your Name On High

 

23 March 2026 - stone's throw away

Today's Readings
(Audio)

“Teacher, this woman was caught 
in the very act of committing adultery.
Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
So what do you say?”

It was amazing the lengths to which the scribes and Pharisees went in order to ensnare Jesus in their trap. They did not particularly care about the sanctity of marriage, but used the law as an excuse to find fault with Jesus. The women, whose dignity, as one created in the image of God, they clearly did not recognize, was merely acceptable collateral damage as far as they were concerned. Jesus, who was the bridegroom of Israel, did care deeply about marriage. He himself had given the commandment that prohibited adultery. But he did so precisely because of how adultery tarnished the dignity of his creatures and made them less than they were meant to be. Offenses against the dignity of marriage made those guilty of them less capable, not only of human love, but of relationship with Jesus. But since it was precisely this relationship that he desired above all else his instinctive response to guilt was not first judgment, but rather mercy. The Pharisees assumed that Jesus might endorse stoning the woman, thus bringing upon himself the wrath of the Romans, who reserved to themselves the right to administer the death penalty. Or else they thought he would set mercy against the Mosaic law, contradicting the punishment Moses commanded. But he did neither.

“Let the one among you who is without sin 
be the first to throw a stone at her.”

They would likely have seen themselves as without sin, just as Paul once saw himself, saying "as to righteousness under the law, blameless" (see Philippians 3:6). But they also knew that Jesus did not consider them to be faultless. Thus he was not actually suggesting any of them could rightly throw a stone. But there was more. What they would have desired to do at that point was almost certainly to stone the woman themselves, in order to uphold their public image of righteousness. But they could not, since it would upset the Roman authorities. They were thus made to look like sinners in the eyes of the crowd. They had been caught in the trap they themselves set.

They set a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way, but they have fallen into it themselves (see Psalm 57:6).

The scribes and the Pharisees were thus humiliated and went away with no ability to respond. But what of the woman, whom they had used and abused for their own ends? She was in fact guilty. And Jesus was in fact without sin. He was qualified to throw a stone if he chose. But the one person who could see clearly enough to be eligible to issue forth punishment instead chose to show mercy. There was no board in the eye of Jesus and so he was able to see clearly enough to actually help this sister who had been wounded by her sin. The Pharisees and the scribes were the opposite, since their own vision was so impaired they caused damage around themselves wherever they turned. They suffered precisely the sort of darkening of vision described in our first reading.

They suppressed their consciences;
they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven,
and did not keep in mind just judgments. 

We are not without sin ourselves, since, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (see First John 1:8). But this need not be the end of our story as long as we continue to listen to our consciences and look to heaven. We can discover, like both Susanna, who was innocent, but also like the woman caught in adultery, that, "saves those who hope in him".

Bob Fitts - He Will Come And Save You

 

22 March 2026 - do you believe this?

Today's Readings
(Audio)

“This illness is not to end in death, 
but is for the glory of God, 
that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

The illness did not end in death, but it did pass through it as a middle point. Jesus did not act immediately so as to avert all suffering. Rather, he delayed, Lazarus died, and the hearts of Martha and Mary were broken. Yet we read that it was precisely because "Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus" that, "when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was". This is hard for us to reconcile. It did not seem like the act of a true friend, since it seemed clear by that point that he had the power to save him. And yet we are forced to recon both with the intentionality of Jesus in his choice but also with his obvious love for Lazarus and his sisters. We are not allowed to believe that he didn't care, for the evidence is against that option. Nor can we believe that he couldn't have acted, since by now his power as a healer was evident. Nor can we assert that he didn't fully understand the situation, since they made sure he was aware of it. No. He had sufficient knowledge, power, and goodness. But he did not use them as we would have done. His plan involved a greater good, and an objective that was less temporary than the momentary avoidance of suffering.

“Where have you laid him?”
They said to him, “Sir, come and see.”
And Jesus wept.
So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.”

We cannot even conclude that Jesus didn't act because it was easier for him, as though he were too lazy or disinterested to prevent the death of Lazarus. Rather we see that although he allowed suffering in order to bring forth a greater good, he did not disdain to share in that suffering. He asked Mary, Martha, and Lazarus to share in his cross in preparation for the when he himself would bear it. But the fact that Jesus allowed any suffering at all in the world was always predicated on the plan of God in which the death and resurrection of Jesus would redeem all suffering. It wasn't as though he allowed suffering and then remained aloof. Rather, he allowed suffering and then bore the brunt of it for us. Like Mary and Martha we don't always or often see the connection of our particular trials to the Paschal Mystery. But we can be sure that in us, as in Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, the consequences of sin and death are being overcome.

“Father, I thank you for hearing me.
I know that you always hear me; 
but because of the crowd here I have said this, 
that they may believe that you sent me.”

The immediate upshot to the fact of the death of Lazarus was that it demonstrated something about the power of Jesus that would have been otherwise merely hypothetical. As the time drew near for his own suffering and death he began to plant the seeds that that too would be intentional, not a defeat, but rather a victory of love. This was not something he could have conveyed on a chalkboard in a classroom, not something they could have accepted if he merely said it. They had to confront the reality of death in order to truly come to believe that Jesus was himself the resurrection.

Jesus told her,
“I am the resurrection and the life; 
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, 
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”

We would suggest that the greatest good we see accomplished because of this specific plan of Jesus was precisely the fact that Martha was able to affirm her belief that Jesus was the resurrection and the life, something she did even before Jesus called Lazarus forth from the grave. Indeed it was almost as if it was her faith that drew the future reality of the resurrection into the present moment for Lazarus. Thus the sisters obtained something greater than to merely have their brother again for a few more years or decades. The witnesses were empowered to understand that, with Jesus, even death was not final. But they were also prepared to live on in the era of faith, during which they would still have to endure the consequences of sin and death, until the last day, when the reality they tasted that day would finally destroyed death forever and all things were transformed. 

There is something more important in this present age than to avoid death and prolong life. If our life is merely fleshly life, it does not avail, since in such a state we cannot please God. We are then living on a death-ward trajectory, not connected to the only life that can truly last. Here below what we need more than life itself is the gift we receive when we believe Jesus is the resurrection and the life, when we confess that he is the Christ the Son of God. That gift is his Spirit. When his Spirit is within us we may still feel the effects of death. The body is still in some sense dead because of sin. But the Spirit already has access to the resurrection. The connection is so real as to go beyond the spiritual into physical reality. It is actually precisely this that guarantees that our mortal bodies too will be raised to life. Thus we become the recipients of the promise made through the prophet Ezekiel:

Then you shall know that I am the LORD, 
when I open your graves and have you rise from them, 
O my people!
I will put my spirit in you that you may live, 
and I will settle you upon your land; 
thus you shall know that I am the LORD.

David Crowder Band - How He Loves

 

21 March 2026 - believe the hype

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said,
"This is truly the Prophet."

They thought that Jesus was the one promised by Moses when he said that "your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen" (see Deuteronomy 18:15). If this were true Jesus was more significant than if were merely a compelling teacher or miracle worker. In that case he would not be speaking his own words, no matter how clever, since God said, "I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him" (see Deuteronomy 18:18), implying that adherence was no longer an optional extra for those who happened to vibe with what he said. The Lord continued speaking to Moses saying, "And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him" (see Deuteronomy 18:19).

Others said, "This is the Christ."

People were probably primed to debunk messianic claims, since there had been other pretenders to that position in the past. Others had claimed they fulfilled these promises of God to David for the restoration of Israel, but had failed to do so. Now people were on guard against believing hype or daring to hope. They had been disappointed before by people who might have been something but turned out not to be. So they easy thing for them to do was to poke holes in anything which dared them to hope again. They had been jaded. In many ways people in our world share this cynicism. They have placed their hope in many places and been disappointed. Most things that seem too good to be true are, in fact, not true. But the defensive posture of cynicism can lead us to miss the ways that God really at work in the world. We may use confirmation bias to support our assumptions. We may line up any number of purported 'facts' to justify what we believe a priori. We won't be open to the encounter God desires to have with us, nor to the good he desires to do, which far surpasses all our hopes and dreams.

So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees,
who asked them, "Why did you not bring him?"
The guards answered, "Never before has anyone spoken like this man."

Somehow it is often the sophisticated people who fail to find Jesus, because their own cleverness becomes a trap. Whereas it is the simple who are often less committed to intellectual abstractions and thus able to actually experience encounter with Jesus. The chief priests and Pharisees, if they heard the words of Jesus at all, only heard them through several layers of mental filters. But the guards heard what he actually said. They had probably heard other teachers, sophists, and charlatans. And they knew that this one was not like those others. They knew that he was not like anyone else, then or ever.

Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?
But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.

Sometimes experts only use their authority to endorse their own existing positions. They take offense at the prospect of anything that would diminish or usurp their authority in the eyes of others. The Pharisees saw themselves as the ones who knew the law, and Jesus as an outsider and a threat to that claim. They became increasingly committed to the idea that Jesus was a fraud in order to protect their own positions. Or most of them did. But some of them were able to remain open enough to at least hear him out. 

Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them, 
"Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him
and finds out what he is doing?"

Nicodemus already had a sense that Jesus someone extraordinary. He saw his fellow Pharisees claiming to object on the basis of the law while not even giving Jesus the fair hearing which the law required. He was suspicious of this rush to condemn too quickly without hearing him out. Nicodemus himself maintained and encouraged a posture of humble openness to the possibility that one or more of the things that were claimed about Jesus were true. Such a posture is an antidote against both jaded cynicism and prideful cleverness. He is in this sense worthy of our emulation. If we open ourselves to the full reality of Jesus, if we allow ourselves to truly hear his words, and if, in response, we give him our hearts, we will find that he not only fulfills our deepest desires but that he indeed far surpasses them.

Elevation Worship - Here As In Heaven