27 July 2026 - branching out

Today's Readings

(Audio)

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

The Church started so small that it seemed it could never make a significant difference in the world. Jesus may have possessed divine power and authority along with heavenly wisdom but he and his disciples did not seem positioned to effect much beyond the backwater of Israel let alone transform the world. Yet the Church did become a bush so large that the birds of the sky could come to dwell in its branches, just as God intended for Israel. It was through God's covenant promise to Abraham that all nations of the earth were to be blessed, and the temple was meant to be a house of prayer for all peoples. Yet the expansion of these blessings beyond the boundaries of Israel were always hesitant, halting, and incomplete during the times before the coming of Jesus. But one might wonder. If Solomon was as close as Israel came to fulfilling its destiny to be a light to the nations, drawing people from the ends of the earth to hear his wisdom, wouldn't whatever finally did fulfill that destiny be, by necessity, large and obvious? Yet it was precisely in the mustard seed of faith Jesus entrusted to the followers, and in particular to his Apostles that this promise was eventually realized. They were successful because they took Jesus at his word. They were under-resourced, outnumbered, outmatched, but they didn't let this stop them or even slow them down once the Holy Spirit sent them forth on the day of Pentecost. Even then, supernaturally equipped, it might not have seemed like what they had was all that much when faced with all the resistance of the world, let alone enough to address all the needs its brokenness. But by being faithful to the small seed entrusted to each of them they changed the world. The period of history that their efforts ushered in would be entirely unintelligible if not for these mustard seeds to explain it. 

 

The disciples didn't let appearances stop them. It was a little like the scene in Star Wars were Yoda explained that the appearance of size was not the deepest truth, and then preceded to lift the crashed X-Wing from the swamp unto dry land by his power. Our faith, it is said, can move mountains, which are larger still than X-Wings. However it can only do this if we don't take for granted what we have been given, but rather choose to place our faith in the wisdom with which Jesus has apportioned to us the gifts and opportunities that constitute our lives. The mustard seed is inherently something that doesn't seem that valuable apart from the fact that Jesus said it is valuable, and the promise he attached to when it is faithfully sown.

He spoke to them another parable.
“The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened.”

The yeast is a small fraction of the recipe yet has a disproportionate effect on the resulting loaf. Just so, even when the Church is a minority in the world it nevertheless has an effect beyond what scale would suggest is possible. Especially now, in an age where the faithful are a remnant, rather than a dominant cultural, force this is reassuring. But we should remember that the initial presence of the yeast in the dough is hidden. It is meant to be mixed in with the other ingredients. It is only over the course of time that there is any evidence of the batch rising and obtaining to a higher destiny of deliciousness. Our own role in helping to address the challenges of our times is similarly often invisible at first. But it does require that we not keep ourselves entirely isolated from the world around us. We can't simply remained sealed in yeast packets. We must be unleashed if we are too have the intended effect, even if, at first, we seem to be lost in a much larger mixture.

 

 

Newsboys - Secret Kingdom

 

26 July 2026 - wise decisions

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

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

What is the one thing for which we would give everything? Is there anything so valuable to us that it would be worth sacrificing all that we have and all that we are in order to obtain it? For the person that found the treasure in the field this wasn't a question of 'should'. He didn't sell all that he had because he knew he was supposed to want the treasure and therefore forced himself to take the steps to obtain it. Rather, once he had seen the treasure he could do nothing else. He was so captivated by it, and perceived its value so clearly, that to part with all else that he owned was not a difficult choice. This may not be our own experience of Christianity. Indeed we probably can't always possess such clear intrinsic motivation. But the parable is meant to make us consider the worth of the things that we do value, things that we are loathe to let go, for the sake of obtaining the treasure present in Christ. The parable is meant to help us to recognize the relative lack of value that even the best things possess when compared to Jesus himself.

St Paul understood the value of the treasure. He wrote, "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" (see Philippians 3:8). We are wise when we trade that which we cannot keep in order to obtain that which we can never be taken from us. By contrast we are fools when we choose the things that moths eat and rust destroys instead of a Kingdom that will last forever. Treasure in heaven is the only kind truly worthy of the name. But, at a certain point, we actually have to be convinced of its value. It is true that we know that even if we gain the world we can only keep it for a limited time. But even so, we will not be able to lay down our lives for Christ if we don't recognize the value of the result, that "whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it" (see Matthew 16:25). The motivation that obtains the treasure is not something we fundamentally possess in advance. Rather it is a draw that comes to us inexorably from the beauty of the treasure itself. It is grace, not nature, that enables us to make a response that transcends the merely natural, and to set aside earthly treasures for treasure in heaven.

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

Our translation seems to indicate that this merchant was looking to collect a variety of fine pearls. What, then, must he have seen to act in such a well as to rule out the possibility of attaining in others? He had seen, no doubt, many fine pearls by then. What must he have seen in the pearl of great price to decide it was the only one he would ever need from that point forward? We too have seen many good things. We live in this world looking for goods like possessions, choices, and relationships. But we see too that all of these are tarnished to one degree or another with imperfections. But in Jesus we meant to find one so good that we are willing to rule out other options in order to have him, or rather, to have him take hold of us. At this point, if we're still thinking, 'Yes, but I like my other possessions', or, 'I can't rule out the possibility that there are pearls that may yet be worth acquiring', it means we need more grace in order to see more clearly the value of what is on offer in the person of Jesus himself. This is the kind of recognition which is truly transformative, the purity of heart that leads to the vision of God. This is what John meant when he wrote, "we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is" (see First John 3:2).

When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets. 

There are many fish currently in the net. Some will prove good and some will prove rotten. But before the end of the age the final determination of which is which has not yet been made. That means we still have time. It implies that obtaining the treasure is not really a once and for all choice on our part, not what we call colloquially 'one and done'. If we have not yet recognized the full value of the treasure in a transformative way there is still time to do so. But if we don't take seriously what we have discovered there is the possibility of losing even what we have. The treasure in the field was obviously unearned. And even though the merchant had been looking for pearls he had no right to hope to find one so vastly superior to the others. It too was ultimately a gift of grace. So too for us. The only way to gain is on the basis of the gift we have been given. The only way to ultimately lose is to refuse it. As Jesus said, "For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away" (see Matthew 13:12). We know where the treasure is found, and the pearl of great price is in our midst. There is no need for us or for anyone to experience "wailing and grinding of teeth". Let us turn the eyes of our hearts toward the treasure that God never ceases to offer us.

having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints (see Ephesians 1:18).

Sonicflood - Open The Eyes Of My Heart

25 July 2026 - forecasted reign

Today's Readings
(Audio)

 

"Command that these two sons of mine sit,
one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom."

When we look back upon this ambition of the sons of Zebedee we are rightly scandalized. We know where Jesus was heading. We perceive how insensitive it was to request worldly position, power, or privilege from one who was on the way to a cross. To make us realize this Matthew placed this event immediately after Jesus made one a prediction of his passion, one of several throughout the Gospel. It almost seemed like the brothers were pursuing an emergency backup plan. Humanly speaking, if Jesus wasn't going to be around to run the Kingdom himself, perhaps they could be the ones to ensure it continued in his absence. But was this not insensitive to the imminent destiny of one who was their friend and teacher? How could they only think about what would be left for them if Jesus was no longer present?

We ourselves are not so different from these two. However much we disapprove of what they did, it is easy to do so from such a great distance with the context supplied by the Gospel. Yet it is harder to recognize the times in our own lives when we try to co-opt Christianity for our own purposes, and the times when we try to salvage what we can when it does not meet the expectations we had when we began.

"You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?"

When we pray we tend to ask wrongly, to spend it on our passions (see James 4:3). We often forget that Christianity is fundamentally about coming to share the self-sacrificial love of Jesus himself so that we can live forever in the mutual self-gift of the Trinity. Instead, we use Christianity as a way to advance our own goals and achieve our own purposes, which are sometimes quite noble and others less so. Sometimes we use it as a strategy for self-validation, as a way of proving our value to ourselves. We want to feel that we are in the right place and doing the right thing. Fine and good. But we must not twist Christianity to give tacit approval to what we have already decided. We must let it shape our values. We are meant to share in the rightness of Jesus, in his own righteousness. But this means we can no longer decide or define for ourselves what is meant by righteousness.

They said to him, "We can."
He replied,
"My chalice you will indeed drink,

It was helpful that they were motivated. From our perspective it is reassuring to see that Jesus can use even imperfect motivation to keep us on the path pursuing his Kingdom. If he could not, we would be in bad shape, because we rarely if ever experience motivation that is entirely free from self-interest and even self-deception. We might not always recognize it in ourselves. But the degree to which it bothers us when we see it in others is illustrative.

When the ten heard this,
they became indignant at the two brothers.

They all seemed to be asking how dare James and John express such naked ambition. And yet their own response demonstrated that they too were caught up in ambition, competition, and selfish desire. They might have expressed sympathy, recognizing the wounded place from where this request for James and John had come. They could have played a supporting role as Jesus helped them to see things more clearly and correctly. But instead they allowed it to divide them, just as the enemy intended. Yet Jesus would not let the enemy have his way by causing any permanent division among his band. To counteract it he helped them to see what was meant by truly reigning in his Kingdom.

Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

He tied it all back to what he came to do, the very thing that they wanted to ignore and avoid. In doing so he helped to prepare them for the truly glorious destiny which he did in fact have planned for them.

Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (see Matthew 19:28).

There was no way to true glory that didn't lead through the cross. Jesus came, not to go to the cross so we could reign on earth, but to lead us to the cross ourselves so that we might reign with him in heaven.

 

 Newsboys - He Reigns

24 July 2026 - not fruit barren

 

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

 

The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the Kingdom
without understanding it,
and the Evil One comes and steals away
what was sown in his heart.

There are several reasons why one might not understand. The first is that one is unable to do so, in which event we must assume that God will intervene for the sake of his little ones and help them receive the seed. The second is that one is not sufficiently interested. But one would naturally be interested in the most important truth in the world. To not be so implies that one has succumbed to the distractions and addictions that plague the attention economy. This is the mental posture of one invited to a wedding feast who yet prefers his daily obligations of work to an incomparable celebration. The third is that sometimes facts adjacent to the message make us not give it due consideration. If we hear it from a person we hold in suspicion we might not consider it on its own merits. If we hear it along with other things that make us emotionally reactive we might reject it on this basis of how we feel rather than what is true. Fourth, we sometimes realize that we might understand something if we made the effort, but we do not deem it valuable enough to do so. We could, perhaps, figure out how to unlock the treasure. In fact, we seem to have been given instructions for precisely that. But, then again, haven't we been doing well enough without such treasure? Aren't we fine and OK as we are? Well, we may think that staring at the locked chest. But there are many other times when we know that we are not OK and that we do in fact need and desire more. If receiving more is not automatic, but requires a full investment of self, let us realize it and go all in in hope of abundant fruit. What we ought not do is be content with what we know to be excuses.

The seed sown on rocky ground
is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy.
But he has no root and lasts only for a time.
When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
he immediately falls away.

Enthusiasm is a good place to start. But as with any relationship, it can't be the only motivating force. Husbands and wives who only act with love when they feel warm feelings probably won't stay together long. When their relationship encounters tribulation they are at risk of falling away from each other. So too with the seed of new life given to us by Jesus. We need a sufficiently deep root to persist even when our feelings make us want to give up. How can we have such a root? Intentional learning, leading to understanding, as described above, is certainly a part of it. Understanding leads us to acknowledge that trials are part of our life as disciples. When we have this understanding we can make a firm resolve in advance to meet them, knowing too that Jesus himself will give us the grace we need. We can know that we have this grace even when we don't feel like it. And this can eventually lead to a deeper confidence than the fickle nature of our superficial feelings can supply. We learn to rely on God rather than ourselves. Another aspect of rootedness can come from community, when we are surrounded by like minded people. Such people will soon be tested, or are be tested now, or have just made it through a time of testing. Pursuing the same path with them will help us to realize that things have not gone wrong in our individual case, but that they are normal. We will thus be more likely to persist, with the encouragement of those around us.

Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world (see First Peter 5:8-9, emphasis mine).

The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word,
but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word
and it bears no fruit.

We believe it may be worldly concerns that are the greatest risk to people who have been walking with Jesus for a while. We are disposed to recognize the dangers of insufficient understanding and lack of root. But we treat the anxieties of life as relatively harmless, in spite of the way they often monopolize our attention and neutralize our effectiveness as disciples. How many things might we have done for our Lord and his Kingdom had we merely possessed the mental bandwidth to make a proper response to some invitation from the Lord or some prompting from his Spirit? We can't wait for the enemy to finally stop supplying fodder about which we might be anxious, as this will never happen. Nor are we meant to simply become tougher and face anxiety head on by our own strength. Instead, let us listen to Saint Paul.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (see Philippians 4:6-7).

This verse from Philippians coincides with the command of Jesus himself:

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? (see Matthew 6:25).

The point of Jesus was not that we should be reckless. Rather it was that we should ultimately allow the fact that God is in control to be more important to us than our anxieties. With Peter we must take up the practice of "casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you" (see First Peter 5:7). It isn't that there is nothing about which we might be anxious in the world. It is rather that we know him who holds the world in his hands.

But the seed sown on rich soil
is the one who hears the word and understands it,
who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.

We can profitably consider what moments who led to the greatest yield of fruit in our lives, what study, sermons, retreats, small groups, revelations, or other encounters have done the most to enhance our growth? Are we still seeking to be the kind of soil we were then? Or are we content to rest on our laurels? We should not presume that we can simply live comfortably without fruit. The opposite of fruit is barrenness. And there is ultimately nothing worse than that.

The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away (see Psalm 1:4).

 

The Dameans - Speak, Lord

 

23 July 2026 - parables in a china shop

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

“Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?”

Why not just be straightforward about the message? If he wanted them to get it, why speak about it obliquely? If he didn't, why teach the crowds at all? Even though the disciples often heard the parables explained in private they still made it clear that they found the teaching style of Jesus to be difficult. When they finally heard something that sounded simple and direct they got excited, saying "Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech!" (see John 16:29). It seemed easier to respond when Jesus was more direct. The disciples in that particular scene from the Gospel of John seemed to believe that they had attained the next level of faith. But it didn't actually help them remain faithful when they were tested during the hour of Jesus. 

The parables, by contrast, required an investment of effort that was less likely to lead to overconfidence or arrogance. Even with the full explanation one was never quite sure he understood how all the pieces fit together. Even in the parables that seemed simple one was never certain he had exhausted all of its possible applications or ramifications. What means Jesus used to teach in a particular instance, understanding was not an automatic result in his listeners. Whether he spoke in parables or directly his words required the Spirit to create true understanding in his listeners. The Spirit was the one who enabled eyes to truly see and ears to truly hear. But the advantage of the parables was that it kept the limits of the understanding of the audience at the forefront so they would know their need to look to a deeper level for enlightenment. 

In a way, the parables were so close to the crowds, drawn from the examples of daily life. But this was similar to Jesus himself, who, though close to them, contained hidden depths. If one explained those depths too directly the risk was that people would think they got it before they really opened themselves to understand. Jesus held back the fact that he was the messiah for similar reasons. It wasn't always helpful to just state the fact without the Spirit to aid in understanding.

Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven
has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.
To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;
from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

When one was willing to open himself to understanding (that is, standing under, rather than above) the parables, he had a starting place from which to grow. It required and therefore demonstrated docility before Jesus the teacher. The parables required a posture of humility that was off-putting to the experts but often amicable to the unlearned. Can't those of us who are somewhat educated imagine that difficulty accepting a popular movement of this kind? How could such rabble think they understood better than ourselves with our college degrees? Nowhere else in society would we be happy to see such a reversal. But Paul made it explicit, writing, "God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise" (see First Corinthians 1:27).

By contrast, those who try to pierce the parables with their own intellectual prowess would find themselves repulsed by their own effort. The more they tried to master them the more they would be rebuffed. They would find them overly simplistic, stating in a convoluted way that which could have been said directly with more clarity. They seemed to put a mask of mystery over what need not be complex. More to it, the evident solutions didn't even line up nicely with the imagery. They just never seemed to work in a way that was entirely satisfactory to the intellect. They were, in a way, like the koans of Buddhism. They called for transcendence more than a correct answer. 

It's no wonder that many people encounter the teachings of Jesus with some initial curiosity but end up looking elsewhere, just as many people did in the time of Jeremiah. The risk of forsaking the source of living waters is ever present. The Spirit himself is the living water whom we must not forsake. So let us instead run to him, and drink deeply of the only source that can truly satisfy our thirst.

Two evils have my people done:
they have forsaken me, the source of living waters;
They have dug themselves cisterns,
broken cisterns, that hold no water.

Vineyard Music - The River Is Here

 

22 July 2026 - I have seen the Lord

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Mary Magdalene was acting out the response of the bride from Song of Songs, seeking him whom her heart loved. She continued to seek Jesus even when hope was gone, even if just to find his body so she could treat it with due honor. This refusal to let go could be excessive in situations of merely earthly attachment. But when the source of the attachment was divine love it was inevitable that it would be eventually vindicated, though, of course, she could not realize it. Even in her own eyes what Mary was seeking seemed hopeless. But at a higher level, one based on faith, she continued the pursuit of her beloved. She enlisted the aid of the disciples, making sure they were aware of the most recent development. 

And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?"
She said to them, "They have taken my Lord,
and I don't know where they laid him."

She even unintentionally involved angels in her search. She was so preoccupied with Jesus that she didn't seem to notice their glorious appearance, but treated them as any other ordinary people she might have encountered. Most people would have been moved to awe by the presence of angels in their midst. But Mary didn't have any additional bandwidth for that. It was all consumed by her focus on Jesus himself. It was an all-encompassing obsession that refused to be satisfied until Jesus was found. On one level, she knew that she could only hope to find his lifeless body. But the motivation she showed demonstrated that she held unto a subconscious hope for more.

She thought it was the gardener and said to him,
"Sir, if you carried him away,
tell me where you laid him,
and I will take him."

Amazingly, even with all of her focus and fixation on seeking out Jesus she was not able to recognize him when he did cross her path. Of course this was, in some way, intentional on the part of Jesus. Like the bridegroom from Songs he was acting playfully aloof and evasive. But like the bridegroom the point of this was to make their reunion all the sweeter.

Jesus said to her, "Mary!"
She turned and said to him in Hebrew,
"Rabbouni," which means Teacher.

Thus we see that the resurrection is not something we discover primarily by analyzing lifeless historical artifacts, so much as it is a revelation given to us by God. The tomb was indeed empty. And that was evidence of something, Mary knew not what. But it was the presence of her beloved alone that proved what had taken place. It was not something her grief, her obsession, or her single-minded seeking, were able to attain by themselves. But it was precisely the negative space created in her by this refusal to surrender that Jesus himself desired to fill with his own loving presence.

Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.

Jesus was physically risen from the dead and thus could be held. But even in spite of her great love she was not meant to cling to him in this way. Even though she had only just feared she had lost him forever, the solution was not now to hold on and never let go. The context of the relationship had to change from an earthly friendship to a heavenly one, which, though different, was no less real. This freed Jesus to ascend and be present to the whole world, even unto the end of the age. And it freed Mary Magdalene to become the first evangelist, the first person to announce the Gospel message: "I have seen the Lord".

We are meant to share this motivation of Mary Magdalene since we too have come to share the same conviction that she possessed, the one described by Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians.

The love of Christ impels us,
once we have come to the conviction that one died for all;
therefore, all have died.
He indeed died for all,
so that those who live might no longer live for themselves
but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Very Early Sunday Morning

 

21 July 2026 - bigger on the inside

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

 

While Jesus was speaking to the crowds,
his mother and his brothers appeared outside,
wishing to speak with him.

From outside could have come anyone, with any worldly status, even a king or a high priest, and Jesus might have responded similarly, saying that it was within, within the courts of his presence that were found the members of a truly royal priesthood. No goods that were found in the world outside could be compared with those that were found in Jesus himself. This was the reason that he said that "among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist" but that "Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he" (see Matthew 11:11).

Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside,
asking to speak with you.”

We might hear this and assume that Jesus was minimizing the importance of his mother. But this was not quite right. He was minimizing the importance of her natural blood relationship to him within his Kingdom, but not her relationship entirely, nor even her motherhood. Mary, more than anyone else in history was one who consented to and cooperated with the will of the heavenly Father of Jesus, and precisely for this reason became his mother in a spiritual as well as a physiological sense. With her things happened in a way that reversed the normal order of the world where the natural came first and the spiritual had to build on such foundations as it supplied, however robust or inadequate. But precisely in order to begin the true process of reconnecting the world of nature with the spiritual order of heaven a reversal and a change was needed. Thus it was with the fiat of Mary to the archangel Gabriel that the story of our salvation reached its final phase. Nature had proven itself unable to claw or crawl its way back to God on its own. So God empowered a lowly virgin with grace in order that the world could be renewed from the inside out. He truly cast down the mighty from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. It was never primarily about what Mary brought to the table, but rather about what God had already done for her, and the way she responded and cooperated to that fullness of grace that had been bestowed.

“Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father
is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

It is not only Mary who is invited into the spiritual family of Jesus but all of us. Despite how the invitation of Jesus may sound ("whoever does"), it does not come about in the first place on the basis of our effort. Rather, as with Mary, it is a response to the grace we have first received, in our case through faith in baptism. Thus it is as a gift that we become sons and daughters through the Spirit of adoption (see Romans 8:15). But like Mary we must not only receive the grace but make our lives a response to the grace in order for it to be real in our lives. Without that it is but wasted potential.

 

Jars Of Clay - They'll Know We Are Christians