31 July 2016 - identity

[ Today's Readings ]

We are called to put our trust in lasting things and in them to find fulfillment.

Even if we horde riches here below we will eventually be parted from them

‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;
and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’

Even if we labor with wisdom and knowledge and skill our work is still impermanent. If this sort of success is the main thing we seek in life we cannot ever be truly satisfied. We know somewhere deep down that success and wealth are temporary. They cause us anxiety whether or not we have them because we know that one day they will be taken from us. We can't count on them.

Instead, we need to find our treasure in heaven. We need to be "rich in what matters to God."

If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. 
For you have died,
and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 

This world where we gain and lose and this body that lives and dies are not the deepest truths of our reality any longer. Rather, God calls us to look at our lives from the perspective of eternity. In Jesus we have a hope which makes an eternal difference. We find that which cannot be taken away by the world. This is why in Jesus and Jesus alone we can know true peace.

When we begin to see things from an eternal perspective we no longer "toil in anxiety of heart". We no longer spend our days with "sorrow and grief" as our occupation.  Sin is uprooted from our hearts as we learn not to seek the temporary at the expense of the eternal.

Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly:
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire,
and the greed that is idolatry. 

This reality already exists. We don't see it because we are not seeking the things above. Let us begin to live from the new and deeper identity Jesus gives us.

you have taken off the old self with its practices
and have put on the new self,
which is being renewed, for knowledge,
in the image of its creator. 

When we live from this reality we can ask the LORD to "prosper the work of our hands" without the risk of sorrow that comes when we do not number our days aright.

Let us seek that which endures. Let us fix our hearts on the one goal worth having and let that goal shape everything else we do.

When Christ your life appears,
then you too will appear with him in glory.

30 July 2016 - speak life

[ Today's Readings ]

We are called to be prophetic. God calls us to speak his message even if it comes with a cost for us.

As for me, I am in your hands; 
do with me what you think good and right.

Even if we end up like John the Baptist we can't excuse ourselves from this calling.

“Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”

We have to speak the words the LORD gives us to speak even if they are hard words.

It was the LORD who sent me to prophesy against this house and city
all that you have heard.

It is precisely in this, that we care about something greater than ourselves, that our words have the power to convince.

This man does not deserve death;
it is in the name of the LORD, our God, that he speaks to us.

We don't speak out of selfish motivation. This isn't about what we get. It isn't even about being seen as correct. It is about a truth which is too important to ignore. It is about words which are not our words but which instead are given to us for the sake of others.

When we speak these words they have the anointing of the Spirit. They have power. They make God known by his power at work in us. People don't always understand perfectly right away.

This man is John the Baptist.
He has been raised from the dead;
that is why mighty powers are at work in him.

But if we are not afraid to proclaim the words we are given they will recognize the mighty powers at work in us.

“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.”

29 July 2016 - words of hope

[ Today's Readings ]

Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.

Faith can be a consolation even in times of great sorrow.

But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.

During sadness and suffering what do we even now know? Do we still remember the power of God even at such times?

We need to be able to hear the prophets of the LORD even when part of what they're saying is a call to repentance. Even when they're telling us about suffering that we must endure we must not try to silence them.

When Jeremiah finished speaking
all that the LORD bade him speak to all the people,
the priests and prophets laid hold of him, crying,
“You must be put to death! 

Sometimes the desolation is so great that it is hard to listen for hope. But God is always speaking hope. Even when he says the city shall be desolate and deserted he says it so that we can listen and turn back from our evil ways so that he doesn't have to do it.

When we lose a loved one it can be so crushing as to make hope difficult. We need to be like Martha. She doesn't just stay at home. She goes out to meet Jesus as he comes to her. She still believes and hopes in the resurrection.

Martha said to him,
“I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.”

For Martha there is a more specific hope the LORD wants to give her than the general resurrection at the end of time..

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

And Martha is able to hear it. She is able to listen for the hope God offers even amidst her sorrow.

She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.”

Let us learn to hear the hope God is speaking to us even in the hardest and most difficult of moments.

But I pray to you, O LORD,
for the time of your favor, O God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help.

28 July 2016 - the potter verse

The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.

The net is cast widely. When it is cast there is some sense that there are good fish to be caught. But there is no certainty that everything over which we cast it is ultimately worth catching. It is cast generously. Just as the sower sows the seed on all sorts of soil so too does the fisherman throw his net over all types of fish. Only once they are hauled ashore do they need to be separated. For us this means that we can't be hyper rational about those with whom we share the gospel. We can't think only of the people likely to make a good catch. We can't think only of the soil likely to bear good fruit. We must be generous, just as the Father is generous with us.

After all, who are we to judge what the potter is doing with his clay? His criteria are much different than the ideas and aesthetics we bring with us about what a good Christian is or ought to be. We see clay and judge its potential.  But in the hands of the potter the limits we imagine are not limits at all. We see, perhaps, damaged goods. We see clay already fired in the kiln of life, inflexible, unchangeable, set, and destined. Sometimes we even look at ourselves this way. But by the LORD all clay can be molded.

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (see Ezekiel 36:26).

Even if the fish don't look catching or the soil doesn't look worth sowing let us be generous. Even if we ourselves don't seem worth catching or worth the waste of seed let us trust in the generosity of our God. We are still being hauled ashore. It is not until the end of the age (or our age) that our destiny is fixed.

Thus it will be at the end of the age.

The LORD's ability to mold us explains why he is able to make use of things both old and new. Things that seemed fixed in the Old Testament find a new and definitive meaning in the messianic age. Even creation itself takes on a new and fuller meaning at the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Clay which we are pretty sure is as hard as it gets turns out to be soft and malleable in the hands of the potter.

Blessed he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD, his God.
Who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them.

27 July 2016 - a stronghold on us

[ Today's Readings ]

When I found your words, I devoured them;
they became my joy and the happiness of my heart,
Because I bore your name,
O LORD, God of hosts.

The words of the LORD are the pearl of great price. They are the treasure hidden in the field. They are worth all we have and all we are in trade. We trade celebrating in the circle of merrymakers. We accept the weight of the hand of the LORD. We accept the loneliness that can sometimes come when we put him first. His words are worth more any of this, more, actually, than all we have to offer.

When we make this trade, this sweet exchange of our sinfulness for his righteousness, we are not made weaker or more fragile by it. It might seem that the result of such a surrender would be a really pitiable state, something really worth for sorrow for ourselves about. But it actually makes us stronger. 

And I will make you toward this people
a solid wall of brass.
Though they fight against you,
they shall not prevail,
For I am with you,
to deliver and rescue you, says the LORD.

The fleeting pleasures of this world are exactly those things which moths eat and rust destroys. The word of the LORD endures forever (see Isaiah 40:8). When it really becomes the happiness of our heart are happiness is less subject to the fickle and ever changing world.

But I will sing of your strength
and revel at dawn in your mercy;
You have been my stronghold,
my refuge in the day of distress.

When the LORD truly becomes for us the pearl of great price and the treasure beyond all worth we experience the joy which no one can take from us (see John 16:22).

O my strength! your praise will I sing;
for you, O God, are my stronghold,
my merciful God!

The LORD wants to make us strong like a solid wall of brass today. In order to make us strong he must be our stronghold. Let us take refuge in him.

26 July 2016 - shine like the sun

[ Today's Readings ]

Jesus calls us to righteousness so that we can shine like the sun in the Kingdom of our Father.

He wants to help us to have a realistic vision for what this entails so he tells us that the weeds and the wheat grow up together until "the end of the age". Those who are trying to bear the fruits of righteousness have to deal with those who are only sequestering and wasting the resources of the world as weeds. These weeds are "all who cause others to sin and all evildoers." The frightening part about this is that we know that we ourselves sometimes fit those descriptions. We do sometimes cause others to sin. We do sometimes commit evil acts ourselves.

We recognize, O LORD, our wickedness,
the guilt of our fathers;
that we have sinned against you.

The tough thing about waiting until the end of time for the separation of the weeds and the wheat is the we must live with the abuses of the weeds. The great part about it is that when we ourselves seem to be weeds, choking other plants and not bearing fruit ourselves, there is still time to be transformed.

Maybe the problem is that we are starved for resources. We long for the water of life and try to squeeze it from idols that cannot provide it for us. Only the LORD can give us the water for which we thirst. Only with this water can we bear the fruits of repentance and righteousness.

Among the nations’ idols is there any that gives rain?
Or can the mere heavens send showers?
Is it not you alone, O LORD,
our God, to whom we look?
You alone have done all these things.

We don't get to ignore the problem of the weeds.

Let my eyes stream with tears
day and night, without rest,
Over the great destruction which overwhelms
the virgin daughter of my people,
over her incurable wound.

The patience of the LORD with the weeds is not ordered toward apathy but rather toward change and repentance. We cannot achieve this on our own, so let us turn to the LORD for help.

Help us, O God our savior,
because of the glory of your name;
Deliver us and pardon our sins
for your name’s sake.

25 July 2016 - assigned seating

[ Today's Readings ]

“Command that these two sons of mine sit,
one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom.”
Jesus said in reply,
“You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?”

Obviously there is something wrong with the request. There is a lot of pride and ego involved in asking for something like this. Yet we should not ignore the fact that there is something quite correct about it.

He replied,
“My chalice you will indeed drink,
but to sit at my right and at my left, this is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

In order to have that for which they ask they must drink the chalice. And drinking the chalice is something to which they are in fact called. James and John desire the treasure of the Kingdom. What the chalice forces them to realize is that they can only hold this treasure in earthen vessels.

We hold this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.

To be as close as possible to Jesus in his Kingdom is a goal we should all share. But it cannot manifest as merely where we are seen to be when others look at us. This is what the chalice of suffering helps us to understand. It is not about us. It cannot be about us. We are too constrained, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down for it to be about us. We carry about in the body the dying of Jesus. Yet the resurrection is not ours to give ourselves. We cannot simply take it, nor even receive it without being changed. We must receive it from the Father who prepares it for us. Jesus cannot arbitrarily confer the benefits of the Kingdom on us just because we want them. Instead, he gives them to those who surrender themselves to the Father's plan. We don't come to Jesus and, in our pride, receive gifts that only serve to make our pride grow. Instead we surrender our pride, follow Jesus to the cross, and receive the resurrection from the Father. The Father has this prepared for each and every person who is willing to drink the chalice of Christ.

This is why pride can have no place in the kingdom. It is a matter, rather, of service and of love.

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.

This transformation is often marked by tears. But we know they are holy tears because the lead to transformation. Tears that serve to isolate us from God come from the enemy. The tears of the chalice of Christ are different. They lead to rejoicing that knows no end.

Although they go forth weeping,
carrying the seed to be sown,
They shall come back rejoicing,
carrying their sheaves. 

Try to not rejoice while listening to this..

24 July 2016 - persistence

[ Today's Readings ]

We are called to care about the world around us and to intercede for it. Even if the world very much seems like Sodom we are not thereby permitted to ignore it or to not care about it. Instead we must be like Abraham and intercede with the LORD for it. The LORD himself wants our hearts to be merciful and compassionate as is Abraham's. He wants to draw from us this love he wants to show the world.

But we can do better than Abraham. His persistence is hindered and slowed by the fact that he knows that he is but dust and ashes. The friend who goes for the loaves of bread at midnight has to annoy his friend into getting up and giving him the loaves. We can do better. We do not ask a friend who is too tired to care. Nor are we merely dust and ashes. We are children of the Father. This is the first thing we remember when we pray.

Father, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.

Because we are children of the Father to whom we pray we are able to persist even more than Abraham or the man in the parable. We have much more trust in the love of the Father for us. We believe he desires what is good for his people.

If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven
give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

We already know the power of his love for us.

And even when you were dead
in transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
he brought you to life along with him,
having forgiven us all our transgressions;
obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims,
which was opposed to us,
he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross.

Because we know what God does for us, and how important it is, we are even more compelled to share that mercy with others.

and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,

So let us listen to the promise that always sounds too good to be true. But let us listen as children of the Father. Let us remember that nothing is too good for him to give to his children. Having given us his Son will he not also give us all things as well?

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32).

Let us hear the promise with the confidence that only the love of the Father can give us.

And I tell you, ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you. 
For everyone who asks, receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 

It isn't always immediate. But we can persist because of the confidence we have in his love.

I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple
and give thanks to your name.

23 July 2016 - one day in your courts

[ Today's Readings ]

The LORD wants us to reform our ways. 

He wants us to get over the idea that it is enough to be in his temple if it doesn't impact our lives. If we spend time in his temple but still oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, it doesn't do us any good. What really matters in his temple is his presence. We can't have both his presence and the presence of idols.

We live lives marked by worship of idols of various kinds. Perhaps they are not lives of murder or adultery or perjury. But perhaps in our hearts we do wish others harm or we do wish to exploit others for our own ends. We know we aren't as truthful as we'd like to be. We can't simply visit the temple to cover over these things. We need the presence of the LORD to replace them on the throne of our hearts. When that happens the temple begins to have meaning for us that it is meant to.

We wish that the LORD would pull up these weeds from our hearts and not wait on our cooperation. But if he did not respect our free will in such matters he wouldn't really respect it at all. He would pull up the wheat with the weeds.

If we find that we only bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit amidst many weeds let us turn to the LORD. If we treasure his presence and not just our time in the temple the enemy will not find time when everyone is sleeping. He will not be able to plant his weeds. More and more will only grow fruit.

Then we don't hide from who we are in the LORD's house. Instead it is the place where we treasure and rejoice in his presence.

I had rather one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I had rather lie at the threshold of the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

22 July 2016 - whom my heart loves

[ Today's Readings ]

The LORD wants us to desire him above all things. It isn't just a matter of knowing that we need him above all things. He wants this truth to reach our hearts as well.

On my bed at night I sought him
whom my heart loves–

If we let the LORD touch our hearts we come to desire him in this way. When we do it becomes a secret strength that moves us through times us desolation.

Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping.

Look at a heart that refuses to be consoled with anything other than the presence of its LORD. We would probably have already turned the TV back in an effort to forget. How often do we simply accept the sorrow of the world and try to distract ourselves as best we can? Is it any wonder this strategy leaves us empty? It is only the who seeks and keeps on seeking that finds. 

Have you seen him whom my heart loves?
I had hardly left them
when I found him whom my heart loves.

Our hearts know him. But they do not yet love him as Mary Magdalene loves him. They are still content with substitutes. Mary has been forgiven much and so she loves much. Maybe if we realize what Jesus does for us we will love him more too.

So whoever is in Christ is a new creation:
the old things have passed away;
behold, new things have come.

Mary no longer needs to be regarded according to the flesh. She has cut ties with a sinful past. We too are made no creations, capable of living for more than just ourselves.

Realizing this, we wait upon the LORD even when we don't find him immediately.

Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping.

He eventually does come to us to satisfy our hearts.

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

His presence cannot be faked or replaced with substitutes. Only he knows us this deeply. Only he can truly satisfy that for which our hearts truly long. He speaks our names and we are able to say, "I have seen the Lord". We become able to let go of our grip on him. Even when he seems distant we realize that he is not actually far from us. The love that knows our names sometimes withdraws from us toward the Father. But it is a withdrawal that brings us with him. He shares that very Spirit of Sonship with us. Somehow he is even closer than before. Somehow he still speaks our names. Let us listen until we hear.

Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary
to see your power and your glory,
For your kindness is a greater good than life;
my lips shall glorify you.

21 July 2016 - beneath the surface

[ Today's Readings ]

Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven
has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.

The parables are not always inherently very compelling on the surface. They sometimes lead to thoughts like, 'Is that all?' They don't overwhelm us with their wisdom and force us to acknowledge that they must come from one who is wise. Yet if we look beneath the surface we do find depths of wisdom and knowledge. We can only grow rich in this way if we begin with faith.

If we begin without faith..

You shall indeed hear but not understand,
you shall indeed look but never see.

Jesus wants to share his riches with all of us. He wants to restore in us the devotion of our youth. Only then are we able to receive living water from the source of living water. Of ourselves we dig broken cisterns to hold polluted water from the idols of the world. We can't grow rich in this way. We leak the things we try to hold. If we do succeed in holding them we find them to be toxic.

Jesus wants our hearts to be converted so he can heal us. In order to return to the devotion of our youth, in order to turn away from idols, let us recognize in Jesus that for which our hearts most deeply thirst.

But blessed are your eyes, because they see,
and your ears, because they hear.
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
longed to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

If we can just recognize this a little more we discover in Jesus the fountain of life. We drink and are satisfied.

They have their fill of the prime gifts of your house;
from your delightful stream you give them to drink.

20 July 2016 - that one place

[ Today's Readings ]

Jesus asks us to give his words good soil today. He sows generously. He sows seeds whether we are willing to give them soil or not. But if we want the fruit we need to do our best to receive them. And who doesn't want the fruits of the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23)? Who doesn't need more love, joy and peace in their lives?

It is possible to put up obstacles to his word. This is not just the word we receive when we first come to faith. This is the word of his love that he continually speaks to us. It is the word that empowers us to change from what we are now to grow and become fruitful.

We need to do more than come into contact with his words. We need more than just seed on the path. If the contact is superficial we may notice them and be impressed but they don't change us. If we don't take them inside of ourselves the world is all to happy to take our attention away from them, to devour them, and to leave emptiness in their absence.

If our own hearts are too hard they won't penetrate the soil. If there is too much which is in the way they won't take root. If we hold the concerns of the world too dear and only listen to God, as it were, through the cracks, it is not enough. It does grow a little, perhaps. But when the sun scorches the ground and trials come it quickly withers for lack of root.

Unrepented sin in our lives can become thorns which choke the seeds and prevent fruit from growing. Nutrients which should go to the seeds are instead wasted on weeds.

Even having said all this we need not despair. The sower wants us to bear fruit. If we let him he will plant his words in us where this is possible.

See, I place my words in your mouth!
This day I set you
over nations and over kingdoms,
To root up and to tear down,
to destroy and to demolish,
to build and to plant.

Jeremiah has several obstacles to these seeds. He thinks he is too young. He thinks he is not good enough at speaking. He has this fear of failure in his heart. He doesn't want to let the seeds into the good soil. They seem dangerous. They feel like a liability. He prefers that they fall on the path where he need not be changed. There are rocks that prevent them from going deep into the soil. But Jeremiah does not have to change the soil himself. Instead he cries out to God and God answers. God finds that one place where there are no rocks, that isn't path, and where the thorns won't choke his words. He places them with laser like precision into Jeremiah's heart. He will do so for us as well if we just cry out to him.

For you are my hope, O Lord;
my trust, O God, from my youth.
On you I depend from birth;
from my mother’s womb you are my strength.

19 July 2016 - his mother and his brothers

[ Today's Readings ]

Sometimes we feel forgotten. We feel as though God is not paying attention to us. We deal with suffering, fear, and anxiety and God seems to be silent.

We want him to give us life again, to restore us, to show us his kindness, and grant us his salvation. Maybe the first step is to remember who he is.

Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt
and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance;
Who does not persist in anger forever,
but delights rather in clemency,
And will again have compassion on us,
treading underfoot our guilt?

Part of remembering who he is entails remembering what he has already done for us.

Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,
as in the days of old;
As in the days when you came from the land of Egypt,
show us wonderful signs.

This helps us to recognize in Jesus more than a son of Mary. We behold the only begotten Son of God. If we think we know who we is and where he's from we limit his ability to work by our own preconceptions. The fact is we never fully know where he's from. No one knows the Father except the Son (see Matthew 11:27). Jesus is from the Father and his life is dedicated to the Father. He wants to reveal the Father to us. For that to work, we have to realize that we still don't know very much and still have much to learn. 

When Jesus reveals the Father to us he does so by his Spirit who makes us cry out "Abba!" It isn't head knowledge of someone that one could read in a Wikipedia article. It is a deep experiential knowledge of having God as Father that Jesus shares with us. When he does so we are privileged to become his brothers. We even share in the relationship he has with his blessed mother. Because of this revelation we are not only able to do the will of the heavenly Father. We want to do it. We want to please our Father. As for Mary, she is not diminished by the attention of Jesus to the crowds. She does not regard it as silence. She is secure in the love of her son.

You will show faithfulness to Jacob,
and grace to Abraham,
As you have sworn to our fathers
from days of old.

18 July 2016 - what the LORD requires

[ Today's Readings ]

An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign,
but no sign will be given it
except the sign of Jonah the prophet.

We say we seek a sign. What we actually want is a distraction. We don't want to hear the plea of the LORD against his people. We don't want to answer his reproaches. He reminds us that he brought us up from the land of Egypt. He released us from the place of slavery. He teaches us his statutes. We know them. Yet we still hate discipline and cast his words behind us.

He does not abandon us. He wants to draw these things up before our eyes so that we can see them and repent. He shows us the sign of Jonah to awaken our hearts from their slumber of complacency. He spends three days in the heart of the earth. This is a sign which refuses to be a distraction. It shows an act of love that is hard to ignore. We hear him asking:

O my people, what have I done to you,
or how have I wearied you? Answer me!

Hopefully, we are cut to the heart. By grace we look on him whom we have pierced and are moved to change the parts of our lives where we have not yet allowed his grace to work. We now expose the parts of our hearts that have grown stale and need the water of life. It is a sign. But it is more than a sign. It is a sign of both how desperate is our need and how strong is his love for us.

When we see this sign we realize that there is something greater than Jonah, greater than Solomon, and greater than any other, here before us. His claim on us is absolute. But it is not merely a claim of power. It is not merely because of his great wisdom or knowledge that we are called to offer him our lives. It is because of the love he shows us. He asks it of us precisely so that he can show us his saving power in our lives.

When we want to offer all that we are to Jesus the stark simplicity of the law no longer bores us. We genuinely want to become as loving and joyful as Jesus wants to make us.

You have been told, O man, what is good,
and what the LORD requires of you:
Only to do the right and to love goodness,
and to walk humbly with your God.

Previously these simple requirements were also frustrating. Now, even if we don't achieve them all at once, they are worth it. They are what Jesus wants for us so that he can walk with us on our journey.

17 July 2016 - at your feet

[ Today's Readings ]

Service and hospitality at wonderful things. Through them some "have entertained angels unawares" (see Hebrews 13:2) as Abraham does in the first reading today. When we suffer for the sake of others we will up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church.

The danger is that serving can become a distraction. We become so anxious and worried about many things that we forget the most important thing. Serving and hospitality have to do with the variables we can control and the things we can offer. But sometimes we simply need to come to the feet of Jesus where we have nothing to give. We need to come and sit at his feet and receive and listen. We must first realize that all good things begin with God. We have nothing good to give that we don't first receive (see first Corinthians 4:7).

If we begin by sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening we still entertain the angels who visit us. We still suffer for the sake of the Church. Yet we are not burdened with serving in the same way. We begin to love with the love with we ourselves first receive. We are no longer as anxious or as worried because we come to Jesus for the better part, the part that cannot be taken from us.

Because we live in the presence of the LORD it becomes possible to live with justice.

He who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

16 July 2016 - gentle invitation

[ Today's Readings ]

Jesus reveals himself without contending or crying out. Our free will is at best a bruised reed. Jesus reveals himself in a way that does not overwhelm us and force our hand. He is gentle. He invites but does not compel. 

We sometimes mistake this for his absence. He withdraws from those who are merely taking counsel against him. He does not offer them the proofs which they don't even really want. Sometimes we are these people. We want to put him under the spotlight to prove his divinity to us and thereby take away our ability to freely respond to his invitation. He does reveal himself to us. But he does not overwhelm us in this way. He always leave the choice as ours to make.

This does not mean that the LORD forgets the poor. He does see the misery and sorrow of his people and takes them in his hand. He does heal the people who follow him. Let us follow him even when he seems to withdraw. Ultimately he will bring forth the victory of justice. But now he waits in mercy for all who will accept his invitation.

Those who plot evil seem to get away with it. But when we plot evil we ignore or reject the invitation of Jesus. He waits for us. He does not want to bring us to complete ruin. Rather, he waits in mercy. He continues to call us back to him.

Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation (see Second Peter 3:14-15).

In his name let us hope!

15 July 2016 - mercy and not sacrifice

[ Today's Readings ]

The LORD does what he does because he cares for us. This is true even when it doesn't seem that way to us.

We think that when we experience pain it means that the LORD does not love us. Perhaps we begin to wonder what we did wrong that turned the LORD's anger against us. We think that he does not love us now they way he did when we felt better.

O LORD, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly
I conducted myself in your presence,
doing what was pleasing to you!”
And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

We need to remember that the LORD hears our prayers and sees our tears. He desires to heal us where we need it most. The trouble is that where we most need healing isn't always where we think we do. Maybe an illness can shake us out of self-reliance and into greater surrender and obedience to God. Maybe suffering can help delusion us of putting to much hope in the impermanent things here belong.

However our particular brokenness manifests, the LORD desires to heal us. He wants us more fully in his presence. He calls us into his temple after three days. The three days are symbolically the passion of Christ transforming us and healing us. The place where we most experience the "poultice of figs" helping us to recover is in the sacraments of the Church. It is within the Church more than anywhere else that the shadows are cast back and the sun shines in full radiance.

We can't understand the laws apart from this understanding of God's desire to heal us. We have to remember that he has no need of us. He has no need of our obedience. He is perfectly happy before all creation simply in the fullness of Trinitarian life. He creates us for our sake. He gives us free will and law for our sake. They are perverted and misunderstood when they are seen as ends which can be set separately and at odds from the good of man. Yet if we try to understand the law ourselves apart from God we do end up using it in evil comparisons and judgments of others. We use it to build ourselves and to tear others down. Trying to deal with the law apart from relationship with the one who gives it fails because their is no way to see the purpose for which it is given. It should not be so for us who know the lawgiver.

I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.
If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
you would not have condemned these innocent men.
For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.

The LORD desires to heal us. He will find these areas of our hearts which are so in need of healing. We might imagine that finding them would make him angry and withdraw his law. We might imagine that is what the suffering we experience means. But it is not. He finds them in order to save our lives so we shall not die, as the psalmist sings.

Those live whom the LORD protects;
yours is the life of my spirit.
You have given me health and life.

14 July 2016 - come to me

[ Today's Readings ]

We conceived and writhed in pain,
giving birth to wind;
Salvation we have not achieved for the earth,
the inhabitants of the world cannot bring it forth.

We can't rely on ourselves to bring forth salvation. When we try to give birth to the new world we desire we instead give birth to the wind yet with all the pains of childbirth. This is not worth the effort. It does have one positive effect though. Or at least it can. It can teach us to look to the LORD for his way and his judgments. It helps us to make his name and his title the desire of our souls. It teaches our souls to yearn for him in the night and our spirits to keep vigil for him within us. In this way the world's inhabitants learn justice. It is not a justice which we ourselves can create, "for it is you who have accomplished all we have done."

It helps us to hear the invitation.

Jesus said:
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

This begs the question of us: Is the yoke we bear easy? Is the burden light? If not, the invitation is clear: "Come to me". Do we labor? Are we burdened? Hear him say, "Come to me". He offers us rest from all the striving we do apart from him. In him we do not necessarily find success according to a worldly measure. After all he is the one whose victory is the cross. We do not find something which is easy in the way the world imagines easy. What we do find is that in union with him the world's ideas of easy and successful are relatived. United with Jesus we have a peace that transcends any of the sufferings and momentary afflictions we face. The problem is when we bear burdens on our own apart from him. The work he has for us is only possible in union with him. We live out the dying of the cross in our lives. But united with him the resurrection is already made present in us as well.

But your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise;
awake and sing, you who lie in the dust.
For your dew is a dew of light,
and the land of shades gives birth.

His Spirit lives in us and gives us life even now when we allow him to do so.

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you (see Romans 8:11).

We are able to take up our cross precisely because of the resurrection power of Jesus in us. This power frees us from slavery to fear, especially fear of death. His Spirit transforms his cross and death into resurrection and new life. Let us hear his invitation to come to him and rest. Let us be open to a more full anointing of that Spirit today.

“The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die.”

or

13 July 2016 - revealed to children

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 the childlike.

[ Today's Readings ]

Jesus calls us to become like little children. He calls us to become like them in the best sense. Children display such profound trust in their parents. They don't fear the world caving in on them because they know their mom and dad won't let it happen. They don't need to worry about where their next meal comes from. Young children ought not be finding jobs in case their family cannot provide. Their is nothing which they contribute that makes the system run. Instead the return their love and hopefully their gratitude.

Children sometimes boast in themselves. But they often boast in their parents when they feel they have exhausted what they can boast in about themselves. When their own strength is obviously not enough they will boast in the strength of their fathers. We are called to take this to the extreme of Paul who says, "far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (see Galatians 6:14).

Assyria takes the other approach.

By my own power I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I am shrewd.
I have moved the boundaries of peoples,
their treasures I have pillaged,
and, like a giant, I have put down the enthroned.

Because it takes the other approach it does not stand firm. There is leanness among the fat ones and instead of glory there is kindling. This is why children shouldn't try to run the show themselves. God is much better at being God than are we.

When we become like little children the Son reveals the Father to us. The more we allow him the more his providential care shapes our lives and fills us with peace and joy.

No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him

We learn that we can count on him. He will not abandon his people.

For the LORD will not cast off his people,
nor abandon his inheritance;
But judgment shall again be with justice,
and all the upright of heart shall follow it.

12 July 2016 - unless your faith is firm

[ Today's Readings ]

As humans we tend to value strength. We think of armies and governments as powerful. We think of weapons and money as the tools that make a difference in the world.

Thus says the LORD:
This shall not stand, it shall not be!

When we become more spiritual our focus shifts a bit. We think that spiritual power is indicated mostly by mighty deeds and miracles. There is some sense to this. God is all powerful. He is the one who himself transcends the rules and limits he has made and imposed on his creation. In some ways displays of the Spirit and of power are meant to give our faith a place to rest (see First Corinthians 2:4-5).

The trouble is when we begin to see this as the main way God acts. He is something more than the greatest power in the world. Were he not he would never have endured the cross for us. He would have solved the issue with strength. Instead of that, he used weakness and love to overcome the strength of the world.

It isn't strength that is important. It is faith.

But within sixty years and five,
Ephraim shall be crushed, no longer a nation.
Unless your faith is firm
you shall not be firm!

Mighty deeds themselves call for a response from us. We can't just see them and then be smug in the fact that we know the one who works them. They call us to faith and repentance. To whom much is given much is expected (see Luke 12:48).

For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained until this day.
But I tell you, it will be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.

Mighty deeds do reveal God to us. But the revelation is given so that we can place our faith in him and follow him. He does not win the victory through force of arms. Rather, his weakness and his apparent defeat are the truest signs of a deeper strength. They reveal the strength of his obedience to the Father and his love for his Father and for us. This is what we are called to follow. The mighty deeds are given to shake us up and help us to look beyond our expectations so that we can discover God. Mighty deeds do mark the community of believers. The power of the resurrection begins to transform the world even now. This is not to be avoided nor stifled. But in a world still marked by suffering and death these mighty deeds are never the ultimate answer. They impel us on to give ourselves in love and sacrifice until the time when the LORD returns to wipe away the tear from every eye (see Revelation 21:4).

For lo! the kings assemble,
they come on together;
They also see, and at once are stunned,
terrified, routed.

11 July 2016 - distant second

[ Today's Readings ]

We need to put Jesus first and let nothing come before him in our lives.

He wants our whole hearts. This extends be the pious practices of sacrifices and assemblies. Going to Church on Sunday isn't enough. Doing all the churchy things we can think of still isn't enough if they don't come from a heart surrendered to Jesus. There is no doing we can do to make it right. We simply have to put him first.

The enemy of the good in our lives usually isn't the evil. It is usually the lesser good. It is hard to think of family as a lesser good but even this can become an idol that keeps us from God. God designed the family to help us to know who he is in the mystery of his Trinitarian essence. He designed the family to help us know what love is. The Father in heaven is the one who loans the name of father to all fathers on the earth. He created the very idea of the family. But apart from him it loses its meaning. We can no longer even recognize it or understand the reason for it.

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;

The problem is that we do love these lesser goods. And sometimes it hurts to choose Jesus rather than them. But it is the only way to find life.

Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

When we do put Jesus first we find ourselves more capable of love and generosity. We are able to receive those whom Jesus sends to us, the prophets and righteous men. When we put ourselves first we don't have the room in our hearts to receive them. Justice becomes our aim. We redress the wronged, hear the orphan's plea, and defend the widow. We give cold water to the little ones who thirst. None of this works when we are first. But it happens by God's supernatural power in us when he reigns in our lives.

If we ask, God will show us where we put others first. He will invite us to let him reign in our hearts. Far from ruining our relationships he will instead bring them the proper balance. He will make us thrive.

I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.
He that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me;
and to him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God.

10 July 2016 - who is my neighbor?

[ Today's Readings ]

"Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 

What we are asked is not complicated. It is not some obscure mystery available only to the highest level initiates.

"For this command that I enjoin on you today
is not too mysterious and remote for you.

We do tend to try to complicate it, though.

But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus,
"And who is my neighbor?"

The problem isn't that we don't understand that the Samaritan is our neighbor. On some level we get that. The problem us. We don't succeed in loving everyone who crosses our path. We have so many obligations ourselves that we seldom succeed in putting love first. Any our religious duties can become excuses. Even if we're a priest or a Levite we might put the letter of the law before the love to which it calls us. The priest and the Levite are so interested in their own purity that they fail to see the neighbor in need. This isn't real purity. This is isolating, inwardly focused, and ultimately unhealthy. Yet they are called to both purity and to love. How can they possible balance all of that? There are just so many people cast down by the side of the road. How can we possibly love them all while still fulfilling the obligations placed on us?

No, it is something very near to you,
already in your mouths and in your hearts;
you have only to carry it out.

The Word who has the power to do this is already within us. He is the one in whom all things were made. He holds everything together.

He is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.

Only in him can we escape from the trap of ego and an overly inward focus. Only in him are we made one with others because he has torn down all the barriers through the blood of his cross.

For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile all things for him,
making peace by the blood of his cross
through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.

Jesus himself is the one who is moved with compassion at the sight of our suffering. He himself approaches us, pours the oil of the Spirit on us and cleans the wounds of sin with the wine of his precious blood. He himself pays the cost of our care. But this same Jesus lives within us. The love of the Samaritan for the victim is the love which Jesus makes present in our own hearts. It is very near to us, because Jesus lives within us. We have only to carry it out.

"See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not."

9 July 2016 - unclean lips

[ Today's Readings ]

The LORD wants to help us with the issue of fear again today. He wants his perfect love to cast out the fear in our hearts. He tells us how much he loves and cares for us so that our trust in him can move us beyond fear. To him we are worth more than many sparrows.

Maybe one reason we're afraid is that we think he is asking something impossible from us. We think that he doesn't really know us individually, our own strengths and weaknesses. When he tells us that as disciples we must become like the teacher and as slaves become like our master we think that he is asking something which may be possible for saints but not for us. But he does know us. He knows us down to the last hair of our heads. He hasn't forgotten us. He understands us perfectly. We are right to be in awe of the holiness of our master and our teacher.

They cried one to the other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!
All the earth is filled with his glory!”

Even so, he calls us to become like him in holiness. Even though it seems impossible, he calls us. Even though we say, "Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips," he calls us. But he does not call us on the basis of our own merit. He himself does the work within us.

He touched my mouth with it and said,
“See, now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.

It's true that we don't always feel like good examples of what it means to be followers of Jesus. We must trust that he has the power to transform us and make us fit for the task. Let his sacraments touch our lips to purge our wickedness and sin. Let us hear ourselves say, "Here I am," and "send me!"

Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed:
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, for length of days.

8 July 2016 - the joy of salvation

[ Today's Readings ]

When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.

A theme Jesus is focusing on this week is that of not letting fear impede the spread of his kingdom. This morning he warns us of the dangers of idolatry.

Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity,
and receive what is good, that we may render
as offerings the bullocks from our stalls.
Assyria will not save us,
nor shall we have horses to mount;
We shall say no more, ‘Our god,’
to the work of our hands;
for in you the orphan finds compassion.”

When we have idols we are ultimately relying on ourselves. When we rely on ourselves we do find speaking up for Jesus a fearful task.

Brother will hand over brother to death,
and the father his child;
children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.

Jesus is calling us to let go of these other things that are not worthy of our trust. He is calling us to let go of any backup plans we have in case he doesn't help. He is calling us to trust him! He offers us something that is more reliable than Assyria or idols. He is offering something more certain than anything we have apart from him.

For it will not be you who speak
but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

He is offering us his Spirit. This is the Spirit of sonship by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!' (see Romans 8:15). It is a Spirit of love so profound that we can do things with him that we can't do on our own. Things that seem to imperil our very existence are no longer a big deal because the one from whom, through whom, and for whom all things exists (see Romans 11:36) holds us in his hands.

Let us repent of putting anything before this love. Let us look at the places where our hearts are still afraid and give those places over to Jesus.

Behold, you are pleased with sincerity of heart,
and in my inmost being you teach me wisdom.
Cleanse me of sin with hyssop, that I may be purified;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 

When we put Jesus first he does return to us the joy of our salvation. Where fear had once silenced us our mouths shall now proclaim his praise.

7 July 2016 - return policy

[ Today's Readings ]

As you enter a house, wish it peace.

If the house is worthy,

let your peace come upon it;

if not, let your peace return to you.

Here is a hallmark of Christianity that most of us do not experience. We do not lose Christian peace by spreading it. Even if we try to spread it someplace where it is not welcome it simply returns to us. So why is it then that when we try to share our Christian peace with others and they don't welcome it that our hearts are shattered and we can't stop thinking about it for days?

These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world (see John 16:33).

Which things does Jesus speak to give us peace?

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid (see John 14:27).

We receive peace from Jesus. It does not come from the world. The world, in fact, cannot give it. Only Jesus can. And the way he gives it is the context for the verse above. This is part of the promise of the Holy Spirit. It is the peace that comes from knowing the love God has for us at the core of our beings because that very love is a person who lives in the core of our beings. This is what it truly means that he does not leave us orphans.

It is a difficult but wonderful test of the source of our peace when we try to spread that peace to others. We ought not feel bad when we try to share our own peace, fail, and our consumed with anxiety. Instead we should learn. We should hear and be open to the invitation to receive the peace which only Jesus can give more and more.

We need peace like this to share the kingdom. We need it. It isn't a nice-to-have. Without it the kingdom will not spread as far and wide as God desires. The reason is that we do encounter resistance which will make our worldly peace evaporate like a drop of dew in the hottest desert. Only with God's peace can we have a heart like God who loves us even when we try to hide from his love. Only then can we love even our enemies.

My heart is overwhelmed,

my pity is stirred.

I will not give vent to my blazing anger,

I will not destroy Ephraim again;

For I am God and not man,

the Holy One present among you;

I will not let the flames consume you.

The world needs us to love in this way. There are too many people possessed by the demons, too many lepers, and all of the modern equivalents. There are too many sick. There are too many dead and dying because of sin. We can't let our lack of comfort prevent the spread of the Kingdom of heaven. We especially can't allow this when all we need to do is say yes.

Once again, O LORD of hosts,

look down from heaven, and see:

Take care of this vine,

and protect what your right hand has planted,

the son of man whom you yourself made strong.