31 March 2021 - rouse us

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“Go into the city to a certain man and tell him,

‘The teacher says, My appointed time draws near; 

in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”‘“

Sitting at table with Jesus is meant to be a time of communion. Yet for this to be the case we need to learn to set aside our focus on what we can get from Jesus and focus instead on what he wants to do for us. It is not wrong to desire the gifts that Jesus wants to give (see First Corinthians 14:1). It becomes a problem when the gifts become an end in themselves and therefore a distraction or a detour. It is even possible to receive, possess, and use a blessing such as wealth under the direction of Jesus, receiving it as a gift, and employing it as he directs us. But it is remarkably easy to slip into caring about money for its own sake.

“What are you willing to give me

if I hand him over to you?”

They paid him thirty pieces of silver,

and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.

It is possible to begin as a disciple of Jesus but to betray him when we perceive a conflict of interest and choose ourselves instead. The thing to remember is that from our point of view this will sometimes feel like the correct choice, even though we know in our heart that it is not. We are susceptible to the pressure we feel to solve problems ourselves as soon as we can. What we need instead to ensure that we don't betray Jesus is an attitude of patient obedience. It is the same attitude which he had, which he himself came so that we too could have it.

Morning after morning

    he opens my ear that I may hear;

And I have not rebelled,

    have not turned back.

I gave my back to those who beat me,

    my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;

My face I did not shield

    from buffets and spitting.

When we are insulted and abused because of our commitment to following Jesus and walking in his ways our flesh will definitely insist there is a conflict of interest and that we should choose it and not Jesus. But the flesh lies. It has lots of suggestions for things we could try but no ultimate solutions to the problems that afflict us and ail our world.

Jesus wants to speak a word of exhortation to us, helping us to realize that the reason he calls us to obedience, to patience, and to putting the Kingdom first, is because he knows that it is precisely this and only this that can make us thrive.

The table of the Lord is meant to be one of thanksgiving. It is one in which all of the many good things we receive are offered back to the Lord, taken up into his own offering of himself. Let us be on guard against the symptoms of a Judas-like spirit in ourselves. Let us be careful that we do not grow apart from others and entertain secret ambitions we dare not share as he did. Simply bringing our own temptations to light can take away their power over us. We can see in Judas the attitude that is inimical to communion. We ourselves ought to be eager for communion.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching (see Hebrews 10:24-25).

Jesus knows that we tend to first grow weary and then give in to temptations to self-medicate with gifts instead of relying on the giver. He wants to rouse us from that lethargy with the creative force of his living word.

The Lord GOD has given me 

    a well-trained tongue,

That I might know how to speak to the weary

    a word that will rouse them.

Rouse us, Lord Jesus. Rouse us when we are tempted to try to cash out with the silver and do our own thing. Rouse us when we are tempted to respond to insults and abuse with violence of our own. Rouse us when we refuse to walk with you because we have become so enamored of the gifts themselves that we no longer have the patience to follow the path of the giver.

“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.”

Matt Maher - Remembrance (Communion Song)

30 March 2021 - soul searching

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”

Jesus knew the one who it would be. But by stating it in this way he gave his disciples and gives us all an opportunity to search our conscious. These others around us seem so trustworthy, so dedicated to the following Christ. We would like to know who the traitor will be so that we ourselves can be exonerated. We try at all costs to suppress the question, "Is it me?" Yet we sense in ourselves that it could be. We could be the traitor. And so we ask.

And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” (see Matthew 26:22).

The disciple whom Jesus loved was able to take these questions to the Lord himself. It could not have been his confidence in himself that allowed him to ask on behalf of Peter. Instead, it must have been his confidence in being loved by Jesus that gave him the courage. He knew that this love didn't depend on who he was but rather on who Jesus was. It was probably not the case that even he was sure he was not the traitor. But he could hope that even if he was revealed to be the traitor he could still hope for forgiveness, to hope that the love which he had known would continue.

He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him,

“Master, who is it?”

It is important to experience ourselves as the disciples whom Jesus loves so that we can ask him these searching questions. At times we do in fact betray Jesus. We cannot follow him now in full obedience as he goes to the cross. And so we compromise, we sin, we deny him by our words and our deeds. We take the silver coins instead of owning our friendship with him, perhaps telling ourselves that we can do some good with the silver. We need Jesus to reveal this to us. We need him to help us take an honest look at ourselves. But we cannot do this effectively unless we first know ourselves as loved. If that love isn't the starting point we will experience not conviction and conversion, but condemnation leading to despair. Condemnation is what the Devil wants for us, not what Jesus wants. In condemnation we don't experience the thread of possibility for change that is only found in the love of Christ. Conviction is different. It is an an experience of the problem, but with a view toward renewal and restoration. It is not a judgment that we are unlovable. It is rather given precisely because we are loved.

Peter said to him,

“Master, why can I not follow you now? 

I will lay down my life for you.”

Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me?

Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow

before you deny me three times.”

Peter and Judas weren't that different in that they both betrayed Jesus. The difference came in how they experienced the realization of what they had done. Judas, not understanding that he too was meant to be a beloved disciple, experienced condemnation that closed the door to repentance. Peter experienced conviction, profound, yes, and with tears, but conviction which led finally to his threefold repentance.

He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep (see John 21:17).

Jesus is deeply grieved precisely when we take his words as condemnation and not as conviction. He did not come to condemn (see John 3:17) but rather to send the Holy Spirit to convict (see John 16:8).

He wants to help us to walk in victory, but this victory is concealed when we sin. The power of Jesus is hidden. But it isn't necessarily wasted.

He made me a polished arrow,

    in his quiver he hid me.

You are my servant, he said to me,

    Israel, through whom I show my glory.

Though I thought I had toiled in vain,

    and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,

Yet my reward is with the LORD,

    my recompense is with my God.

Though we lose sight of the victory, though we do receive discipline from the Lord, we can trust that he still loves us and that he can bring something great even from our failures. He himself said that, "he who is forgiven little, loves little" (see Luke 7:47). Let us experience ourselves as loved, receive forgiveness, and come to love much ourselves, and walk in and reveal the victory of the Lord.

Vineyard - Help Us Our God

29 March 2021 - extravagant

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil

made from genuine aromatic nard

and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair;

the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. 

Our offerings, our very lives, are meant to have a fragrant aroma that fills the world.

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing (see Second Corinthians 2:15).

Paul had received gifts from others that had this effect on him. He said, "I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God" (see Philippians 4:18). He knew that this delectable aroma was the result of walking in the same love Christ showed for us, so he wrote to the Ephesians that they should walk "walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (see Ephesians 5:2).

The fragrance that filled the house was not merely that of aromatic perfume, it was the gift of self. It was not simply that Mary offered something with a good smell, it was the spirit in which it was offered, one of extravagance, one in which nothing was held back, that was truly pleasing. But it was not pleasing to everyone. 

He said this not because he cared about the poor

but because he was a thief and held the money bag

and used to steal the contributions.

Judas could have been convicted by the generosity of the gift. But instead he doubled down on his selfishness and love of money. When others give of themselves in a thorough and generous way we too are called to respond with approval, with an implicit surrender of our own selves as well. But we are tempted at such times to put up walls, to regard as dangerous gifts so lavish as that of Mary.

The excuse of Judas might have been plausible if it were sincere. But it was actually a reason to maintain his own selfishness unchallenged by what he witnessed. It may seem that there was room for legitimate confusion. Should the money in fact have been given to the poor? And we may sometimes feel similarly when we try to give. How can so decide between so many seemingly conflicting goods? On our own, they are always stacked one against another and no answer will satisfy. But if we learn from Mary the principle of discernment which she knew, which Jesus explained, we too can learn to give fragrant gifts.

You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.

Where do we find Jesus now? We find him in his Church, in his Mystical Body, and in the least of our brothers and sisters. These are all worthy of our generosity, but they need not be opposed to one another. There is a way in which, if Jesus is central in our intent, our diverse offerings are really one anointing of our Lord. When we're not sure where to give we should look to the places where he seems particularly present. This may mean a gift to a charitable organization. It may mean helping to pay for Easter flowers at one's local parish. It may even mean doing something more direct for the poor among us with whom Jesus so strongly identifies. As long as our intention is to give a lavish gift to Jesus we can't go wrong.

and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel (see Revelation 8:4).

We must put Jesus first because he is the only hope of the poor, the only hope of the world. We must prize above all things him who became poor for our sakes so that in him we could become truly rich (see Second Corinthians 8:9). Only with the guidance of Jesus can we find solutions to the problems of the world that are sufficiently gentle and non-violent to achieve our goals. Only the riches of his love teach us the true way of charity.

A bruised reed he shall not break,

    and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,

Until he establishes justice on the earth;

    the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

The pursuit of social justice does call for prudence and wisdom. But unless we have hearts that offer everything lavishly and extravagantly to our Lord our other attempts at solving the world's problems tend to fall back on our own efforts, and therefore become desperate. Unless we can give ourselves entirely to Jesus our other gifts may seem so hopeless that we either give up or try to force things in ways that are ultimately destructive. Putting the Lord first is the only way to the true victory of justice.

I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,

    I have grasped you by the hand;

I formed you, and set you

    as a covenant of the people,

    a light for the nations

Darrell Evans - Your Love is Extravagant 

28 March 2021 - given for you

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The Passion of Jesus may feel to us chaotic and out of control when we read it. But Jesus was always in control. He knew toward what he was heading when he set his face toward Jerusalem. At every step he showed his confidence in the Father's plan. 

Those around Jesus did not have such confidence. They did not yet understand why it had to be this way. They tried to make up for their own fear by boasting.

“Even though I should have to die with you,

I will not deny you.”

And they all spoke similarly.

Peter, James, and John were with him in Gethsemane but they could not be truly present for their friend in his time of trial. Judas, focused, as he was on this present life, found the plan of Jesus so distasteful or incomprehensible as to betray him. Even Peter was not confident enough to go together with Jesus as he bragged that he would. He tried to follow at a distance with the eventual result of his own threefold denial of his Lord.

Jesus knew in advance that all of this would happen. He knew who would betray him. He knew that the enemy would strike the shepherd and disperse the sheep. He knew he was being anointed for burial. Yet he moved forward relentlessly, intentionally progressing toward the Cross at every step. Yet Jesus was not able to go forward because doing so was easy for him. There was a sense in which his foreknowledge made it that much more difficult.

“Abba, Father, all things are possible to you.

Take this cup away from me,

but not what I will but what you will.”

We see that his humanity really did cry out against his suffering and death. But he did not hesitate or disobey. His prayers were not finally about escape but rather to strengthen him in his acceptable of his Father's will.

Morning after morning

    he opens my ear that I may hear;

and I have not rebelled,

    have not turned back.

Jesus was walking through the steps of a plan that had been in the heart of the Trinity from the beginning. He was able to bear even the sense of abandonment he felt on the cross because he trusted in this plan, trusting his Father even beyond his human feelings. Looking back at Scripture, he was able to see that wherever his suffering was foretold, so too was his victory.

I have set my face like flint,

    knowing that I shall not be put to shame.

Jesus progressed steadily toward the cross in a way that made it clear that it was no accident, no unintended consequence of his popularity. His life was not taken from him, but he chose to lay it down for us. 

The obedience of Jesus was unfathomable for those who lived before his coming, incomprehensible to others until the resurrection made sense of it. It was therefore in a sense only natural that his followers could not keep pace with him, that they were scattered. But Jesus knew beyond doubt that obedience was the way to victory, a way that did not, that could not, eschew the trials, but rather passed through, even cut through them, to the other side.

becoming obedient to the point of death,

    even death on a cross.

Because of this, God greatly exalted him

    and bestowed on him the name

    which is above every name,

In giving us his own body and blood Jesus has made it possible for us to share in his obedience. He can now teach us and guide us to walk through life unflinchingly no matter what trials we encounter. He shows us how to be realistic when we feel "sorrowful even to death", how to be honest about it in prayer, but to not let such sorrow win or even slow us down. Obedience can now come first, giving direction to our lives rather than being at the mercy of feelings. But by our obedience even our feelings are eventually transformed. We may cry out with Jesus, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” But we do so remembering how the psalm concludes:

All who sleep in the earth

will bow low before God;

All who have gone down into the dust

will kneel in homage.

And I will live for the LORD;

my descendants will serve you.

The generation to come will be told of the Lord,

that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn

the deliverance you have brought (see Psalm 22:30-32).

Because we have the confidence, this hope, this anchor beyond the veil, let us bring our hosannas to the King today.

Songs In His Presence - Surely He Has Borne Our Griefs

Carl Tuttle - Hosanna

27 March 2021 - counting all as loss

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“What are we going to do? 

This man is performing many signs.

If we leave him alone, all will believe in him,

and the Romans will come

and take away both our land and our nation.”

The signs performed by Jesus gave testimony to who he was. But this same testimony, the more strongly and definitively it was given, seemed to put the whole way of life of his people at risk. This was paradigmatic, because when Jesus enters our lives he leaves nothing untouched. To follow him, we must be willing to lose land and nation and anything else to which we otherwise cling for security. What Paul described from his perspective is something that must apply to all of us.

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).

It does no good to attempt to preserve these lesser goods at the expense of the greatest good in which all others find fulfillment. In seeking to save our lives, our land, or our nation, we end up losing them (see Luke 17:33), just as the land of Israel was lost when the Romans did indeed come and destroy the temple in 70 AD. But  those willing to seek first the Kingdom (see Matthew 6:33) were compensated for this loss of the earthly sanctuary by the gift of access to the heavenly one (see Hebrews 9:24). 

Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the LORD,

    who make Israel holy,

    when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever.

Their loss of an earthly homeland was redressed by admittance to a heavenly one. Their loss of earthly rulers was more than balanced by the eternal Davidic prince who would shepherd them forever.

My servant David shall be prince over them,

    and there shall be one shepherd for them all;

    they shall live by my statutes and carefully observe my decrees.

Are we prepared to count all things as loss for Christ? Will we cling to our reputation, our health, our creature comforts over and against obedience? Or will we accept dishonor and suffering for the sake of the name? There is great blessedness and peace offered for those who will make Jesus their first priority.

Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name (see Acts 5:33)

We don't typically relax our grip on our lives all at once. It is often a little at a time that we relinquish control to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, learning at each new step that he is trustworthy. It is good news, then, that God can use even our mistakes to bring about his plans.

“You know nothing,

nor do you consider that it is better for you

that one man should die instead of the people,

so that the whole nation may not perish.”

Jesus does not counter our resistance to his will with force. Rather he meets it with patient love. In doing so we see him offering what we refused to offer, precisely because he loves us. That love which he shows, even and especially to sinners, is an invitation to join him to do together with him, bearing his yoke, what we could not do alone. 

Has clinging to life in this world instead of putting Jesus first ever really delivered the results for which we hoped? Hasn't it degraded us to living as less than fully alive? Hasn't it closed in our boundaries, cutting us off from God and one another? When we set ourselves on the goods of this world apart from God, we don't even get those goods. But God turns even these faults of ours into invitations to let ourselves be gathered back to him.

to gather into one the dispersed children of God.

Hillsong United - Lead Me To The Cross

Trip Lee ft. Thi'sl - Lazarus (rap, but related)

26 March 2021 - Scripture cannot be set aside

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Jesus answered them,

“Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, ‘You are gods”‘? 

This Scripture passage did not mean to imply that people were actually gods. And yet, it was not for nothing that the word was used. There was a real though limited way in which those described were exercising an authority which was divine, the abuse of which power was all the worse precisely because of that origin. Scripture did not waste words. Nor was the use of 'gods' mere hyperbole. It allowed those who read it to contrast what the flawed human attempts to wield divine authority with what it might look like if one who was God in truth and in fullness did so. 

I said, “You are gods,

sons of the Most High, all of you;

nevertheless, like men you shall die,

and fall like any prince (see Psalm 82:6-7).

What would it be like if there was one like God, a Son of the Most High, who never showed injustice, partiality or wickedness, who always rescued the weak and the needy from the hand of the wicked? What if there was one who had true knowledge and understanding, who did not walk in darkness, because he himself was the light of the world? The psalm Jesus quoted did not make these questions explicit, but it could create an implicit possibility in the back of one's mind, 'What if?' The only thing that could fulfill the flawed human prototype was something beyond what anyone could have asked or imagined. It may have been possible to read past it, surrendered to the fact that it was simply not meant to be. Yet the very fact that it was something according to the divine intention that was thus unfulfilled seemed to leave room for hope that it could be so, somehow, someday. Such a preparation would be important, because the Judeans correctly understood the shocking claim Jesus made:

“We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy.

You, a man, are making yourself God.”

Perhaps the citation of the Scripture by Jesus at least slowed them down in their rush to condemnation. It was unlikely to explain everything or in itself bring about conversion. But maybe it opened the hearts of one or two to the possibility that there was more to Jesus than a mere blasphemer. Perhaps there were a few who entertained at least the possibility that there could be more to the identity of Jesus than that of a mere man, more to the God of Israel than the unapproachably divine. Because it was the case that the whole identity of the people Israel was meant to be the preservation of the holiness of their God, they had every reason to be cautious. Yet we see in Scripture that their had in fact been hints foreshadowing Jesus, preparing the people for his incarnation. 

Importantly, Jesus did not leave his testimony at the level of words only. The words would soften hearts to receive the truth of his works. His works, especially the ultimate work of his resurrection, would give proof and assurance to his words.

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.

The claim of Jesus was hard for a people with a specific, fixed view of monotheism to receive. But even we ourselves are sometimes slow to recognize how it can be that someone could be both Son of God and Son of Man. We tend to emphasize one or the other as our preferences dictate. Jesus wants us to understand that he is both of these perfectly and at once, without conflict. If we do realize this we can avail ourselves of his divine presence even in the must human and mundane circumstances. When we face trials, we can face them together with one who understands them, because he was similarly tested. We can face them with one who empathizes with us and trust in his power to bring us through. Further, we can begin to understood what it might look like to fulfill our own destiny as sons and daughters of the Most High.

But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:

    my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.

Jon Foreman - Your Love Is Strong

25 March 2021 - behold, I come

Today's Readings

(Audio)

First he says, “Sacrifices and offerings,

holocausts and sin offerings,

you neither desired nor delighted in.”

What God desired when he asked for sacrifices was not the things in themselves, of which he had no need. It was rather the hearts of those that offered those things. Yet, though the things were offered, hearts remained hardened. But this meant that sacrifices could not fulfill their true purpose. If we could not give ourselves, we could not receive ourselves back, forgiven of sin. This was our condition, however, since we were not at any point sufficiently self-possessed to make such an offering. The fall of Adam had rendered the human race slaves to sin, unable to escape the need to put ourselves first. The fear of death that the buffered self felt made it subject to the slavery, acting always with that fear as a backdrop, and self-preservation as the goal. We would thereafter try discover the eternal goods for which we were made in things that were only temporary. We would do all we could to distract ourselves from the certain knowledge of the futility of such a project.

that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,  and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham (see Hebrews 2:14-16).

We were unable to offer ourselves completely and so escape this slavery to fear. In fact, we were even afraid to ask for something so potentially paradigm shattering.

But Ahaz answered,

“I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!”

But the Lord was not content to leave us in our sorry state apart from him. Whether we could muster the courage to ask or not, the Lord would nevertheless provide what we never could on our own.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:

the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son,

and shall name him Emmanuel,

which means “God is with us!”  

The one who was announced on the Annunciation was precisely this one, Emmanuel, God with us, who would finally be able to do what we could not. He was not constrained by fear or sin, and thus was perfectly free to lay down his life.

Then he says, “Behold, I come to do your will.”

Jesus could say, "No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again" (see John 10:18). Mary was prepared with fullness of grace in advance so that she could be his way into the world, a way which would leave his human nature untainted by the sin that afflicted us.

“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”

The freedom of Jesus to offer himself was never meant to be a replacement for our own offering. It was rather to empower us to give what we could not give, to offer our hearts, and so receive new hearts in return. Mary was the first to receive this gift from her Son, and so she was able to say, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” And though our offerings will still often come up short of those of Jesus and Mary, when we unite our own own attempts with the one offering of Jesus, through Mary, we too will offer something that is truly acceptable to God.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship (see Romans 12:1).

What is announced on this solemnity? Freedom from fear is offered. We see the path from slavery to Sonship. But it is still ours to enter or ours to neglect this great gift. May we fully receive and live it.

John Michael Talbot - Holy Is His Name

Chris Tomlin - What Child Is This?

Bethel Music - No Longer Slaves

24 March 2021 - free indeed

Today's Readings

(Audio)

How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”

Even believers often imagine that we begin by having freedom and that Christianity is an imposition on that freedom. This certainly seems to be the case when we consider that without religion there are possible choices that are closed to us if we decide to follow Christ. Following Christ seems like one choice, possibly even the right choice, which nevertheless closes more possibilities than it creates. Yet we, even we Christians, consistently misunderstand freedom.

Amen, amen, I say to you,

everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.

When we allow ourselves to practice things like "envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these", (see Galatians 5:19-21) we may experience an initial thrill that we mistake for freedom, a feeling which is actually the result of doing something that we know we ought not do. Yet this feeling isn't freedom. And these actions that seem to offer so many experiential possibilities actually enslave us. We are speaking here of addiction. As sin increases in our lives our ability to refrain from sin becomes less and less until we become full fledged addicts. The more we tell little white lies the harder it becomes to tell the truth. The more we steal the harder it is to come to terms with earning the things we want. If we use pornography we render ourselves incapable of true fidelity to our spouse. Jesus told his hearers that this was already their condition, the condition, indeed, of the whole human race apart from his saving power.

“If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples,

and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

While it is shocking to realize that our apparent freedom was only an illusion, it is nevertheless a good realization because in it is the invitation to receive true freedom. Knowing the truth about virtue and vice is a good start. We really do realize from such knowledge that there is freedom in virtue, like the Jazz musician who is free to improvise after years of diligent practice. Yet to disentangle ourselves from the habit patterns of sin we need more than abstract knowledge about ethics.

Perhaps the most shocking aspect of what Jesus said in the Gospel today: that he himself was the way to freedom, the truth that could truly set us free. Why is this the hardest part, even harder than realizing that we are not so free as we had imagined? Because it means that we cannot save ourselves. Our desire for freedom is so confused and bound up with our desire for autonomy that we feel we can't have one without the other. Yet the paradox here is that we must trade our autonomy if we want true freedom. If we look back on our lives, autonomy has never delivered on any of its promises. It is rather the freedom that is offered by the Son that our hearts truly desire.

So if the Son frees you, then you will truly be free.

How do we receive this freedom? Jesus said, "remain in my word". The more the words of and about Jesus fill our minds and hearts, the more we speak them in daily life, the more their reality we transform us from the inside out. This is the basis for the renewal of our minds about which Paul speaks.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (see Romans 12:2).

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego gave us an example of remaining in the word. They demonstrated the  true freedom that they had because they chose to do so. It might have seemed that idolatry would be the path to freedom from being bound and cast into the fiery furnace. And the world's freedom is usually like that, in that we feel pressured and even forced to choose it. But these three young men realized that there was a greater freedom that King Nebuchadnezzar could not take from them, even in the fiery furnace.

“Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?”

“Assuredly, O king,” they answered.

“But,” he replied, “I see four men unfettered and unhurt,

walking in the fire, and the fourth looks like a son of God.” 

May we reject the world's lies about freedom and fulfillment. May we choose the ways of God and remain in his word, no matter how hot the furnace is heated. The fourth, like a son of God, will be there with us whenever we do so.

Blessed are you who look into the depths

    from your throne upon the cherubim;

    praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.

Newsboys - I Am Free

23 March 2021 - the way forward

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Where I am going you cannot come.

If Jesus were merely alluding merely to the fact that he was going to die there would be nothing to prevent anyone from following him if, for some reason, they wanted to do so. But Jesus was not talking about killing himself. He meant something different from death in the general sense that applied to everyone who belongs to what is below.

That is why I told you that you will die in your sins.

Jesus did not merely go to die. Because he had no sin it was impossible for death to hold him (see Acts 2:24). It was a direct road to the resurrection. Even his disciples were not yet prepared to go by this road.

Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward” (see John 13:36).

Jesus went by the way of the greatest possible love, by which he gave his life for his friends (see John 15:13). Peter and the others were no yet ready to go by this way. They still needed the transformation of Pentecost. They needed needed the power of the resurrection of Jesus before they could offer their own lives with the hope of the resurrection in view.

The key being able to go where Jesus was, to being able to follow him as the way, was to be clear about who he was. No mere prophet or sage could bridge the gap between selfishness and love, between death and life. Only if he was who he said he was could we trust him enough to follow him even unto death.

For if you do not believe that I AM,

you will die in your sins.

We could not follow him during his Passion, but his Passion was the proof of everything he said, and it contained the power to follow his invitation. Seeing the Son of God take up his cross could give us the grace and conviction necessary to take up our own.

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.

The Son of Man was lifted up on the cross, but also in the resurrection and the ascension. As we behold these events we come to realize more and more that he spoke truly when he said that "I AM". The more we realize that truth the more we are empowered to follow him. But the core of what the revelation is not simply the miraculous power displayed, it is love of the greatest kind outpoured. It is strong enough to woo and overcome hearts that had been hitherto given over to impatience and selfishness.

“Make a saraph and mount it on a pole,

and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live.”

Only because the cross was an act of love can we now bear to look upon it, seeing in it as we do the conviction of our own sinfulness. Yet in the cross we realize definitively that conviction is not condemnation. It is rather the way forward. Let us believe in the name of Jesus and let us follow the path he opened to us.

“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.”

Phillips, Craig & Dean - Great I Am

22 March 2021 - neither do I condemn you

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.

So what do you say?”

They said this to test him,

so that they could have some charge to bring against him.

If Jesus answered them by saying that she should be stoned according to the law he would be speaking against the Romans, since only they had the authority to put someone to death. But if he answered that she should be spared he would be speaking against the law that commanded stoning. He would either have to be zealous for the law and therefore guilty in the eyes of the Romans or else it would seem that his apparent zeal for the things of God only went as far as what he could get away with in the current political milieu. In one case he would be at risk of legal reprisal. In the other he would lose face before his followers. Or so the Pharisees believed.

“Let the one among you who is without sin 

be the first to throw a stone at her.”

The Pharisees believed themselves to be without sin, to be practicing the law flawlessly, meeting all of its requirements. But now the tables were turned. If they stoned the woman they would be the ones who brought down Roman wrath upon themselves. If they said to let her go they would not only appear soft but they would be conceding to the fact that they were sinners after all.

The way Jesus so expertly reversed the trap that was set for him may make us miss his main concern in the matter. He himself was truly sinless, he was the only one who could choose to throw a stone. But he preferred to have mercy. His lack of sin did not result in being aloof and lacking compassion. He was indeed able to sympathize with our weakness (see Hebrews 4:15). Was Jesus ultimately lax in regard to law? Or was it rather than he was the only one whose gaze was sufficiently unclouded by sin so as to see what the law intended?

First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye (see Matthew 7:5).

Jesus delights to have mercy on sinners. But those who insist on condemnation close themselves to that mercy. Those who are so focused on accusations about others forget their own need for mercy. It can become so pronounced that they no longer really care if the one the accuse is truly guilty as long as it can become a cover for their own sins. 

They suppressed their consciences;

they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven,

and did not keep in mind just judgments.

For our part, we are called to realize that we too stand in mercy. If Jesus was writing a list of sins of the accusers on the ground ours could be written there as well. This should make us slow to cast judgment on others and quick to turn to God for mercy. We are called to have hearts for justice, hearts that will protect those accused, if they are innocent as was Susanna. But even if they are guilty, as was the woman caught in adultery, we must have hearts that do not rush to condemnation. We must ensure our hearts do not seek after something more and worse than condemnation based on justice, as was the case with the Pharisees, whose apparent justice was something that would close the door to mercy. Against this too we must fight.

God stirred up the holy spirit of a young boy named Daniel,

and he cried aloud:

“I will have no part in the death of this woman.”

May God stir up our spirits as well, directing us not to a justice whose goal is finally mercy, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (see Romans 3:23).

Huron Hills Church - Mea Culpa (Lord, Have Mercy)

Tom Booth - The Jesus Song

21 March 2021 - when I am lifted up

Today's Readings (Year B)

(Audio)

And when I am lifted up from the earth, 

I will draw everyone to myself.

Jesus chose love as the way he would draw everyone to himself. He always shunned self-promotion. He came to heal and to preach but not to win popularity contests. He asked those who experienced his healing power to keep it to themselves. He spoke the unvarnished truth, but would not engage in disputes with the insincere. He came to offer redemption to the world, relationship with himself, but never in a way the was fake, or fabricated, or calculated. In short, what he offered was always he himself. In the crucifixion he revealed how perfect and unlimited this offering was.

He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.

Jesus never loved his life in this world. He did not turn aside or ask his Father to save him from the hour when he would lose his life. It was precisely for that hour that he came into the world. His whole life was a journey toward that hour. It was a long procession of the gift to the altar and there were no detours.

“Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”

Because Jesus knew what he came to do, he knew what it would mean for the Greeks to truly see him. He knew what they desired most deeply was something other than having their curiosity sated, though perhaps they themselves did not realize it. The life of Jesus was directed toward the Cross. So too their gaze would need to be directed.

Amen, amen, I say to you, 

unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, 

it remains just a grain of wheat; 

but if it dies, it produces much fruit.

All that Jesus did and taught constituted a life that would be an acceptable offering to God, free from the bonds of selfishness that constrained all others. In that offering he embraced and included the whole world so that those who would let Jesus unite them to himself could also become offerings acceptable to the Lord, transcending their own limitations of ego and pride.

Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship (see Romans 12:1).

It was not arbitrary or capricious that Jesus needed to give his very life as an offering. For this was the very root of what we ourselves could not give, ever since we set ourselves in the place of God in the Garden of Eden. He desired to set right the damage we had done, so that we could be "like God" in a true and holy way, to release our grasp and offer ourselves. He knew that when we offered ourselves we would receive ourselves back as gifts, now able to bear fruit for the world.

and whoever hates his life in this world

will preserve it for eternal life.

In offering ourselves we image the eternal outpouring of love that never ceases between the Persons of the Trinity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit hold nothing back from one another and so are infinitely fruitful. Jesus became man, the Word became flesh, and brought that Trinitarian life to earth. He manifested it in a world broken and torn by sin. The only shape it could take in this world was that of the Cross. But because he did so, the Cross itself became a tree of life which bore fruit for all who would look to it.

Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; 

and when he was made perfect, 

he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

We are called to be where our master was, but we still cling to our lives out of fear and selfishness. We aren't often ready to prefer eternal life and the fruits of the Spirit to the earthly and the finite. Part of the problem is that it is the only thing to which we are accustomed, the only life we've known. We can't do it on our own. Only by receiving the gift first given by Jesus, the grain of wheat, bread from heaven, can we ourselves bear fruit. But the offering of Jesus, because it was love and not merely persuasion, has the power to change our hearts from within.

I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; 

I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Jesus came to offer us a way out of the prison of selfishness, transformation from inside out. As we move on toward the end of Lent may we recognize his love in the Cross he bore and be drawn by it to himself, to his offering, to the eternal embrace of love.

All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD, 

for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.

St. Louis Jesuits - Behold the Wood of the Cross

Newsboys - Lead Me to the Cross

20 March 2021 - fact check

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said,

“This is truly the Prophet.”

Others said, “This is the Christ.”

But others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he?

The evidence pointed to the truth that Jesus was the Christ, the Prophet who was to come. But there was a sense in which the evidence was not sufficient. Free will could still put obstacles in the way.

Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David’s family

and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?

Jesus was indeed from David's line in Bethlehem, but the crowd was unaware of this. They were able to seek and find details that seemed to exclude the possibility that Jesus was the Messiah. These were only apparent facts. But as our perspective is always limited, there are always some so-called facts in our minds which are also only apparent. And we have an inborn tendency to use these in our arguments with God when he calls us to new and higher ways.

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.”

We need to transcend our inbuilt limitations in order to accept revelation. It is not so much the facts that are wrong as our readiness to look for facts that support a position which we already have a priori. The truth is meant to set us free. But the truth is more than trivia. Truth is a person, and his name is Jesus. His voice can help us to open our hearts to new possibilities, to faith, to accepting his words in a way that really changes our lives. It can shake from us the stupor of minds darkened by sin, that, left to their own resources, tend to fall back to darkness. We need this voice to be consistent in our lives, if not constant, in order to be safe from lies. It is then that we can begin to realize the truth of the promises Jesus made to those who follow him.

If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (see John 8:31-32).

Jesus did not come to seek those who were perfect to follow him. It was the sick, as he said, who were in need of a doctor. Since there was no one perfect except God alone this was good news indeed. For us it means that we don't need to wait to get everything right to come to Jesus. We need to come to Jesus so we can begin to get things right, little by little. Our minds may still present obstacles. But he can turn the very obstacles we present into occasions of transformation. So rather than feeling guilty when we don't respond well or quickly, let us realize that even then we are loved beyond measure, and with that assurance, turn to him.

Yet I, like a trusting lamb led to slaughter,

Jesus did not have his life taken from him, but rather gave it freely, out of love, for those whom he would have as friends. May that act of love draw from us love in response.

O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.

Kutless - Word of God Speak

Songs In His Presence - Taken By Love

19 March 2021 - welcoming the unexpected

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man

Joseph was righteous by faith, not simply because of ceremonial works of righteousness, nor even virtue or good works done apart from his trust in God.

It was not through the law

that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants

that he would inherit the world,

but through the righteousness that comes from faith.

The law was not why Abraham was able to begin the line the would eventually give rise to the promise. The law had not yet been given. It was because he believed in and acted on the promise of God that his descendents were blessed and multiplied. As for Joseph, the law itself, at face value apart from faith, might have pushed him in the wrong direction.

Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,

yet unwilling to expose her to shame,

decided to divorce her quietly.

Abraham and Joseph both would have had natural expectations about the way things worked in the world, just as we do, expectations about when and how children could be born. But they allowed these expectations to be overturned by revelation.

Such was his intention when, behold,

the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,

“Joseph, son of David,

do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.

For it is through the Holy Spirit

that this child has been conceived in her.

By faith Joseph was privileged to be chosen to be the earthly father of the heavenly Son of God. It is noteworthy that both the genealogies of Jesus traced his ancestry through Joseph even though we sometimes refer to him as the merely "foster" father of Jesus. 

I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins,

and I will make his kingdom firm.

It is he who shall build a house for my name.

And I will make his royal throne firm forever.

Joseph's fatherhood was sufficiently real as to be a channel for the promises of the covenant. Even though his fatherhood was not biological it still had a miraculous reality to it because of his faith. Just as faith overcame the limitations of the age of Abraham and Sarah to give them their child, so too was Joseph able to receive Jesus through faith.

I have made you father of many nations.

Jesus came to make us sons and daughters in the Son. But just as he also wants to share his mother with us, so too does he desire to share Joseph. Joseph is not our father in the way that God is meant to be, but he is nevertheless meant to be like a father to us. Joseph wants to offer us his example of faith and the protection of his prayers. He wants to remind us today that faith can unlock the blessings of God even when the circumstances look insurmountable. Joseph was not known for many words, or mighty deeds, but first and foremost for his willingness to let his faith in God guide his life. We often reverse the order of importance so that deeds and words come first and only then faith. May we look to Joseph's example and intercession so that we too can be channels of blessing to the world.

“I have made a covenant with my chosen one,

    I have sworn to David my servant:

Forever will I confirm your posterity

    and establish your throne for all generations.”

dc Talk - Mind's Eye

18 March 2021 - not crowd sourced

'Moses' by Michelangelo

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus said to the Jews: 

“If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true.

Jesus did not come for the purpose of self-promotion. This might not be immediately obvious to us, who have the advantage of hindsight to look back at all he said and did, and are able to build a picture of him not only fully human, but as fully God as well. Yet the way he revealed himself was careful. He did mighty deeds, but asked the recipients not to reveal them. He gave testimony to the truth, but only to those who were willing to listen. He did not reveal himself to curry favor with man. But rather he revealed himself in order to reveal the Father and way to the Father.

I do not accept human testimony,

but I say this so that you may be saved.

Jesus did not contend with popular opinion. Some thought he was a fraud or a charlatan. Others thought he was Moses, Elijah, or one of the Prophets. None of them could receive the truth of who he was without the revelation of the Father. Even the true testimony of John the Baptist was only sufficient point the way. People needed to move from rejoicing in that light and believing that testimony to the still greater testimony of the Father about his Son.

The works that the Father gave me to accomplish,

these works that I perform testify on my behalf

that the Father has sent me.

When Jesus worked he did not view those works as bragging rights for himself, but rather evidence of the Father's favor and approval on his life and ministry. They were events with the same meaning as the words spoken at his baptism, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" (see Matthew 3:17).

John the Baptist and the Scriptures pointed to the one in whom eternal life would finally be given. But it was possible to stubbornly stop anywhere along the way to Jesus, caught up in what the crowds thought, in what was popular or pious, and not come to him for that life.

You search the Scriptures,

because you think you have eternal life through them;

even they testify on my behalf.

But you do not want to come to me to have life.

It is sad when someone does not want to come to Jesus to have life. But it is easier than it seems to get so caught up in the world, in people who come in their own names, in popular opinion, and so arrive at a place where we convince ourselves that we have all we need. It really can wear a mask of religiosity or piety. But true religion and piety are a constant invitation, an arrow to the person of Jesus himself, and through Jesus, to the Father's heart. There is no rest here for the smug and the self-satisfied. It is a constant journey, a pilgrimage, to the coming Kingdom. Our very pretenses of religiosity will accuse us if we fail to heed that call.

Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father:

the one who will accuse you is Moses,

in whom you have placed your hope.

For if you had believed Moses,

you would have believed me,

because he wrote about me. 

To the degree to which we have become stiff-necked and hard of heart let us turn to Jesus who did not come to condemn us, but rather to give us new hearts, and a better burden to assuage our necks. Even more than Moses stood in the breach for Israel, Jesus stands in the breach and pleads for us.

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the mana Christ Jesus (see First Timothy 2:5)

Elevation Worship - O Come to the Altar