17 September 2024 - arise

Today's Readings

(Audio)

As he drew near to the gate of the city,

a man who had died was being carried out,

the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.

This death of the son, who was the only child of a widowed mother, may have brought to mind Jesus' own approaching death and the grief this would bring to his own mother. 

When the Lord saw her,

he was moved with pity for her and said to her,

"Do not weep."

The pity Jesus felt for this woman might be taken as representing, in a way, the power of Mary's intercession. Jesus was moved with sadness for this mother and so for that of his own mother who would be able to relate to it so profoundly. The deep comprehension of this woman's loss that Jesus and Mary would share would lead them to pity all the deceased children of the world, whether the death was physical or spiritual. Mary wept first for Jesus and then for every son that was meant to be united to Jesus but was still not enjoying the fullness of life. And Jesus was moved with pity for them all, both because it was inherently a sad situation, but also because of the way it touched the heart of his mother.

He stepped forward and touched the coffin;

at this the bearers halted,

and he said, "Young man, I tell you, arise!"

The pity Jesus felt for this man and for his mother was not simply an idle and ineffective sorrow. It was not like the sorrow of the world which leads only onward inexorably toward death. It was powerful. It halted the forces bearing the coffin toward destruction. It raised the young man from death to life again. 

The dead man sat up and began to speak,

and Jesus gave him to his mother.

Jesus is pained by every relationship that sin and death have broken or rendered less than they were meant to be. And his mother shares his heart. We should avail ourselves of the pity they feel, the fact that their hearts are moved with compassion for us. They want to enter the dark, silent, and isolated, places of grief and brief new life. Those who once lived in spiritual death can learn to speak the lifegiving words of the Gospel. Those headed from death to death can change trajectory, going instead from life to more life, from glory to glory. The results of Jesus entering into these dark places, the results of the sorrowful heart of his mother calling him there, is always going to be as it was in the case at Nain:

Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming,

"A great prophet has arisen in our midst,"

and "God has visited his people."

Something beyond the merely human had occured. Something that could only be accounted for by God himself had been accomplished. And it all began in the heart of a grieving mother.

Red Rocks Worship - Good Plans

16 September 2024 - not worthy to receive you

Today's Readings

(Audio)

"He deserves to have you do this for him,

for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us."

When we come to Jesus with our needs we often have thoughts that prompt us to believe that we deserve his help and ought to receive what we ask of him. We may not have built in synagogue. But we have generally been good, faithful Christians. We haven't, hopefully, sinned mortally. We've gone to mass. Maybe we've even consistently performed works of charity. Above all, we do have faith. Isn't it faith that is supposed to unlock the door to answered prayers? Isn't this, finally the thing, we can take to Jesus as payment for our prayers? 

Lord, do not trouble yourself,

for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof.

Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you;

but say the word and let my servant be healed.

We are not meant to go to Jesus on the basis of anything we are in ourselves. We have hope because he comes to us with no regard to our limitations and liabilities. The centurion did have faith in the authority of Jesus. But this was not a fact that made him feel entitled. If anything, it made him hope in Jesus in spite of feeling unworthy. Had he been only looking at himself and what he had to offer he saw himself realistically enough that he would not have even asked. But, because his focus was on Jesus, and because he saw the power Jesus possessed, it didn't seem like a stretch that his healing hand could reach past all barriers and touch his slave who was ill and about to die.

For I too am a person subject to authority,

with soldiers subject to me.

And I say to one, Go, and he goes;

and to another, Come here, and he comes;

and to my slave, Do this, and he does it."

To be clear, the centurion was not indulging in self-pity when he stated he was unworthy to receive Jesus. He was stating an objective fact that is true of every human being. That is why Catholics throughout the ages, including holy popes and great saints, have repeated his words when we participate in the mass. For who could deserve the gift of the body, blood, soul, and divinity, of the second person of the Trinity? And yet this is offered freely to all who desire it, provided they don't willingly turn aside from the free gift of grace.

When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him

and, turning, said to the crowd following him,

"I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith."

When we need something from Jesus let's not spend time calculating what would be required of us to attain it, how much holiness, how many rosaries, litanies, or whatever else. Let's not look so much at ourselves at all, nor the circumstances that might make our requests appear impossible. The authority of Jesus is sufficiently great to cover all distance, break through all barriers, and change any circumstances.

What is the litmus test that we are actually trusting in Jesus more than ourselves? One such test would be when we don't receive what we ask. Do we then start to assess what we did wrong or what more we might have done? Or do we rather keep our focus on Jesus himself? We should know that if we have asked for something good and it has not yet been given, we are that much closer to the time when it will be.

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (see Luke 11:13).

Elevation Worship - See A Victory

15 September 2024 - what say you?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

"Who do people say that I am?"

Other people had opinions or ideas about who Jesus was or might be. Was Jesus in some way a prophetic figure? Yes, absolutely. But it was not the case that this was all that he was or that his entire identity could be summed up in this way. 

If Jesus had been only a prophet it would have still been important how people responded to him. They could have demonstrated their fidelity to God by listening to the one sent by him. But Jesus was much more than a prophet. And who he was implied that the way one responded to him was correspondingly more critical. It was not enough to repeat the opinion of others about Jesus. The question of the identity of Jesus was something that each person could truly only answer for himself. An answer to this question could not be borrowed.

Peter said to him in reply,

"You are the Christ."

Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.

Peter and the disciples had now unlocked a deeper understanding of the identity of Jesus than that of the crowds. In saying that he was the messiah they implied that he was the complete fulfillment of the hopes of Israel in a way that the crowds had not yet perceived or accepted. But, even though it was clear that the disciples attained true knowledge by supernatural revelation from the Father, it was also clear that their knowledge was as yet imperfect. Jesus was indeed the Christ. But the Christ was not who the imagined him to be. They must have imagined that the messiah would of necessity by consistently successful and ultimately victorious. How else could he fulfill the hopes of Israel?

He began to teach them

that the Son of Man must suffer greatly

and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,

and be killed, and rise after three days.

How could an ignominious death result in the fulfillment of the hopes of Israel? Why would the Son of Man need to suffer greatly in order to unleash the promises of God upon the world? Asking questions like this represented a very human way of thinking. But God had other ideas. Peter rebuked Jesus for saying this because he wanted Jesus to be a messiah who gave the world what it thought it desired rather than that which it truly needed. But that was because the world itself did not yet recognize its deepest needs. It was perhaps impossible to see just how vile was the sin that afflicted the earth until it sunk its claws into Jesus, the wholly innocent and perfect one. It was hard to imagine a greater prize than a perfected world, Romans gone, and bread aplenty, until the resurrection revealed that we were all meant for more than a merely prolonged life with the kinks smoothed out.

At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples,

rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan.

You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."

In hindsight it is easy to criticize Peter for standing in the way of the plan of Jesus. He was basically offering the same temptation as Satan when he offered Jesus all of the Kingdoms of the world without a cross. The very fact that people wanted this so much made it necessary to be firm in rejecting it. But we err in the same archetype of Peter when criticize God for the ongoing presence of suffering in our lives. Jesus did not come to simply remove all suffering, but rather to transform it.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life for my sake

and that of the gospel will save it.

Salvation to Jesus meant more than a mere removal of difficulties. It was a surgical healing that would ultimately destroy the selfish ego so that love might truly reign in every heart. We all hate to hear that this is basically unattainable without suffering. But it is not just any suffering that will serve. Only when we follow Jesus and unite our crosses to the one he first bore for us will our own suffering have merit. It should be obvious by now why other people's opinions are insufficient to enter into this mystery. But perhaps it sounds more dire than in reality it is meant to be. After all, we do not bear the yoke of discipleship alone, but together with Jesus. And when we do this, even while we are still growing, still in the process of being transformed, we can know the rest and the peace he promised.

So also faith of itself,

if it does not have works, is dead.

Faith must mean more than the possession of data about Jesus, even if that data is correct. It must motivate us, and have a connection to our hearts. If it does not achieve the work of transforming us it is deficient somehow. We know well enough that are faith doesn't always reach our hearts and motivate us as much as we would like. Hence we repeat the prayer of the father of the possessed boy, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (see Mark 9:24).

David Crowder Band - Here Is Our King

14 September 2024 - lift high the cross

Today's Readings

(Audio)

No one has gone up to heaven

except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.

Humanity has always been ready and willing to try to climb from here to heaven. This was evident ever since the construction of the Tower of Babel when the builders said, "let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves" (see Genesis 11:4). But Jesus explained that there was a distance between heaven and earth that was so great that it could not be bridged from our side. Only the Son of Man acting as a bridge between heaven and earth could connect us from the top down, rather than us achieving it from the bottom up. He was therefore the ladder upon whom the angels of heaven would ascend and descend as he told Nicodemus (see John 1:51). 

Several additional facts follow from the truth that Jesus was the only one to come down from heaven. It meant that he was the only one who could truly reveal God the Father. As Jesus said, "no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (see Matthew 11:27). It also meant that our only hope to ascend to heaven would be through the person of Jesus Christ himself. It wasn't as though Jesus simply built a bridge and then left us to climb it. Rather, he himself remains the only bridge connecting humanity and divinity, heaven and earth. It is for this reason that "there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (see Acts 4:12). He himself is "the way" as well as the truth and the life (see John 14:6).

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,

so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

Considering what we have said about the exulted status of Jesus these next verses are all the more surprising. Why would someone in the form of God empty himself, take the form of a slave, and become obedient even unto death? We can imagine a royal king showing up to conquer enemies and save the day. But the king offering himself for the sake of those who are to him even less than peasants? It should be unthinkable except that we are so used to hearing it. Couldn't Jesus just come and forcibly set things right? Perhaps, but perhaps also the outcome of such as external imposition would be a less meaningful form of salvation than what he ultimately chose to give us. 

Sin and death are ugly, like the saraph serpents in the desert. We might have preferred for God to simply come in and remove them and the effects of their poison. But God chose to do something different. He decreed that the those who had been stung must look upon the bronze serpent on the poll. This action required the use of free will and represented repentance. It was a form of owning the ugliness in which one had become complicit. Thinking about making such a choice, it is clear that one who received healing in that way, rather than by being allowed to ignore the problem, would be healed at an existentially deeper level. Their own freedom was refashioned as they cooperated with the grace that made their healing possible. This foreshadowed what happened with Jesus himself, as the prophet Zechariah predicted, "when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn" (see Zechariah 12:10).

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,

so that everyone who believes in him might not perish

but might have eternal life.

The point of the serpents was not to kill those in the desert, but to provoke them to turn to God who desired to heal them. He wasn't out to get them. And he isn't out to get us, as though he were waiting for us to sin as an excuse to condemn us. Rather he goes to the greatest lengths imaginable to offer us salvation. He isn't stingy in what he offers, no matter how narrow the road is said to be. It is only because of the heights he desires us to reach that the way to get there must be so specific.

Let's not flatter God with our mouths and lie to him with our tongues. We need our hearts refashioned in order that we might be steadfast toward him and faithful to his covenant. Just as for all past generations, he has mercy on all those who fear him, forgiving their sin and destroying them not. Let us remember these wonderful works of the Lord. When we do not know which way to turn this sacred memory can give us direction. When we think we've hit our limits it can give us hope. God is truly on rock and our redeemer.

Leeland - Way Maker

13 September 2024 - see levels

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Can a blind person guide a blind person?

Will not both fall into a pit?

We might assume that there wouldn't be that many blind guides, people offering navigation services without a map, a sense of direction, or the ability to perceive hazards. But in the time of Jesus the Pharisees were such.

Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains (see John 9:40-41).

From the Pharisees we can begin to learn why such guides exist so as to avoid availing ourselves of their services, and, hopefully, to avoid becoming like them ourselves. What was the primary problem for the Pharisees? It was their unwillingness to come to terms with their own blindness so as to let themselves be led. They preferred to come up with a list of reasons to prove that they had perfect spiritual sight while ignoring the spiritual ruts and holes into which they consistently fell. It was perhaps the case that they had an instance of the sunk cost fallacy because of their training. They thought that they ought to have known what they needed to know so, rather than confirming whether that was true, they simply insisted they did. After all, they were Pharisees. The position itself seemed to mean that they must have something to offer. But what they actually had to offer was not something anyone would really want.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves (see Matthew 23:15).

We risk becoming like the Pharisees because there is much that we believe we ought to know, and holiness we ought to possess, that we do not yet know or possess. But others see us and assume we do know and possess these things. So we play the role rather than disillusion them. We become all too ready to become a central hub of guidance rather than a disciple who points the way to Jesus, the trust master, teacher, and guide.

No disciple is superior to the teacher;

but when fully trained,

every disciple will be like his teacher.

We have the hope of becoming like Jesus our teacher when we continue to act as disciples, sufficiently empty to allow him to fill us, but not so open as to allow ourselves to be filled with whatever noxious substances the world would pour into us given half a chance. What we receive from Jesus is sometimes challenging because it is not always affirming of our choices and way of living. What the world offers is easy to take. It would never suggest there was anything wrong with us, all the while undermining our ability to know and connect with our true purpose. The brew of the world desensitizes us and makes us spiritually slow and sleepy. The living water of Jesus wakes us up and helps us to see. It is the latter that gives life.

Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye,

but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?

When there is some possibility that we are spiritually blind and too self-assured to be taught our initial response is not usually one of critical self-assessment guided by the Holy Spirit. Instead we tend to resort to comparing ourselves to others. Our respond might be, 'It may be true, but at least I'm not like so and so who does such and such'. We want to believe we are good enough. And so we insist that others are not good enough and we are at least better than they. Such motivations make it dangerous when we try to remove a splinter from the eye of our brother. In such a state we're far too blind, too inwardly focused, to perform any successful operations for others.

Remove the wooden beam from your eye first;

then you will see clearly

to remove the splinter in your brother's eye.

We need help to get our own vision clear. Then we will see that we have been loved all along despite whatever our weaknesses and liabilities may have been. Jesus will show us that even while we were sinners he gave his life for us. We could never have earned this gift. Even now there is no sense insisting on our own perfection as though we can pay him back. Instead we should allow ourselves to become disciples, open to what he wants to give, malleable as he trains us, so that we may become more and more like him. 

Hillsong - To Be Like You

Laura Hackett - I Put On Christ

12 September 2024 - not all that glitters is a golden rule

Today's Readings

(Audio)

To you who hear I say, love your enemies,

do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you,

pray for those who mistreat you.

So, is Christian morality basically the same as that of other other religions? Do Christians basically believe the same things about doing good and avoiding evil that have been taught since time immemorial by poets and philosophers and political statesmen? Well yes, Christians do believe that one should not do to another what he would not want done to himself. But we believe much more than this, much that is not commonsense, and that indeed probably seems like nonsense from an outside perspective.

To the person who strikes you on one cheek,

offer the other one as well,

and from the person who takes your cloak,

do not withhold even your tunic.

Most (though not all) people believe in avoiding striking first, but there is by no means a consensus about not hitting back after a certain threshold is met. Once someone starts to threaten us, physically, or even in terms of our property, we believe that if we don't assert ourselves in the right way we will become doormats upon whom others will walk. The fact that this isn't commonsense is evident from the fact that even we Christians have misgivings about how practical such commands really are. We know and correctly understand that we don't have enough within us to give to everyone who asks without the risk of being quickly worn out and used up.

These commandments of Jesus are not meant to make us into passive doormat Christians. They are rather geared to make us imitators of Jesus himself, who not only preached these things, but demonstrated them by how he lived. He gave freely to all who came to him. However, he did not enable a vicious lifestyle by catering to their whims. Rather, he did so in a way that rendered those to whom he gave more fully alive and human. Even though he did indeed give his "cheeks to those who pull out the beard" (see Isaiah 50:6) he did not merely give himself to the first person that picked up a stone, or allow himself to be pushed from a cliff by whoever felt like it. His self-gift was strategic. It was an action, not of weakness, but of love. 

you will be children of the Most High,

for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful.

Jesus was of course the only begotten Son of the Father. He was teaching his listeners how they too could act as children of God. In order to do so they would need to get out of the business of self protection and ego defense and surrender their lives into the hands of God, just as Jesus did. This was possible when one understood that doing so was not simply giving up. It was an act of trust in the Father, and belief that he loved his children and would deliver them, just as he delivered Jesus on the morning of the first Easter.

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him (see First John 4:16).

When we begin to live like children of the Most High our own ability to give to others is exponentially multiplied. And this becomes as virtuous cycle as God is never outdone in generosity.

Give and gifts will be given to you;

a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,

will be poured into your lap.

Once we stop insisting on taking care of ourselves and getting what we can get, and instead rely on God to take care of us and bring us what we need we will always have an abundance.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work (see Second Corinthians 9:8).

Shane and Shane - Take Over

11 September 2024 - the world in its present form is passing away

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Blessed are you who are poor,

for the Kingdom of God is yours.

Jesus gave a blueprint for a Kingdom that was practically a reversal of the priorities of typically earthly kingdoms. Such kingdoms sought wealth, reliable access to sustenance, entertainment, and popularity. But Jesus revealed it was not by seeking such things that his true and lasting Kingdom could be found. How could a Kingdom that was poor, hungry, sorrowful, and persecuted survive in a world ruled by the wealthy and the powerful? Yet that Kingdom did in fact survived in the two thousand years since it was established by Jesus. Its very lack of worldly resources and rewards was often what made it so credible. There was nothing to explain it but God himself. It was poor, but he protected it. It was hungry, but he gave himself to it as the bread of life. In the world it often experienced sadness, but he consoled it with supernatural joy. It was persecuted, but he gave it victory, not by conquest, but within the persecution itself, seen in the crown won by the martyrs in every age.

But woe to you who are rich,

for you have received your consolation.

While we live in this world we risk making the mistake of prioritizing our consolation and satisfaction in the here and now at the expense of the eternal. We may become like the man from the parable who built increasingly large silos to hold his earthly wealth so that he could continue to ignore his lack of spiritual riches (see Luke 12:13-21). Having material goods on earth does not exclude one from the Kingdom of Jesus. But seeking earthly things as though they were true and lasting treasure is a recipe for disaster. Earthly things have the power to hypnotize and transfix us to the extent that we ignore what ought to be more important. Making earthly realities our ultimate goal is a kind of idolatry that ends up closing us in our ourselves and making us less than fully human. 

Woe to you who laugh now,

for you will grieve and weep.

We need a big picture perspective in order to follow the wisdom of the teaching of Jesus in regard to where true blessing is to be found. For it may be the case that we must exercise patient, hope, and trust in this life while looking to the true fulfillment of his promises in heaven. But if we do trust him we can have this rock solid hope even in the midst of the most difficult circumstances. His resurrection is our own guarantee that the present state of this world is not the final word on things, that it is rather, as Paul said, "passing away".

Pat Barrett - The Way (New Horizon)

10 September 2024 - he chose Twelve

Today's Readings

(Audio)

When day came, he called his disciples to himself,

and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles

Yesterday when Jesus healed the man with the withered hand he hinted that the restoration of Israel, the ten tribes of the northern kingdom, and the two tribes of the south, had begun. With the choosing of twelve apostles he continued this project of creating a unified Israel. But this was going to be a new Israel that was more than a merely physical nation. Not that Israel was ever ordinary, but it did function in ways more consistent with a typical nation. But this new Israel was different. It didn't operate by military force but rather by the power of the Spirit. It wasn't governed or spread by compulsion but rather by the law of freedom.

It was not a lesser thing than an earthly Kingdom. We can see this from Paul in the first reading when he asked, "If the world is to be judged by you, are you unqualified for the lowest law courts?" But it was clear that at least as the Church in Corinth was structured, they had to opt in to the higher and willingly forego the lower. Even this spiritual authority of people within the Church was only a fallback that ought not to have been necessary if the members therein yielded to the true authority of love, since it was, "in any case, a failure on your part that you have lawsuits against one another". 

There was a real authority vested in the leaders of the Church, since Jesus told the twelve that they would "sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (see Matthew 19:28). But this was an authority under which one would need to submit himself willingly, not like a state in which legal compliance was not optional. Such spiritual authority was not impressive in the eyes of the world. It was much more natural to prefer the obviously impactful and aggressive power wielded by nations, whether militarily against other nations, or against their citizenry by means of their laws and courts. But the authority of the Church was rooted in wisdom and revelation, it was so deeply grounded in revealed truth that it took an entire night in prayer before Jesus called the initial twelve apostles.

A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people

from all Judea and Jerusalem

and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon

came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;

and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured.

The crowds did not come to join an army or to conquer and cast our the Roman occupying force. What they received was not having their claims adjudicated against those who had wronged them. It was an entirely different sort of Kingdom in which they found themselves. It was a Kingdom in which Jesus taught divine wisdom, healed diseases, and cast out unclean spirits. In that Kingdom people would be taught that mercy was essential, and ought to be prioritized over strict justice. It wasn't a matter of people going to Jesus to get what they wanted, but rather to become what they were meant to be, as all "in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all". 

All of us have in some measure tried to live for our superficial desires, to squeeze from life all we could. But our true identity is as people meant to spread freedom, life, and wholeness, just as Jesus did. We hear in Paul's letter to the Church at Corinth a call to act in a way consistent with who we have become.

but now you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified,

you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ

and in the Spirit of our God.

Elevation Worship featuring Brandon Lake - There Is A King

9 September 2024 - is it lawful to do good?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Then Jesus said to them,

"I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath

rather than to do evil,

to save life rather than to destroy it?"

Jesus called out the scribes and Pharisees who were themselves doing work that was less noble than that of Jesus on the sabbath. The work of Jesus was always good rather than evil, saving life rather than destroying it. He did not come to condemn the world but rather that the world might be saved through him (see John 3:17). But the opponents of Jesus sought do evil, to destroy Jesus, who was himself goodness in person. They showed their character as children of the devil, a liar, and a murderer from the first (see John 8:44). They did not rest from this persecution of Jesus even on the sabbath. By contrast, Jesus came that all might have life, and have it in abundance (see John 10:10). There was no better day than the sabbath for this gift of life and abundance to overflow from Jesus to those in need. Those deprived of the fullness of life would finally be able to enter into the rest of God by coming into contact with Jesus himself. It was not a deviation from strict sabbath protocols. It was a restoration of what the sabbath was meant to be.

Looking around at them all, he then said to him,

"Stretch out your hand."

He did so and his hand was restored.

When Israel was split into northern and southern kingdoms the king of the north, Jeroboam, told the people to forget Jerusalem, pointing toward the altar of a rival sanctuary he had arbitrarily established. But in so doing his hand withered and remained in that state until a prophet of God prayed that he would be healed (see First Kings 13:4-6). He experienced what the psalmist meant when he wrote, "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither!" (see Psalm 137:5). When Jesus healed the hand of the man in the synagogue, it was not implied that the man had done anything wrong. But his healing was still a prophetic sign that the restoration of Israel was beginning.¹

But they became enraged

and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.

The opponents of Jesus weren't interested in seeing Israel restored. They didn't care about the afflictions of those around them. Neither did they care about the true purpose of the sabbath. They were so focused on their own work, which for them had become synonymous with destroying the ministry and even the life of Jesus himself, that they could think of nothing else.

It was actually an even deeper restoration that Jesus was inaugurating than only that of the tribes of Israel. It went back further, affecting all humanity, including us. As the Bede the Venerable said, "The man represents the human race, withered by the unfruitfulness of good works, because of the hand in our first parent stretched forth to take the apple, which was healed by the innocent hand stretched forth on the cross". Just as we have been complicit in the sin of Adam so now let us receive the healing Jesus desires to give. Our right hand loses its skill, its ability to achieve for us a fulfilled human life, whenever we sin. But Jesus is always ready and waiting to restore our life once more.

1) Gadenz, Pablo T.. The Gospel of Luke (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture): (A Catholic Bible Commentary on the New Testament by Trusted Catholic Biblical Scholars - CCSS) (p. 124). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

Housefires II - Come To The River

8 September 2024 - plugged in

Today's Readings

(Audio)

And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment

and begged him to lay his hand on him.

We can only imagine how isolating such a condition would have been in days before standardized sign language, and how limited would have been the ideas he could communicate or the feelings he could express. Yet at least we see that he had people who cared for him enough to bring him to Jesus. They had a sense of how much he could benefit from the ministry of Jesus even if he couldn't express his need to them so in so many words. Indeed, without hearing it would have been quite difficult for the man himself to have any sense of who Jesus was or what he was about unless he saw an obvious physical miracle first hand. But there is no indication of this in the text. Still, he allowed his friends who cared for him to bring him before Jesus. The way they begged Jesus to lay his hand on him was something that the deaf man was probably able to interpret. His friends who cared for him were asking Jesus for help.

He took him off by himself away from the crowd.

The deaf man allowed himself to be led by Jesus, most likely at least partially because of the sincere concern of his friends that brought him to that point. The trust he had in has friends was now poised to become trust in Jesus himself, but it couldn't just happen automatically. He was meant to have an intimate one-on-one experience of Jesus himself. And the experience he had began in way that would not need ears to interpret. Jesus made a connection with him that was physical and visceral. He touched the very places in which healing was needed. As he did so, the abundant life with which Jesus himself was filled surged into the deaf man, preparing him so that when Jesus commanded, "Ephphatha!" his body itself responded and obeyed. It was best for the marvelous miracle to occur away from the cacophony and sensory overload of the crowd. It was even better to occur away from the friends who had led him to the point. His newly healed sense of hearing could thus receive the words of Jesus as the first and central words, and only after that of others. 

And immediately the man’s ears were opened,

his speech impediment was removed,

and he spoke plainly.

It was a twofold miracle performed by Jesus. He not only gave the man the ability to hear, but also the ability to speak. It seemed that it wasn't the gradual transition we might expect but that he immediately "spoke plainly". We might imagine that after so long without the ability to express himself he would have had much to say. But it is likely the what was first and foremost in his heart that he desired to express was that which the rest of the crowd joined him in exclaiming, "He has done all things well.

He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak".

In our own lives it is often the case that Jesus is able to work best when he can bring us away from the crowds in order to have a more focused encounter with him. Rather than in the normal routines of work and relaxation, a different context helps prepare us to pay him the deeper attention that makes us good recipients of his power. This isn't to say we have to go on retreat every time we find ourselves in need. But it does speak to one reason why retreats tend to be potent with potential for Jesus to work. At least it indicates why we should carve time for Jesus in our schedules which is reserved for him alone, and not shared with other concerns, such as we are able. 

If, as Bede said "he is deaf and dumb, who neither has ears to hear the words of God, nor opens his mouth to speak them" then we all at times qualify as in need of healing. Our friends can help us by interceding with Jesus for us. But if we want to grow in our ability to hear Jesus and to speak his word we need to let him make a connection with us as he did for the deaf man, not just once, but regularly.

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,

the ears of the deaf be cleared;

then will the lame leap like a stag,

then the tongue of the mute will sing.

Bob Fitts - He Will Come And Save You

7 September 2024 - fed for mission

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Have you not read what David did

David was the rightful heir to the throne of Israel but Saul was pursuing him with the goal of putting him to death. So too was Jesus the rightful heir to the throne, the Davidic Messiah who had at last appeared, who was now being pursued by the Pharisees. By comparing himself to David, Jesus indicated that the normal demands of the law ought to yield to the needs of the persecuted king. But there was more.

How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering,

which only the priests could lawfully eat,

ate of it, and shared it with his companions?

It was legitimate to do the work of a priest on the sabbath, as did those who served in the house of God and ate the bread of offering. The true Davidic king was also a priestly figure in the mold of the mysterious Melchizedek who was both priest and king. The mission of Jesus as the Messiah thus had precedent in the life of David. Since David's kingship had a priestly character it was fitting for he and his companions to share in the show bread that was otherwise reserved for temple priests. And it was altogether fitting for such priests to do their work on the sabbath. Thus it was entirely appropriate for Jesus himself and his disciples to pursue the mission of the Kingdom as they did.

Jesus was perhaps also hinting at a deeper level at which his own mission was to be a priestly mission. The words "took", "bread", and "shared" occur in combination later at the feeding of the five thousand and at the Last Supper (see Luke 9:16, 22:19).¹ 

Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”

In claiming that Jesus himself was something greater than the temple and the lord of the sabbath, Jesus went beyond appropriating for himself the mere precedent of David. For David was not greater than the temple. Nor was he the lord of the sabbath. Indeed, no character in all of scripture, no mere mortal could make such claims. Such statements could only be properly understood as claims of the divinity of Jesus. The one greater than the temple was the one to whom worship in the temple was dedicated. The lord of the sabbath was the one who established the sabbath and made it holy. The way in which David was a priest, prophet, and king merely foreshadowed and hinted at the way in which his Messianic heir would be both fully human and fully divine. The importance of the kingship of David was just a dim shadow of the way in which God intended to bless the world through the kingship of Jesus. Not only was the sabbath not opposed to that mission but it could never achieve its full purpose of communion between God and man without that mission. If the sabbath was meant for rest, it was a rest that could ultimately only be attained by coming to Jesus himself to find it.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (see Matthew 11:28).

Shane and Shane - Psalm 34 (Taste And See)

---

1) Gadenz, Pablo T.. The Gospel of Luke (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture): (A Catholic Bible Commentary on the New Testament by Trusted Catholic Biblical Scholars - CCSS) (p. 123). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

6 September 2024 - grave expectations

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers,

and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same;

but yours eat and drink.”

The disciples of Jesus did not seem to live a typically religious or ascetic lifestyle. The way they lived made others question them, or question Jesus about them. There was a surprising amount of freedom in the community of his followers. It seemed as though there was practically a party breaking out when they got together. Nothing irked the professionally religious like this spirit of freedom and joy. They insisted on being serious, aloof, and condescending. Only from such heights could they maintain the positions in which they took pride. The atmosphere around Jesus and his disciples seemed too wild, too chaotic, and too unpredictable for something as serious as growth in holiness to take place.

Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast

while the bridegroom is with them?

Jesus and his disciples had good reason to celebrate. The Pharisees and the disciples of John had calibrated their religious activity to a time when the Messiah had not yet arrived. As such it was marked by longing and preparation. But now that he had arrived on the scene it was actually an insult to be unwilling to join the party. Like the elder son that didn't want to join the celebrate in honor of the homecoming of the younger brother, the Pharisees resisted the suggestion of a celebration. But the root cause of this reluctance was their lack of recognition of the identity of Jesus himself. They did not accept that he was the Messiah, because they assumed the Messiah would be a more precise match for their own expectations. They were not expecting the coming of a bridegroom. They had no idea of attending a marriage feast between heaven and earth, even though they were being invited to precisely this by God himself. But they could have been ready, because such a feast had been promised by the prophets.

For your Maker is your husband,

the Lord of hosts is his name;

and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,

the God of the whole earth he is called.

For the Lord has called you

like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit,

like a wife of youth when she is cast off,

says your God.

For a brief moment I deserted you,

but with great compassion I will gather you (see Isaiah 54:5-7).

It is altogether too possible to become content with old wine, sufficiently numbed that we aren't able to recognize when something better is poured out and set before us. Even if we have grown accustomed to something good, if the one offering something better is God himself, well, let us drink.

God And Man At Table Are Sat Down

5 September 2024 - depth perception

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,

he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.

Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

Jesus involved himself in Simon's life by asking of him the favor of using his boat as a platform from which to teach the crowds. Simon's own attempt to use the boat for its primary purpose of fishing had already ended in disappointment. Whether he was thrilled that Jesus chose him for this or not is unclear, but in any event he put up with it. As a consequence he was positioned near Jesus where he could take in more of the teaching then he could have when he was at work for his own purposes. Somewhere along the way his esteem of Jesus seemed to grow. When Jesus suggested something that seemed humanly pointless he was willing to trust Jesus over and above his own judgment, and this in spite of the fact that Jesus wasn't a fisher, and therefore not apparently an expert.

After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,

"Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch."

Simon said in reply,

"Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,

but at your command I will lower the nets."

Jesus told Simon to put out into the deep. This meant moving away from the shore and away from comfort. It meant moving it territory that was new and untried and potentially intimidating. Shallow waters were safe no matter what happened. But in the deep all danger was magnified by the lack of easy options for escape. But it was in the depths, guided by Jesus, that new and unguessed opportunity was to be found.

When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish

and their nets were tearing.

They signaled to their partners in the other boat

to come to help them.

This great catch of fish seemed so improbable after the complete lack of success from which Simon had come that he practically couldn't believe it. He was overwhelmed by the prescience with which Jesus knew exactly where fish were to be found. But it wasn't as though Jesus was merely some kind of precision sonar fish finder. The sheer quantity of the catch was clearly beyond anything Simon had ever seen.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,

"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."

No doubt it was always the plan of Jesus to do this for Simon. But his plan was not to enhance his business by making him a more accurate fisher. He did this rather to reveal himself and to give a sign to indicate what he had planned for the future of Simon and his companions.

Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid;

from now on you will be catching men."

The lives of Simon and his companions to that point had been a preparation, not so much of the specific skills they would use going forward, but as a context into which Jesus was able to speak. He connected with them at a deeper level than even than that into which the fishing boats ventured. The whole history of their past lives was thereby taken up, transformed, and given new meaning. They had previously been catching fish. But Jesus demonstrated that even, as it were, winning at that game, was to be a purpose far inferior to accompanying him into the ever deepening waters of mission.

When they brought their boats to the shore,

they left everything and followed him.

After the event in the boat they no longer felt the need to make a gradual transition from their previous lives or to have contingency plans in place before making the change. Jesus had demonstrated that he was trustworthy and reliable to a supernatural degree.

Peter came to trust in the wisdom of Jesus over and above his own so as to allow himself to be led into the depths. We sometimes prefer to think of ourselves as wise and refuse to let ourselves be led. But if the depths are where true life is found let us listen to Paul and "become a fool, so as to become wise".

Deep calls to deep

in the roar of your torrents (see Psalm 42:8)

Hillsong UNITED - Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)

4 September 2024 - unbound

Today's Readings

(Audio)

He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her.

She got up immediately and waited on them.

The rebukes of Jesus had power, not only over demons, but even over the physical phenomena of nature such as storms and illnesses. Only with this degree of authority could Jesus truly deliver on his promise to set all captives at liberty, as he here freed Simon's mother-in-law from her affliction. We can see that the debilitating disease had prevented her from thriving and living a fulfilling life. She had not been able to put her time and talent to use in the ways that she desired. Even more than removing the fever, restoring her ability to do so was what Jesus desired. It was like a resurrection from death to life, after which she seemed to immediately find her place in the theo-drama centered around Jesus himself. Perhaps even if we are healthy we still need the help of this power of Jesus to rebuke forces keeping us bound and depriving us of agency so that we too can take a more active role in his story.

And demons also came out from many, shouting, “You are the Son of God.”

But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak

because they knew that he was the Christ.

Jesus wasn't in the business of healing the sick in order to gain popularity. In fact it seemed as though he did it in spite of that risk. He didn't want to reveal himself in ways that were incomplete, partial, and potentially misleading. Those whom he healed didn't always have a full understanding of his mission. Painting him as a healer or wonderworker was a far too simple way of categorizing him. Even though demons said, and couldn't help but say, true things about Jesus, Jesus did not allow them to be the ones to decide the time, place, and means, in which and by which he would reveal himself. The perspective of the forces of darkness on the identity of Jesus may not have been wrong, but it was unlikely to lead to faith of the sort Jesus was seeking in his followers.

The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him,

they tried to prevent him from leaving them.

Once a miracle occurs we are all too ready to make that the one and only permanent job for Jesus. Whether these healings described by Luke or the multiplication of the loaves or other times, people were always ready to sit back and let Jesus solve their problems. They weren't particularly interested in what else he might have planned. They didn't need a Kingdom that did anything more than solve their most immediate problems. But Jesus refused to be bound by the insistence of the crowds. The healings, miracles, and wonders, would continue, but only always in the services of the larger mission of proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God. This good news had a greater meaning than bread that would satisfy for a day or even the healing of diseases after which one would still die. The true oppression he sought to overcome was that of sin. The final enemy he would defeat was to be death itself.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death (see First Corinthians 15:26).

Matt Maher - Christ Is Risen

3 September 2024 - free indeed (and word and thought)

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee.

He taught them on the sabbath,

and they were astonished at his teaching

because he spoke with authority.

They were astonished because they were used to hear teachers who were all talk. Some may have spoken at a high level of abstraction with no connection to daily life. Some may have promoted grandiose ideals. Others may have tried to impart some kind of practical wisdom which could be useful in daily life. But Jesus was different. His words affected the world more directly than anyone else the crowds had ever heard. His message was transformative. This was true for everyone who listened with faith. It was not merely a matter of some individuals finding a few interesting takeaways with which to enrich their experience of the world. It was rather than case that whole new vistas of reality and an entirely different paradigm were opened to those who listened with faith. It gave them not only something they could do themselves but itself did something within them. The words of Jesus were living and effective in a way that no one else's words had ever been. No man had spoken as this man had spoken (see John 7:46).

In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon,

and he cried out in a loud voice,

"What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?

Have you come to destroy us?

I know who you are–the Holy One of God!"

When we hear the stories of Jesus casting out unclean spirits we tend to tune out. This is not a problem we are expecting to experience in our own lives. We wonder if perhaps the frequency of this sort of thing in the bible is some kind of cultural artifact or if these stories were coded ways to convey something that is merely psychological. But the enemy is happy to have us underestimate his presence and activity in our own world. We may often experience genuine spiritual warfare. But in order to survive it helps to recognize this is what is happening. We are meant to resist the devil so that he will flee from us. But we will not do so if we assume that the hostility of evil powers is merely a matter of bad luck. When we are being strategized against we will likely respond differently than to mere happenstance. 

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (see James 4:7).

It is a fair counterpoint to say that most people we know, from the very good to the morally corrupt and rotten, will never experience full-blown demonic possession. Thank God for that.  Although to say that is not to say that all or most are free from some form of lesser oppression from the forces of the enemy, oppression from which Jesus desires to free them. 

Even apart from the activity of the demonic we can still learn a lot from the way in which Jesus set such captives of demons free. Those demons caused individuals to perceive Jesus as a threat and to indulge in speaking all kinds of negativity. Step one for Jesus was to silence this demonic train of thought so that the hold evil had on the individual could be loosened. There might be a lot of resistance as the demon was cast out, as the attachment he had to the individual was broken, but even though this might have seemed worrisome to witness the demon was not ultimately able to do any harm to the him. 

There is much in our own lives from which we still need to be set free. There is still plenty of disordered attachment and habitual sin that we need the authority of the words of Jesus to heal for us. But our minds do not always judge these things spiritually in the way Paul enjoined. We sometimes continue to think at the level of the flesh, to which all possibility of further growth and deliverance appears to be foolishness. We have received the Holy Spirit, but we do not always rely on the wisdom he teaches us in order to understand the world. We are meant to think, not as demons suggest, but with the mind of Christ. We need to be delivered, not just once at the beginning, but more and more. Let us listen to the words of the one who came to set captives free.

 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed 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).

Newsboys - I Am Free (Who The Son Sets Free)

2 September 2024 - mission statement

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring glad tidings to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

Those in the synagogue at Nazareth heard Jesus proclaim this passage from Isaiah as his mission statement. He was the messiah, the one anointed by the Spirit of the Lord, to proclaim a new and definitive year of jubilee, not just for Israel, but for the world.

You shall proclaim liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you (see Leviticus 25:10)¹

Jesus' mission was to bring about a restoration, particularly for the poor and those afflicted, whether physically or spiritually. He would open the eyes of the blind while condemning those who were spiritually blind and claimed to see. He came to help not only those who were physically poor but also those humble enough to recognize their spiritual poverty and become like little children. He would fill the hungry with good things, while sending the rich away empty.

He said to them,

“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

The crowd in the synagogue had the opportunity to be among those who received the message of Jesus as good news that could transform their own lives. And at first this seemed to sound good to them. They spoke highly of him and were amazed at his gracious words. But although what Jesus said was briefly acceptable to at least some of them it was not to last. People began to consider the things they had heard were done in Capernaum and noticed Jesus was not yet doing such things in Nazareth. This seemed to make them second guess Jesus, remembering what they thought they knew about his human origins as the son, as was thought, of Joseph. It felt to them like either Jesus was holding out on his own kinsmen, to whom he should have been especially obligated, or, as probably seemed even more likely, those in Capernaum were simply gullible and Jesus was who he seemed to be all along when he grew up among them: just a normal individual from their rank and file.

Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.

Jesus did not concede the point and start working miracles in Nazareth in order to vindicate himself. Rather, he doubled down by demonstrating that it was a common motif that God would bypass those close to home, those who perhaps felt entitled to his gifts, in order to give to those who would have no expectation of receiving anything. By blessing the Gentiles and momentarily ignoring the chosen people of Israel God made it clear that every gift was based, not on deserving, but on grace. In Nazareth we can see the many reasons why starting too close to home was often fraught. Misplaced expectations about the way God would act limited what the people were willing to believe about what he desired to do for them then and there. Anything God did choose to do would be regarded as not enough to satisfy the sense of entitlement the people felt. They were unable to recognize that what was being given could only be received as a gift. Rather than recognizing the the people of Capernaum received what they received by grace, the people of Nazareth could only dwell on feelings of neglect and the sense that they deserved at least as much as anyone else. God himself, in the form of Jesus Christ, was in many ways too familiar to the people of Nazareth for him to be free to act as he wished. He was familiar in the sense that they had seen and heard him speak for many years. And yet they had never penetrated the true depths within him. Rather than reassessing him on the basis of his teaching, on the fact that he spoke with authority, as no one had ever spoken, they instead chose violence in order to permanently silence him. There was too much cognitive dissonance between his words and their current assessment of him and his ministry for them to tolerate it.

They rose up, drove him out of the town,

and led him to the brow of the hill

on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong.

We, presumably, like to hear the gracious words of Jesus. But we often make judgment calls about who is entitled to receive his blessings and implicitly judge him when he doesn't bestow grace in the specific sequence we have in mind. He wants to act in ways that surprise us and make it clear that what he gives is on the  basis of grace and not merits. But we don't seem to like surprises. We prefer the orderly and predictable nature of a Jesus who never does anything above and beyond what we have already experienced from him in our lives. We sometimes even respond aggressively to the suggestion that our spiritual lives are incomplete and that he has more for us. But he always has more for us. And in this life we will always be in some measure incomplete. So let's not silence him, or begrudge him when he acts elsewhere. Instead, let us celebrate the jubilee which is already beginning whenever we listen to him with faith.

1) Gadenz, Pablo T.. The Gospel of Luke (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture): (A Catholic Bible Commentary on the New Testament by Trusted Catholic Biblical Scholars - CCSS) (p. 99). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

Matt Maher - Isaiah 61