31 July 2025 - nothing but net

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

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

The implication is that not every fish caught in the net of the Kingdom is one that will ultimately be retained at the end of the age. In this present stage of history the Kingdom is a net that, while it does collect many good fish, also incidentally collects some that are bad. Moreover, if it is designed to function like a net, attempting greater specificity such that only good fish are caught might prevent any fish from being caught at all. One implication of this is that we ought not avoid the catch that appears unsavory or unappetizing. Some of these turn out to be ideal for cuisine in the end. Nor will all the fish that look appealing at first turn out to be the best, with some perhaps being entirely inedible. Further, if the net is our starting place we ought not think of attempting to clean or prepare the fish for cooking before they are even caught. It is only once they are brought to shore that the true identity and usefulness of fish becomes manifest. As fish ourselves, those contained within the net, we would doubtlessly prefer to be more judgmental or discerning from the outset. But the fact is that if we attempt to do so we will miss out on some extraordinary flavors. If we rely on our own judgment we'll probably find ourselves unexpected poisoned or infected by something that was not superficially evident in some fish that looked good to our eyes.

"Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom
both the new and the old."

Whereas the scribes and the Pharisees were constrained to see everything only in the light of the old knowledge they already possessed the disciples were ready and willing to interpret what they already knew in light of what they were learning from Jesus. This idea of a big net seemed like anathema to the Pharisees from their reading of the Scriptures. They saw only the precedent of the bad things that happened when Israel mingled with the nations, was seduced by their ways, and chased after their idols. But the disciples saw Jesus fulfilling those same Scriptures in a way that made this big net approach make sense to them. It wasn't so much an abstract ideal Jesus was presenting as something that he revealed through his own life and example. He was a new paradigm in person, making it possible to engage with the world in heretofore unguessed ways. A transformation of society that would have seemed impossible without him seemed now to be necessary in the light of his coming. His approach wasn't leading Israel to idolatry, but rather, the Gentile nations to worship the living God. We too must learn not to live according to preexisting prejudice but rather in light of the revelation of Jesus. Only then will we bring in the robust catch of fish that Jesus desires. And that catch is necessary if the feast at the end of the age is to reach its full potential.

Robin Mark - Shout To The North

30 July 2025 - seeing for ourselves

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

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

The person that found the treasure discovered something that others had not found, recognized its value, and responded with joy. We don't always share every part of this experience. We have the treasure pointed out to us, are told of the value, and experience, not nothing, but something that falls short of pure joy. We don't appreciate the uniqueness of the treasure or how unlikely attaining it truly is. We grasp that it is valuable in some abstract sense of comprehension. But we don't really know what the value means for us. And this means that when we discover that obtaining it will cost all that we have we are often reluctant to do so.

What if we simply go and observe the treasure first hand, to see the reason for all the fuss? Perhaps a direct experience rather than hearsay will change the way we relate to the treasure. Maybe it is hard to appreciate the value through the lens of the experience of others. But maybe if we see it shining before our own eyes we will more easily understand the all surpassing difference it can make in our lives. Maybe then we will revalue it as a must have rather than a nice to have. If we must trade all that we have and all that we are for this treasure a half-hearted approach won't be enough. It is not meant to be a decoration alongside others in the art gallery of our lives. It will change everything about us in ways that are hard to fully understand before we acquire it. We may become poor in some ways, but rich in others which we had not guessed or even dreamed.

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

The merchant was able to recognize in the pearl of great price and culmination of all that he had desired and sought in his life. This pearl was the apex of value to such a degree that it was a worthy trade for all else that he possessed. Other pearls had some value, some luster, to be sure. They only hinted at the possibility that something like this pearl could exist. All of the other pearls together were not worth the price of this one. The merchant knew he was getting a bargain to receive it even in exchange for all that he had. He had two traits that helped make him ready to make this life-changing purchase. He was a connoisseur of value, and those things which had true value. And he dedicated himself to the search for the fulfillment of his desire for the highest value. This meant that when he discovered a value that surpassed all value, and a worth that transcended all else he had known, he was highly motivated to acquire it. We may assume that most folks aren't so systematic about their search for the highest things and, as a consequence, don't always recognize the true goods from those that are merely apparent. We may need to acquire a greater clarity of vision and of purpose if we are to have sufficient awareness to motivate us to obtain the Kingdom when providence brings it across our path.

How do we experience the treasure and the pearl? Do they seem worth the cost of discipleship? Well, they are worth the cost. And this means that if we do not experience them that way it is something about us, not about them. But it is something that is correctable, in light of this guidance from Jesus. As long as we believe him about the value of his Kingdom he can gradually work in our hearts to help us truly appreciate that value in a way that actually motivates us and transforms us. When we take Jesus at his word and live like his Kingdom is as valuable as he says it is we will more and more experience the reality of this claim. It is an experience so great it surpasses even that which made the face of Moses radiant before the Lord.

Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? (see Second Corinthians 3:7-8).

Lindell Cooley - Let The River Flow 

29 July 2025 - Lord, if you had been here

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Martha said to Jesus,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.

How do we respond when Jesus seems to ignore our prayers and apparently arrives too late? It seemed that Jesus did care about Lazarus, and that the request of the sisters for help ought to have been one that he found to be sympathetic. In our lives Jesus always has the ability to arrive in time, so when he seems not to do so we can only infer that it was intentional, as it in fact was in the case of Lazarus. What do we do when this happens? Do we assume that we had been wrong either about Jesus' power or his love for us? Martha was commendable in her own response. She expressed grief and confusion, but retained her confidence in Jesus:

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

She might have meant that she still believed that although he didn't grant this request he may yet grant others. Or she might have meant that although he didn't answer in the way she hoped there could yet be some unguessed way that he could answer. We suspect that she was expressing a trust in Jesus that was greater than her own understanding of what would be necessary to satisfy her desires. This was as though she said that although to her it was too late and therefore impossible to help she understood that all things were possible to God through Christ. From her point of view it seemed hopeless, but she knew that nothing could truly be hopeless were Jesus was present.

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

Martha did not find the resurrection on the last day to be a sufficient consolation to assuage her present sorrow. Lazarus was gone and she was grief-stricken. The fact that he would one day rise was something. But at that moment it did not seem to be enough. In order for her intuition about the hope present even in that difficult moment to be clarified she needed to come to a deeper understanding of Jesus. 

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

Jesus wasn't merely adjacent to the desired result, as though he were an observer or guide toward the resurrection. Rather he himself was the resurrection. And that meant that all who died in his grace were present with him, alive in him. That implied that even before Lazarus returned to physical life he was present in a mysterious way. His condition wasn't the tragedy Martha perceived it to be, or need not be, if she saw it through the eyes of this elevated faith in Jesus her Lord. Jesus didn't have to go and find the soul of Lazarus in some other world and reunite it to his body. He held that soul in his very hands, embracing it with his love. The fact that he did restore Lazarus to life was at least partially about expressing the deeper unseen reality that true life existed properly and perfectly in Jesus himself. But just as return to a physical life was an appropriate and implied sign of this truth for Lazarus, so too would all who died a physical death while united in friendship to Jesus rise again to life eternal.

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

Martha chose to agree in faith with the word of Jesus about a reality that went beyond her human reason or ability to understand. He was the Christ who was to come. He was the messiah who would deliver his people, not from earthly enemies, but from sin, and from death itself.

Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.

Matt Maher - Alive Again

28 July 2025 - small beginnings

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

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

The appearance of the seed was no indication of future potential. With plants this isn't altogether surprising since all seeds are small relative to the plants into which they will one day grow. But in human affairs things seem to be different. There does not seem to be anything so innate in people or movements that a lack of resources or support can't thwart an effort, or that can't be made to succeed with sufficient investment of money and power. In most circumstances we tend to assume that those who look the best at the beginning will be the most likely to achieve their goals. But Jesus said that in the case of Christianity and the Kingdom things that seemed entirely insufficient at the outset would experience growth and success that entirely outpaced larger and evidently more well resourced seeds, including those of empires. It seemed, to human analysis, that preachers, prophets, and martyrs could never amount to anything against armies or in the face of persecution. Yet we see that the Church is currently a large bush to the extent that it embraces all of the birds of the sky, and empires like Rome are only remembered in historical records. This parable is still relevant for everyone pursuing the Gospel of the Kingdom. New initiatives that arise from following the impulse of the Spirit still continue to seem small relative to the opposing forces of the world. But there is something inherent within them that assures that, as long as they are planted and nurtured, they grow.

The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened.

The Kingdom of God was an ingredient that might go unnoticed in the batch at the beginning but that made a disproportionate difference in the results. The yeast would never stand out in such a way as to draw attention to itself. It might almost appear that the dough rose naturally by its own power. But if that yeast had not been added the loaf would have been entirely different. Just so, in our own world the influence of Christianity has had an impact on the wider culture and the entire world that is impossible to quantify. But we can be confident that this world, even the parts of it that are not specifically Christian, are better than they would have been without the influence of the Gospel. The ideas of human dignity and equality that stem from the fact that we are made in the image of God have become pervasive as a consequence of Christianity. And while it is true that both Christians and non-Christians fail to live up to these ideals, they are even honored and acknowledged in the breach, whereas prior to the coming of the Gospel they would likely have gone unremarked. This parable is still relevant in our day because it reminds us that even when we succeed there may not be much evidence of our impact on the results. This helps us avoid the vanity of needing to prove that we were the cause of the good we did. We can be confident that as long as we retain our identity as yeast we are not wasting our time being mixed in with the flour. We might otherwise be tempted to try to isolate ourselves so that the results our effort would obviously be our own doing. But yeast isn't meant to be used in that way. It's better to have a good loaf than full credit for a bad attempted bake.

I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.

It is only by listening to Jesus with faith that we will recognize genuine Kingdom growth and pursue it in the right way. It lays hidden until he reveals it to us. And it remains hidden to us unless we accept his word in faith. But when we do so we are empowered to bring his own blessings to the world, shelter, nourishment, and life. 

Newsboys - Secret Kingdom

27 July 2025 - when prayers aren't answered

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

And I tell you, ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.

Sometimes we ask but we don't receive. This is difficult since it seems to imply a contradiction with the apparent meaning of the promise of Jesus. It is similar to the place where Jesus said, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" (see Mark 11:24). The fact that we are sometimes surprised that our prayers are not answered proves that we did ask with some measure of faith and expectation, some reasonably robust belief that what we asked was a good and worthy desire. If we take the promise of Jesus seriously it leads us to wonder in what ways our prayers are deficient such that they seldom seems to produce miracles. We know we must pray in faith and for things that are consistent with the will of God. But is it the case, then, that our faith is insincere, or that our intentions are really so far from the will of God.

Father, hallowed be your name

We should go back to the beginning. The basis of our prayer is our relationship with God as our Father. This implies that we can and should trust him in a way similar to the trust of a human child in his earthly father. The child may believe he desires something good, and ask for that thing certain he will receive it. But the father sees a bigger picture. He may sometimes withhold things that are harmful, or even less good, for the sake of something greater he desires to give. A child need not be crushed, feel abandoned, or run away from home, every time he must defer to his father's wisdom and judgment rather than his own. He might not, will in fact probably not, see the chain of reasoning in every case, or even in most cases. But he can believe that his father really does have his good at heart even in such times, even in spite of his own feelings and reasoning. It need not make him doubt that his father would give him what he wants in the future, provided that what he wants will really be for his good.

I tell you,
if he does not get up to give the visitor the loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.

Sometimes we don't receive that for which we ask because God has better plans. But sometimes the reason we don't receive is because we don't ask in the right way, that being, with persistence. Jesus did not tell his disciples to ask once and then receive immediately. Rather, as the Amplified translation reminds us, he told them, "Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you" (see Matthew 7:7). The point of persistence, however, is not exactly to earn our request being granted by putting in sufficient spiritual work. There is not necessarily a proportion between the persistence required and the goal desired. But God does sometimes require persistence of us because he desires us to grow. He desires that our own desires for those things that are genuine goods because more than momentary whims but rather strong and fixed parts of our character, things that we pursue even without any obvious or immediate results because of how good and how important we believe them to be. This means that when we don't immediately receive those things that we request we are not necessarily to give up and assume that we are asking for the wrong things. They may well be the right ones. But we may need to press on and pursue them more, to fix our will upon them in a still greater way. But if so, how do we avoid the possibility of fixing ourselves on things that actually aren't God's will because we think we might just need to keep asking? 

Father, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.

We are meant to live in a relationship with God such that our prayer helps us to come to an ever deeper appreciation of his heart. If this is what is in fact happening then we can be confident that if we are asking for something harmful he will eventually help us to understand and let go of that request. If we are not asking for things as good as he wants to give because we don't yet really desire those things our life of prayer should help us come to desire them. We may be above the level of pursuing snakes and scorpions because they look exciting. But we might still be at the level where we prefer eggs or fish to the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is a normal, human level. But God wants to take us higher.

What father among you would hand his son a snake
when he asks for a fish?
Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven
give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

Songs In His Presence - The House Of God

26 July 2025 - together until harvest

Today's Readings
(Audio)

While everyone was asleep his enemy came
and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.

The man himself did not sow the weeds in his field, but rather his enemy. It would seem to have been possible for him to have taken greater diligence in preventing this negative occurrence. After all, once it was discovered, he didn't seem surprised. But he didn't seem to recognize it as an existential threat in the ways that his slaves seemed to fear. It certainly wasn't going to make growth for the wheat an easier. But neither was it finally going to prevent it. The wheat would still manage to grow and bear fruit at harvest time. The real risk to the wheat was an unwise early intervention, trying to extricate it from all challenge, and risk, all trial, and experience of the effects of evil. The wheat was entangled in the world in such a way that only when it was fully mature could it be safely separated from it. Before that time, if one pulled on the world, wheat might be uprooted along with it. Hence the master of the house was merciful, giving the wheat time to grow, knowing that there would be time enough to deal with the weeds at the harvest. And even the weeds would not be without use at that time, since they could be tied in bundles for burning.

‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
Where have the weeds come from?’

We may wonder why God didn't keep the serpent out of the garden, why he didn't entirely shield humanity from the possibility of the fall in the first place. No doubt he could have done so. But he knew that our freedom wouldn't be real without the possibility of a choice, and that, even if we chose wrongly, he could bring a greater good from our failure. To us it would seem that being forced to grow in the difficult conditions of a fallen world was the greatest evil to be feared. But to God the only real failure to worry about was that we be  uprooted before the harvest. It may well not work this way for wheat forced to grow together with weeds, but humanity really does have a greater capacity to grow during trials, and a greater capacity to express love when to do so is not automatic or easy.

He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds
you might uproot the wheat along with them.

We should think twice before assigning anyone the designation of weed rather than wheat. People may seem to be entirely committed to the fallen world, and capable of bearing only rotten fruit. But a secondary point of this parable is that our discernment is insufficient to know for sure if something is truly weed or wheat before the harvest time. To be sure, some will turn out to be one, and some the other, and to God all of this is already fixed. But not to us. And we cause the greatest problems when we think we know for sure and start tearing up the soil. A secondary consequence of the fact that weeds and wheat look similar at early stages of growth is that we should think twice about withholding resources or care from those who may merely appear to be weeds. We may fear, and it may be true, that they are exhausting the soil and putting our attempts to bad use. But it may turn out to be precisely that our care and concern that allows them to attain to maturity is wheat.

The harvest will ultimately be worth whatever patient endurance is required to attain it. Nothing essential will ultimately be lost because, for a time, we must endure trials. We are meant to have hope because the harvest is inexorably on its way, and because the master of the house knows his business.

 

Anthony Evans - Raise A Hallelujah 

25 June 2025 - mixed motives

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

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

What they desired was not all bad. They wanted to sit on his right and left, to be near him, not entirely different from the way John reclined upon the breast of Jesus at the Last Supper. Yet they did ask it in a way that indicated they desired not only proximity to Jesus but also Kingdom authority. Still, even this was not without merit. Jesus had sent them out for missionary work giving them his own authority. He promised that they would one day sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. But we can see from the response of the ten that their request also contained a jockeying for position and a desire for prestige. It wasn't just that they desired to be great in the Kingdom of God. It was possible to have an entirely holy desire for greatness of that sort. Rather, they desired their greatness, not relative to the Kingdom only, but to their fellow men. There was the impression that if their request was granted they would lord it over the others and make their authority over them felt. On the one hand, the core of their desire was for something good. On the other, it would need to be purified before they would be allowed to receive it, in order that they might make good use of it.

Jesus said in reply,
"You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?"
They said to him, "We can."

Authority in the Kingdom was closely tied to one's ability to drink the chalice. Jesus himself used his authority in many ways, but he chiefly used it in order to drink the chalice of suffering for the salvation of the world. He never used his authority to assert his superiority for the sake of massaging his own ego. He was indifferent to the prestige that his disciples still desired and sought. Had they been given authority at that moment they would have used in ways that were abusive of the freedom and dignity of others in order to satisfy their whims. But Jesus expressed his own authority from the cross in order to enhance the freedom and dignity of humanity that had been tarnished and tainted by original sin.

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

All of our motivations about the Kingdom are probably tainted to some degree, partly good, but partly selfish. There are many ways we may hope to correct this corruption within us. But the most effective would seem to be to embrace the chalice of Jesus. When we take up our crosses and follow him for his sake and for that of our neighbor we will necessarily be purified of our selfishness. The path of the cross does not reward selfish desires and forces us to come to terms with what we value and what we truly want. It sounds dark and difficult, and no doubt it is, but not so much as it sounds. For the path of Kingdom greatness does include the core of our original desire, which was the truest part of what motivated us from the beginning. Being near to Jesus, living in his Kingdom, and using his own authority to spread his love to the world is really worth it. But we often only learn and come to believe this through the experience of sharing in his cross.

Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Our egos may try to insist that the path of service is degrading rather than rewarding, that it cannot lead to true greatness. But the lie to this is given by the way that Jesus himself lived and gave us his life as an example. If the greatest one to ever lived came to serve others, how much more ought we do the same? If his greatness was undiminished by giving his life for others, but rather accentuated and revealed, so too will our own some day, even to ourselves, to the degree that we can really believe it and live it with zeal.

John Foley - Earthen Vessels 

24 July 2025 - to anyone who has, more will be given

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

"Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?"

It might have seemed like Jesus was being intentionally cryptic, speaking one way publicly, and then in more detail behind closed doors. Was he being intentionally evasive? Did he desire to set an inner circle of initiates apart on the basis of secret or hidden knowledge? 

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

Were the crowds, in fact, simply out of luck, the wrong kind of soil for the seed the sower wanted to sow? Were they destined to be those who had not and would eventually lose even what little they had? 

To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;
from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

Parables were definitely different from logical arguments or syllogisms. They weren't going to overwhelm anyone with sheer intellectual force. They were, rather, invitations. They presented the possibility for anyone who was interested to understand, and, having understood, to have go ever deeper. They were not challenging riddles the solutions to which were only presented to insiders. They were open to all. But they only opened themselves to those who were themselves open. As with faith itself, they did not circumvent the role of human freedom, but rather rewarded hearers in the measure that they engaged their freedom.

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

There were obviously many people in the time of Jesus, as in the time of Isaiah whose hearts had hardened. They were unwilling to look and see or hear and understand. The purpose of speaking in parables was not that his message be impenetrable to them. It seemed that the motivation stemmed rather from the desire of God that they eventually would understand with their hearts and be converted so that he could heal them. Rather than cementing them in the hardness of their hearts with direct opposition, Jesus presented teachings that would respond disproportionately to even the least genuine effort or openness. Far from the modern discourse of shouting down our opponents, Jesus presented himself in such a way as to not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick (see Matthew 12:20). Even when it sounded like he was being critical of those who wouldn't listen or stingy in revealing the truth of his message it always stemmed from a deeper desire for all to be saved and come to knowledge of the truth (see First Timothy 2:4). He wanted all to experience that which his disciples were the first to recognize.

"But blessed are your eyes, because they see,
and your ears, because they hear.

SONICFLOOd - I Want To Know You 

23 July 2025 - parables in a china shop

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

And he spoke to them at length in parables

In one sense parables themselves can easily become seed sown along the surface of the path that never penetrates the soil. Parables seem so simple as to be superficial, their meaning so evident as to not require any effort. But if we don't actually engage with them we don't actually gain anything from them. It's easy for the enemy to persuade us that we don't need to pay much attention to the word of God, either because we've heard it before and assume we already know all it has to say, or because it is archaic to the point of irrelevance, or for any number of other reasons. But if we actually allow it to be planted like a seed, it may start off small, but it grows. The same is true when the seed is planted but it encounters obstacles like rocky ground. The rocks seem like the more significant and insurmountable facts. The seed seems to have negligible importance. As persecutions come it may seem that we should disregard it redirect our efforts into more practical approaches or ideas. And it certainly is not in an advantageous position compared to the thorns of anxiety or wealth. All of those things seem more pressing. The idea of a small seed outpacing all of those things in impact seems far fetched. But the seed is actually the only fruit-bearing option.

A sower went out to sow.

The sower seemed so generous with the seed as to be reckless. We know anyone with limited resources would never be so incautious with their resources. But this sower was not going to run out. This meant that he was able to place seed even in edge cases that were far from what seemed to be ideal soil conditions. But that he did this seems to imply that the seed might take root even in some unexpected places. We know from the word of God that we are are to count it all joy when we experience trials since trials produce growth (see James 1:2-4). So perhaps seeds that manage to sprout from worse conditions sometimes do so with a greater resilience and heartiness.

Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.

The way seed manages to grow or not grow in certain conditions may seem inevitable to the point of being predetermined. But this parable more likely describes what is usually the case and why in order that it may not always be the case. It is clearly a warning about the devil, about tribulations, and about riches and anxieties. And if it is a warning it must be because it is possible for us to respond. It is not necessarily possible for us to avoid such circumstances, just as it is not for the seed to determine where it falls. But it is possible to direct such resources as we have toward the good soil with growth is possible. It is possible to open ourselves to the word of Jesus in such a way that the circumstances of life need not defeat us. He himself is the gardener, the one who wants us to grow, and who himself gives the growth (see First Corinthians 3:6).

Vineyard Music - Bring Your Kingdom

22 July 2025 - out with the old

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

"They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don't know where they put him."

Mary Magdalene was still operating according to the old way of understanding in which death was final and people did not return to life. True, there had been exceptions. But Jesus himself was the source of those exceptions, and with him now dead, there was no one available, seemingly do anything about the present circumstances. But she had to account for the fact that the body was missing. It was unexpected, and from her perspective, an annoyance, since she wanted that body as proximate location to pour out her grief. The first hint of the resurrection was not something she was able to receive in a positive way even though it foretold the fact that her grief would soon end and be transformed to joy. The old ways of thinking are comprehensive, consistent, and hard to interrupt or penetrate. We all tend to think things will continue to function as we have seen them do thus far in our lives, and are resistant to the suggestions of outside interference. We too tend to become attached to our grief.

And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb
and saw two angels in white sitting there,
one at the head and one at the feet
where the Body of Jesus had been.
And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?"
She said to them, "They have taken my Lord,
and I don't know where they laid him."

Mary Magdalene was so enveloped in her grief that the presence of angels didn't even register as anything surprising or unusual. To her they could be no more than additional sources of facts confirming her suspicions about this final insult of the body of Jesus being hidden from her. It was obviously a very great love that could result in a grief so all encompassing and that could make her so oblivious as to be almost insensible to any alternative to her assumed hypothesis. It was admirable to love Jesus with so great an affection as that. But it was also not entirely helpful when it caused her to assume that her grief must now be an infallible guide to reality in the absence of Jesus. Because she still loved him according to an old paradigm, with an a mind not yet renewed, it caused her to become stuck, unable to process new evidence, unable to move forward.

When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there,
but did not know it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?"
She thought it was the gardener and said to him,
"Sir, if you carried him away,
tell me where you laid him,
and I will take him."

It was not Mary's encounter with the risen Lord that resulted in her conversion of mind and heart. We see ample evidence that she was still unable to recognize that a new world order had been unleashed, still willing to interpret all the data according to previous assumptions. Even the presence of Jesus himself was something she was able to categorize and explain. This person she came across, concerned as to why she was weeping, must have been the gardener. It was as though she was still in the old and fallen Eden weeping for all that humanity had lost. The way she had known Jesus before his resurrection was not so comprehensive that his identity in this post resurrection appearance was obvious to her. She had known him one way before. And there had been much in that way of knowing that was real and true. But now she would need to know him in a new way. And this way was not one she discovered by analysis of the evidence, by intuition, or her own emotional intelligence. Rather, it came when she heard Jesus calling her name.

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

It wasn't Mary's knowledge of Jesus that allowed their relationship to persist beyond the boundaries of death. Her knowledge of him was still too limited and partial to cross that threshold. It was rather the way that he knew her, with such assurance, with such completeness, and with such love, that the relationship was able to be restored and renewed. Her affection for him did help keep her in the right place to receive this revelation of his resurrection. But she was nevertheless dependent to wait on him to reveal it.

Jesus said to her,
"Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.

She had been holding on to previous ways of relating to Jesus and understanding him. But Jesus told her that she was going to have to let go of those ways, and the grief they inevitably entailed, in order to make room for the joy of a world transformed by the light of the resurrection. In what ways are we still blind and insensible to the hope implied by the resurrection of Jesus? Are we still trying to force the facts of reality the conform to a paradigm of hopelessness ruled by death? Most probably we are, to some degree. Otherwise we would have more joy. We would have a joy similar to Mary Magdalene reunited with Jesus, her beloved. We would have joy like the Bride from the Song of Songs when she found him who her heart loved. If we lack this joy we should continue to stay near the Body of Jesus and listen. It won't be long before we hear him calling our name.

My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

Matt Maher - Alive Again

21 July 2025 - in the heart of the earth

Today's Readings
(Audio)

"Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you."
He said to them in reply,
"An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign,

Jesus had already done many signs that they had witnessed but those had only apparently succeeded at hardening their hearts. They were like the desert generation of the exodus in which the people never learned to trust in the miraculous providence of God no matter how many times he revealed himself. That generation was all too ready to serve any idol as an alternative to trusting in the true God, seemingly at the drop of a hat. So too were the scribes and the Pharisees ready to latch on to any excuse to ignore, criticize, or condemn Jesus.

but no sign will be given it
except the sign of Jonah the prophet.

The sort of signs that the Pharisees thought they wanted, the gratuitous displays of otherwise unaccountable power, had in fact already happened. But they were able to find excuses for why what they had witnessed could not have happened or at least should not have happened. The Pharisees wanted to be the ones who set the precise terms for how Jesus must prove himself. Asking for miracles when miracles were needed was one thing. Asking for help to believe when one wanted to believe but found his faith to be weak was in fact admirable. But the scribes and the Pharisees were testing Jesus, and therefore putting God to the test. What they asked presumed their right to stand in judgment over Jesus as arbiters of the claims he made about himself. But there was no way for the weak judgment of mere humans to suffice when God was the one in view.

Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights,
so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth
three days and three nights.

Although the Pharisees had locked the possibility away inside a maze of their own rationalizations Jesus nevertheless did want them to understand who he truly was and to believe in him. But rather than acquiesce to navigate the maze of proofs they decided to require Jesus thought it better to break down the walls sealing off their hearts from the outside. The resurrection was an earthquake that would leave no human wisdom standing in its wake. After three days Jesus would arise from the heart of the earth demonstrating that his claims had a greater certainty than even death itself.

At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah;
and there is something greater than Jonah here.

Those who heard Jesus need not wait for his resurrection to believe. It was not actually the case that the specifically miraculous was necessary for him to prove what he said. Rather, the fact the his was proclaiming a message from God was something that it was possible to recognize, just as the people of Nineveh had recognized and responded to the preaching of Jonah. Just as the queen of the south knew that Solomon possessed such wisdom as to justify coming to him from the ends of the earth so too was it possible to recognize Jesus, who was himself the wisdom and power of God, spoke the truth (1 Corinthians 1:24).

If we ever struggle with doubts the right answer is not to set our own criteria for what would be necessary for us to continue believing. The right answer is to listen to Jesus with an open heart so that his wisdom can convict us. Moreover, in the face of all our doubts we can look to the resurrection as the definitive proof to silence them all. His resurrection is meant to be at the very core of our faith. When it isn't, we quickly forget what we're supposed to be all about. But when it is we have a light that is much greater than the darkness of the world, one which is impossible to extinguish.

 

Newsboys - Belly Of The Whale 

20 July 2025 - do you not care?

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?

The modern egalitarian reading of this text would probably suggest that there was no time for edifying conversation with Jesus, but only with mutual service. Simply sitting at the feet of Jesus seemed to be slothfully ignoring the real demands of the physical world, such as the ever pressing need for food. Such work seemed to be so important as to leave no time for anyone, including Jesus and the disciples, let alone Mary, to engage in anything else. Jesus did, after all, seem to care about such things. Contrary to Martha's accusation, he himself was so concerned for the hungry crowd that he provided bread enough to satisfy them. Could it be that here in this situation he had simply gotten so caught up in teaching that he had forgotten? Unlikely. He did not insist on Martha delaying her work until another time. It was not the work itself that displeased him or her hospitality that he criticized. If anything, it was her attitude that he reproved.

Tell her to help me.

Martha's attitude revealed that she herself found her own task unsatisfactory and in need of improvement. She seemed to be aware that to rest at Jesus feet was desirable, but that it seemed impermissible due to the demands of hospitality. She was on the one hand drawn in the direction of Jesus, wishing to sit alongside Mary and listen. But she was also drawn at the same time toward dozens of conflicting demands and priorities. And this was the reason for her struggle. Mary was able to listen to Jesus with her whole heart. This was the good part which would not be taken from her. But Martha was divided. Her service thus could not have been entirely for the sake of Jesus. Such single-hearted service would have been so rewarding that no comparisons or complaints could have arisen in her mind. Rather she was performing a duty imposed by society, responding to multiple demands, not content with her part in the plan. Had she been wholly committed to serving Jesus she would have been delighted that her service allowed others the time to sit and listen. She would have been confident that she herself would similarly receive all the attention from Jesus that she would need. Her service too, done with the right attitude, could have been a part so good it would not be taken from her. It was not necessarily the case that strict equality of tasks was always necessary. Such was a merely human way of thinking. Wasn't it more reasonable that at one time one might serve so that others may listen, that they might later serve in turn? People exercising a  charism of service need not to feel judged by others pursuing more intellectual or spiritual pursuits. Indeed neither to listen nor to serve was the better part. Doing everything completely for Jesus was always and in each case the better part.

There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her.

We are the sort of people that tend to think of all of the work that we could be doing during our times of prayer and who wish that we had more time for stillness, quiet, and prayer, during times of work. Neither our prayer nor our hospitality on so well ordered to the one thing necessary that our minds don't have time to wander, compare, and complain. But we can, we are meant, to become people who are increasingly about only one thing. Because when we pursue that one thing all else follows. When we seek first the Kingdom we receive all else besides.

Passion Featuring Kristian Stanfill - One Thing Remains

 Songs In His Presence - Prayer Of Augustine

19 July 2025 - withdrawal symptoms

Today's Readings
(Audio)

The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus
to put him to death.
When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place.

Jesus withdrew when the Pharisees took counsel to put him to death. No doubt they saw his withdrawal as an admission of weakness and therefore a defeat. It seemed to be a sign vindicating them as a force to be reckoned and revealing Jesus as out of his depth. At the very least they seemed to strike a blow at the popularity of the Kingdom movement that had been swelling around Jesus until then. And this popularity at least seemed to be an essential part of his goal. Thus, they may have reasoned, they had at least thwarted him to a degree. Yet it was not so for Jesus. The Pharisees could not understand it, but he did not depend on popular approval or endorsement by the masses. It seemed that way to the Pharisees because they saw him only through the lens of their own understanding. 

Many people followed him, and he cured them all,
but he warned them not to make him known.

Even if Jesus was no longer trending in the popular zeitgeist those who needed him were nevertheless still able to find him. There was something humanly satisfying about ever increasing crowds and a constant buzz of conversation surrounding Jesus. But it was not essential for his outreach. It was probably more interesting for those on the fringes who wanted to be part of something bigger than themselves without particular concern for what. But even during times when the Kingdom seemed to be enduring persecution and shrinking to consist only of a faithful remnant Jesus was still able to cure all who sought him sincerely. Today too, whether the Church is in a period of growth or a period of decline, Jesus always remains at the center able to make his healing power available to those in need.

Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,
my beloved in whom I delight;
I shall place my Spirit upon him,
and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

Jesus did not need to be validated by the crowds as the Pharisees did because he was secure in the love of his Father, who, at his baptism, had referred to him as his beloved Son in whom he delighted and was well pleased. It was then that the Spirit came upon him in visible form like a dove and his mission began. He started with the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but would conclude with his justice being proclaimed to all nations. And yet he would succeed in this without the need to engage in the traditional arts of propaganda. It was not necessary to his message that it succeed because it was the only thing one could hear, or even because it was necessarily the loudest of the claims being made. It could be spoken quietly and its truth would be all the more compelling for the sense of surety that conveyed. It did not need to be forced on others. Once they got a taste of the message it would be impossible to keep them away.

A bruised reed he will not break,
a smoldering wick he will not quench,
until he brings justice to victory.

In our current discourse of extremes there is no regard for those who are fragile or weak. The constant shouting of verbal aggression will snap bruised reeds in half before it wins them over to one side or the other. It considers those who can't take the intensity as unworthy of participation. And those who have all but run out of fuel in the fight for justice will be quenched much more quickly than nurtured. Individual humans in their unique specificity are obscured and lost in a battle of groups and ideals. It is particularly the value of those who seem weak to those in power that is disregarded. The powerful reason that if they can't or won't be useful they might as well be broken and extinguished. But Jesus was not like this. He saw the value in every bruised reed and the potential in every smoldering wick. He wouldn't trample them merely for the sake of popularity or prestige. He didn't shun them because they were unable to provide him any obvious benefit.

And in his name the Gentiles will hope.

The nations would eventually learn to hope in Jesus, and in the fact that his approach alone could bring justice to victory. Even those others who claimed to hold justice in high regard did not seem able to pursue it without compromise. Only the meekness and nonviolence of Jesus were potent enough to accomplish this. Only he was utterly consistent with the message his proclaimed.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever;

 

Relient K - For The Moments I Feel Faint

18 July 2025 - Lord of the sabbath

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

"See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath."

The Pharisees used what should have been laudable zeal for the sanctity of the sabbath and turned it into a weapon against Jesus and his disciples. They wanted to make the disciples appear lax in regard to the law, and less concerned with the discipline of the sabbath than themselves.

Have you not read what David did
when he and his companions were hungry

David and his men were fleeing from the aggression of King Saul in a way similar to how Jesus and his disciples were been pursued by the Pharisees. Because David had been anointed at the command of God to be the king of Israel his mission was so important that he and his men were permitted to share in the priestly privilege of eating the bread of the presence. Serving the mission of Jesus, who was himself anointed by God, and was therefore the promised messiah, was a still greater justification for the disciples' eating grain on the sabbath.

Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath
the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath
and are innocent?

A separate analogy by which Jesus justified his disciples was regarding the service of the temple on the sabbath. Because of the divine purpose of the temple the service thereof being performed on the sabbath was right and just. But Jesus was himself the true temple, the place were God was most perfectly present with the human race. If the service of a temple which was only a symbol and a shadow of what was to come, which would one day be reduced to rubble, was sufficient to justify work on the sabbath, how much more was the service of Jesus himself.

I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.

Jesus was able to make the claim that he was greater than the temple, because he was the one whose worship the temple was created to facilitate. This claim may have been implicit, but it was not subtle. It only made sense in light of the fact that Jesus himself was worthy of the same degree of worship offered in the temple that he could legitimately make such a claim.

For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.

Only the one who created the sabbath could truly claim to be Lord of the sabbath. Only he saw the purpose of the sabbath so clearly that he could truly say what was fitting on the sabbath and what was not. But since Jesus was indeed the Lord of the sabbath he knew that the deepest purpose of the sabbath was ordered toward communion between God and man. And he knew there was nothing more central to seeing this communion restored and celebrated than the mission of his Kingdom. Therefore, that which was done in service of that Kingdom was always going to be about mercy more than sacrifice, because it was always mercy to make the presence of Jesus available and to facilitate his worship.

 

Shane and Shane - Psalm 34 (Taste And See)

17 July 2025 - all the rest

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

Jesus said:
"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.

The ones Jesus called were the ones for whom the scribes and the Pharisees had previously tied up heavy burdens that were hard to bear (see Matthew 23:4). This did not have the result of producing rest, but rather frustration. No matter how precisely people tried to follow the way of the Pharisees they would always discover that another level of effort was awaiting them. They never finally arrived. It gave the impression of a sleight of hand game were the goal was constantly shifting and finally unattainable. The Pharisees pointed to the Torah as the goal, but in practice only offered it as mediated through their own limited human wisdom. This did not prove to be enough.

Come to me

What the people sought in the traditions of the Pharisees and other approaches to the Torah was something that could ultimately be found only in Jesus himself. It was not attainable through the mediation of human wisdom. It was a bridge that could be constructed from here to heaven. It was only in response to the coming of Jesus that the desires of the human heart could be fulfilled, and that women and men could find true rest.

I will give you rest.

But what is this rest of which Jesus spoke? The Pharisees critique of Jesus often made it seem that it was a permissiveness for moral laxity, a lessening of the demands of the law so that one might deaden the demands of conscience. But looking at the Sermon on the Mount we can see that, if anything, Jesus asked more of his followers than others. What then, was this rest? Or how could he promise rest at a greater level of effort that was impossible even at a lesser one?

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;

It was not just any yoke that Jesus offered. It was different from alternatives in which teachers told their followers what was required and left them alone to pursue it. Rather, this was his own yoke that Jesus invited his disciples to share with him. This meant that, even if progress was not always instantaneous or effortless, it was guaranteed, since the primary power moving the disciple forward was always Jesus himself. He, not the disciple, was the one who would bring the good work to completion (see Philippians 1:6). He was the one who worked within his followers to will and to work (see Philippians 2:13). The fact that growth toward and goal was possible meant to one could increase in her experience of rest the more she willing chose to share the yoke of Jesus. Her own efforts in the past may have led to frustration. But this yoke that she shared with Jesus proved time and again to lead away from human frustration toward a sharing in the life of the Trinity, which satisfied the human heart so entirely as to alone be truly worthy of the term rest. 

for I am meek and humble of heart;

The yoke of Jesus allowed his followers to access the rest he himself possessed through his relationship with the Father. This was why meekness and humility were the crucial defining attributes. Not that his yoke led to what would necessarily be externally evident as an easy life. But it led to a good life, grounded in something greater than oneself, ordered toward the end for which we were made. It was the path to the eternal rest of beatitude in heaven. But since the path was one of living by faith it really did bring the rest of heaven even to the here and now.

Matt Maher - Come To The Water 

16 July 2025 - hidden from the wise

Today's Readings
(Audio)

I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.

Those abilities which might conduce to arrogance were not useful in attaining the truth about Jesus. His identity was not something that would be the most perfectly understood by academics or scientists who would then stand as experts and gatekeepers of the truth. Indeed it seemed that attempts to know Jesus through wisdom of that kind were fraught, failing more often than they succeeded. This is not to say that the truth about Jesus required one to embrace something irrational. Rather, it was something supra-rational, requiring one to recognize his limits and embrace a posture of reception and humility.

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God (see First Corinthians 1:127-29). 

God desired Jesus to be the focal point of divine revelation. There was no way to get to the truth without going through him. Because of who Jesus was, as the way, the truth, and the life, it was appropriate for him to be the one source capable of revealing the Father to the world. It delighted the Father that the Son should make him known. In turn, it was the joy of the heart of the Son to make known the Father. Such a relationship could possibly be described in academic terms once it was revealed. One could speak of processions and hypostases and such. But one could not capture the dynamic intimacy shared by the Father and the Son in such terms. One could only get a glimpse into that world without end if one was willing to allow Jesus himself to show it to him.

All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.

Jesus reveled something even deeper than the divine name that God revealed to Moses at the burning bush. The reality that God was being itself (ipsum esse subsistens) was something that philosophers might have eventually realized independently. But that he was a Trinity of persons is something that we could only know through divine revelation. The fact that revelation is required to know the truth of our faith does not make it a mystery cult with degrees of initiation and secret knowledge. Rather, the Church desires the world to know what she knows. The only limitation is that those who wish to receive must be childlike. As Jesus said in a different place, "unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (see Matthew 18:3). But the point of becoming like children is not embracing ignorance. As we have said, Christianity is not in fact irrational, but rather transcends reason. The point of becoming childlike is that by doing so we become more like Jesus himself, and more capable of participating in the relationship with the Father that is properly his, but which he desires to share with us. It is only this participation, possible through humility, that constitutes true revelation of the Father's heart.

 

Passion featuring Kristian Stanfill - Heart Abandoned 

15 July 2025 - since they had not repented

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

Jesus began to reproach the towns
where most of his mighty deeds had been done,
since they had not repented.

People would have assumed that Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom were at least in a worst position regarding the day of judgment than the three cities of Galilee mentioned by Jesus, cities where Jesus carried out his ministry and performed his mighty deeds. The pagan cities Jesus mentioned were famously corrupt and already noted in Scripture for being under the Lord's condemnation. But pagans acting like pagans was one thing, and, in a way, unsurprising. The people of Judea not responding to the message of Jesus was something worse. They were, after all, a people whose existence had been a preparation for this very thing. Their hearts ought to have had the hope of the messiah instilled into them by the teaching of the prophets. But now they finally actually experienced the person of Jesus himself. They heard his teaching. And they saw his works. Jesus was even celebrated and popular in their midst and among some of the people. He was not wholly rejected or, for the most part, violently opposed. In short, the response that upset Jesus in this case was one of lukewarmness. Thus he needed to act according to the word from Revelation and spit them out of his mouth (see Revelation 3:16). This, hopefully, would move them from a comfortable complacency to a state in which they could actual hear and consider his message.

And as for you, Capernaum:
Will you be exalted to heaven?
You will go down to the netherworld.

Capernaum, having been the home base of Jesus, might have seemed to be in particularly good shape. But the mere presence of Jesus, the fact that one was surrounded on all sides by signs of his power, that his teaching was always close at hand, implied nothing about the individual who happened to live nearby. This is a warning for those of us who live in ostensibly Christian nations, and who even attend churches were the true teaching of Jesus is celebrated. Proximity is not a proxy for sanctity. We must not hope that our response to Jesus is inferred from the response of those with whom we surround ourselves. It absolutely is helpful to surround ourselves with positive influences, people whom we admire, and like whom we wish to become. We often do become the average of the five people with whom we spend the most time, as someone has said. But we can't gain repentance by osmosis. 

For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained until this day.

In many ways we have received more than Corazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. If perhaps fewer overt miracles happen in our midst we nevertheless have a much more systemic clarity about who Jesus was and what that means for our lives. He is far closer to us in the Sacraments of the Church, especially in the Eucharist, than he was to anyone before the Sacraments were established. We are those to whom much is given, of whom much will be required (see Luke 1:48). And if we continue to avail ourselves of the benefits of his presence without a concrete response on our part then we eat and drink judgment on ourselves (see First Corinthians 11:29).

It is at least arguable that the purpose of the reproaches of the towns where Jesus had been was not to celebrate their condemnation, nor to cement it in stone, as though it were an unalterable prophecy. Rather it was a wake-up call. And if not for them, it can at least be so for us. We certainly need one, since no matter how much we might appreciate the presence of Jesus in our midst, we can never really appreciate it enough.

Vineyard Worship - Refiner's Fire

14 July 2025 - sworded out

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth.
I have come to bring not peace but the sword.

Many people believe, and more once believed, that this division Jesus came to unleash went neatly down the lines of political parties. We were allowed to believe this because for a while it was sexual morality and the adjacent issue of abortion that were sufficiently controversial to cause division. People were addicted to their sexual self expression and willing to go to bat politically to preserve their freedom. But we should remember that even when there was a political party that represented the contrary ideal, that of chastity, it was never perfectly represented. It was a compromise consensus designed to appeal to a majority. And so the real ideal of treating others as persons and not at objects was only occasionally even in view. But now neither party particularly cares about such issues. One has sexual liberation a party platform and the other no longer sees any stance on the subject as particularly relevant to their platform. 

In the days of the moral majority it might have seemed like social issues around sexuality and the family were the only ones which might cause division, and might therefore matter to disciples of Jesus. The rest of politics seemed to be more a matter of opinions about the most efficient ways to order the economy, or other practical concerns. But in our own time we have seen evidence that there are other aspects of the Kingdom that can cause controversy. They all still seem to revolve around the value of human life, and when, if ever, it is OK to treat others as less than human. Abortion was just a crack in the gate which allowed us to view others as less than human for various reasons that all basically come down to the fact that they and their needs are inconvenient for us.

For I have come to set
a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one's enemies will be those of his household.

Political parties seem to be incapable of representing the implications of the Gospel of Jesus. But perhaps this isn't that surprising since they are implicitly expected not to talk about him, and to ignore the origins of their belief in human dignity. We might think that it would be more likely that families, at least, could be unified groups supporting the teachings of Jesus. But although this is not impossible, we have seen that it isn't the default or even necessarily common. Families are often so focused on the exigencies of daily life that they can't properly prioritize the Kingdom. They are designed to maintain their own self-interest. This means it isn't a stretch for them to go too far in a willingness to use or trample the rights of others to improve their own lot. Many often tend toward self-affirmation, rather than moral self-correction. It is too easy for families to become little tyrannical states pursuing their own goals apart from the common good. 

Jesus entered the human scene and found no preexisting groups that were automatically always going to be aligned with his teachings. It is not that there is any group that cannot be thus aligned. It is just that perverse incentives seem to make most of them not fully achieve it. This means that as Christians there can be no group on earth, political, familiar, or otherwise, that holds our allegiance more completely than Jesus and his Church.

Because those pursuing the Kingdom often lack much support from others Jesus put a premium on the value of the support we ourselves can provide.

Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet
will receive a prophet's reward,
and whoever receives a righteous man
because he is righteous
will receive a righteous man's reward.

We might not all be prophets, but we can still receive a prophet's reward just by showing one hospitality. We may not all be as righteous as we would like, but in showing kindness to those who are, to the saints in our midst, we can share in the reward their righteousness merits, rather than what we truly deserve. Even small contributions such as we are able to make are valuable. A cup of water might not mean much on its own. But when it is given for the sake of the Kingdom, because one is a disciple, it becomes much more than it would otherwise be.

Hillsong - The Stand