21 February 2026 - true conversion

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

He said to him, “Follow me.”
And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.

We may sense that Jesus is worthy of us responding to him by making a complete break with our sinful past and following him with all that we are. But even if there is a level at which we understand this it is not often the case that we manage to make ourselves respond in the way that Levi (also called Matthew) responded, entirely, and without reservation. If we are adult converts our conversion often results in some immediate and significant changes to our lifestyles. We set aside harmful behaviors and begin to embrace a lifestyle befitting disciples. Lifelong Christians might experience similar moments of conversion on retreat or in prayer groups. But in both cases we typically discover our initial fervor only goes so far. We set out to leave our customs post behind, but find that, even if we wander off for a while, it is still our primary base of operation. Even to the degree that we manage to get away from it for a moment it still seems to influence our thoughts and actions with a gravity that always seems to pull us back eventually. How might we actually leave the old self behind as completely as Levi left his customs post?

“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

Put simply, we have to want conversion more deeply to experience it more fully. And the only way to really desire it is to have a deeper understanding of the futility of the alternatives we often pursue. Only when we really realize that wealth, yes, can provide for the basics, but cannot make us truly happy, will it begin to lose its grip on us. When we still hear whispers in our souls from all the possessions, property, or experiences, that money can buy, suggesting themselves to us to fill the emptiness within us, we will not be able to entirely shake their hold over us. But we don't like to think of ourselves as under the sway of money or any other addiction. We don't want to see ourselves as sick and in need of a physician. But here is the real secret. Levi didn't leave the customs post on his own, simply because he decided to do so. He didn't make some heroic and decisive act of will. He saw someone who could at last help with the things that were making him unhappy, causing him to be less than he was meant to be, and refused to let the one pass him by. He did, in effect, leave everything behind. But his actual choice was to remain near Jesus. Yes, later, there might be consequences. Things might become harder eventually. But if he was with Jesus he knew that Jesus could help him face those possibilities, that he could face them as long as they were together. Most of us have a hard time achieving a total break with the old sinful self. But the thing we need to focus on is not so much ourselves as it is being and remaining near Jesus. This is because, obvious to say but easy to forget, we don't heal ourselves. The divine physician does.

Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house,
and a large crowd of tax collectors
and others were at table with them.

It is a good sign that we are finally starting to get it when the grace that flows to us begins to flow out from us to those around us. When we can no longer keep silent about Jesus or keep what he is doing in our lives to ourselves it is evidence that we finally realize just how important he is for us. Not only that, we demonstrate that we now know the important lesson that, if he did it for us, he can truly do it for anyone.

The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake,
and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up;
“Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you,
“Restorer of ruined homesteads.

We must not be content with merely partial conversion of our hearts and minds to Jesus. The ramifications are not just for ourselves and the private sphere of our own spiritual lives, but also for the Church and the world as a whole. The ruins around us seem to have been in disrepair since so long ago that we hold little hope that they might be rebuilt. The breach seems like a permanent fixture of society. The ruined homesteads seem unsalvageable. And indeed, attacking the problems directly, through merely human effort, is doomed to fail. But when we finally surrender our hearts to the Lord he becomes able to do things through us that we never imagined. Then we will become light in the darkness, for he will be light in us.

Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
Then the LORD will guide you always
and give you plenty even on the parched land.

 

Elevation Worship - I Have Decided

 

20 February 2026 - the wedding of heaven and earth

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?

In a way, David's relationship with Israel had been like a marriage, with the people declaring to him, "Behold, we are your bone and flesh" (see First Chronicles 11:1), just as Adam had said of Eve in Genesis (see Genesis 2:23). And if it was a Davidic image then Jesus using it was appropriate, as he was the messianic son of David. But it was a role which David only ever fulfilled partially. In the same way that he stood in for God who was himself the true king of Israel, so too did he stand in for him as bridegroom, which was another role that was belonged fully only to God himself.

For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you (see Isaiah 62:5).

Jesus was the son of David, but somehow greater than David. That was why Jesus brought the attention of the Pharisees to an apparently incoherent element in Psalm 110, first quoting it, saying:

The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet”’?

And then asking, "If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?" (see Matthew 22:44). Jesus was like David, not like a shadow cast by a greater original, but as the truth of which David was only an imperfect foreshadowing. However much David was a man after God's own heart (see First Samuel 13:14), only Jesus had a heart perfectly united to that of his Father. Jesus was therefore the bridegroom because he was in actuality the presence of God in the midst of Israel. If anything called for a feast, it was this.

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.

But then, if Jesus was bridegroom because of his divinity, how could it be said that he would be taken from them? Jesus himself was the one who promised to be with them always, to the end of the age (see Matthew 28:20), and who said that if two or three of them gathered in his name that he would be present in their midst (see Matthew 18:20). The possibility of him being taken doesn't seem to admit of a situation in which the Eucharist presence of Jesus is as abundantly available as it is to us. 

The time to which Jesus referred was specifically his crucifixion and death, when he handed himself over freely, and let himself be taken. Just as he freely chose to lay down his life for his friends so too would his disciples enter into that experience by fasting, among other ways. It was part of the program by which they entered into the death of Jesus so as to share in the life of Jesus.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his (see Romans 6:5).

Considered in this way we see the incommensurability of what he did for us and our response to him. Even a very rigorous fast of the sort that none of us are likely to undertake, that would strike even our Eastern brethren as difficult, would in no way approximate the sorrow and pain Jesus experienced for us. Yet the abundance and sufficiency of Jesus makes the inadequacy of our response to be sufficient. Our response to him could never earn the reward of eternal life. But by our response we signal at least our desire to be united to him, to the bridegroom who has made us, his bride, to be beautiful.

so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish (see Ephesians 5:27).

David Ruis - We Will Dance

 

19 February 2026 - plausible deniability

 

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.

That the messiah would suffer had been predicted by the prophet Isaiah. But it was still hard to accept. It did not seem like it ought to have been necessary, or that it could lead to a positive outcome. Surely there was a more direct way to experience the rewards Isaiah mentioned when he wrote, "he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand" (see Isaiah 53:10). It seemed Jesus was choosing the opposite of what Moses suggested, death rather than life. 

There is a way that seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death (see Proverbs 14:12).

But in fact, he was only choosing against a shallow and temporary life. He chose death, not as an end, in order to destroy it. He accepted the necessity of his death because it would allow him to unleash the blessings of salvation on the world. Without his death the problem of sin would have remained unanswered. Without his sacrificial self-offering all of the dividing walls between people and each and between people and God would have remained impermeable. People could not have been brought together in one body. Jesus was entitled to divine and eternal life in virtue of who he was. But it was only because of his death that others may now share in that life.

If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.

The path by which Jesus gave life for the world did not look like it would lead to life, but in fact led to life in abundance. So too for the path by which Christians may appropriate that life. It begins for us at baptism when we are baptized into his death. But then it must take shape in our lives through the choices we make. We must forego the shallow ways of living that are not true life. We must be willing to die to the old and fallen parts of ourselves so that new life may emerge. But just as Jesus did not die for his own sake, neither now are we called to do so. We are called to be completely reoriented from selfishly seeking our ego first, to living as offerings of love for the sake of others, and in particular, love in response to the love of Jesus himself who loved us first.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

The reason that we are free to choose to put others first is precisely because Jesus made it possible by dying for our sakes. In doing so he put our selfish egos to death with him. And the love he showed us is now meant to be the primary thing that motivates and orients us in the new life that is his gift to us.

What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?”

We are not as fully committed to only and always choosing life as Moses would advise, especially because it often seems to us that in the short-term it is the more difficult path. But we know what happens to those who merely store up treasure on earth. We know that the whole world, even if we possessed it, comes with an expiration date. Even during this life we recognize that the world always underdelivers on its promises to satisfy us. Even as mortals living on earth we recognize that it is only when we answer that call of Jesus that we begin to experience the joy and satisfaction that can truly last forever.

Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

Newsboys - Lead Me To The Cross

 

18 February 2026 - the Father who sees in secret

 

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

When you give alms...

When you pray...

When you fast...

Today we begin our annual campaign of Lenten renewal and transformation. Although we are invited to the traditional practices of prayer, fasting, and alms-giving, these are not meant to be manifestations of self-hatred. We do not undertake them because we are bad, in order to punish ourselves, but because they are good, in order that we might grow in holiness. 

But when you pray, go to your inner room,
close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

The point of our Lenten practices not so much what happens externally, much less what others witness, but rather what happens within our hearts. It isn't so much about whether these actions are functional or meet some success criteria as to whether they lead us closer to the Father who sees in secret.

When you fast,
do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.
They neglect their appearance,
so that they may appear to others to be fasting.

We sometimes seek consolation prizes through our Lenten practices, something less than drawing near to God, something apparently more easily attainable. But such prizes have a very limited ability to console. We may seek pity from others, or simply content ourselves with a narrative of self-pity within our own thoughts. We may seek to appear pious or generous in the eyes of others, or simply content to think of ourselves as paragons of virtue. But all of these options fall short of acting for the Father who sees in secret, who is interested, above all, in what happens within our hearts.

There is something more at work here than a merely automatic consequence of virtuous asceticism. We are asked to enter into something deeper than would be possible without the assistance of grace. We are invited to experience a transformative that we could never bring about through our own efforts, to "become the righteousness of God" in Christ. To do so we must rely on God in such a way that if he were not there we would fall flat. But he is there, always, in secret, awaiting us. 

Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.

Matt Maher - 40 Days

 

17 February 2026 - leaven out

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.

They had forgotten to bring bread. To us it seems a minor mistake. But the disciples seemed to be kicking themselves for it and seeing everything else through the lens of that failure. 

Jesus enjoined them, "Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod." 

No doubt they assumed that the supernatural bread miracles of which they had just been a part were in view, since Jesus was still talking about bread. But they were stuck on the level of the physical reality. Their fixation on their own minor mistake prevented them from seeing the spiritual significance.

And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?

The fact that they did not actually have physical bread was not actually a problem since they still had Jesus himself, the bread of life. They needed to recognize this fact in order to avoid the temptation to rely on other strategies to feed the crowds. The leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod might lead to some measure of success, as it seemed at the time. But that success was ultimately based on divisiveness and destruction. Rather, the disciples needed to rely on the bread of life to unite the world, just as relying on Jesus had allowed the crowds to remain united. His gift allowed both Jews (at the feeding of the five thousand) and Gentiles (at the feeding of the four thousand) to remain centered on him, represented by the twelve and seven baskets left over respectively.

The disciples assumed a mindset of scarcity based on their mistakes, and the possibility of those mistakes to impede their purpose in life. But they were meant to realize that with Jesus they always had a superabundance that was more than equal to any situation in which they found themselves. The real danger of a lack of bread was that they would fail to turn to Jesus for help but instead try different strategies to solve their problems, whether merely human, or demonic. They were, we know, slow learners. After one multiplication of loaves they still seemed unable to conceive that there might be a second. And after both they still somehow assumed that a lack of bread might be their biggest problem.

No one experiencing temptation should say,
"I am being tempted by God";

The disciples seemed to act as though God was tempting them, in the sense that he was out to get them, looking for any reason to condemn them. They did not yet fully understand that he was entirely good and that "all good giving and every perfect gift is from above". They were not yet convinced of the love God had for them (see First John 4:16), at least, not fully. Thus Jesus pointed their attention away from themselves, away from their negligible, minor mistakes, and toward the superabundance of God as it was present in his own person, demonstrated in this case by the leftover fragments of bread. 

We have said before that we too have a hard time believing in God's abundance, even after we have experienced it. And so we must again repeat that, and point to today's Gospel as more evidence to help confirm that belief. We too get hung up on our failures in ways that make us less open to trusting in Jesus, as though our mistakes have surprised him, or somehow negated his ability to work through us. There is great risk when we write ourselves off as disqualified, risk that we might turn to the alternative leaven available in our own day in order to feed ourselves and the world.  Believing that God loves us, really knowing and understanding it in our hearts, is not a nice but optional extra. It is essential that we let him convince us of his love so that he can work through us as much as he desires, even in spite of our limitations and failings.

And now, a few alleluia songs before Lent. After all, as Saint John Paul the Great said, "We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song!". Shout out any favorites I missed in the comments.

Caleb & John - Hallelujah Feeling

 

Newsboys - He Reigns

Michael W Smith - Agnus Dei

 

Singing Hallelujah

 

Saint Michael's Singers - Alleluia Sing To Jesus

16 February 2026 - a doubtful test

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said,
"Why does this generation seek a sign?
Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation."

These people who asked for a sign where like those about whom James wrote in his epistle. They asked for wisdom, but did not ask in faith. They were like a wave of the sea driven and tossed about by the wind. They asked in order to demonstrate that their doubts about Jesus were accurate rather than because of any openness to the fact that they might be mistaken about him. Neither faith nor true wisdom can arise from rigorous skepticism. None of us are qualified to put God to the test as though by some kind of science experiment. In some way faith must always issue from a spark that is his gift. It doesn't begin in us, but by a response to an invitation from God whose eternity precedes any interest in him on our part. We aren't so wise that we can even frame the question of the identity of Jesus in a way we could test. We can't create a valid null hypothesis that we could set out to disprove. We may be aware of the claims of the supernatural, things that transcend what ought to be possible if what is claimed of him were false. But he never seems to feel obliged to do these things just to measure up to our scrutiny. He does them when needed, and not in a lab. But then, it is not as though we are neutral observers, ready to go one way or another based on evidence. We do not stand over and above the creation of which we are a part. We have prior commitments. We are either tied down to this world by the gravity of sin or else are in some stage of responding to the invitation to faith that sets us free. This does not mean it is foolish to respond to the invitation to faith with the assent of belief, as though to do so meant relying on random chance. But it is the case that the question of truth can never be separated from the moral content of choosing for or against God. 

But if any of you lacks wisdom,
he should ask God who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly,
and he will be given it.

God gives wisdom generously to those who are sincere. When James tells us that he does not give to those who ask while doubting he does not mean that he only gives to those entirely without any doubtful thoughts whatsoever. Rather, he means that our request should be motivated by confidence. Otherwise, if we ask because we doubt, but say we desire wisdom, we will be acting in contradiction to ourselves. Jesus taught us that to the one who has much, more will be given. It is true here in matters of faith, prayer, and wisdom. But no one need start with little or nothing. We all have the option to begin, either on the basis of our own poverty, or with the abundance God never ceases to offer us.

The brother in lowly circumstances 
should take pride in high standing,
and the rich one in his lowliness, 
for he will pass away "like the flower of the field."

The Pharisees imagined that they already possessed wisdom. By insisting on this illusion they prevented themselves from being open to actually receiving it. But, as Scripture says, he gives wisdom to the simple (see Psalm 19:7). Thus we must become like children. We must, as the saying goes, empty our cup, so that God can fill us.

 

Songs In His Presence - Psalm 19: Lord, You Have The Words

 

15 February 2026 - fire or water?

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses
that of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

We have seen that an external and performative approach to the law leaves much to be desired and is ultimately insufficient. The Pharisees were able to manipulate the law by selectively prioritizing verses that seemed to endorse their sinful impulses. For instance, they were able to take the law about Sabbath rest and use it to justify their hostile opposition of Jesus. They ended up flipping the goodness motivating the law on its head such that they ended up trying to destroy life rather than saving it. If it is "life and death, good and evil" that are before man, as Sirach wrote, they clearly stretched forth their hand to death. And yet, for all this, the law was not at fault. There were limits to what the law could accomplish in fallen human hearts. It might prevent murder and adultery, but it did this by way of external consequences, rather than by inner conversion. Jesus did not desire to simply disregard the law and start fresh. Rather he fulfilled, not only by further specifying the provisions of the law, but by fulfilling God's promise through the prophets to give new hearts to the human race.

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

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people (see Jeremiah 31:33).

Thus it is not enough for us to avoid murder will still cherishing and indulging anger within our hearts. This is similar to how it was not enough for the exile generation to leave Egypt when the Egyptian idols still dominated their hearts, when they still longed for the leeks, the garlic, and the melons of they who held them captive (see Numbers 11:5).

The internal transformative to which we are called is a gift. But it is one with which we must cooperate if our righteousness is to surpass the scribes in the Pharisees. The Spirit is the one who initiates. But we must respond when he convicts us. When he makes us notice that we are dwelling on anger or allowing ourselves to careen dangerously toward occasions of temptation to lust we must use the strength he gives us to not only avoid the bad but even replace it with good. We can, perhaps, reconcile with those with whom we are angry, or at least pray for them. We can pray for the human dignity of those toward whom we were tempted to treat as objects of lust. Or, if we cannot even safely think of them, we can at least maintain custody of our eyes and turn our minds elsewhere, to the true, the excellent, and the praiseworthy (see Philippians 4:8). Anyone who has ever attempted this struggle without active reliance of God's grace while readily confirm that it feels overwhelming and impossible. But because Jesus fulfilled the law and gave us new hearts it is possible with his help.

But I say to you, do not swear at all;

Divorce and the swearing of private oaths were realities that seemed necessary under the Old Covenant, in which the old way to influence behavior was by external regulations. But in the ideal of the New Covenant the marriage without the possibility or need of divorce became real. It was no longer merely assumed that adultery was going to be part of the story, and indeed, it did not need to be. In the New Covenant people could now desire the truth enough to avoid the need for amplification when they supposedly really meant what they were saying, which in reality often led only to greater degrees of dissembling, the evidence of which was the way the language of their oath swearing had been twisted with too much shame to directly address the Most High.

The fact that Jesus raised the standard of the law should not cause us dismay, as though he only increased the arduous difficulty of our call to righteousness. He actually makes it possible for us to harmonize in inner lives with our external actions, such that all are motivated by desire for the good, all are motivated by love. At first the vision seems illusory or at best oblique. But the more we lean into responding to the words of Jesus with the help of the Spirit the more we will even here and now begin to discover something of the reality that Paul described to the church at Corinth:

What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard,
and what has not entered the human heart,
what God has prepared for those who love him, 
this God has revealed to us through the Spirit.

Elevation Worship - Trust In God

 

14 February 2026 - where can anyone get enough?

Today's Readings
(Audio)

His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread
to satisfy them here in this deserted place?”

After the earlier occasion when Jesus fed the five thousand they ought to have already known the answer to their own question. But it is true of all of us that we don't always immediately internalize the superabundance of Jesus even when he clearly manifests it in our own lives. We still tend to face future situations, even similar ones, as though we are on are own. The disciples may thus have forgotten that they did have a way to help. Or, if they dimly remembered, they didn't choose to remember fully because they were now in Gentile territory (the Decapolis) and they did not yet have enough room in their hearts for these people. Jesus had been moved with compassion for the five thousand, but was equally moved with pity for this crowd. He desired that his disciples enlarge their hearts and expand the borders of their compassion to recognize that these people had the same needs as anyone, and that, he, Jesus, was the solution.

If I send them away hungry to their homes,
they will collapse on the way,
and some of them have come a great distance.

The disciples role in feeding the crowds represented the duties of the Church to the world in the age to come. She was not only to meet the spiritual needs of the people, but also do everything necessary to ensure that their material needs were met, and this precisely so that they might not miss out on the spiritual things Jesus had to offer because they were otherwise too distracted. Such individuals might begin to discover the reality of Jesus but go out to find a way to met their needs but experience a collapse on the way of the budding spiritual life that was beginning to grow within them. Thus their material needs, while not primary, were almost like prerequisites in the hierarchy of necessities. Jesus would refuse to be made king merely on the basis of meeting physical needs. But when he could meet them in such a way that it conduced to the spiritual good of others he always did so.

He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.
Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them,
and gave them to his disciples to distribute,
and they distributed them to the crowd.

The Church is not an NGO or a nonprofit that merely addresses itself to the many physical needs of the world. There is a difference about the love with which she addresses those needs, and the guidance she follows in doing so, and the aid she receives from the Lord as she does, that distinguishes her efforts. Every instance of genuine Christian love is a foreshadowing in preparation of the consummation of that love with Christ in heaven. Therefore all acts of love, even the corporeal acts of mercy, also lead to the Eucharist, since it is there that we partake of a foretaste of the heavenly banquet. We must not be content to merely give people bread and then leave them to their own spiritual resources. Of that bread it is said that they will hunger again. But the bread Jesus really wants to give, his flesh for the life of the world, leaves no more room for hunger.

They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets.
There were about four thousand people. 

The seven baskets left over may have represented the seven pagan nations. Perhaps the four in the four thousand pointed to the four cardinal directions. The lesson would then be that there was no one anywhere who was not loved by Jesus, no one who could not find room in his compassionate heart. The disciples were supposed to learn this lesson so that the needs, both material and spiritual, of the world could be met. So too are we to ensure that we don't have blind spots. So too must we ensure that we don't stop short of playing our part in the plans Jesus has to share his love with the world.

BarlowGirl - Enough

 

13 February 2026 - he has done all things well

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.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd. 

There are many times when the presence of a crowd isn't conducive to healing. It may lead to self-consciousness that makes one unwilling to be fully vulnerable to the Lord. Yet many of us are unwilling to be led away from the noise and confusion into a place of stillness where we can be alone with Jesus. Even if we can't effectively communicate with the crowds, we refuse to unplug so as to become plugged in to something better. We can't, or can only barely, hear the crowds through our own filters and preconceptions. What we often do hear sounds more like cacophonous unintelligible noise. When we try and speak into this milieu is it any wonder that our words don't come out as we intend, that we are unable to make ourselves completely intelligible, or to have the impact we desire? Yet, we think, better the devil you know than the messiah you don't. The world may be filled with noise, but we are used to that noise, even if it deafens us. Who knows what might happen alone in the silence with Jesus?

He put his finger into the man's ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
"Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened!")

Had he healed the man if the presence of the crowd it might have seemed, even to the man healed, like it was more of a publicity stunt than an act of mercy. But by his one on one engagement with the deaf-mute man he demonstrated that his action was entirely for his sake. Not only that, but the way in which Jesus healed the man was deeply intimate. He touched him in a way both physical and spiritual, once again shaping the elements of creation, as he had done with Adam, but this time to restore and to heal him. Just as we are often afraid to come away from the crowds, so too are we often afraid to allow Jesus to touch us so deeply. But when we are willing, and let him have his way in us, we will hear in a new way. We will listen to God's word first, with none of the crowd to distract us, and will learn to speak in accord with that word.

And immediately the man's ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly. 

Only once we've had this encounter with Jesus can we hope to have useful communication with the crowds of our world. Only then will we know how to listen with compassion. And only then will we have something worth saying in response.

He ordered them not to tell anyone. 
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it. 
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
"He has done all things well. 
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."

It is true that there was no practical way to keep the crowds from realizing what had happened. But by telling them not to proclaim it he perhaps at least caused them to more fully appreciate what exactly the event was about which they desired to speak. It was not merely a miracle, much less self-promotion. It was in fact God fulfilling the promises that he had made through the prophets (see Isaiah 35:5-6). It is he alone who does all things well. 

Sonicflood - I Want To Know You

 

12 February 2026 - dog food?

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

He said to her, “Let the children be fed first.
For it is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.”

If it were us who came to Jesus in our time of need and heard this in reply we might have made a variety of different responses, from despair to anger. But would any of us respond with in the persistent, humble, and hopeful way that the Syrophoenician woman did? We sometimes feel a sense of entitlement that makes us imagine ourselves to be deserving of divine blessings. When God makes us reckon with the fact that it is his election that is the basis of blessings we tend to react by closing down, walling off, and walking away. Or else, we take it personally, as a condemnation of us as individuals. We internalize the reality of ourselves as "dogs" and wallow in the fact that we are apparently unwanted. Either anger or a sense of self-pity can equally keep us from receiving blessings of which God has by no means denied us. Are we too proud to receive that which is unearned and undeserved? Or are we too saddened by our own insignificance to even ask? Somehow, miraculously, this Greek woman did not succumb to either extreme.

She replied and said to him,
“Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.”

Did Jesus say no? There were dozens of permutations of what he may have intended to say that implied a negative answer. It would have been easy to give up and go home. She was a foreigner, a woman, and a stranger. Jesus did not exactly give her such a welcome as to imply he was ready to help. He seemed to emphasize the difference between them, seemed to imply it was a barrier to her request. It would have been easy for a fallen human mind to assume the worst, as we often do. 

In some sense, the most miraculous thing in this account is that this woman didn't give up. She persisted, perhaps because she recognized that Jesus was more than a mere teacher and healer. She called him "Lord", and seemed to believe that his goodness could not leave even dogs without sufficient scraps to satisfy them. She might not have fully understood what it really meant to call Jesus Lord. But she did seem to regard him with an appropriate sort of reverence. This was not only demonstrated by the way she fell at his feet and begged him. It was demonstrated by the way she expressed faith in the superabundance Jesus possessed, from which he could give her what she asked without anyone else needing to have less because of it. It was not a zero sum game with God. He didn't have to balance blessings, because he always had more than enough, infinite sufficiency in himself. This fact that he could feed the dogs and the children with no one left in hunger or want was a nascent, implicit belief in his divinity.

Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go.
The demon has gone out of your daughter.”

Her faith made possible one of the two times in the Gospels in which Jesus healed from a distance. Her healing not only fulfill her wishes and save her daughter. It implicitly demonstrated that the Gospel was meant to be bread for all peoples, both Gentile and Jew. It was among the first indications of the feast that would be fully revealed in the Eucharist.

When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods,
and his heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God,
as the heart of his father David had been.

Solomon seemed to turn to other sources to meet his desires. He turned to strange gods when his own God no longer satisfied him. We are often more like Solomon in this regard than the Syrophoenician woman, more ready to try alternatives than to persist in prayer. But this woman, among other lessons, demonstrates that the lack of an immediate is by no means a denial. Sometimes it really is meant to lead us to greater faith, and even to unlock blessings for those around us.

John Michael Talbot - I Am The Bread Of Life

 

11 February 2026 - under control?

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile.

We live in a society that is wont to blame circumstances, to point the finger at factors beyond our control. And it is true that the circumstances in our day are dire in many ways. Wealth is not distributed equitably. Many in need have far too little. Others have far too much and squander it on frivolity. Power is not awarded to the virtuous, and is often accumulated by the vicious. In the smaller sphere of our daily lives we seldom experience perfection even at this reduced scale. Everything from unpleasant people to unpleasant weather, traffic, bills, unsympathetic corporations, all of these find ample opportunities to kill our vibe. But, though our circumstances are beyond our power to control, they are not in charge of what matters most. Our circumstances, external factors, cannot defile us. That is, they cannot taint our souls. Unless, of course, we let them. Since "what comes out of the man" is what defiles him it is precisely in our response to our circumstances that we can become defiled. But this is something that is always within our purview, always in our locus of control.

From within the man, from his heart,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.

It is not the thoughts themselves that defile us, but rather the way we deal with them, the way we respond. It is not so much how they are within us, but the ways they go out of us through our will. Do we seek out occasions that we already know cause us to experience evil thoughts? Do we intentionally ruminate on them even when we recognize them, at which time we should rather reject them with the full force of our will? Do we allow ourselves to wallow in evil thoughts, or do we instead intentionally meditate on better ones, on the words of Scripture perhaps or, "whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise" (see Philippians 4:8). 

We are not necessarily impregnable fortresses against a fallen world. Our hearts collude with circumstances to bring us down and keep us sinking in the mire of our pits, like the prophet Jeremiah (see Jeremiah 38:6). But we have been given renewed minds (see First Corinthians 2:16), and the potential to walk in victory (see John 16:33, First John 4:4), by Jesus himself, through his Spirit. We can let ourselves be transformed by the renewal of our minds and walk in victory. Or we can resign ourselves to succumbing to circumstances and our own fallen nature. What we should choose is obvious. The Spirit is whispering to us now that victory is possible. Let us embrace his plan to renew us in the image of Jesus (see Romans 12:2), the image according to which we were created. When we do others will experience of us something like what the Queen of Sheba experienced from Solomon. They will be captivated by our wisdom, and ready learn of its source.

Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report I heard.
Blessed are your men, blessed these servants of yours,
who stand before you always and listen to your wisdom.

Maranatha! Singers - I Will Delight

 

10 February 2026 - human tradition

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

"Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders
but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?" 

Their traditions may well have begun based on a good impulse, one which broadened a ritual practice meant only for priests. They may have hoped that if everyone thus expressed their desire for right standing before God the whole nation achieve sufficient righteousness to be delivered from their enemies. The idea of involving the populace in religious piety was a potentially good thing. The desire for the nation to be pleasing to God was a good goal. But if they ever truly meant it from the heart it had nevertheless devolved into something that was merely performative. It had become a standard for measuring themselves against others, for judging themselves as superior based on their faultless performance. Others who followed their traditions served as affirmations of their importance and authority. Others who did not follow their traditions called, not only the practices, but even they themselves into question. Failing to follow their lead demonstrated that they were not impressed by their empty show. It implied that they did not see some of these reasons that the Pharisees valued themselves as valuable. 

This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
In vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.

The problem with merely human traditions about God is that they are too easy for us to manipulate, even unconsciously, to serve our own ends. We discover some helpful pious practice, but then make a law of it, and use it to judge others who don't favor whatever our preferred devotion might be. We use external actions and appearance to mask a lack of true conversion of heart. Human tradition subjects divine revelation to human authority, and this can never end well.

'If someone says to father or mother,
"Any support you might have had from me is qorban"'
(meaning, dedicated to God),
you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother.

Human tradition is something that allows us to manipulate the word of God in order to use it for ends for which God did not intend it. For those who didn't want to deal with the support of elderly parents it was often easier to reserve their money for a grandiose donation to the temple after their death. We can probably imagine many ways by which the veneer of religion could be used to divert us from the more difficult work of holiness in our daily lives. We ought to be on guard against pitting revelation against itself, of using one precept as an excuse to ignore others. 

“Can it indeed be that God dwells on earth?
If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you,
how much less this temple which I have built! 

The Tradition of the Church is different from the tradition of men because the Church knows herself to be the servant and not the master of divine revelation. She knows that she does not understand exhaustively, cannot completely contain God so as to confine him. She is like the temple of Solomon, which was not a limit on God, but was indeed his dwelling place, a unique focal point of his presence on earth.

Blessed they who dwell in your house!
continually they praise you.

Matt Maher - Better Is One Day

 

9 February 2026 - immortal, invisible

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

When the priests left the holy place,
the cloud filled the temple of the LORD
so that the priests could no longer minister because of the cloud,
since the LORD’s glory had filled the temple of the LORD.

During the time of the Old Covenant it was not possible to have a direct and immediate vision of God. Even Moses was only granted a vision of his back. When Elijah met God in the famous encounter on the mountain he prepared himself by first wrapping his face in his mantle (see First Kings 19:11-3). This seems altogether reasonable if even the seraphim use their wings to veil their faces in the presence of the almighty (see Isaiah 6:1-3). We see the overwhelming intensity of God's presence in today's first reading, in which the priests could no longer minister once the glory of the Lord had filled the temple. This unapproachable nature of God continued to mark the ministry of the priesthood within the temple up through the time of Jesus. We read about this in the Letter to the Hebrews, which tells that the high priest goes into the Holy of Holies "but once a year, and not without taking blood" (see Hebrews 9:6).

They scurried about the surrounding country 
and began to bring in the sick on mats
to wherever they heard he was.

We ought to be struck, then, by how easy it was to approach Jesus, the fact that he rejected none who came to him (see John 6:37). If Jesus was in fact God, as it is clear that all of the Gospel writers believed, how was it safe to come to him so freely? Should it not have been the case that no one could see the face of God and live (see Exodus 33:20)? Part of the reason this was possible was because his presence was still veiled, now by his sacred humanity. His divinity was truly present, but visible only to the eyes of faith. Thus the people who came to him were able, according to their capacity, to encounter God himself, and to see the face of God, without being undone by it. We might imagine that even the less filtered vision granted to Peter, James, and John at the transfiguration was still something less than the fullness of the reality. 

Amazingly, it does seem that the full vision of the face of God is intended by him to be our destiny. The fact that the letter to the Hebrews encourages us to seek holiness without which no one will see God seems to assume that this is meant to be so (see Hebrews 12:14). The first letter of Saint John tells us, "we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is" (see First John 3:2). Paul tells the Corinthians that we now "see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face" (see First Corinthians 13:12). 

What we see now through faith is real, if partial. It is by means of faith that we are brought from being unable to approach God at all to the holiness that allows us to more and more behold him directly. Again, listen to Paul to the Corinthians, "we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another" (see Second Corinthians 3:18). The vision of faith transforms us by means of what we behold. It increases our capacity to guide our lives by hope and to live in love. The tradition of the Church calls the destiny of the blessed the beatific vision. Those who see this vision are so overwhelmed by it that they are more or less unable to sin, since in the light of such a vision sin is so obviously empty. And those who see it experience in that vision the fulfillment of every hope and desire.

Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak;
and as many as touched it were healed.

A take away for us is that the process of growth is often both humble and hidden. Those around Jesus experienced transformation by merely touching his clothing. This calls us in turn to not take for granted on our opportunities for contact with Jesus, in his presence in others, in the sacraments, and especially in the Eucharist. If the crowds were healed when they so much as touched the tassel, how much more might we be healed if we encountered Jesus in the Eucharist with true and living faith?

 

Vineyard - I See The Lord

 

8 February 2028 - lights of the world

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

You are the salt of the earth.
But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?
It is no longer good for anything
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

Salt was not used for its own sake. It was used as a flavor enhancer and preservative for other kinds of food. Just so, the Christian was meant to be a being for others. A Christian who did not become so was like salt that had lost its saltiness, something that should have been an impossibility. A Church that functioned this way would be like a growing quantity of stored salt that was never put to use. In such a world that might be many ingredients, but no food, and no feast. The point was not that Christians were supposed to become something they were not. It was that they were supposed to act in accord with the truth of their identity. They were salt in virtue of the fact that Jesus called them such, and therefore made them such, rather by their own cleverness or effort. But such a gift was also a calling. And the possibility of failing to live up to it was apparent, the danger about which Jesus warns us this morning.

You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.

In the Old Testament era it was well known that Jerusalem was the city set on a hill, mount Zion, the mountain of the Davidic covenant. It would, perhaps, have been convenient for it to have been something which one could hide. Then it wouldn't have been so provocatively tempting to its enemies. But the kingdom of David was only going to fulfill its potential to bless all nations and reveal to them God's wisdom if the world was aware of it. This had consequences and almost constantly involved it in conflict and competition with the powers of earthly kingdoms. So too with the Church. She can only be what she is meant to be when she is not hiding in the shadows but boldly pursuing her mission to the ends of the earth. So too with her individual members. The Church can't possibly be what she is meant to be with only the ordained and the professionals doing the work. All of the citizens of this new kingdom, this heavenly Jerusalem, have a part to play. If only the leadership is visible, but all of the members hide in the shadows, it will be difficult to persuade anyone it is a place worth living. Moreover, the members are able to reach into places and situations that professionally religious cannot. The professionals and the clergy exist at the service of the faithful, to give them the means of attaining holiness, and in order to equip them for their missions in ordinary life. 

Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand,
where it gives light to all in the house.

We will shine as Christians as long as we don't intentionally cover ourselves and hide our light. Why would we want to avoid shining and, as it were, dim our potential? Perhaps because the light can sometimes appear garish to those whose eyes have not yet adjusted, and even unwelcome to those still dwelling in the darkness of sin. This is not to say that the light is equivalent with a critique of the darkness. It is not an intentionally intrusive act, not something that is merely about exposing corruption or evil. But in the presence of light evil always feel exposed. It's existence seems to say that there is a better way, a luminous way, that could be chosen but is being ignored and neglected. This provocation, the possibility of a different way, a higher and better one, tends to put evil of the defensive. It is no doubt at least partially because this is true that those who are meant to be light try to hide as though living through an air raid. Any crack in the blackout curtains might invite a bombing run close to home. But a lamp that isn't producing light isn't useful for anything. Its one virtue is to shine, not necessarily to the ends of the earth, but at least on the lampstand where it has been placed. If we will not shine for others, we will not even have light ourselves. To give light to all in the house we must not be afraid to shine.

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!

The way we obtain healing, vindication, and help from God, is by embracing his plan for our lives, the new purpose he gave us when he made us new creations in Christ. If we put God and his kingdom first our own needs will not be forgotten. If we allow his light to rise within us, to break forth like the dawn to those around us, our own gloom shall become like midday, and our own wound shall quickly be healed.

TobyMac Featuring Hollyn - Lights Shine Bright

 

7 February 2026 - his heart was moved

Today's Readings
(Audio)

The Apostles gathered together with Jesus
and reported all they had done and taught.
He said to them,
“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” 

The Apostles had apparently been very successful in the their attempts to proclaim the kingdom of God after Jesus sent them out to the surrounding regions. But it was still important for them to remain in close fellowship with Jesus. They were not to infer that because things had been working well they could now get by without the intimate relationship that was the basis of their success in the first place. Moreover, they needed to avoid the temptation to constant action, to always only doing with no time for being, in particular being in the presence of Jesus himself.

So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.
People saw them leaving and many came to know about it.

It may have at first seemed like this plan to get away from the crowds had failed. If so, we might defend Jesus saying that he knew this was going to happen but wanted to help his disciples understand what their priorities ought to be when faced with people in need. Sometimes one had to put others first. No doubt he did want them to see the compassionate nature of his heart in action. But all of that said, Jesus now took center stage, and the disciples now settled into a more passive student mode, trying to internalize the character and wisdom of their master. Compared to what they had been doing in the surrounding regions, this surely must have been more restful. 

People were coming and going in great numbers,
and they had no opportunity even to eat.

Further, Jesus would go on to address the fact that they previously had not had time to eat because of the crowds, as if he had all along planned to do so. Just at the moment when, in their hunger, they might have begun thinking, 'What about me?' they were able to receive the miraculously multiplied bread and fish. This came about, not because they asked for their own sake, but because concern for the crowds made them ask Jesus to do something about their hunger. They must have seen that such concern was appropriate because of the way they saw Jesus first respond to the crowds with pity. They then imitated him at least in a small way by voicing their concern. Even such modest compassion as this then redounded to themselves. 

I give you a heart so wise and understanding
that there has never been anyone like you up to now,
and after you there will come no one to equal you.
In addition, I give you what you have not asked for,
such riches and glory that among kings there is not your like.”

Both the first reading and today's Gospel are examples of the fact that when we seek the kingdom of God first we also receive all else that is needful besides (see Matthew 6:33). When we try to prioritize rest above all else, as an end in itself, we find ourselves unable to attain true rest. But when we put Jesus first we find ourselves among the sheep he makes to lie down in green pastures, and beside the restful waters of his Spirit he leads us. When we put things like wealth or power first we only ever possess those things in a limited and temporary way, even if in the eyes of the world we have them in abundance. But when we first seek wisdom, of which the fear of the Lord is the beginning, we grow toward our true royal dignity as children of God. We receive the first installment of our inheritance from him, the Holy Spirit, and eventually the fullness of true treasure in heaven.

Michael Card - The King Of Love My Shepherd Is

 

6 February 2026 - guilty conscience

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

“It is John whom I beheaded. He has been raised up.”

Herod, it seemed, had a guilty conscience. He hated the fact that John had criticized has marriage, and wanted to silence that critique. But even once John was imprisoned he couldn't help but find him interesting. This was perhaps because John lacked much of a filter when it came to the truth. He was, no doubt, surrounded by people who told him mostly only what he wanted to hear. But John was different. Because he was a righteous and holy man he could not stop short of offering the full truth as he understood it to Herod, who, in virtue of being human, was entitled to that truth. He didn't condemn Herod simply for the sake of condemning him. He did it because then there might be the possibility, for change, transformation, and redemption. To hold out on the fullness of truth in such a case was in fact to deny him this opportunity.

Herodias had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday,
gave a banquet for his courtiers, his military officers,
and the leading men of Galilee.

Herodias, however, did not find John interesting or appealing in the way that Herod did. To her, he was only an external manifestation of her own conscience condemning her for a marriage that was unlawful. She, perhaps, was less accustomed to people saying always and only positive things to her, and perhaps more ready to fight to obtain and maintain position in society. In any event, she wasn't interested in John enough to let him linger even in prison. His continued existence was a reminder of her sin. But she could not achieve her goal of destroying John through the persuasive power of reason. Rather, she used her ability to manipulate people and situations in order to accomplish it. She implicated her own daughter in the process, subverting the gift of the girl's talent and beauty into the locus of temptation for her own husband and his guests. Whether this girl felt as though she had no choice to participate or whether her mother had formed her in such a way that she did it willingly does not change the fact that it was primarily Herodias that was guilty. She demonstrated the ruthless drive to achieve her desire, no matter the cost. 

His own daughter came in and performed a dance
that delighted Herod and his guests.
The king said to the girl,
“Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you.” 

Herod had only a vague an noncommittal relationship with the truth. In some way he was still able to understand it. But he often favored his desires and proclivities rather than conforming to it when it made imposing demands on his lifestyle. Yet we can see from the effect of this dance that giving in to his desires did not make him free. In fact, doing so made him willing to surrender half of the kingdom over which he was sovereign to fulfill them. And this is how it always is with sin. It promises freedom, enjoyment, and delight. But these promises end up empty. We find ourselves deprived of the royal sovereignty we are meant to exercise over our own lives, no longed guided by reason, but chained to our desires.

There are two different angles by which way may apply this Gospel to our lives. The first is taking John the Baptist as an example of fearlessly speaking any truth that might be helpful for others even in spite of difficult consequences. The second is that we ourselves ought to strive to maintain our relationship to the truth as the guide of our actions, that we resist the temptation to act on our desires when we know them to be harmful and illicit. Though, from our first reading, we are reminded that even if we dos sometimes fail to speak the truth or resist temptation there is always forgiveness available, if we seek it.

The Lord forgave him his sins
and exalted his strength forever;
He conferred on him the rights of royalty
and established his throne in Israel.

DC Talk - Fearless

 

5 February 2026 - when nothing is more than something

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick
–no food, no sack, no money in their belts.

The command of Jesus helped them to internalize the fact that this was not ultimately their project, but his. They weren't directed to use of such authority as they themselves had as individuals, but rather to rely on the authority they received from Jesus himself. Could this authority have still been operative with stick, food, sack, and money in tow? Clearly it could have. But it would have been much easier for them to fall into their own methods of planning and problem solving, as though those faculties were decisive in whether or not they could achieve success. But they were not merely political activists canvasing the nearby towns with persuasive rhetoric. They were representatives of the kingdom of God, pushing back the darkness, taking the world back from the unclean spirits to which it was in bondage.

We may be more or less willing to make due without certain comforts when we have no choice. But how ready are we to willingly give them up when, strictly speaking, we don't have to do so? Are will able to choose to set aside our comfort for the sake of seeing the kingdom advance, to open ourselves more to the power and authority of Jesus at work within us? To which we say, why not both/and? Why not comfort and commission, pleasure and purpose? Why not keep our food, sack, money, and walking sticks unless there is a situation where we are forced to do without them, rather than giving them up willingly? But we probably know ourselves well enough to recognize that we are so susceptible to addiction to comfort and pleasure that without a rather formal and rigorous act of the will at the beginning we won't have the freedom to choose the kingdom over comfort when we are put to the test. We should remember that when we are asked to give things up it is not usually because the things in themselves are bad. It is rather so that we may attain to a greater degree of freedom.

Everything we insist on bringing with us on our journey comes with the cost of maintaining it, whether that is financial, social, or merely emotional. The more we are free to do without the things that the world considers to be required the less those things will be able to steal our joy. What facets of our lives have we made into requirements that we could in fact do without? What security or comfort do we insist on providing for ourselves rather than trusting in the Lord to take care of us? Is there some kind of simulation or training exercise we could undertake, as did the disciples in today's Gospel, in which we could practice choosing the kingdom first and relying on God to a greater degree?

Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you,
leave there and shake the dust off your feet
in testimony against them.

We may insist that we aren't really that addicted to comfort or pleasure. But say what we will about those, one thing we undeniably have trouble doing without is the affirmation of others. If we think about it, we realize Jesus could have always and only sent his disciples to situations where they could be successful. But that wasn't his plan. His mission for them included the eventuality that they would face rejection. Not only did this completely frustrate their human need to control the situation, it also did not supply most of the reward that such a journey could offer on the human level. But there was still a reward to be had. The Father who sees in secret would repay them for the faithfulness to his Son. And yet the rewards of the kingdom are only available for those who are not overfull of the rewards of the world. The sweetness of the kingdom is only desirable to those whose palates haven't been ruined by the things of earth. But Jesus helps us learn to desire his rewards, and retrains our taste to appreciate the good things he offers. At least, he is willing to do so. Let us then learn to cooperate with this plan of his, if not immediately and all at once, at least with ever growing maturity.

 

Shane And Shane - Psalm 34 (Taste And See)

 

4 February 2026 - homecourt disadvantage

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

 King David said to Joab and the leaders of the army who were with him,
“Tour all the tribes in Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba
and register the people, that I may know their number.”

David sinned because this census revealed a lack or decrease in his trust in God, and a desire to ensure that he had power comparable to that of other nations. In this sense a census was only useful as a comparative metric of power of a human and military sort. 

Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? 

The neighbors and relatives of Jesus thought that he was too much like them, too normal, in other words, to substantiate the astonishing way with which he taught. David was not content with Israel as it was and those in Nazareth where not content with Jesus as he was. They both desired some extraordinary measure of the proof of the power in which they were asked to believe. Had David been humble enough to trust in the Lord, even though the power of the surrounding nations seemed intimidating, he might have avoided a plague that decimated "seventy thousand of the people". Had those in Nazareth been sufficiently humble before Jesus they might have recognized that there was more to him than meets the eye. Instead, they assumed that Jesus was on the same level as all of them, because to all appearances he seemed to be. And they took offense that anyone on their level would apparently presume greatness in the way that he did. If he was so great, they might have thought, he ought to have been more obviously distinct, his greatness more readily distinguishable. He ought to have been obviously out of their league rather than, apparently, one who was an equal footing with them.

Jesus said to them,
“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house.” 

God, however, did not work through typical or recognizable structures of human power. He did not need vast numbers to ensure military victory. He could work through David precisely when David was at his best, humble, trusting, and faithful, when he might have, to others, appeared weak. And he could work through Jesus because and not in spite of his humility. It was his willingness to forgo that glory that was rightly his that allowed him to come close enough to help us (see Philippians 2:1-11). But that humility was a liability when it came to his recognition by those who were proud. This hiddenness of the activity of God required faith to recognize, and sufficient humility to open oneself to that faith. One needed humility before the idea of the possibility of something greater than oneself, greater than the normal terms of worldly greatness, even while that something appeared too weak to accomplish anything. Because, to those with faith, that weakness availed much:

So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.

Phil Wickham - House Of The Lord