renew your wonders

Today's Gospel reading gives us Jesus's Sermon on the Plain, similar, but not identical to the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew. This suggests to us that the Jesus referred to the same general teachings at multiple times, but in slightly different forms, modified to meet the needs of a specific time and place. Since the content of this sermon is considered to be among the most important of the core teachings of Jesus it should not surprise us if he preached about it more than once.

Blessed are you who are poor,
for the Kingdom of God is yours.

The blessings of the beatitudes all refer to people who are blessed now and will attain a better state in the future. The more surprising part of that is the idea that the poor, the hungry, the weeping, and those hated for the sake of the Son of Man are all already blessed even while the negative conditions continue. We can understand why it is fair to say that people who will be satisfied, laugh, and receive a great reward in heaven, will be blessed when those things come to pass. But it is harder to grasp in what way they are already blessed. Is it based simply on the fact that they have promises to which they can look forward? We can interrogate this idea better if we look at the contrary woes presented next by Luke.

But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.

Those who are rich, filled, laugh, and are well spoken of now would seem to be the ones that are blessed now. But the point is that this is not actually the case. They are like people who are too anesthetized to realize the danger of their condition. They are enjoying the ride on the first half of a collapsed bridge, or appreciating the light from an oncoming train. They are too numbed by what they have to realize how briefly they can hold it. They live as the this world is the final reality, but, as Paul tells us, "the world in its present form is passing away". This will, of course, be bad for them in the future. But it is also bad now. It is actually beneath human dignity to live at the level of appearances, to indulge in a shadow play as though it will never end. When we see no connection between our lives in the present and our eternal destiny, when we forget that, "time is running out", we begin to act in ways that are not only unsustainable, but also pathetic and sad. We begin to treat the sources of our riches, our food, our joy, and our reputation, as idols that can offer us ultimate happiness. Yet all they ever do is string us along.

By contrast, those who are not rich, or at least not dominated by their riches, have the freedom to live lives of meaning and dignity. They have consolation amidst their current trials of the rewards that will one day be theirs. Not only that, faith makes it possible for them to experience those rewards even here and now. It does this, not through the health and wealth Gospel giving them winning lottery tickets or sports cars, but by helping them to see wealth differently, to recognize the true riches that are theirs in Christ and in his Church. They may still be hungry, but at the same time they receive the food of eternal life that is the end of all hunger. They may still mourn, and that for many valid reasons. But they do so with the deeper underlying joy of the Spirit to sustain them. They may lose our worldly reputation. But they discover their true worth in the eyes of Christ and in his love for them.

They are borne in with gladness and joy;
they enter the palace of the king.

Matt Maher - Lay It Down

Tuesday, September 8, 2026

8 September 2026 - part to play

John Michael Talbot - Holy Is His Name

We don't celebrate many birthdays on the liturgical calendar. There is John the Baptist, and of course Jesus himself, and today's feast of the Nativity of Mary. And that's it. This ought to lead us to conclude that her birthday is a big deal. However, the emphasis of the celebration is different from the modern cultural institution which, if it has any meaning, is something like affirming the existence and worth of the individual. Fine and good. But biblical birthdays are important because of what the represent in the plan of God for salvation history.

We can see the emphasis on the divine plan in our first reading, which is a prophetic prediction of the role that the son of Mary was to play as one who would shepherd the flock of Israel "by the strength of the LORD, in the majestic name of the LORD, his God" leading to a time when "his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth". According to Micah what was the watershed moment when things in the world will finally begin to change? He tells us that it was "the time when she who is to give birth has borne". Therefore, if the birth of her Son is so significant, we can by no means underestimate her own birth. It was a sign of the imminence of the coming kingdom of God.

The alternative first reading from Romans also emphasized the divine plan of God that would be realized in his Son. Part of the reality that was to be realized in Jesus was the way that many brothers would be conformed to his image. They would become sons (and daughters) in the Son. But if this primarily implied that they would come to experience the Fatherhood of God in a special way it also alluded to the way in which Mary's role was always meant to be the mother, not only of Jesus, but also "those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus" (see Revelation 12:17).

Both readings want us to appreciate the Mary's involvement in the story of Jesus was not incidental, much less accidental. It was an important part of the divine plan. Thus when we celebrate her birth we honor her by recognizing it as among the most important milestones in the story of our salvation. The role played by Mary could not have been filled by just anyone. It had to be the one who God knew would accept his call, cooperate with his grace, and give the full assent of her mind and heart in her fiat. Few births (in fact, only one) changed the world more than hers, and so it is worthy of celebration.

No doubt the reason our Gospel includes the genealogy is also to emphasize the fulfillment of a plan that always existed in the heart of God since before time began. Once Joseph realized that something supernatural was happening in his betrothed, in the moment when she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit, he began to question whether he himself could possibly be a part of that plan without bringing shame as a result of his own imperfection. But, although he was not immaculately conceived as Mary was, he was nevertheless also always meant to be a part of that plan. From him we can learn to not allow our own weakness to overcome us, but to be willing to do whatever part God has assigned for us. Although we are not righteous men and women to the degree that Joseph was, we nevertheless all have a part to play. We too are predestined and called to be brothers and sisters of Jesus, sons and daughters both of the Father and the mother of God. We must not shrink from this calling since in Jesus we have the presence of God in human flesh, "Emmanuel" meaning "God is with us". Therefore the promise of Micah is perfectly realized in him in a way that would be possible for no one else, "he shall be peace".

Maranatha! Music - He Is Our Peace

Monday, September 7, 2026

7 September 2026 - keeping the feast

The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely
to see if he would cure on the sabbath
so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.

The Pharisees were, in a fashion, working on the sabbath, though not in a way the obviously and explicitly violated that commandment. But they were doing evil, working to destroy life rather than save it, something wrong any day of the week, but especially egregious on the sabbath.

But he realized their intentions
and said to the man with the withered hand,
"Come up and stand before us."

Jesus was not about to allow the disordered motivations of the Pharisees to set the terms for this particular sabbath. He knew what they were about but refused to allow himself to be controlled by them. He did not compromise his jubilee program merely because of their hostile intentions. Rather, from his own divine abundance he welcomed those willing to receive him into a deeper experience of the sabbath. This was not only true for the one who received healing, but also the crowds who witnessed it. The restoration of the withered hand of the man was a microcosm of the restoration of Israel itself, the antidote to a nation which had not heeded the advice of the psalm, which said "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither!" (see Psalm 137:5).

The use of the word "restored" when Jesus healed this individual signaled more than a particular instance of his healing power. It implied that the larger restoration of Israel, divided, dispersed, and conquered, had begun, though not in the way people had expected. Even after the resurrection they didn't immediately realize everything that was implied, asking "are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" (see Acts 1:6). They didn't fully understand until Pentecost. Once the Spirit came in power they began to participate already in a restored Israel, one that was transformed into a transnational, spiritual, and even heavenly reality. But the fullness of restoration, announced by Jesus on that sabbath long ago, still remains. It will not be fully accomplished until the eschaton, when there will be "times of universal restoration" (see Acts 3:21). No doubt this is closely tied to the final sabbath rest that still awaits us, mentioned by the author of the Letter to the Hebrews, who wrote "there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God" (see Hebrews 4:9).

How do we prepare for this restoration and this final last sabbath rest? Our Christian communities need to open themselves to the healing touch of Jesus in order that we might excise from our midst the kind of "malice and wickedness" of which the Pharisees were guilty. So too do we need to be purified of other kinds of "immorality" that we still tolerate in our midst. We need to be brave enough to practice the sort of fraternal correction about which we read yesterday. We are not going to be the nourishing divine bread that we are meant to be while the old leaven is still present in our midst. It has a frightening ability to disproportionately spoil the larger batch. However, we cannot accomplish the transformation we need through complaining, criticizing, or virtue signaling. In fact, the transformation we need is only possible because "our Paschal Lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed" and in him we already have all we need to "celebrate the feast". All we need, really, is to be true to that original gift. Therefore, Paul writes to us the way with should celebrate: "with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth".

Matisyahu - Jerusalem

Sunday, September 6, 2026

6 September 2026 - love is the fulfillment of the law

Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another;
for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

It is good to pay our debts as quickly as we are able. This is done out of respect for those to whom we owe such debts and also for the freedom that results when our debts our paid. When we owe money for this or that there are ways in which, not only our money, but our possible life choices are limited until payment is made. A loan or a mortgage requires that we be solicitous to maintain adequate employment to continue making payments. But once it is paid there are all kinds of new options available to us. We could move to a different country, or go on a mission trip, or accept a job that pays less but provides a greater sense of purpose.

However, there is one debt that takes precedence over all others, and that can never be fully or sufficiently paid and that is "to love one another". We can't love long enough or well enough that we can then forget about it and become selfish. We not only owe our neighbors for their own sakes which are finite, but also for the sake of the infinite God who made them. Therefore we can't allow ourselves to be content with weak or wishy-washy love. We certainly must avoid anything that would be harmful to them, as Paul writes, "Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law". But we can see from our other passages that the debt of love carries positive and not only negative demands.

I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel;
when you hear me say anything, you shall warn them for me.

We are not all appointed watchmen over the house of Israel in the way that those with authority in the Church are so appointed. But even we are required to not remain silent when the spiritual life of a sister or brother is at risk. When a brother sins against us we are not meant to ignore it, much less to use it as fodder for gossip. We are meant to take it seriously, taking whatever steps are necessary to win him over. We hope to be able to do this between ourselves and him lone. But, if not, objective third parties can be helpful. And when they are inadequate, someone who can speak clearly about the teaching of the Church whatever subject is in view can be invaluable.

If he refuses to listen even to the church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.

If our brother refuses to listen even to the church we are not thereby discharged from the debt of love we owe to him. Rather, it takes on a different form, since the terms with which we can communicate with him are different from that of a brother with a common understanding of the faith. The goal of winning over the brother remains. But the way we try to do so is now more in keeping with how we appeal to those who have not yet accepted the Gospel message. It does not mean shunning such a one. Jesus did not avoid table fellowship with tax collectors and sinners. But he did recognize that they were not meant to remain in the condition in which he found them. What they needed, more than correction of individual behavior, was to hear the good news and come to saving faith. One who doubles down on sin to the degree that he will even ignore Church teaching on the matter is in a similar condition.

Again, amen, I say to you,
if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.

We are not meant to seek and save our lost brothers and sisters merely through our own persistence and cleverness. Rather, it is only the presence of Jesus himself in the midst of us that is capable of changing human hearts. Without him present we really have nowhere to point, nothing to offer, no real meat to the appeal we want to make. He is the center, the goal, the purpose of the law and of our lives. Love fulfills the law especially and particularly when we bring others into contact with the living Christ, present here and now among his people.

For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.

Leeland - Way Maker

Saturday, September 5, 2026

5 September 2026 - Lord of the sabbath

Housefires - Lift You High

Some Pharisees said,
“Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?”

The Pharisees probably convinced themselves that they meant well. They desired to call the nation to a high standard of holiness so that God would hear their prayers and vindicate them against their oppressors. But in pursuit of their plan they lost sight of the personhood of others, seeing them more like cogs that were either functioning properly in their scheme, or else not doing so. From there it wasn't too much of a stretch to see someone like Jesus as a saboteur, throwing a wrench in all of those gears leading to a systemic breakdown of the system they were attempting to build. Thus, without ever meaning to do so in a fully conscious way, they became opposed to the kingdom of Jesus in a way similar to how Saul opposed David.

Have you not read what David did
when he and those who were with him were hungry?

David and his men were hungry because they were fleeing from King Saul. Since David was the one anointed by the Lord to be the next king the mission he and his men were on had a divine origin. Thus they were permitted to share in the priestly privilege of eating the bread of offering. This may hint at the unique way that the role of priest and the role of king were united in David, who was "a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek" (see Psalm 110:4). At the least it demonstrated that the demands of fulfilling the divine plan superseded the liturgical norms that protected the sanctity of the bread of offering. That sanctity would have been tarnished if some random people from the road casually ate it to satiate their own hunger. But when David and his men, who had been maintaining their own purity for the sake of the mission, which itself was given by God, ate the bread, its purity was respected and maintained.

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

The Pharisees fastidious focus on details was problematic because it made them lose sight of the big picture. In the way they taught, criticized, and argued, they trampled over others as collateral damage necessary for their agenda. And when God himself appeared before them with a different plan they not only did not consent to it, but even persecuted the one who revealed it. They were not merely rejecting a different plan, but the anointed of the Lord who made it known. They thus became like Saul who, in his pride, desired to cling to his own authority when God decreed it would pass to another.

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

While pretending to respect the sabbath the Pharisees acted in some ways as though they believed themselves to be its lord. But their use of the sabbath regulations were not aligned to the true purpose of rest and relationship with God. After all, they were doing all they could to make it harder for the disciples of Jesus to rest and for the crowds to enjoy their relationship with he who was God in the flesh. They thus became creatures convinced that they knew better how the job of governing the universe should be performed than God himself. It only sounds absurd until we realize that we often do the like ourselves, rejecting what God has revealed in favor of what we think ought to be the case.

Let us learn to trust God more than ourselves and to welcome the kingdom he came to reveal.

The Lord is near to all who call upon him.

Friday, September 4, 2026

4 September 2026 - while the bridegroom is with them

Elevation Worship Featuring Brandon Lake - There Is A King

“The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers,
and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same;
but yours eat and drink.”

The disciples of Jesus didn't fit the mold of people who took religion seriously in his own day. They didn't do what others did, even though it was considered table stakes. They did what others did not, even though it was superficially somewhat scandalous. So too today, if Christians don't appear to others as they would expect, that is to be expected. Christians follow an internal logic that cannot be discerned merely from the order of the universe, human nature, or previous divine revelations. They live based on their relationship with the bridegroom.

Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast
while the bridegroom is with them?
But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
then they will fast in those days.”

When the world mourns Christians may well manifest an annoying aloof sense of joy. Those in the world see this as irresponsible, as though attending to one's duties in the world means treating it as an absolute good, which must be grieved whenever its inherent imperfections manifest. In the face of war, suffering, sickness, and death, Christians maintain an invincible hope and confidence in the Lord. This joy does not make them useless or incompetent to respond to those in material need. Rather, it allows them to be clearheaded enough to do so. But Christians often mourn the things the world celebrates, such as power, violence, sensuality, and celebrity. They are saddened by anything which might compromise the immortal soul for the sake of temporary benefits. This reversal, in which mortal sin is a cause for sadness, but even death, in the final analysis, calls for celebration, is paradoxical to those who do not yet know the bridegroom who stands at the center of it all.

Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of God.

Even Christians can make the mistake of trying to use old wineskins for new wine, or of trying to patch an old cloak with a piece of new cloth. The Corinthians did so when they imported worldly concepts of celebrity into their relationships with those doing apostolic work, such as Paul, Peter, and Apollos. They chose champions from among them as though these figures were in a popularity contest. In choosing one over another they seemed to assume that they themselves were made better by the strengths of the preferred preacher, as though it implied something about their own value. Paul attempted to put things in their proper context, explaining that he and the others were not celebrities to be celebrated, but servants and stewards working together for the good of all. If there were truly some kind of moral corruption, if any were not "found trustworthy" that would be a separate and potentially serious issue. But the human tribunal which motivated the divisions in Corinth was not competent to judge such matters. It was motivated only by self-interest. In this sense Paul did not even pass judgment on himself, whether he was superior or inferior to others. But he did take morality and having a clean conscience seriously, which is why he was able to say, "I am not conscious of anything against me".

Therefore, do not make any judgment before the appointed time,
until the Lord comes,
for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness
and will manifest the motives of our hearts,
and then everyone will receive praise from God.

Rather than the praise of men, leading to competition, divisions, and even schisms, what matters is praise from God. Not only in the time of Paul but even in our day we can get caught up in concern for what others think when the only thing the really matters is what God thinks. Let's resolve to keep the new wine of the Gospel in new wineskins of renewed hearts and minds, and to keep the new cloak given to us in baptism whole and unstained until his coming.

Thursday, September 3, 2026

3 September 2026 - catching on

Elevation Worship - Fullness

Simon said in reply,
"Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets."

Life apart from Jesus is shallow, frustrating, and unsatisfying. In spite of the hard work we invest we can labor without rest with little or nothing to show for it. When we do manage to catch a few fish it is only a temporary reprieve. It is never such an abundance that we feel as though we can ever take a rest from the endless cycle of working to sustain ourselves in this world. We always have a vague lingering sense that there should be something more, an end toward which we are working, a fullness and a finality that can actually be attained. But at the same time we recognize that this could never be a matter of mere quantity. We are looking for something qualitatively different. Thus, it isn't so much about the miraculous draft of fish as it is about the one who gives us the directions that lead to that abundant catch.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."

Peter saw Jesus as more than a highly accurate instrument for locating fish, as though it was his spiritual sonar that was valuable. Jesus had shown that he was able to find fulfillment in places where Peter had assumed there was none to be found. But what mattered was not so much the individual instances of miraculous fulfillment as knowing Jesus himself. If Peter had seen Jesus as a tool for increasing the profitability of his fishing business he would not have said "Depart from me, Lord". But he recognized something deeper in Jesus, an individual that stood outside of the cycle of endless work and partial fulfillment. The true abundance was not in the vicinity of Jesus waiting to be identified by him. Jesus himself was the true abundance. Possessing him one possessed all else besides.

So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you,
Paul or Apollos or Cephas,
or the world or life or death,
or the present or the future:
all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.

When we recognize the abundance that is found in Jesus we see our own insufficiency in stark relief. We come to more deeply recognize our own inadequacy, our deeply rooted tendencies that are not merely inefficient, but even selfish and sinful. Yet this does not disqualify us from possessing all things in Christ. Precisely because of his abundance, because he needs nothing from his creatures, he is the one person who can offer us everything. Knowing this we are free to leave our large expensive fishing nets, whatever those represent for us, in order to follow Jesus himself.

He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

2 September 2026 - for this purpose

Randy Rothwell - For This Purpose

Unlike in the Nazareth, where Jesus was unable to do many miracles because of their lack of faith, in Galilee he seemed to heal one person after another. The two individuals that started the cascade were the demon possessed man in the synagogue and the mother-in-law of Simon Peter. The first was apparently Jesus's own initiative, a way to concretely announce his jubilee liberation program and Gospel message. The second, Simon's mother-in-law's healing, was the result of the fact that concerned individuals "interceded with" Jesus "about her." Jesus does sometimes take the initiative in order to make the coming of his Kingdom known to those who would otherwise have been ignorant of it. But sometimes, particularly once he is known in a region, he allows others to take the initiative. He waits for them to use their faith to unlock and unleash his healing power. Far from putting people off of Jesus, this second mode actually draws people to Jesus in increasing numbers. This is not surprising, since they are active and involved and not merely passive as in the cases when Jesus takes the initiative himself. The fact that there is incentive to being involved draws more and more people into the orbit of Jesus. Being merely passive observers and recipients does not energize people to follow Jesus in the same way as does their active conscious participation.

At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases
brought them to him.
He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.

As he cast out demons they tried to shout out something that was apparently true about his identity, "You are the Son of God." But they were not doing this to help his cause. It was not spoken with the same sincerity with which Simon Peter would later confess it. The demons were trying to sabotage Jesus by attempting to reveal something true, but in a way that was skewed and unhelpful. Most others, if they were in Jesus's place, would probably have responded, "Yes. Yes I am". But Jesus was not interested in popularity or feeling validated. It didn't help for people to hear it if they didn't realize what it meant in a deeply interior way. Jesus wanted people to receive this truth as a revelation, not as a slogan. Further, had it been too widely broadcast or re-shared with insufficient comprehension, it would only have served to shorten the time before the conflict leading to the cross was initiated. When demons tell us anything about Jesus they always do so to suggest that he is a threat to our autonomy and our ability to freely enjoy ourselves. They want us to see him as dangerous, and they are willing to twist things that are true to make us believe it. We should be aware of the motivations behind statements about Jesus, since even those with good intentions are never entirely neutral. This will help us to guard against deception.

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

(see James 1:16-17)

Had Jesus been subject to a desire for popular approval his mission never would have gotten off the ground. He would have stayed in one region fulfilling one need after another in order to keep the crowds perpetually happy. But he had a higher purpose in coming than healing and exorcism, the results of which still did not address the deepest issues that afflicted humanity: sin and death. It was more important that more people hear his message than it was for him to experience sustained popularity in one area, even if it was the result of an endless list of miraculous deeds. But we should not take for granted that this was not a typical human response to success and adulation. He left those who at least superficially adored him and went on to others who did not yet even know him, some of whom were almost certain to reject him. He did this, and was able to do it, because he knew his true purpose. This speaks to the importance of knowing ones purpose generally, and the power it gives us to live as we are meant to live, to choose rightly even when the right choice is not the easiest one.

Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield,
For in him our hearts rejoice;
in his holy name we trust.

Tuesday, September 1, 2026

1 September 2026 - it hits different

Elevation Worship - Here As In Heaven

He taught them on the sabbath,
and they were astonished at his teaching
because he spoke with authority.

They were not used to the way in which Jesus spoke. Other teachers would have peppered their doctrine with references to previous interpretive traditions in order to substantiate their own points of view. Jesus did reference the Scriptures in what he taught. For instance, he later asked the Pharisees, "Have you not heard what David did ... ?" (see Matthew 12:3). But although these quotations did help to establish and validate his own claim, their usage was new and unexpected. They were not rooted in any tradition of authority, and made sense only if he himself was an authoritative interpreter of God's word. Similarly, his moral teachings referred to core truths that did exist in the Scriptures. But when he presented these teachings in the Sermon on the Mount they took shapes that no one would have previously guessed. It was necessary for him to go beyond what Moses had said to fully bring God's moral law to light. He demonstrated an authority that transcended even that of Moses, who was the greatest of the Lord's prophets, and of the law itself, the most concrete and comprehensive revelation of God's will for mankind. He did not use his authority to upend or abolish the law, but rather to bring it to its true fulfillment (see Matthew 5:17).

The reason Jesus was able to speak with such authoritative clarity about God's Word and his will for mankind was because the Spirit of God "knows what pertains to God", and Jesus was filled beyond measure with that Spirit (see John 3:34). He did not need to defer to merely human interpretations which were always somewhat tainted by the merely "human wisdom" of the "natural man" who "does not accept what pertains to the Spirit" since "to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it". The natural man responds to spiritual things like the unclean demon responds to Jesus in today's Gospel, assuming that God is out to get us, that his will means that the party is over.

Unlike all other teachers Jesus was so spiritual that he could "judge everything" and was "not subject to judgment by anyone". He didn't have to prove anything or impress anyone. His confidence was rooted in his Father, not the unstable opinions of the crowds. One who was merely excessively certain of himself would quickly be revealed as a fool. One who tried to appeal to others for popularity would find popularity to be a fickle master. But one who was truly rooted in God was unshakable in a way that the crowds to whom Jesus spoke were able to recognize.

For “who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.

Surprisingly, the spirituality of Jesus that gave him the authority he possessed was not to be reserved to him alone. Since we share the Spirit which motivated his life we too come to possess the same "mind of Christ" that was proper to Jesus himself. Clearly, none of us possess this mind to the constant and perfect degree that Jesus did. But we are meant to do so more and more through the renewal of our minds that Paul enjoined on the Romans (see Romans 12:2). The more we experience this transformation the less we will be bothered by the judgments of those whose minds are still limited to the merely natural and human. We can say, as Paul later will to the Corinthians, that "with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself" (see First Corinthians 4:3).

The mind of Christ isn't just something that is a nice way to enhance our subjective experience of life. It is necessary if we are to do our own part in the struggle against the dark powers that hold sway in our world. When our words our shaped by his mind they become powerful, and the world is changed as a consequence.

“What is there about his word?
For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits,
and they come out.”

Monday, August 31, 2026

31 August 2026 - fulfilled in your hearing

Kutless - Word Of God Speak

In the synagogue at Nazareth Jesus proclaimed that the definitive year of jubilee had at last arrived. Jesus inaugurated it by proclaiming the Gospel to the poor, both materially and spiritually. He ushered it in by freeing those bound by sin, making God's forgiveness available to them. He helped those who recognized their own blindness be healed and recover their sight, with the result being not only that they acquired eyes that could see their surroundings, but also spiritual vision that was able to more see more deeply the identity of Jesus himself. He freed people bound by addiction and demonic affliction, letting the oppressed go free. This, finally, was what God had wanted all along, a year that that was acceptable to him at last.

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

Simply in virtue of the power of the proclamation of the Gospel the word of Scripture was fulfilled in their midst. But whether or not it had a transformative effect on those who listened would depend on how they heard. Like them, we have a choice about how to respond when we hear the Scripture proclaimed. We may be initially impressed by the gracious words it contains. But our initial impressions only go so far. We can follow our initial positive feelings with a response faith, in which case it's power is unleashed in our own lives and it becomes a reality for us. Or we can respond with skepticism, as did the congregation at Nazareth.

And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They also asked, “Is this not the son of Joseph?”

We can think, like those in Nazareth, that the words of Scripture, though impressive, are too good to be true. Or if they are true to any degree, that must at least be exaggerated. We think this based on the fact of our prolonged proximity to Jesus in our midst, assuming that if he were all that he claimed to be we would see more of the results on a daily basis. He wouldn't leave for other regions, perform miracles there, and then come back to us with only a sermon. Or would he? The problem is never with what Jesus provides, it is always with our response, which often lacks the intensity of faith to unleash all that he wishes to do in our midst. Miracles are not meant to be a way we test Jesus and defang his potentially life-altering call to repentence. Rather, our faith unlocks the power of Jesus to do miracles in our midst. If we approach Scriptures with an attitude that we've heard it all before we risk missing out on what Jesus desires to do among us.

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

Jesus did not write off the people at Nazareth. Since they were too familiar with him, or at least who they believed him to be, Jesus would help them to see him from a new and different perspective. It was, to be sure, a challenge to their assumptions. But it represented a real opportunity to choose to see him from the perspective of an outsider, with fresh eyes. But in order to avail themselves of the potential of this perspective they had to square it with the fact that recipients of God's favor in his examples were Gentiles. If they could overcome their prejudice and animosity against those groups and see what God had done in those cases they would be able to recognize how Jesus himself was at work among there in that synagogue. It was already clear from history that God did not always play favorites in the world in the way they assumed he would. It ought to have helped them overcome the sense of entitlement which led them to insist that Jesus go above and beyond to prove himself when they had already seen and heard enough to believe.

Jesus wants us to come to a deeper faith as well. He may invite us to do so in ways that challenge our expectations, in order to help us see things in a new way. But we want to become able to see things in this way. We are among the blind who need new spiritual eyes to see him. We look around and do not see a year acceptable to the Lord. But Jesus can help us to have the faith to realize that in him the great jubilee is truly here. When we realize it we can leave the benches from which skeptics spout their unhelpful critiques. We can then take our place sharing that good news with those others who do not yet know it, so that they too may be transformed.

Sunday, August 30, 2026

30 August 2026 - get your mind right

Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,
"God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you."

Peter had a very human response to the idea that his friend and teacher should need to suffer and die. The compassion that motivated it was a strength, not a weakness. But the human way he expressed it was limited and insufficient. If Jesus really was what Peter had said of him it implied that he, and not Peter, would dictate the plan. The Christ and the Son of God would not benefit from the suggestion of an alternate path or from second opinion in regard to his next steps. Yet Peter could not wrap his head around the fact that Jesus should have to suffer in this way. When he arrived at this apparent contradiction he had the choice to trust his own wisdom or to assume that Jesus had a reason for what he said. But what Jesus said seemed so wildly unlikely that Peter reverted to treating Jesus like any other friend. He acted as though he were talking someone who was saying crazy things back from a ledge. No doubt such dark words would have been difficult to accept. Doing so would have been in the same ballpark as Abraham agreeing to offering his beloved Isaac in obedience to God even though the promise made to him by God could only be fulfilled through him.

"Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."

Human thinking might reason rightly about merely human realities. But it was insufficient to assess the strategy of God for establishing his Kingdom on earth. If we were interacting with a purely natural world, that had no interpenetration with spiritual realities, we might have been able to content ourselves with the type of thinking that comes naturally to us. But as things stand, the spiritual has always been present and working to shape our reality, sometimes in hidden ways, sometimes through the parts of the story the prophets like Jeremiah were able to illuminate, but now made explicit in the coming of Jesus himself. If we are to align our lives with God's design for the world we can't really on merely human modes of thinking. Instead, we need to do what Paul suggests in our second reading.

Do not conform yourselves to this age
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that you may discern what is the will of God,
what is good and pleasing and perfect.

Only when our minds are renewed do we understand the logic of sacrificial love that made Jesus go to the cross for us. It is the revolution in our thinking that allows us to make the transition from the initial appeal of our callings and vocations to persistence even during the hard times and difficult aspects those things entail. We may feel for a moment as though we were duped by the Lord. But our transformed minds will help us end by choosing obedience.

Jeremiah's human mind did have something to say:

I say to myself, I will not mention him,
I will speak in his name no more.

But ultimately he chose to remember the spiritual truth of which his renewed mind was certain:

But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart,
imprisoned in my bones;
I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.

Jeremiah didn't want to cry out violence and outrage as his message. Humanly speaking, he would have preferred to stay positive. He wanted people to feel affirmed and to remain in their good graces himself. But to do so in that time and place and circumstance would not have been truly loving. He had to believe God's word, which told him that there were higher goods that mattered more. In ruminating on that word he received the fiery motivation necessary to persevere even amidst great difficulty.

Jeremiah could, no doubt, have made a more concerted effort to forget his calling, to distract himself whenever something reminded him of what had been spoken to him by God. Little by little he might have deadened the fire within him. But he chose not to be conformed to his age. Thus, not only was he transformed as an isolated individual, but God's will was accomplished through him. In truth he became an example of the sort of "living sacrifice" about which Paul wrote, whose very life availed for the well-being of his people. It did not do so in the way he might have hoped, by avoiding the Babylonian exile, or even mitigating the horror of that exile appreciably. But nevertheless, at the end of the book of Jeremiah, in the beginning of the exile, we do see immediate signs of hope. Not only that, but future generations who read his words would come to understand more deeply the importance of wholehearted obedience to the Lord. Moreover, his word contained promises that helped prepare for the coming of the Lord Jesus himself:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 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 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

(See Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Jeremiah's own life as a living sacrifice had sufficient parallels with the life and career of Jesus that his life, and not only his message, served to prepare people for the coming messiah. When our own minds are renewed and our lives correspond to that fresh spiritual way of thinking we help make Jesus intelligible to others, to whom the cross often seems as strange as it did to Peter.

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

It isn't so much that we are called to seek out misery and suffering, as though they were good in themselves. But we are called to be able to put God's Kingdom first and ourselves second. We must not be so fixated on self that we are unwilling to hear where God is calling us. We need to be willing to speak when and what we are called to speak, even if there are consequences. We must be willing to demonstrate our love for both God and neighbor, when it is difficult, and not only when it is easy. We must be faithful to the Gospel and "be ready in season and out of season" (see Second Timothy 4:2), as Paul told Timothy. It is important for us to overcome the patterns of human thinking that tell us to prioritize our selves and our lives in this world as though they were the highest goods. Let us replace a mindset that asks "What about me?" with one that meditates trustingly on God's word, seeking his will and then carrying it out by his grace.

Todd Agnew - Romans 12:1

Saturday, August 29, 2026

29 August 2026 - the heat of the moment

Newsboys - Step Up To The Microphone

Herodias harbored a grudge against him
and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so.
Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man,
and kept him in custody.

The place of Herodias in the life of Herod was tenuous. Herod might have been convinced at any moment by the words of his prisoner John the Baptist, to whom "he liked to listen". We can imagine why the words of the one who called their union "not lawful" would be threatening to Herodias. There was always the possibility that the idle curiosity of Herod about the John would turn into something more serious. If it did, there was no guarantee that she would be able to retain her relationship the royal position it entailed.

She 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’ own daughter came in
and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests.

Herodias preyed upon the same weakness that John condemned in Herod. Presumably it was to some degree sensuality that caused him to take Herodias as a wife in spite of the prohibition against such a marriage. And it was sensuality, drinking, a party, and a dance that again managed to captivate him and sufficiently mute the voice of his conscience in order permanently remove the danger represented to his hedonistic ego by John. The volume of the temptation was turned up to eleven, while the voice of reason was never more for him than a passing interest. It was not enough to provide proof against the temptation. In his desire to honor the pleasure he had received he surrendered his self-control and even his rationality. On some level he responded to the dance as though it were an idol to be rewarded, as though making promises would help to continue and increase the delight he had received. Thus, as is always the case with sin, he gave of himself but received nothing real in return. And indeed, what he gave of himself he was not able to claw back.

“Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you.”
He even swore many things to her,
“I will grant you whatever you ask of me,
even to half of my kingdom.”

The fact that Herod agreed to put John to death was not the end of the story for his afflicted conscience. We know that even after the death of John his memory continued to haunt the corrupt king. Thus, when he heard about Jesus, who was the fulfillment of everything represented by John, he said, "This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him" (see Matthew 14:2). The consequences of sin listed by Paul are clearly seen in Herod's own life choices: "they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened" (see Romans 1:21). Yet we also see that it is impossible to deaden the voice of conscience entirely. The form conscience takes when it is suppressed is increasingly experienced as antagonistic and thus perhaps even less easy to accept, at least without some kind of rock bottom experience leading to desperation for change. But we can see that the words of John the Baptist were not entirely wasted and even Herod was not left entirely without hope.

We see in John, who never appeared very impressive in terms of worldly status or wealth, precisely how "God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong". Exactly when John seemed more than ever to "count for nothing" he reduced to nothing one who appeared to be something. The reversal was among the greatest imaginable. Herod appeared victorious when he had John killed, yet was in the act defeated. John seemed to lose everything when he was slain, yet it was in fact then that he truly gained all things.

Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield,
For in him our hearts rejoice;
in his holy name we trust.

Friday, August 28, 2026

28 August 2026 - fuel shortage?

Brotherhood Of Hope - Rejoice, Rejoice Believers

The foolish ones, when taking their lamps,
brought no oil with them,
but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps.

Presumably the foolish ones would have had enough oil to last if the bridegroom had come when they expected him to come. The wisdom of the wise made them realize that it might not happen that way. They didn't act only based on expectations or assumptions. They had a contingency plan. It requires less of us if we assume the second coming of Jesus is only minutes or days away. There is much we would probably not bother to do if we were convinced of it. Many good works might be omitted, since they could seem less important in that context. Things that we might otherwise have done with excellence might instead be done in a quick, haphazard fashion. While it is true that the long absence of the bridegroom can sometimes make us lazy or wicked, it is also true that his imminence can be an excuse to ignore our responsibilities. Realizing that we are lesser lights than the Lord, we may fail to fulfill our duty to shine as lights of the world, if we assume that he himself will illuminate everything from east to west in a matter of moments.

Since the bridegroom was long delayed,
they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

It is recognized in the parable that we probably can't maintain a constant faithful and diligent awareness of the nearness of the coming of the Lord. Yet, for all that, the summary given by Jesus for the meaning of the parable is, "Therefore, stay awake". We need not be superhuman in our level of focus, but we must fight against all temptation to laziness and apathy. We have seen that these temptations may come when we assume the bridegroom will be back tomorrow or if we forget he will ever return. Instead, we are meant to make ready to welcome him with sufficient oil to illuminate his return. He isn't coming so quickly that we can take our part for granted. If we lack the necessary oil when we see him he will have no reason to suspect that we were among those awaiting him. Rather, precisely because we want to be among those who thrill to hear, "Behold, the bridegroom!", precisely because we are so eager, we must not fail to have enough oil to fuel our lamps until he appears.

We do not prepare for the coming of the bridegroom as though we required to do so merely with our own resources. Rather, Christ himself, through his Spirit, is the fuel that keeps our lanterns lit:

Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Thursday, August 27, 2026

27 August 2026 - firm to the end

Ike Ndolo - Awake, O Sleeper

Stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.

It is one thing to be good when you know others are watching. It is another to do so when they do not appear to be. The faithful and prudent servant is the one who does what he ought to do even when there is no immediate reward or punishment for doing so. The wicked servant is the one who gets away with whatever he can because there are, at least for a while, no apparent consequences. On the one hand, we know that we can't get anything past God who sees all and knows all. On the other hand, we still don't always manage to remember that or to live as though it were true. We begin to think and act as though God were not watching, even while knowing better or some level. It is in the sense that we need to stay awake.

So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

We may forget God for a time, but not forever. There will be moments even during our mortal lives when his presence and power are made know to us. Will he find us faithful or faithless at such times? We might keep thieves away with sufficient security precautions but we won't manage to prevent his entry. He will probably come to us many times in his spiritual presence in order to remind us of the role he is meant to have in our lives. We want to be able to demonstrate that we have been living as though he had been watching even if we were not capable of remembering at every moment that he was indeed doing so.

We may not always have the actual experience of his presence with us. But we must still practice living as though he might appear at any moment. This means we must develop motivations that are deeper than immediate reward or punishment. Not because there will never be reward or punishment. But rather, because there is a period of testing before rewards and punishments are given. We don't receive immediate results so we can learn to do things for their own sake and for the sake of our fidelity to Jesus. Rewards for such meritorious behaviors are fitting. But they are not meant to be our only motivation. Punishments for failing to behave well are also fitting. They are in part meant to serve as deterrents. But they aren't meant to do so in such an overwhelming and immediate way that they override our free will.

Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant,
whom the master has put in charge of his household
to distribute to them their food at the proper time?

We may not be those who are in charge of the Lord's household on earth, the Church. But we are all in some measure servants, stewards entrusted with responsibilities for how we use the gifts we have been given to serve the others whom the Lord has placed in our lives. Sometimes there is some level of immediate rewards or consequences for our behavior; the pleasant sensation of a good deed done well, or the sting of conscience for something we ought to have done but failed to do. But we can't be so tethered to such signals that we fail to act rightly in their absence. We are meant to remember that, even if Jesus seems absent at times, he is not really so, and can show up again without a moment's notice. We want to be ready if he does.

How can we actually succeed at right behavior that never flags even when our emotions aren't there to sustain it? We must continue to "call upon the name of our Lord Jesus", the one who has called us to be holy and who has begun the process of sanctification in us. We must use the spiritual gifts he has given to us as we wait, since, as Paul assures us, we "are not lacking in any" of them. If we simply continue to make a faithful response to the grace that we have already been given and the good work already begun in us "He will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ". This is the same confidence that made Paul assure the Philippians, "I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (see Philippians 1:6). Let us lean in to the call, and into our gifting, so that we are ready to welcome Jesus when he returns.

Wednesday, August 26, 2026

26 August 2026 - insider threat

You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside,
but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth.

We might think that if their are going to be tombs anyway they might as well look decent. But in the Pharisees' case, making themselves appear external presentable made the inner hazard harder to spot. There was the risk of contagion for anyone who frequented such tombs. But the fresh coat of paint obscured the danger. This was the risk that the Pharisees posed to others. People would see their apparently highly religious surface layer and fail to see the hypocrisy and evildoing that was in their hearts. Not recognizing it, they would then fail to limit their exposure, at the risk of becoming infected by such practices and attitudes themselves. It is one thing to preach to a higher level than we ourselves have attained. This is necessary since none of us has completely attained perfection or mercy as God himself is perfect and merciful. Yet we cannot tone down the Gospel on account of our own weakness. But we are meant to be transparent about the fact that we ourselves inevitably fall short of our own standards. Even Paul was clear on this point, writing, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost" (see First Timothy 1:15).

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You build the tombs of the prophets

It is easy to give honor to the saints. It is more difficult to emulate their lives and embody the holiness that makes them worth celebrating. A superficial devotion to the saints does not necessarily do much to make us like them even if, to some degree, we give lip service to the things they did and taught. We tacitly recognize that we are of a different lineage, that of those worldly people to whom the saints made their appeal, and not in the lineage of the saints themselves. We tend to honor them for their apparently unobtainable otherness rather than as friends who can guide us in our own Christian walk. Thus we cement ourselves as people to whom true saints must make their appeal and against whom they must preach rather than, as we are meant to be, their spiritual children.

In fact, when we were with you, we instructed you that
if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat.

Laziness does not work well in the physical world. Neither does it work well in the spiritual realm. We are called to do more than present a pleasant and pious facade to others, while ignoring the real work needed in our souls. Nevertheless, none of have sufficient resources to succeed alone. We do need spiritual assistance. The Pharisees made themselves appear so in control that they failed to recognize this need. They ultimately settled for a thinly concealed complacency. Laziness of that sort is closely tied to lukewarmness and indifference. The opposite of such laziness in the spiritual realm isn't so much industriousness as it is sustained desire. It means persistence in our pursuit of holiness and of God. This kind of refusal to quit even when we ourselves lack the resources necessary to move forward is only possible with the peace and presence of Jesus himself.

May the Lord of peace himself
give you peace at all times and in every way.
The Lord be with all of you.

Newsboys - Thrive

Tuesday, August 25, 2026

25 August 2026 - gnat for nothing