7 November 2022 - handling scandal

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Be on your guard!

Jesus called his disciples not only to guard against individuals sins, but also against attitudes that could lead the community of the faithful into sin. One big potential problem was that of scandal, or "[t]hings that cause sin", as the NAB translates it. Scandal in the biblical sense was an example of sinfulness that could lead others into sin. Insofar as all of us are called to be examples to others we all have the potential to give scandal. So we must guard against sin not only for our own sake but also for the sake of those who learn by watching us.

It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck

and he be thrown into the sea

than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.

Jesus realized that scandal was inevitable to some degree since his Church was founded on sinful and imperfect people. To help address this he built into his Church the mutual concern and responsibility of her members for one another.

Be on your guard!

If your brother sins, rebuke him;

and if he repents, forgive him.

Scandal must be rebuked. It must be identified as the sin it is in order that it not lead little ones to sin. There are various levels at which this rebuke is appropriate, as we learn in the Gospel of Matthew. We do not all at once broadcast a rebuke that is meant to begin between brothers to the nation or the world.

If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.  But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector (see Matthew 18:15-17).

The rebuke of scandal must be accompanied by a desire and readiness to forgive. The goal of rebuke is not to push the sinner even further away but to gain the brother back again. The unwillingness of the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son to welcome the back the younger and to forgive him could have been the cause of the hardening of the heart of the younger had it not been for the unconditional welcome he received from his father. We are not called to smug self-righteousness in regard to sin. We are called to have the heart of the father of the prodigal son, ready to run out to meet anyone even remotely interested in receiving forgiveness.

And if he wrongs you seven times in one day

and returns to you seven times saying, 'I am sorry,'

you should forgive him.

If we skip any part of the prescription offered by Jesus sin will have an easier time taking root around us. We must first take care that we ourselves live as examples worthy of imitation did Saint Paul himself.  He insisted that a good example was a necessary characteristic of those chosen to be bishops and presbyters.

appoint presbyters in every town, as I directed you,

on condition that a man be blameless,

married only once, with believing children

who are not accused of licentiousness or rebellious.

For a bishop as God's steward must be blameless, not arrogant,

not irritable, not a drunkard, not aggressive,

not greedy for sordid gain, but hospitable, a lover of goodness,

temperate, just, holy, and self-controlled,

holding fast to the true message as taught

so that he will be able both to exhort with sound doctrine

and to refute opponents.

We, like Paul, and like Jesus himself, must be ready to call sin what it is. Yet we must be careful not to push sinners themselves away as though we were somehow better than them. We must maintain a posture that is ready, waiting, and even longing to reestablish them by forgiveness, knowing that we and they both depend on the same mercy and grace. It comes down to the truism of loving the sinner (which, if we do not do, will result in our inability to love even ourselves) while hating the sin. It means hating the sin enough not to ignore it but loving the sinner enough not to abandon them. The disciples were honest in recognizing that this was not their natural disposition.

And the Apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."

The response of Jesus to the disciples about faith the size of a mustard seed seemed to imply that the disciples needed not so much a new miracle of faith to forgive, but rather, a willingness to use the small faith they already had to do so. They had a worldly belief that forgiveness might be difficult or impossible. But Jesus taught them that they had enough faith to believe that it was in fact possible, not for them alone, but for them aided by God for whom all things are possible.

The Lord replied, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,

you would say to this mulberry tree,

'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."

Matt Maher - Lord, I Need You

6 November 2022 - Dead? Wrong.

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection

The Sadducees were willing to believe only that which they found explicitly taught in the books of Moses, the Torah. But in this literalistic reading they remained primarily at the level of the letter of the text and remained closed to the Spirit which could alone give life.

For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (see Second Corinthians 3:6).

The letter alone led the Sadducees to insist on the finality of death. The letter, closed in on itself without the breath of the Spirit that original animated its writing, constrained them to an understanding that was of this world, merely human, and therefore foolish.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways (see Isaiah 55:8)

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God (see First Corinthians 3:19).

The Sadducees argument did not depend on a limitation of the Scriptures themselves, but rather on their own limited imaginations. They refused to accept the idea of a resurrection because the only idea of a resurrection they could conceive was self-contradictory and absurd. 

Finally the woman also died.

Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be?

For all seven had been married to her.

Jesus explained that the age to come was not identical to the present age, not merely a prolonging of life as was thought by the Sadducees. There was a strong continuity with that life, even a continuity of the life of the physical body itself. But there were also things which would not continue, things that were intended as symbols that merely pointed toward it would cease. Reading a moment in the Scripture as though it was absolute and final did not allow for the spiritual readings of such moments as symbols that were archetypes that foreshadowed the age to come. 

The children of this age marry and remarry;

but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age

In our age we marry because we by doing so we continue to propagate our species. Since we, as yet, are still subject to death, this still has a very practical purpose that will no longer be necessary in the final age. Also, at the same time, marriage is a sign that points forward to  the marriage feast of the Lamb. Once that feast is fully consummated we will be defined primarily by new relationships, ones that don't merely point toward eternity and help us practice for it, but which are themselves rooted in our eternal identities.

They can no longer die,

for they are like angels;

and they are the children of God

because they are the ones who will rise.

In our age we often meet with a similar skepticism about the resurrection of the dead, and for the same reason as Jesus did. Those around us are unable to imagine it in the context of their understanding of our current physical reality. In some ways the blame for this is on us who have not clearly presented our hope, and perhaps have not done so because our beliefs themselves are weak or unclear. Yet for all of that, and to help us counter our own weaknesses we have the examples of the martyrs, like the seven brothers in the reading from Second Maccabees. The example of their deaths are a proof that is harder to answer than many clever arguments. Beyond even those examples we have the "everlasting encouragement and good hope" that our Lord Jesus Christ himself has given us in his own resurrection from the dead. We see in him both continuity with what was, a body that can be touched (see John 20:17), and can eat a breakfast of cooked fish (see John 21:9), but also new characteristics, such as passing through walls (see John 20:26) and the inability to suffer. Jesus himself demonstrated definitively the firmness of our hope in a real, not merely imagined or metaphorical, resurrection of the body. May we share in the endurance of Christ so that we may truly look forward to our joyful hope, to life in the age to come.

Elevation Worship featuring Brandon Lake - There Is A King

Crystal Lewis - My Redeemer Lives

5 November 2022 - economies of fail

Today's Readings

(Audio)

I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth,

so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

What, for us, is dishonest wealth? Jesus isn't suggesting that we actually cheat earthly masters such as our employers by diverting their resources to use for our purposes. We are by no means called to dishonesty. It is rather that wealth itself is inherently dishonest, and this for several reasons. The first might relates to social justice and inequity. For all wealth draws from and feeds into a system that is not based on what is due in justice to each individual, but merely on historical accidents of accumulation, and exertions of power and domination of people and groups over others. Though we rightly try to avoid feeding into such inequalities there are countless hidden ways inbuilt in our economies where we might do so without realizing it. Without conscious effort our wealth will help make the rich richer and the poor ever more oppressed and marginalized, to say nothing of hidden costs at other levels like the environment. 

But there is another way that wealth is dishonest that is even more significant than the social justice aspect. It is dishonest in the way it appeals to us, in what it seems to promise. We read about all of the ways in which the use of wealth appears to be at the root of the problems in our society and we tend to believe that the proper solution is in fact the use of wealth. The power, we think, is simply in the wrong hands, being used the wrong way. If we had the power, if we directed the wealth, surely it would be better. Could we not, given enough money, fix everything, from poverty, to racism, to global warming? This is the subtle snare that by which wealth can capture us, moving us from a concern that is mostly for justice, to one that is mostly about power. It is very much like the way good hearted characters perceived the One Ring in the Lord of the Rings. 

"I would use this ring from a desire to do good... But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine."

- Gandalf in the Fellowship of the Ring

Unlike the Ring however, in spite of all the inherent danger in dishonest wealth we (or most of us, at least) are not called to avoid it entirely, which would be impossible. We are called instead to honesty in what is within the sphere of our control. This is possible when we remember that dishonest wealth always overpromises, and that it cannot buy what is most essential, "eternal dwellings". We must still interact in the economy in which we find ourselves. But we must remember that our lives and those of everyone cannot be perfected by money, but only by Christ himself working on our hearts to make us trustworthy so to each he can at last give what is ours. 

If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another,

who will give you what is yours?

What Christ give us that is truly ours, that is not dishonest, and that we can keep for all eternity? Only himself. This is the master we should prefer. We may have to use mammon, but let us not serve it. Let us serve Christ alone. Society tells us otherwise, insisting that wealth and power are somehow the solution to the very problems they cause, but let us remember that society always gets it wrong, "for what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God".

For even when I was at Thessalonica

you sent me something for my needs,

not only once but more than once.

It is not that I am eager for the gift;

rather, I am eager for the profit that accrues to your account.

Paul was helping the Philippians learn to use dishonest wealth in a way that was properly ordered to their end as creatures meant for eternal dwellings. He was eager for a profit to accrue to them that was something of much greater value than the dishonest wealth of this world. This true wealth would empower them to live like Paul himself who "learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need". Having abandoned the false promises of worldly power Paul found true "strength for everything through him [Jesus Christ] who empowers me".

When we learn to sacrifice our desire treat dishonest wealth as though it were eternal for the sake of that which truly lasts we too can become ""a fragrant aroma," an acceptable sacrifice".

His heart is steadfast; he shall not fear.

Lavishly he gives to the poor;

his generosity shall endure forever;

his horn shall be exalted in glory.

Lindell Cooley, Andy Park - Let The River Flow

Matt Maher - The Time Is Now

4 November 2022 - are we ready go give an account?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Prepare a full account of your stewardship,

because you can no longer be my steward.

Like this steward, all of us will have to give an account for our stewardship. Whether or not we realize it, we have all been entrusted with great stewardships from the treasures of the riches of Christ Jesus. He has given us life and, in addition to our natural talents, has given us salvation and poured the gifts of his Spirit upon us. There is nothing we have that we did not receive. Yet we often forget that we are stewards and squander the property of the master as though it was our own.

Their end is destruction.

Their God is their stomach; 

their glory is in their “shame.”

Their minds are occupied with earthly things.

Paul lamented that fact that some he knew were acting as though their highest allegiance and primary citizenship was here on earth. They were living as those who forgot that they were stewards, forgot that theirs was supposed to be a higher citizenship that brought with it both a higher calling and also a higher hope. They sought temporary things as though they were eternal and so lost sight of what truly mattered. But they were meant to relate to those earthly things as stewards, treating temporary things in a way that was fitting for what would ultimately pass away. The fact that they were citizens of heaven was meant to define their life on earth, making them more concerned with heavenly treasure than that of earth, more with the Lord of heaven than the whims of Caesar.

What shall I do,

now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me?

I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg.

What shall we do when we realize we have invested too much in things that cannot last, when we have squandered on ourselves in dissipation that which was not ours to do so? It begins when we begin to learn to use the blessings we have been given to be a blessing to others.

I know what I shall do so that,

when I am removed from the stewardship,

they may welcome me into their homes.’

The wealth of our master is actually infinite, and when we use what he has given us to bless others he is not diminished as an earthly master would be. Rather, he is glorified. The master in fact desires that those whom we bless experience freedom, not so much from monetary debt, but from sin. It costs the master nothing when this is the result of his blessings. It only costs us our choice to turn from the selfish path on which we had heretofore hoarded these blessings for ourselves alone.

We really do have the ability to help others rewrite their promissory notes and release them from their debts, provided we turn sufficiently from our own stomachs and shame and earthly things to do so. This is how citizens of heaven are meant to live, how those awaiting our savior and Lord Jesus Christ should behave. We have a hope that is so much greater than the things of this world. Compared to this hope they are but a passing mist or shadow. Let us cling to the treasure we can keep, which, among other things, includes the friends we can make with the wealth that has been entrusted to us as stewards. When we do so we are investing in eternity, and turning our hearts toward that which will endure forever.

He will change our lowly body

to conform with his glorified Body 

by the power that enables him also 

to bring all things into subjection to himself.

Matt Maher - The Lord's Prayer (It's Yours)

3 November 2022 - the value of being lost

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus,

but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying,

“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 

The Pharisees felt their privileged position in society threatened both by the reception that Jesus himself was receiving and by the way he elevated the marginalized and outcasts of society. They were unhappy that Jesus himself was becoming famous because they coveted his fame. They could not celebrate the fact that tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to Jesus because they had always defined themselves over and against such individuals. If such as them were welcomed what would the Pharisees still have about which in which they could take pride? They were stuck in a place like Paul before he discovered Jesus.

Circumcised on the eighth day,

of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,

a Hebrew of Hebrew parentage,

in observance of the law a Pharisee,

in zeal I persecuted the Church,

in righteousness based on the law I was blameless.

As with Paul before Jesus, so too did the Pharisees believe themselves blameless in righteousness based on the law. As with Paul, they felt their destructive zeal to be a virtue. But Paul discovered a deeper truth, a righteousness that was from the heart, and a better zeal that made him desire above all to follow Jesus in his mission to seek and to save the lost. The Pharisees still believed themselves to be among the ninety-nine in no need of repentance. Yet they were not. Part of the purpose of these two parables, in privileging the lost, was to invite the Pharisees to desire themselves to be among the lost who were found, among those because of whom there was more joy in heaven than the ninety-nine. The parable at once validated all of the sinners and tax collectors coming to Jesus, but also potentially provoked a certain holy jealousy for the privileged place of the lost in the heart of Jesus. Perhaps because of it even Pharisees could realize that they too were among the lost and therefore allow themselves to be found by the Good Shepherd.

What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them

would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert

and go after the lost one until he finds it?

And when he does find it,

he sets it on his shoulders with great joy

Paul was a Pharisee who had the experience of realizing that he was indeed lost until Jesus found him on his way. He was a sheep that thought he was among the ninety-nine but who came to realize the depth of his need for the Good Shepherd.

But whatever gains I had,

these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ.

More than that, I even consider everything as a loss

because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

The heart of Jesus was for those who were lost. He came for sinners, those who were sick, and in need of a divine physician. May we learn to follow after Paul and to see everything we have apart from Christ as loss by comparison to the supreme good of knowing him. We often take ourselves to be among the ninety-nine, but are in fact still and always in need of our shepherd to guide us home. It is when we are without him, trying to make our way by our own strength and intelligence, that we are lost. But even then he seeks us. 

Or what woman having ten coins and losing one

would not light a lamp and sweep the house,

searching carefully until she finds it?

Jesus will not give up on us because he takes so much joy when we are found. Being found is more than simply having our location confirmed, more than GPS coordinates or a pin on a map. Being found in this way means being found in Jesus himself. It means union with the shepherd who sought us.

in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ (see Philippians 3:8-9).

Peter Furler - Psalm 23

Britt Nicole - The Lost Get Found (Neon Feather Remix)

2 November 2022 - day of the living

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,

and I will not reject anyone who comes to me

Jesus promised that he would welcome everyone who came to him as gifts of his heavenly Father. All those whom the Father calls, including us, are gifts of the Father to Jesus.

because I came down from heaven not to do my own will

but the will of the one who sent me.

Jesus was able to receive everything his Father gave him without rejecting anything because he did not come to do his own will. We are usually not able to be as open as Jesus because we are more interested in a litany of personal preferences that make us reject some while perhaps accepting a few that are to our taste. What we don't realize when we act this way is that we're imposing limits on ourselves as to the gifts we will let ourselves receive, preventing others from being gifts to us in the ways that the Father intends. 

We can be confident that Jesus did not come only to accept people who fulfill a certain stereotype or maintain a certain appearance. He did not come only to accept those who lived a life of perfect and consistent holiness, if indeed there were any such to be found. Rather, his heart was utterly open to welcome anyone who would come, saints, sinners, outcasts, outsiders, those who didn't fit in, and even those more normal individuals who saw nothing extraordinary about themselves.

And this is the will of the one who sent me,

that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,

but that I should raise it on the last day.

Because Jesus came in order to save the world and not only the perfect he knew that he would have to not only welcome those who came to him but also to hold fast to them in the palm of his hand and to keep them with his protective care. It would not have been enough for Jesus to come and give us a blast of holiness, regenerating us, and then leaving us to fend for ourselves. He knew well that we would continue to need his care from moment to moment if we were to continue to live as he lived. He was aware that we would continue to fall and need help to stand again and continue. In fact, even those who appeared to continue to stand only did so because of the grace that resulted from this intention of Jesus to "not lose anything" the Father gave him. Jesus has this providential care for each of us, meaning it doesn't ultimately come down to what we ourselves can do or manage. Even our mistakes, even our sins, are not enough to make Jesus lose his hold on us. It is he himself who designed the sacrament of Confession. It is his voice within us that draws us back, his own hands continuing to hold us.

For this is the will of my Father,

that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him

may have eternal life,

and I shall raise him on the last day.

Jesus came to solve the problems of sin and death in a way that only he could. God himself did not create death and neither did he delight in the death of sinners (see Wisdom 1:13). One way we could view the Passion of Jesus was as his holding firmly unto those who would come to him, bringing them safely through death together with him to the resurrection. Because Jesus refused to let anything shake his hold on us even death itself is no longer an absolute tragedy. It is certainly still sorrowful from a human point of view. But now it is also a doorway, a passage, which, when seen in faith, is more full of hope than sadness.

The souls of the just are in the hand of God,

and no torment shall touch them.

They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;

and their passing away was thought an affliction

and their going forth from us, utter destruction.

But they are in peace.

It is possible to make Jesus let go, possible to abandon ourselves to despair. But he will not give us up willingly even to our own foolishness. Let us work with him and not against him a he, the Good Shepherd, leads us through the dark valley, and to the banquet table of eternity.

Matt Maher, Lizzie Morgan - Leaning

Matt Maher - Christ Is Risen

1 November 2022 - marching in

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God. It was hard for the rich young ruler who walked away sad because he had many possessions. But it is not impossible. It was not impossible for Zacchaeus, who was a wealthy man, and yet received Jesus into his home with joy. At that point he still had possessions yet he had already become poor in spirit. He had a new relationship with his wealth, ready to give it to the poor, and to repay debts of justice to those whom he formerly cheated. We too must be poor in spirit to receive the Kingdom. We must at least be poor enough that the things we do own don't distract us from the Kingdom and keep us trapped in a self-focused reality.

Blessed are they who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

Those who love cannot help but mourn. There are many reasons to do so, not the least of which are the injustices of the world, and the sufferings we witness at all scales of life, even in the lives of those we know, even in ourselves. We mourn because of the poignant beauty of the love demonstrated by Jesus in his suffering and death, which somehow compasses and includes all suffering. And because of this we hope to experience the comfort of the resurrection when all things will finally be set to right for those that love God. We have enough reasons to mourn that we need not seek new ones. The goal is not to insist on being dour and depressed in this life. This beatitude is rather a call to see even in our sufferings the inherent promise of hope. Since the resurrection has in fact happened, and since we already partake in it by faith, we can begin to share even now in the receiving and giving of this promised comfort. 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God (see Second Corinthians 1:3-4).

It feels to us as though it is not the meek who will inherit the land. We feel that it instead the proud and the powerful who have already done so. To the degree that they haven't that they seem to be on the verge, leaving no room for meekness, and crushing the humble under their heel. But this is why we need to have a perspective of faith, lest we try to compete with the strong on their own terms of corruption. We are not meant to compete on those terms. When we become truly meek we become small enough and sufficiently under control that God can use us. It is as his soldiers, armed with humility, that we fight a battle that can be won. The short-term success of sinners should not dampen our hopes that it is to the meek that the final victory will belong. 

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be satisfied.

We are more often better described as those who are vaguely interested in righteousness, and this is not enough. Jesus calls us to long for righteousness as though our very lives depend on it, because indeed they do. But do not satisfy this hunger ourselves. It is the bread from heaven provided by Jesus himself that answers to this longing in our hearts. And the more we desire it the more will be the graces we receive.

The bread from heaven that Jesus provides contains within itself all sweetness. It is the seed for every beatitude each time we receive it. In it Jesus himself teaches us to become like him, and in receiving it we are in fact conformed to him. Therefore we needn't fear as though we were left to ourselves to produce the virtue and righteousness to which we are called. Given such heavenly help, we can be bold in our desire to be merciful so that there is nothing in us to obstruct God's own desire to show us mercy. He himself will help us to desire that our hearts be made clean, not merely empty, but transparent to the vision of God.

We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,

for we shall see him as he is.

If we desire mercy, purity, and righteousness, if we are not attached to riches and allow ourselves to feel the feelings of God in regard to the suffering of the world, we will become peacemakers inevitably, naturally, and powerfully. 

See what love the Father has bestowed on us

that we may be called the children of God.

As we behold God in purity we will be more and more transformed ourselves and able share the blessings first shared with us, including his peace and his comfort. There may be limits to such participation for finite creatures such as ourselves. But the extent to which we might hope to be lights to the world is demonstrated by the saints, who have sought that limit, and found only more and more abundance on the part of God. This is a call for each of us as well. Sainthood is not only for the chosen few. It is rather the call for "a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation race, people, and tongue". It is to this fellowship that we too are called to belong.

Such is the race that seeks him,

that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.

Don Moen - To Him Who Sits On The Throne

St. Paul's Cathedral Choir - For All The Saints