25 March 2023 - public service announcement

Today's Readings

(Audio)

But Ahaz answered,

"I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!"

Like Ahaz use piety as an excuse when we are worried that the Lord is becoming too involved in our lives. Ahaz had plans of his own consisting of political strategies. He had been told that he needed firm faith in order to be established but he preferred an apparently more concrete alliance with Assyria. But should we be quick to blame him? When God goes 'off script' with us and requires us to step out in faith, to listen and to respond dynamically moment to moment, aren't we similarly likely to find reasons justify our refusal? We do this as though we ourselves are the ones being asked for the sign rather than God, as though the onus would be on us to bring about his plans. Holy fear and discernment is appropriate while we make sure what we have heard is from God. But once we know it is from God we ought to trust him even if it is seems unusual or unprecedented. If we have a prophet or an angel at our door with a message it is always better to respond like Mary than like Zechariah or Ahaz.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:

the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son,

and shall name him Emmanuel,

which means "God is with us!"

The Lord's plans will come to fruition whether or not we cooperate. But we may miss out on the blessings that come from participating in the fulfillment of his plans. We gather that there was some sort of proximate and preliminary fulfillment to Isaiah's prophecy to Ahaz at the time. But we have to imagine that if he had been willing to trust more in God things would have gone better, and more blessings would have been unleashed. Could he have ushered the incarnation into the world ahead of schedule? In any case, God knew how he would respond, and used it as an opportunity to prepare the world for the sign he would eventually give through the virgin who would demonstrate that faith with which Ahaz failed to respond. 

And coming to her, he said,

"Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you."

It is only by grace that we are able to respond with faith. Without grace faith tends to appear to be insubstantial, a trap to ensnare the naïve and the gullible. When even the most intelligent bring their full powers of analysis to the content of the faith they do not inexorable arrive at the truth that faith does in fact contain. Instead it remains possible for them to discover in it what they desire to discover, whether true or false. Those who begin from a place of pride rather than, as with Mary, humility, almost inevitably disregard and dismiss the ideas of faith. Those who are invested in sin always subvert faith to something that will not be a challenge to their sunk cost. This is why it was Mary, and only Mary, who was able to respond with all that she was to the profound message of Gabriel. We sinners, even those of us who have grace but are not yet full of grace and only grace, would not have been sufficiently free to say yes as Mary did.

"How can this be,

since I have no relations with a man?"

Mary did not say, 'Can this be?', nor 'Prove it.' Rather, she asked how it would come about, because, yes, she did not understand, but especially so that she could cooperate as God would have her do.

The Holy Spirit will come upon you,

and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

Therefore the child to be born

will be called holy, the Son of God.

We can see that the response required of Mary did not demand anything superhuman on her part, but was rather dependent on the supernatural gift of God. The grace she had that allowed her to say yes was the doorway that gave the Holy Spirit the full access to her that he required to bring Emmanuel to the world. None of this was anything she strictly possessed as her own, but was entirely a matter of reliance and trust in God, from beginning to end, as made possible by God's on gift.

Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.

May it be done to me according to your word.

We may often act more like Ahaz, but we are meant to grow to become like Mary, more and more. We may be invested in sin to some extent, and still wrestling with our pride. But we now have the example of Mary as an invitation to all of what God can do in those who place their trust in him. If we choose to stand under her mantle she will help us learn to live with the Holy Spirit upon us, overshadowed by the power of the Most High. This, no doubt, was her role in the upper room at Pentecost. And this morning to she wants to help us to have this experience. It begins when we let her teach us to speak as she did, in agreement with the word of God: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."

Your justice I kept not hid within my heart;

your faithfulness and your salvation I have spoken of;

I have made no secret of your kindness and your truth

in the vast assembly.

Michael Card - Immanuel

24 March 2023 - the feast of these

Today's Readings

(Audio)

But when his brothers had gone up to the feast,

he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret.

These relatives of Jesus had their own ideas about how he should handle public relations. They themselves did not believe in him and seemed to think that a confrontation in Judea might final force him to give up on the whole thing. Or else he might finally prove himself in a definitive and conclusive way. They would accept either outcome. But the brothers were thinking in a worldly way, concerned with approaches that would win the praise of the world. Jesus had to operate differently, carefully, because the world hated him. He knew exactly what moves to make and those which would have to wait, because he knew the Jewish authorities were trying to kill him.  He himself would be the one who dictated the time and circumstances under which he would lay down his life. 

Is he not the one they are trying to kill?

And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him.

Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ?

Jesus was not afraid to give testimony, to try to persuade, to continue to the very last to seek and to save the lost. He didn't go to the feast for his glory, but because it was a part of his Father's plan for the progressive manifestation of the identity of the Son. He did not argue with the citizens of Jerusalem because he had something to prove, but neither did he hold back because of fear. He did strive to clarify his identity and his mission, and to reject the distortions about him that were made based on appearances. He did this not out of pride for he knew that even this would lead inexorably to the cross.  But out of obedience his Father and love for mankind he couldn't help but try.

So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said,

"You know me and also know where I am from.

They did not know where he was from. They thought that they did, and that knowing that made them feel some measure of control over him. But there was more to Jesus than mere appearance would tell. His earthly origins seemed to make it unlikely or impossible that he was the Messiah. But the hidden reality of his heavenly origins was the guarantee that he was. If those to whom he came realized this hidden reality he himself ought to have been received as the culmination of God's revelation to the Jewish people. But the leadership, at least, was finally too interested in self-promotion and too invested in sin to see it. If they had truly desired what the Father desired they would have welcomed the Son. But instead they were fated to act as the wicked described in the book of Wisdom:

To us he is the censure of our thoughts;

merely to see him is a hardship for us,

Because his life is not like that of others,

and different are his ways.

He judges us debased;

he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure.

He calls blest the destiny of the just

and boasts that God is his Father.

In what ways do we presume to know about Jesus "where he is from"? What limits do we imagine upon him because of our familiarity with what we have seen of him in the past? When we imagine these limitations on Jesus what is our reason? Is it because we ourselves are invested in sin, or at least in comfort? Is he sometimes a censure even to our ways of living and acting that makes us want to put him to the test? 

So they tried to arrest him,

but no one laid a hand upon him,

because his hour had not yet come.

We would probably humanly prefer a dramatic revelation to the world of the identity of Jesus that would be impossible to deny. In this we are much like the faithless brothers. We can't easily come to terms with the hidden aspect of his mission. That he holds back at all from what he could do seems to us grounds for doubt in his power or his intention. But then as now Jesus is going about his mission of building the Kingdom with surgical precision. He is ensuring that he will be able to manifest the Father's love in the most perfect way possible, and that no one who is given to him by the Father will be lost. We are called to trust him as he speaks to us openly and from his heart, learning ourselves to desire the will that is both his and his Father's.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;

and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.

Brandon Lake - Son Of Heaven

23 March 2023 - witness testimony

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus said to the Jews:

"If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true.

Here we notice that Jesus was conforming his argument to the Jewish idea that testimony must be confirmed by multiple witnesses. But isn't it a little bit frustrating to see someone not stand up in their own defense, particularly when we know that said individual could make an airtight case? Don't we prefer to see someone coming on their own name, making their own case, and being vindicated? We can see in the approach Jesus took that he was not concerned with the praise of men. By contrast, the Pharisees preferred an approach where the praise of men was an integral part, because they themselves are addicted to it. They ultimately reveled in the triumph of the individual ego whereas Jesus delighted instead in a response of love to the will of his Father.

You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth.

I do not accept human testimony,

but I say this so that you may be saved.

Jesus did not leave the Judeans without any explanation or testimony. He pointed to John the Baptist, whose words had captured their imaginations but not their hearts, at least not in a lasting way. Rather than being opened by the testimony of John it seemed that they hardened their hearts to it. They did not follow it through to John's own declaration of Jesus as the lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.

But I have testimony greater than John's.

The works that the Father gave me to accomplish,

these works that I perform testify on my behalf

that the Father has sent me.

Jesus did not perform his deeds to receive the praise of men, always telling those who saw or received them not to speak about them. Often his works had quite the opposite effect on the religious leadership, stirring up discontent and persecution rather than revelation of the Father. But the works themselves were the finger of God at work, works that could not be done by someone to whom the Father did not listen. The way Jesus performed these deeds without calling attention to himself demonstrated an example of how good works could reveal him as the light of the world even while he himself did not do them to be seen, that is, to receive the praise of men.

But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form,

and you do not have his word remaining in you,

because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent.

The Son himself was the Word of the Father. Refusing to listen to the Son was the same decision as refusing to listen to the Father. The Word desired to dwell and to "remain" in them but they were not interested. But the Judeans could not escape this need to respond to the Son in order to be rightly related to the Father. Wherever they thought to look they were in fact confronted with the Son himself and a need to make a decision about him. Even in the Scriptures of the Old Covenant they were making an implicit choice about Jesus himself, to whom all Scriptures pointed.

For if you had believed Moses,

you would have believed me,

because he wrote about me.

The Law and the Scriptures seemed safely impersonal and inert. The Judeans were able to use them to justify themselves and their ways of life. Jesus, by contrast, was living and effective, dangerous to any ways of life that were anything less than love. He was a concrete particular historical individual, one who seemed to have elements of his personality both that would captivate and also that others would find hard to swallow. It was easy to reject him just as we often push away from those who are not 'our type of people' or 'compatible personalities'. There was an amazing draw toward the person of Jesus himself, but it required allowing one's heart to be made more capacious to fully accept him. This was why and how accepting him was also accepting the lowest and the least, the sinners and the tax collectors, and many whom we would find naturally grating. Accepting Jesus was in some way also accepting humanity as God accepted it. Being preoccupied with praise and accomplishment made this possibility of accepting Jesus all but invisible to the Judeans. But God himself had always been working with his people to develop in them a heart of mercy, one that would embrace sinners and stand in the breech for them. May he also develop this capacious heart of mercy in us so that we can embrace the testimony about that Son, so that he himself may come to live and remain in our hearts.

Then he spoke of exterminating them,

but Moses, his chosen one,

Withstood him in the breach

to turn back his destructive wrath.

Maverick City Music (featuring Dante Bowe and Naomi Raine) - Testify

22 March 2023 - Son of Man at work

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus answered the Jews:

"My Father is at work until now, so I am at work."

Jesus justified his work on the sabbath by appealing to the fact that it was consistent with his Father, since the Father did not cease to give life or to take it away even on the sabbath. But this argument was seemed to the Judeans to be blasphemous since they correctly understood that he was "making himself equal to God". 

Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own,

but only what he sees the Father doing;

for what he does, the Son will do also.

Jesus clarified, lest they be confused and think that he was establishing himself as some rival alternative to the God of Israel. There could in fact be no competition between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Father gave everything of himself, pouring himself out in love to the Son, and the Son could not help but respond by doing the works that the Father gave him to accomplish.

Whoever does not honor the Son

does not honor the Father who sent him.

The Son was about the business of fulfilling the desire of the Father, which was to raise the dead to give life. The Father was pleased to entrust this task to the Son, glorifying the Son who would in turn perfectly honor the Father. But the difficult part of this for the crowds was that this meant that it was now precisely their response to Jesus himself that could save them from condemnation and make them pass from death to life. 

Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here

when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,

and those who hear will live.

The profound centrality of the person of Jesus in the destiny of every human being is indeed a lot to take in. It is properly his voice alone that will call the dead to life, his judgment that will determine their eternal destiny. Such claims far surpass any that a prophet or any merely human creature could make. But Jesus did not make these claims because he was a narcissistic lunatic, nor did he lie in order to fool others and get something for himself. Listen to the sober rationale that Jesus gave for saying these things:

"I cannot do anything on my own;

I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just,

because I do not seek my own will

but the will of the one who sent me."

Jesus is the one who was given the name above every name because he preferred the Father's will to his human will and humbled himself even unto death (see Philippians 2:6-11). That name, because it refers to the whole history, reality, and presence, of Jesus himself, is now the only name given under heaven by which we can be saved (see Acts 4:12).

Jesus has staked his rightful claim of lordship over the world and our lives. Do we sometimes balk at these claims as too extreme? Do we try to restrict the sphere of his rule in our lives or in our world? Whenever we do that we are implicitly, whether we fully realize it or not, denying life and asking for judgment without his mercy. Let us instead praise this name above all names, so that we too can look forward to his voice calling us to life.

The reign is Jesus is not one of a tyrant or a despot. It is the reign of a shepherd king, one who leads with the compassion about which we hear in the first reading from Isaiah:

Along the ways they shall find pasture,

on every bare height shall their pastures be.

They shall not hunger or thirst,

nor shall the scorching wind or the sun strike them;

For he who pities them leads them

and guides them beside springs of water.

ILP Chorale - At The Name Of Jesus

Inspiration from:

Martin, Francis; Wright, William M. IV. The Gospel of John (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture) (p. 105). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.  

21 March 2023 - water works?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.

Thirty-eight years was a long time to be unwell. It was the same length of time that the Israelites wandered in the desert after leaving Egypt. It seemed altogether too long a time to expect one to maintain hope, desire for something better. Much easier, it would seem, to just try to accept the new normal and to make the best of it. How many of his years his illness had this man spent lying by these pools? No doubt there was originally a hope to benefit from their healing waters. But as year after year went on and he saw others healed he must have gradually come to accept that he himself would never make it to the waters in time.

"Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool

when the water is stirred up;

while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me."

What did this man now experience as he sat near this pool, and why did he continue to choose this place to spend his time? Was there much left besides self-pity and perhaps jealousy at the "someone else" who always seemed to beat him to the healing waters?

"Do you want to be well?"

We too have grown accustomed to much that was meant to be temporary, and have allowed ourselves to become defined by our flaws. At first we do often push against our spiritual and physical ailments with an initial burst of enthusiasm but then quickly give up when there are not immediate results. We grumble like Israel in the desert. We complain like this man by the pool. Rather than seeing evidence of God's providence along the way we narrow our focus to dwell on what we do not have. We are preoccupied with what we left behind in Egypt or what others seem to be experiencing around us. We neglect to notice that the constant presence of the supernatural at work means that nothing is as yet hopeless.

"Do you want to be well?"

When Jesus comes to meet us in our sorry state he has to excavate the desire for wholeness from underneath all of the detritus of our attempts to accept our situation and make the best of it. Beneath our despair, our jealousy, and our lack of initiative is still a genuine desire. It remains within us no matter what we say, just as the man being near the pool was proof that he could not entirely shake his desire for wholeness although he lived in the constant sorrow of knowing that on his own he could never attain it. In response to the question of Jesus as whether he wanted to be well he was afraid to even venture an answer, afraid that it would be just one more disappointment.

Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk."

Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.

What the man could not do on his own, the desire he could not even articulate, Jesus read in his heart and granted him. The man couldn't move toward the pool quickly enough for healing, couldn't even verbally move toward Jesus on his own. But his thirty-eight year journey had not been for nothing, and he was no longer alone. The words of Jesus to the man carried more than a merely physical healing. They contained the spiritual antidote to the self-pity and despair that had consumed the man.

Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk."

Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.

The man was not only able to move freely, but was able to take immediate action, no longer meditating on his weakness, but depending on the words of Jesus for strength. Is it possible that we have given up on blessings that Jesus himself does intend to bestow? It may yet be that he intends healing for us from self-pity and despair, making us responsive to the call of love in our lives. The fact that of ourselves we can't find the way to these blessings should not diminish our hope for them. Nor should seeing others receive them and not ourselves. All of this is simply bringing us to the critical threshold that will finally impel us to take Jesus at his word.

So the Jews said to the man who was cured,

"It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat."

The man had to take action. It would not have been enough for him to be healed and continue lying by the pool. The action was a corrective for the deeper spiritual sickness, and it was for this reason that it was entirely appropriate on the Sabbath. We cannot imagine this felt anything like work to man, but rather celebration and joy. He was indeed so preoccupied with the experience that even Jesus slipped away without him knowing.

After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him,

"Look, you are well; do not sin any more,

so that nothing worse may happen to you."

For a second time Jesus found the man, giving clarity about his identity, and showing the way to continue from the initial blessing down the path of discipleship. Did the man continue to respond to Jesus with prompt obedience? It is unclear. We may hope that in telling the Judeans what happened he was trying to honor Jesus rather than to bring about his persecution. But for us the point is that even great blessings are not meant to be our only experience of Jesus. They are meant to lead to a life of faithful discipleship. They are meant to remove obstacles to the wholeness that Jesus intends for every one of us. But we can truly discover who we are meant to be only by continuing to follow him as his disciples. The promised land is precisely wherever Jesus himself is found. The living waters promised in Ezekiel are precisely those that flow from his Sacred Heart.

Wherever the river flows,

every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live,

and there shall be abundant fish,

for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.

Darrell Evans - Let The River Flow

20 March 2023 - Angels. Have we heard?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,

yet unwilling to expose her to shame,

decided to divorce her quietly.

Joseph was a righteous man, who knew the character of his betrothed, and therefore knew that the conventional explanations for how the conception of this child came about could not apply. She was found with child through the Holy Spirit, not through some unknown father. What to do in a case of adultery would have been clear, but what to do in this case had no precedent. The chief goal of Joseph in his plan was to avoid exposing Mary to shame. He was a righteous man, but not so righteous that he took it for granted that he had any right to be involved in the miraculous events that were beginning to unfold. He already knew Mary to be quite extraordinary and probably already felt unworthy of her to some degree. This miraculous conception probably increased those feelings in him to the point that he finally had to reckon with them. His strategy was to get out before he did any damage to these chosen of God, feeling, we might imagine, like a massive lumbering animal tiptoeing out of a porcelain shop.

Joseph, son of David,

do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.

For it is through the Holy Spirit

that this child has been conceived in her.

Joseph's actual father was Jacob. The angel was therefore conveying to him something about himself that he had forgotten, something genuine that he could contribute to the Holy Family without fear of tarnishing it. Furthermore, the angel reassured Joseph that what was taking place was no mere happy accident, but rather the plan of God through the Holy Spirit. He could have confidence therefore that his own limitations and liabilities had already been factored in and that God was able to use Joseph to name Jesus, to give to him the benefits of a royal lineage so that Jesus too would be a true son of David. Joseph, righteous but fallible, was nevertheless the one intended by God to be the leader and protector of the Holy Family. 

She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,

because he will save his people from their sins.

On the one hand, we aren't as righteous as Joseph. When we are invited to participate in God's plans our reasons to refuse the request are usually less noble. Rather than concern that our human limitations will subvert God's plans we are often more concerned that God's plans will interfere with our own plans and disrupt our status quo. But as we spiritually mature our excuses become better. We say, 'Oh no, not me. I'm not good enough', but not necessarily out of righteousness. Yet here is the lesson for us today: God knows what he was getting was he gives us the invitation to be involved in his plan, to join him as laborers in his vineyard. It is not because of our righteousness or lack thereof that the invitation is given or that makes the work possible. It is always fundamentally a work of the Spirit himself in which we are invited to share. It is faith, not perfection, that makes us fit for the task.

When Joseph awoke,

he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him

and took his wife into his home.

Once Joseph understood what was asked of him by God he did not hesitate but responded with prompt obedience. This is a good model for us as well. Any hesitation would have allowed the emotional pressure of various excuses and contrary interpretations of the situation to mount upon Joseph. It is similar for us. When we at last discern the right way to go we should go immediately and without hesitation. This initial impulse may perhaps feel immensely difficult to obey but if we manage to do it the the subsequent work will often proceed much more smoothly, without a constant internal back and forth of thought and emotion.

He believed, hoping against hope,

that he would become the father of many nations,

according to what was said, Thus shall your descendants be.

That is why it was credited to him as righteousness.

Like Abraham and Joseph we are called to have faith in the mysterious and hidden power of God to bring his plans to perfection in spite of apparent obstacles that would make it impossible for him to do so. We are meant to trust that things that appear to be obstacles to us are not in fact obstacles to God for whom all things are possible.

Through Joseph, and because he responded with faith, we received the true son of David who built for God the true and perfect temple, which was his own body. Through Joseph, Jesus, the Messiah and King received his both his name and his royal pedigree. But it was God himself who established forever his throne and his Kingdom. Human cooperation with the divine plan is always going to be intimidating, especially the more we come to know ourselves. But if we also and at the same time come to know and trust in God we too can respond promptly when he calls us, and trust in his Spirit to aid us in our weakness.

For this reason, it depends on faith,

so that it may be a gift,

and the promise may be guaranteed to all his descendants,

not to those who only adhere to the law

but to those who follow the faith of Abraham

Chris Tomlin - Angels We Have Heard On High

19 March 2023 - open eyes

Today's Readings

(Audio)

"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents,

that he was born blind?"

Jesus answered,

"Neither he nor his parents sinned;

it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.

When we encounter suffering and difficulties in the world we tend to want to find someone to blame. Was it this man who was at fault or was it his parents? But what we actually discover is that there is seldom a one to one correspondence between guilt and suffering. Considering this negatively, it is because the entire world apart from Christ is in darkness, was in fact consigned to darkness by the sin of our first parents. But the positive aspect is more important, which is that God did so in precisely in order to bestow grace and mercy.

For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all (see Romans 11:32).

The coming of Jesus into the world as the light of world meant that everything that was formerly only an occasion to lament the darkness could now became  an opportunity to receive enlightenment and to rejoice in the light. Every single instance of suffering, sorrow, and sadness, could now be transformed into moments of healing, transformation, and renewal. 

When he had said this, he spat on the ground

and made clay with the saliva,

and smeared the clay on his eyes,

and said to him,

"Go wash in the Pool of Siloam" —which means Sent—.

So he went and washed, and came back able to see.

Jesus does not seem to choose to open the eyes of every blind man over whom a Christian prays (though perhaps it is a matter of timing rather than than an outright refusal). But he does and will become the light for everyone who had heretofore walked in darkness. He himself is the inner logic that can make sense of all that seems to be wrong with the world, the redeemer because of whom we speak of our felix culpa, our happy fault. It is a truly wonderful thing to internalize this inner logic in our own hearts. It is so valuable that it can somehow make sense of an entire life spent without sight until one at last encountered Jesus. The man born blind did not hold a grudge for the past years lost, but rather rejoiced in the new thing God had done. Even the death of Lazarus paled in comparison to the joy and meaning of seeing him restored to life, and seeing in that restoration the truth that Jesus himself was the resurrection and the life. Similarly, in every instance of suffering, there is waiting an ever greater revelation of Jesus himself, a burst of light that entirely changes our perspective.

So they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?"

Like the man born blind we too need to learn to speak of our testimony about how Jesus himself transformed darkness to light in our own lives. Like him, we may at first stumble and demonstrate more confusion than clarity. It is as though our eyes are still adjusting to the new spiritual light of Jesus. And it can be precisely in dialog that we achieve greater clarity about what we experienced as some words seem to ring with truth and others seem insufficient.

Now the Jews did not believe

that he had been blind and gained his sight

until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight.

When we receive significant transformation from Jesus it is often the case that the world is sufficiently disturbed and offended to demand and explanation from us. Rather than rejoicing in the increase of light they lament the diminishing darkness. This is part of the reason why we must be ready to give testimony.

But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake.  This will be your opportunity to bear witness (see Luke 21:12-13).

We will ultimately find that no one can answer for us, not even our parents. We must be the ones who believe in our hearts and confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord (see Romans 10:9), just as we hear from the blind man , ""I do believe, Lord," and he worshiped him". What we see in the blind man is that even the questions from the world around us that range from hostile to indifferent can help to shape our testimony, and to clarify our confession of faith.

Then Jesus said,

"I came into this world for judgment,

so that those who do not see might see,

and those who do see might become blind."

Let us be among those who come to Jesus to receive the gift of enlightenment, not among those who are so attached to the darkness that we prefer to stumble around and insist on calling it sight. There is always more that the light of Christ can reveal to us, ever greater clarity about the reality of how he is, and how good and how beautiful. 

Live as children of light,

for light produces every kind of goodness

and righteousness and truth.

Once we receive the light of Christ we can begin to see as God sees, through appearances to the heart. It is then that we can begin to discover, to celebrate, and even to participate in the otherwise hidden work of the Spirit in the world.

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit (see John 3:8).

Even the valley of the shadow of death is not dark when our shepherd is with us!

DC Talk - In The Light

Dan Schutte - City Of God

Ike Ndolo - Awake O Sleeper