7 July 2024 - something new

Today's Readings

(Audio)

When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,

and many who heard him were astonished.

Jesus came to his native place, to Nazareth, and began to teach in the synagogue. And although there was some initial positive reaction it was ultimately swallowed up in a wave of criticism. They had watched Jesus grow up in their midst or had grown up alongside him. Who was he to now put in airs and come back to them like some kind of big shot? How did he now suddenly seem to think himself so much better than rest of them? He taught with authority. But the neighbors and relatives of Jesus had already placed implicit limits on what they would accept from him. Anything too different from that to which they were accustomed would be rejected outright.

They said, “Where did this man get all this?

What kind of wisdom has been given him?

What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!

Before we condemn those who failed to hear Jesus we should first be sympathetic to the fact that this Jesus who now came to them must have seemed unaccountably different from Jesus as a child and young adult. During his earthly life to that point the God-man had apparently lived in such a humble way that his divinity had been unrecognized if not unrecognizable. It is hard to imagine any of us having such power and not standing out in some way. So this newly revealed aspect of Jesus must have been hard for them to grasp. In calling to mind his mother and his relatives they were asserting that they did in fact have a deep familiarity with his past and that it provided, to their knowledge, no evidence to substantiate the way he now carried himself in their midst.

If something becomes too familiar in our minds it ceases to be a living and dynamic thing capable of change and becomes merely a blueprint or a caricature of what we had know if it to that point. This is always dangerous with any person, since within everyone there are entire worlds that others will never completely know. But in the messiah it was more dangerous still. The idea that the messiah himself would lead such a humble life and then suddenly reappear as a prophet with a voice of authority seemed incongruous to them. The humility of Jesus had the eventual result that they took offense at him because it allowed them to imagine that they and he were cut from the same cloth. He had never exhibited himself or boasted. This in turn allowed people to make all sorts of assumptions about who he was and his limitations.

A prophet is not without honor except in his native place

and among his own kin and in his own house.

Our churches are meant to be the native place of Jesus. But oftentimes we too have pigeonholed the ways in which we will recognize his action and in what ways we will respect his voice of authority. If we insist on basing everything on what we have known so far we will always run this risk. For Jesus does not make all things what they had been before. He makes all things new. Only a dynamic and personal relationship with him ensures that we remain open to this newness, ready to be surprised again and again by the goodness he brings into our world.

So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,

apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.

He was amazed at their lack of faith.

We might have assumed that Jesus would have performed mighty deeds in Nazareth in order to prove himself and provoke faith among those who doubted. And perhaps something like that might have happened if there had been a larger atmosphere of faith as an environment for such miracles. There was simply too much doubt. There were too few individuals who were open to the possibility. Healings sometimes resulted from the faith of the individual, sometimes from that of others. But an excess of doubt seemed like a problem that had to be rectified before Jesus was truly free to work, such as when he raised the daughter of Jairus (see Mark 5:21-43).

Our Church can be both the native place of Jesus and still welcome the something new that he is ready to unleash (see Isaiah 43:19). So can our hearts, for that matter. We can provide for him an atmosphere of faith in which mighty deeds become more the norm than the exception. It may not be us that gets healed. It may not be through us directly that someone else is healed. But even so that doesn't mean our own faith lacks value. People healing and being healed is generally not an isolated phenomena but one that becomes increasingly likely when an atmosphere of faith predominates or at least when at atmosphere of doubt has been overcome. The secret is to never allow ourselves to believe that we have seen all that Jesus has to offer.

He was amazed at their lack of faith.

Lincoln Brewster - Your Love Is Amazing

Trip Lee - Something New

6 July 2024 - when the bridegroom is with them

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,

“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,

but your disciples do not fast?”

These disciples of John were no doubt asking a sincere question. After all, they had presumably been led to the practice of fasting by John the Baptist himself and had therefore exerted great strength of will to pursue it. It seemed to be the sort of thing that most people with religious fervor of any sort seemed to do. Yet the disciples of Jesus did not fast. No doubt it was difficult to look across group lines and see others apparently having it easier than oneself. 

Christians, even well meaning ones, often seem to ask questions of a similar sort. Why does not the whole world follow the precise devotional schedule he or she has set? Clearly the schedule demonstrates fervor, devotion, and piety. How can the absence of any item from the list be anything but a lukewarm lack of commitment? But the response of Jesus teaches us not to assume that every situation is the same, or that one approach to practice is appropriate everywhere.

Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn

as long as the bridegroom is with them?

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,

and then they will fast.

Jesus did not say a) that fasting was bad for the disciples of John or the Pharisees, much less b) that fasting was always and everywhere bad. Rather he said c) that his disciples had the unique circumstance of the presence of the bridegroom and nothing but unmitigated joy and celebration was the appropriate response.

The disciples of Jesus would also eventually engage in the practice of fasting. But they would not do it according to an older paradigm. It wasn't going to be so simply as a strategy of doing it as much as was humanly possible, or when it felt appealing, or even the contrary of when it didn't feel appealing. Rather the new schedule of fasting was going to be determined by the presence or absence of the bridegroom. Disciples would celebrate his presence with joy and feasting. But they would mourn his being taken from them in his passion by fasting. 

Both of these poles, fasting and feasting, now mark the liturgical life of the Church, centered around the mysteries of the life of Jesus himself. There was just no way to infer the details of this new way of life by studying the old. It wasn't just a new piece of cloth that could patch an old cloak. It was new wine which would burst out from older paradigms that tried to contain it.

Christians can learn from this teaching of Jesus to enter more deeply into the liturgical cycle. But although the need to embrace this new liturgical life is necessary we ought to also learn the lesson not to impose paradigms which are merely personal devotional best practice on others. We ought to avoid making a law out of things that are meant to be freely embraced. And we shouldn't readily allow others to impose their own laws on us out of some misplaced need to keep up with them.

Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn

as long as the bridegroom is with them?

Christianity is a life that is marked more by joy than by mourning. The bridegroom was taken, and we do still regularly commemorate that fact. But he is with us, always, and unto the end of the age, just as he promised (see Matthew 28:20).

David Ruis - We Will Dance

5 July 2024 - new horizons

Today's Readings

(Audio)

As Jesus passed by,

he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.

It was Jesus himself who initiated this contact with Matthew. Matthew was still sitting at the customs post, tethered to his past. To take a job such as tax collector would seem to imply that he was desperate for money or that he didn't care about his fellow Jews or both. It was at least somewhat sinful that he wasn't strong enough to avoid having recourse to such a profession, and perhaps blatantly sinful if he simply didn't care. Being a tax collector probably meant he didn't see himself as having many other options, or at least not ones that were especially appealing. It also meant that he would have been ostracized from the larger social community, only finds friends with other sketchy individuals and questionable characters who had made similar life choices. There wouldn't have been an easy way to reconsider his choice and choose something better now that he had become a pariah in the eyes of his people. He was all but trapped in his position. And even if he wasn't immediately moved to change knowing that there was no alternative available would have been an unsettling thought.

He said to him, "Follow me."

And he got up and followed him.

Suddenly, somehow, a new world opened up for Matthew were he had only seen impossibility and a lack of options. There had been no open paths for him to choose. But now, with a word, Jesus created a new path for him. He had been tied to a past that seemed to preclude any kind of desirable future. But Jesus was obviously aware of this liability and chose him anyway. And so his past no longer mattered. It had seemed that there were no choices available to Matthew, but now he himself had been chosen by Jesus. Fellowship with Jesus did not mean fellowship with the world had been restored. Rather he was allowed to share in table fellowship with the new community being built around Jesus.

While he was at table in his house,

many tax collectors and sinners came

and sat with Jesus and his disciples.

Matthew's past actually had strategic value for a messiah who was interested in repentance and forgiveness. Matthew was a bridge into a community of individuals whom Jesus desired to reach. Without Matthew many of them may have regarded Jesus as an oddity outside of their spheres of life, with no relevance to them, who would likely have no interest in them. But choosing Matthew was implicitly a choice in favor of tax collectors and sinners. Matthew's accepting that choice at least spoke to the possibility that to do so might be worth considering for them as well.

The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples,

"Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

Matthew thought change was impossible because of his past until he met Jesus. But the Pharisees thought change was unnecessary because they kept up a pristine facade, even though their hearts were closed to the true priority of God, which was mercy rather than superficially offered sacrifice.

I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.

Jesus did not imply that the Pharisees where righteous in fact, but merely that they thought themselves to be so. The posture of both Matthew prior to his encounter with Jesus and that of the Pharisees each came with its own set of liabilities. But the liabilities of Matthew's position were such that he was able to welcome the invitation of Jesus whereas the Pharisees could not. 

This Gospel should encourage us to look at our own lives and to ask what is the customs post at which will still insist on sitting even in spite of the call of Jesus to move onward and upward. At the same time we should ask ourselves in what ways we have been Pharisees who believe ourselves too perfect to need to change, too holy to associate with rabble apparently less perfect than us. Have we become content with an external and performative religion and used this as an excuse not to care about those who are clearly in need of what Jesus has to offer?

I will make them mourn as for an only son,

and bring their day to a bitter end.

The only Son was offered for the sake of everyone, whether tax collector, sinner, or Pharisee. He was given for our sakes even if we were among those who trampled upon the needy and destroyed the poor and fixed our scales for cheating, as Matthew may in fact have done. The Savior came to save us all. But we, for our part, must realize our need in order that we too might heed the call to follow him.

The Summons

4 July 2024 - something better

Today's Readings

(Audio)

And there people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,

"Courage, child, your sins are forgiven."

When these friends brought the paralytic to Jesus the condition of his soul was probably not on their minds. Rather, it was more likely that they hoped for a physical healing of the condition that made it impossible for the man to come before Jesus by his own agency. They hoped for an external healing, but Jesus was first and foremost interested in healing the heart. No doubt this inner need was real but invisible to all but the paralytic and Jesus himself. 

We all tend to be like the friends of the paralytic, identifying issues that, while genuine, are more superficial, but at the same time remaining ignorant of the deeper realities of the heart. We all also have something in common with the paralytic himself, unable to move toward God by our own power. Only grace brings us to the place of healing, often through the agency of others. Yet when we finally find ourselves in that place Jesus does not simply heal an ability to come and go as we please. Rather, he reaches deeper inside to heal the desires that are opposed to him, the chains that keep us imprisoned and prevent us from responding to his love.

Jesus characteristically works in the world through the faith he finds in people, such as he found in these friends of the paralytic. But in so doing he doesn't necessarily give them exactly what they thought they wanted or that for which they thought they were believing. At the very least something else was given first and the actually desire for concrete healing was delayed. And while Jesus doesn't always work in this way, and isn't bound to any particular order of operations, we shouldn't be surprised if this model that prioritizes the inner life is more the rule than the exception. It may even seem as if the exterior healing was given more as a sign of credibility to others than as a response to the  true needs of the paralytic.

Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,'

or to say, 'Rise and walk'?

But that you may know that the Son of Man

has authority on earth to forgive sins"–

he then said to the paralytic,

"Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home."

This is not to say that Jesus is disinterested in anything that would conduce to human flourishing. He designed that paralytic's body which, because the world was fallen, was not functioning according to the original blueprint. He had every desire to see him up and walking, running, and leaping for joy. But he also knew that such freedom could be abused, would in fact amount to a liability in the possession of a heart still enslaved to sin. Jesus first set free the heart and then when the body was permitted to follow the heart in true freedom it was a beautiful thing.

He rose and went home.

When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe

and glorified God who had given such authority to men.

We may not know what we truly need or how to express what we really desire in the deepest levels of our hearts. But we are meant to see that Jesus knows and desires to give us precisely that. We don't need to be able to create a plan of salvation and bring it to him merely to carry it out. We only need to bring our needs to him with faith. We can have a firm hope that he himself will give us, not what we think we want, but something better.

Elevation Worship featuring Kim Walker-Smith - Freedom

Hillsong Worship - Freedom

Newsboys - I Am Free (Who The Son Sets From)

3 July 2024 - seen and unseen

Today's Readings

(Audio)

So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”

But Thomas said to them,

“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands

and put my finger into the nailmarks

and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

The Church is a living temple built with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. But the process individuals being joined to this temple, or more fully incorporated into it, is sometimes challenging. We can't completely control who is present and who is absent. We can (and should) try to tell others that, "We have seen the Lord", but this, by itself will never be fully sufficient. For a new branch to be grafted onto the vine requires the work of the gardener. For us to become a dwelling place of God in the Spirit requires that we are "built together" by God himself. The workings of providence that bring this about tend to be somewhat obscure. We all have hard edges with odd angles that need to be sanded down to fit smoothly into the place meant for us.

Thomas could not just walk in the door and immediately embrace a superficial faith at the mere say so of his fellows. On one level this seemed to reveal a lack of trust and those who had been his companions. But it is often the case the such a rapid acceptance of the Good News lacks sufficient roots. And in any case we remember how recently the disciples had almost without exception proved that they were unworthy of trust. 

Thomas realized there could have been any number of reasons why the others would have claimed to have seen the Lord. Furthermore, if the Lord had indeed appeared, why had he chosen to do so when Thomas was absent? It was perhaps easier to believe that his friends were overly credulous or even crazy than to believe that Jesus had neglected or abandoned him. He couldn't believe that it was simply bad timing on the part of Jesus. If a) Jesus was truly risen and b) really wanted to see him then c) he certainly would have found a time when all of Eleven were assembled. 

Now a week later his disciples were again inside

and Thomas was with them.

We notice that Thomas had not abandoned the companionship of the other disciples. And this time before Jesus revealed himself to Thomas must have been a challenging time with the others, them so full of joy, Thomas still gripped by sadness and despair. Yet it was into such a human situation that Jesus again entered and where he chose to reveal himself. Neither the misgivings of Thomas nor even the physical doors were any obstacle to him. He didn't wait to hear whether or not Thomas would be so bold as to ask for the proof he had told the others he would require. No, like the father of the prodigal son he embraced Thomas with his love before Thomas could get any words off of his lips. He knew exactly what Thomas had asked the others when he was supposedly absent. Thomas, for his part, was already so overwhelmed by the presence of Jesus that he had forgotten all the previous possible objections that had been circulating in his mind. Somehow the joy of the resurrection was more than enough to compensate for any tears shed on the way. There was now no reason to doubt divine providence, that even his absence at the previous appearance of the Lord was part of a larger plan.

It was not an accident that that particular disciple was not present. The Divine mercy ordained that a doubting disciple should, by feeling in his Master the wounds of the flesh, heal in us the wounds of unbelief. The unbelief of Thomas is more profitable to our faith, than the belief of the other disciples; for, the touch by which he is brought to believe, confirming our minds in belief, beyond all question.

- Saint Gregory

Thomas gave the most clear and direct confession of the divinity of Jesus in any of the four Gospels, saying "My Lord and my God!" Although he came to believe through the mediation of the visible signs of the risen body of the Lord still marked with his sacred wounds he nevertheless believed something greater than what sight could reveal.

Thomas saw and touched the man, and confessed the God whom he neither saw nor touched. By means of the one he believed the other undoubtingly: Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God.

- Saint Augustine

The confession of Thomas was also for those future generations of Christians who would not see visible signs but who would still believe through the testimony of the disciples. Of this testimony, none is more persuasive than that of Thomas, precisely because it was so hard won.

Graham Kendrick - We Believe

Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist - Te Deum

2 July 2024 - storm watchers

Today's Readings

(Audio)

As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him.

Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea,

so that the boat was being swamped by waves;

There were parallels between this storm and the one that threatened Jonah when he tried to flee from God's command that he go and preach to Nineveh.

But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god (see Jonah 1:4-5).

There was a great storm leading to great fear on both boats, and in each case the prophetic figure slept and had to be awakened. Both were called to preach repentance. As a part of that mission they both willing sacrificed themselves. Jonah was willingly thrown from the boat and Jesus willing embraced the cross.

Yet there was a still greater dissimilarity that the common elements put into relief. Jesus was going to Gentile territory of his own accord because he desired to spread the good news of salvation. Jonah only preached to Nineveh because his other options had been eliminated. Ultimately, he was disappointed to see them repent at his preaching. Jesus, by contrast, was distressed at those who would not welcome his message. 

How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! (see Matthew 23:37).

In the case of Jonah the storm he himself caused by his disobedience was stopped by his self-sacrifice. But in the case of Jesus a storm, blocking not his escape, but his way forward, was stopped by his word of command. Jonah's self-sacrifice was not entirely altruistic. The only other option seemed to be to take everyone else down with him. Still, he eventually made the choice that allowed God to put his mission back on track. In Jesus' case, the storm was not a result of any failure on his part. And he himself had no sin that needed to be accounted for by his self-sacrifice (see Hebrews 7:27). He was entirely free (see John 10:18), and chose freely to love us to the end (see John 13:1). Still today there is joy in heaven over even one sinner who repents (See Luke 15:7). This contrasts starkly with the lament of Jonah that Nineveh would not be destroyed.

However, in both cases the storm was calmed and the will of God was accomplished. For the one it was in spite of reluctance, for the other it was with complete cooperation and obedience. This experience might have been part of the frame of reference when Jesus mentioned that the only sign he would give to that generation was the sign of Jonah (see Matthew 12:38-42).

In the case of Jonah, it was God who calmed the seas once Jonah was removed from the boat. But in the case of Jesus, it was he himself who rebuked the storm, as he had rebuked demonic spirits in the past, and caused the storm to cease. Truly, there was something greater than Jonah in their midst. Nineveh repented even at the preaching of a reluctant prophet like Jonah. And yet we often seem content to perish while Jesus is so close at hand and ready and willing to deliver us. Sometimes it seems like we would rather complain and go down with the ship than actually humble ourselves and ask Jesus to save us. Ultimately salvation is something only Jesus can give. Let's turn to him now, confident that it is for this purpose that he came.

--

The idea to talk about the parallels came from the Letters From Home Podcast. Ideas for specific parallels came from an article on the Desiring God Community Church website. 

--

Elevation Worship - Praise

1 July 2024 - not here, but now

Saint Junipero Serra

Today's Readings
(Audio)

"Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."

Jesus answered him, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,

but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."

The Son of Man came to his own but his own received him not (see John 1:11). This was literally the case in Bethlehem where "there was no place for them in the inn" (see Luke 2:7). Perhaps this man hoped that Jesus would one day occupy a palace after the triumph of his Kingdom. But while Herod, "that fox" (see Luke 13:32) was found in a palace, where "those who wear soft clothing" (see Matthew 11:9) are to be found, Jesus had no plans to take up residence in an earthly palace. In order to follow Jesus, Jesus himself had to be the central goal. One could not instead hope to follow him somewhere and for something that he could then choose over and against the one who led him there. Such distracted desires would not conduce to the path of the true disciple.

Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom (See Song of Solomon 2:15).

The scribe may also have assumed that Jesus was going to be a religious leader. Since he had called him a "Teacher" he might have assumed that he would find his proper place in a temple, like the birds who made their nests at the altars of the Lord (see Psalm 83:3). But in a great collusion of worldly powers, the leaders of state and religion would conspire to ensure that the Son of Man would truly have nowhere to lay his head. The climax of this alienation of the creator from his creation was the cross where Jesus desired but was not permitted to rest. There was to be true rest for both Messiah and disciples only on the far side of that cross. Only after that cruciform posture was forced upon Jesus would he bring humanity to a deeper form of rest in the Father's heart. The resurrection would make it possible to live even waking temporal existence from this posture of rest. From this we can begin to understand how there will be no need for night or for further rest once the Kingdom fully arrives.

And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever (see Revelation 22:5).

As disciples we may be tempted to try to find a posture which requires no further change, to truly arrive in such a way that we no longer need to listen to further guidance or to internalize further teaching. But we never fully arrive in this life, which is always a pilgrimage to something greater and something more. Rest stops along the way are necessary to restore us so that we can continue this journey until the end. But when we are tempted to make them the end in themselves let us arise and keep going, just as Jesus does.

Another of his disciples said to him,

"Lord, let me go first and bury my father."

But Jesus answered him, "Follow me,

and let the dead bury their dead."

Augustine famously said, "Make me chaste, but not yet", or something to that effect. And oftentimes many of us perceive the goodness of the call of God, but would prefer to continue to dabble in lesser goods (which are often sinful), rather than embrace that good here and now. We look for distractions. If possible we candy coat them with the veneer of duty or religious obligation. But no such excuses are ever valid, since nothing trumps the claim of God on our lives. To make a full and vigorous commitment to Jesus may seem to involve giving up former things to such a degree as to be painfully difficult or impossible. But our addiction to sin won't grow any easier to sever when we dally with it further. The sooner we choose to follow Jesus fully the better. We will then proceed with less baggage, fewer wounds requiring supernatural healing. Let us learn to stop hesitating before our hesitation turns into an outright refusal. Let us go now, trusting that the good we will find in Christ is to be preferred to even the greatest earthly goods.

Audrey Assad - Good To Me