21 July 2024 - come away

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The apostles gathered together with Jesus

and reported all they had done and taught.

The disciples had been given authority and sent off to preach, to heal, and to drive out demons. After watching Jesus they went and put into practice what they had seen. Now the disciples returned and reported back, almost incredulous at all of the powerful work that Jesus had accomplished through them. We imagine them all but tripping over themselves to express "all they had done and taught". In such a state they might not have even realized that they were tired. 

He said to them,

“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”

People were coming and going in great numbers,

and they had no opportunity even to eat.

So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.

By inviting disciples to rest Jesus expressed the importance of not getting so caught up in anything, even the enthusiasm of ministry going well, that one would forget about the more basic needs of the body. They needed time of decreased activity to recover from their successful active period, no matter how supernatural it may have been. They hadn't even had time to eat because of the constant demand being placed on them now that they were seen by the masses to be conduits of the same power that Jesus himself possessed. His popularity was now their problem as well. But here again, they were to be attentive to their needs, and to take the time to eat, even at the expense of other possible engagements. Starved and burnt out disciples would be useful to no one. 

The bodies of the disciples needed rest and food. But their minds and spirits had perhaps even more pressing needs. The needed time to process what had happened to them and been accomplished through them. They needed the space to reflect and to ponder them in their hearts as Mary had done (see Luke 2:19). There was much value that would be missed if they simply let these experiences of mission fade into the past and into forgetfulness. They contained lessons and possible paths for potential growth. Proper thanksgiving for all of the blessings Jesus unleashed was meant to be a slow a meditative movement rather than a burst of speech in which they tried to express everything all at once. 

Above all, the rest that the disciples needed after their mission was time with Jesus himself. Just as Jesus himself was dependent on the Father and spent the time necessary with him so too did his disciples need to constantly return to Jesus as their source. The world was full of cacophonous voices and competing claims, alternative priorities, and different narratives about truth. The disciples needed to commit to quality time with Jesus in order to remain grounded in his way and his truth. Moreover, Jesus was the vine who was the source of their life. If they didn't return and receive the life giving sap of this vine again and again they would eventually dry up.

People saw them leaving and many came to know about it.

They hastened there on foot from all the towns

and arrived at the place before them.

The crowds prevented the disciples from having the full rest that Jesus intended to provide, at least for the moment. Nevertheless, Jesus saw such genuine need in the these people who had come to him that he could not turn away. These sheep had been so long without a shepherd who put their needs first that now that they had tasted such care and concern they couldn't get enough. This experience of Jesus as shepherd was the one that had always been intended for them by God. They were experiencing the promise made by God through Jeremiah that the sheep that had been scattered and neglected would be regathered by God himself and brought back to their meadow.

When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,

his heart was moved with pity for them,

for they were like sheep without a shepherd;

and he began to teach them many things.

If, for the moment, the disciples were prevented a little longer from eating, they were still able to feed on the bread of divine wisdom contained in the teachings of Jesus. Being close to him as he showed compassion to his sheep, as his own love flowed forth, must have in some way also renewed the strength of the disciples who witnessed it. It was not to say that physical needs were of such lesser importance that they would never need to attention. It was rather that the crowds chose the one thing necessary and it would not be taken from them. We see in the verses after this Gospel that physical needs were a part of Jesus' plan. He fed the crowds himself through the miraculous multiplication of the loaves, and he did this precisely because of his concern that people would collapse along the way if they were forced to fend for themselves. But for now, Jesus and his word was enough.

Peter Furler - Psalm 23

The King Of Love My Shepherd Is

20 July 2024 - he withdrew

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus

to put him to death.

When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place.

Jesus was always in control of his own life and death. When he handed himself over it would not be because the Pharisees had chosen to take him, but rather because himself knew that his hour had arrived. He might well have ignored the Pharisees and continued to provoke a greater and greater popular response until his ministry was cut short before it was meant to be. A mere human, with his ego on the line, might have done this to avoid the way withdrawing might be seen as running away, as a loss, or at least a lack of overwhelming success. But the good that could be gained and the negative press that could be avoided if he stayed were not important to Jesus. Not all positive popular acclaim was worth seeking in his eyes. Nor was all negative public judgment worth avoiding. In short, he was entirely self-determined in his actions, not at all conditions by a need to be a people pleaser or to appear a certain way in the sight of others.

Many people followed him, and he cured them all,

but he warned them not to make him known.

People that had more than a superficial interest in Jesus would continue to follow him anyway, and did so. Among them were those who hoped he would cure them. Jesus was not going to stop his healing ministry to please others. It did seem to be a way that genuine faith in him was kindled. But this was the case only when there was a direct connection between himself and those who sought healing. It didn't serve Jesus at that time in this context to have such healings be the basis for ever increasing fame. As such fame spread out in concentric circles it became more and more of a generic fascination and less and less about Jesus himself. It served only to provoke his enemies and did not do enough to bring to him those who would put genuine faith in him. Those whom it drew were seeking more of a show than a savior. Jesus desired mercy above all, and his ministry never devolved into a performance.

Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,

my beloved in whom I delight;

I shall place my Spirit upon him,

and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

We saw at his baptism that Jesus was this chosen servant, the beloved Son in whom the Father was well pleased. He was the one on whom, rising from the waters of the baptism of John, the Spirit descended in the form of a dove. He was in fact the Messiah who would extend the blessings promised in the covenant to Abraham to all nations. But the way he would accomplish this cut against many of the expectations of his day. He was not going to succeed by overwhelming military force, nor even overwhelming success by any obvious measure. He was, as he himself had said, "gentle and lowly in heart" (see Matthew 11:29).

He will not contend or cry out,

nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.

A bruised reed he will not break,

a smoldering wick he will not quench,

until he brings justice to victory.

And in his name the Gentiles will hope.

Jesus didn't have to fight in order to win, or at least not in the traditional sense. His victory was not going to come about by shouting down opponents, much less by physical violence. He knew that the only true victory was the victory of the cross, which was opposed to every form of egotism. He was all but the opposite of politicians who court favor by any means necessary. His arrest, the abuse heaped on him, and finally his death appeared to be the end of his story in the eyes of the world. They may well have asked what a Messiah could do for them from the cross? What indeed. 

You do see, for you behold misery and sorrow,

taking them in your hands.

On you the unfortunate man depends;

of the fatherless you are the helper.

Brandon Lake - Son Of Heaven

19 July 2024 - lord of the sabbath

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Have you not read what David did

when he and his companions were hungry

David and his companions were fleeing from King Saul who was trying to kill David, similar to the way the religious authorities were pursuing and looking to ensnare Jesus and his disciples. 

how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering,

which neither he nor his companions

but only the priests could lawfully eat?

The importance of the kingship of the true king was of such magnitude that David and his men were allowed to share in the priestly privileges of those who worked in the temple. The disciples' service of Jesus was worthy of a similar exemption from the normal rules because of the importance of his mission, which itself issued from the greatness of his identity. He was something greater than the temple, and so service of him was a true priestly ministry. 

Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath

the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath

and are innocent?

Priests were permitted to work on the sabbath because the sabbath and the work of priests were ordered to God. Similarly, service of the mission of God in Jesus Christ was not opposed to God's intentions for the sabbath. In fact, the even the sabbath could not be fully what it was meant to be without the success of that mission. The reign of the true priest and true king Jesus himself was the necessary condition for the fullness of sabbath rest that God intended for his people. Thus all work done on the sabbath in service of that mission was priestly, royal, and necessary. 

I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.

It wasn't that the Pharisees were entirely wrong about the importance of the sabbath. It was rather that by misunderstanding the still greater importance of Jesus himself they set a lesser good over a greater one and ended up in contradiction and error. They tried to honor the sabbath over and against the one who made the sabbath, the one who was its Lord. They respected those things done in the service of the temple but failed to offer due worship to him who was the temple's Lord.

If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice,

you would not have condemned these innocent men.

Jesus desired to show mercy on all of humanity. The Pharisees seemed to rather seek sacrifice in a way the was oppressive, hostile, and opposed to mercy. God's mercy on David took precedence over the normal temple regulations, which themselves took precedence over the sabbath regulations. How much more ought the mercy God wanted to bestow on the world through Jesus himself take precedence? 

One would be surprised if the disciples had worked out these finer points or if they could have offered an adequate defense of what they did if they were asked. It was most likely rather their proximity to Jesus and their confidence in him that gave them the sense of freedom they enjoyed. They didn't understand the intricacies of the law, but they did understand the central importance of Jesus himself. They knew that Jesus would not hesitate to chastise them if they were heading in the wrong direction. And they understood that for those who sought his Kingdom first all else would be provided.

Michelle Swift - God And Man At Table Are Sat Down

18 July 2024 - all you who labor and are burdened

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,

and I will give you rest.

The first thing that stands out about today's readings is that Jesus himself is the answer. He did not direct his hearers to a new philosophical or theological outlook so much as he directed them toward himself. He wasn't a Buddha figure who claimed that his teaching stood alone apart from himself as a person. He wasn't a prophet like Mohammed who pointed away from himself and toward the one God. Instead, the name of Jesus was the only name given under heaven by which humanity could be saved. He was, as we read yesterday, the only one capable of revealing the Father. Jesus was the answer in a way that no other person could be, because of his union with the Father, as the Father's own Word who became flesh. He would remain the same yesterday, today, and forever, utterly reliable, always able to deliver on every promise he made.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

for I am meek and humble of heart;

The yoke of the Pharisees consisted of heavy burdens that were hard to bear. And the law itself, without grace, proved to be a yoke that had been impossible to bear. It is true that in times past followers of God were called to embrace the divine wisdom of the Torah as a yoke, as we read in Sirach:

Put your neck under the yoke,

and let your souls receive instruction;

it is to be found close by.

See with your eyes that I have labored little

and found for myself much rest (see Sirach 51:26-27).

But it was clear that this promise remained mostly unrealized until Jesus, who was himself the wisdom of God, appeared on earth as man. The Torah contained true wisdom, wisdom capable of giving rest, but only Jesus himself revealed and unlocked this promise. Without him the law remained a burdensome thing, something that could not by itself give the rest it promised. The experience of attempting to carry the yoke of the law by one's own power would yield a result like what Isaiah described:

We conceived and writhed in pain,

giving birth to wind;

Salvation we have not achieved for the earth,

the inhabitants of the world cannot bring it forth.

Without the Spirit even law remained a dead letter, incapable of giving salvation. This was revealed in the extreme case of the Pharisees who were fastidious adherents of the law and yet managed to twist and abuse it to their own destruction. This wasn't a shortcoming of the law itself. It was rather the brokenness of human nature that made this result all but inevitable. Only Jesus healing humanity by the gift of his Spirit could unlock the peace God had always promised. 

O LORD, you mete out peace to us,

for it is you who have accomplished all we have done.

Isaiah himself realized that unaided human effort yielded frustration but surrender to divine grace brought peace. But he also seemed to foresee that something further was needed to allow egotistical and selfish humans to fully surrender enough to be able to receive that peace. What he seemed to see was the gift of new life, which Jesus himself made available when he rose from the dead.

But your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise;

awake and sing, you who lie in the dust.

For your dew is a dew of light,

and the land of shades gives birth.

Although we may only hope to receive the fullness of peace when we rise again on the last day it is nevertheless also true that the peace promised by Jesus is meant to be something we begin to experience here and now. The more we exchange our own self-direction for the Lordship of Jesus the less the frustrations of this life will be able to affect us. The more we come to him, even here and now, the more his peace will fill our hearts.

and you will find rest for yourselves.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.

Elevation Worship featuring Brandon Lake - There Is A King

17 July 2024 - just kids

Today's Readings

(Audio)

I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,

Jesus came to those who were his own but his own received him not. Even the places where much of his ministry took place where more worthy of reproaches than praise. One might have thought Jesus would have regarded this apparent lack of success with disappointment. After all he did not come to condemn the world but rather to save it. And yet after he had all but condemned, if not the world, at least a part of it, he seemed to rejoice. 

for although you have hidden these things

from the wise and the learned

you have revealed them to the childlike.

He did not rejoice in the fact the people were not accepting him or that the truth of his message was hidden from them. But what Jesus knew that did give him cause to rejoice was that things were proceeding according to the Father's plan. As he intended, people who considered themselves wise and learned found themselves frustrated because wisdom and learning alone could not reveal Jesus to them. 

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe (see First Corinthians 1:21).

Jesus came to save all of those who would welcome him. But to do so required a childlike heart that was open to revelation of the truth. He did not seek the childlike because they were unintelligent or naive, but because they had the capacity to trust and were teachable. They had not yet solidified into self-chosen hardened states as had the wise and learned who rejected him. Moreover, he came to the childlike because Jesus himself was the only Son of the Father, and what he wanted to share was precisely this relationship. It was a relationship that could not be had without receptivity, to which self-sufficiency was an insurmountable obstacle. In rejoicing that God insisted on bringing salvation to the childlike Jesus celebrated the fact that God was doing something more and better than merely removing punishment or giving some forensic but not actual approval to people who were as yet unchanged, and not truly regenerated. God was in fact about the business of sharing his own divine nature, desirous the Jesus would "be firstborn among many brothers" (see Romans 8:29).

All things have been handed over to me by my Father.

No one knows the Son except the Father,

and no one knows the Father except the Son

and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.

Because Jesus had a relationship to the Father that was utterly unique he knew him in a way that no one else could claim. He alone was truly qualified to reveal him. This would probably have been an earthshattering proclamation that shocked his listeners. No one? Not even Moses or the prophets? But no, none of them, not with this intimate and exhaustive knowledge. It was this relationship that allowed Jesus to say to Philip, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (see John 14:9). 

Jesus seemed to suggest that there was a relationship between being begotten by God and knowing him. Other, lesser, merely human knowledge could be an obstacle. But Jesus was more than able to reveal the Father to those with open hearts. The more childlike such ones became the more Jesus could teach them. The more he taught the more they took on the identity of sons and daughters of the Father. It was a virtuous cycle, culminating in the sacraments of the Church. For example, baptism, by which we truly become adopted sons and daughters of God, is also called enlightenment because it also brings about the renewal of our minds in germinal form. This is something that works itself out as we grow in our identity throughout our lives. We can see this relationship between vision and identity in what John wrote.

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is (see First John 3:2).

Therefore we ought to make ourselves pure as Jesus is pure, so that there is nothing to obscure that vision. We may do so with great hope. The Son wishes to reveal the Father to all by whom the Father himself desires to be known. And from this desire of his none are excluded.

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (see First Timothy 2:3-4).

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

16 July 2024 - more tolerable

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus began to reproach the towns

where most of his mighty deeds had been done,

since they had not repented.

To whom much is given much is expected (see Luke 12:48). It is for this reason that it isn't always a blessing to see a miracle. One possible result we sometimes see is that of the Pharisees who seemed shockingly capable of ignoring the divine power on display and only hardened their hearts as a response. But another way people sometimes respond to miracles is less aggressively hostile and yet still insufficient. Like the lands of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, a town might be casually appreciative of the miracles done in its midst. It might even endorse Jesus and join the local branch of his fan club. Yet such a generically positive response can exist without the change of heart that Jesus intended to provoke. If people can't be bothered to change their lives in the face of a miracle, what will motivate them to do so? One might hope that the reproaches of Jesus might be the push they needed, helping them to recognize things were not yet copasetic for them. 

And as for you, Capernaum:

Will you be exalted to heaven?

You will go down to the nether world.

For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom,

it would have remained until this day.

But I tell you, it will be more tolerable

for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.

Sodom was guilty of great sin. But great sin was less important, less of an obstacle in the eyes of Jesus, than a great ability to repent, or in the case of these three cities, a lack thereof. Sodom faced judgment, but it was a judgment that might still prove to be a lesser one than that of those places who did not respond to the miracles of Jesus. On the last day Sodom would ultimately by judged based on what its peoples were able to know, what could legitimately be expected of them. Perhaps some were moved to last minute repentance. Or, even if not, there was still less that could have been expected of them in the time and place they lived. They hadn't had a first hand encounter with the living God in their midst.

Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum were the places in and around which Jesus performed his ministry. They had heard him teach and seen him work and were therefore more obligated to make a response than places that were not so favored with his presence. So too for us who are members of his Church. His teaching is available and his sacramental power is constantly on display. We even hear of a steady stream of actually miraculous mighty deeds that still occur, some of which are hard to dismiss. And yet we stagnate. We know there are ways in which we are still meant to change but we put it off. We try to pretend that it is enough for now to give Jesus our tacit endorsement as members of his fan club. But in some ways what he has given to the Church is more and greater than what his physical presence was for the cities he reproached. And our response, as yet, has not measured up to the gift. Before we ask for more miracles, which may only serve to make us, not necessarily holier, but certainly more accountable, let us ask him for help to hear the ways in which his reproaches describe ourselves. We need to hear this, not so that we can feel bad, but so we can know what needs to change. Once we allow ourselves to see it we can seek the grace he longs to give us to make it happen.

Brian Doerksen - Refiner's Fire

15 July 2024 - conditions for discipleship

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth.

I have come to bring not peace but the sword.

This is a difficult teaching of Jesus that we tend to only acknowledge in passing, as perhaps applicable to some few worst case scenarios. We prefer to imagine that most of the time the Gospel will bring people together, even if not everyone is a Christian. After all, Christians filled with the fruits of the Holy Spirit really should be better at getting alone with others even when they disagree. But Jesus seemed to think that the priorities of the Kingdom were so different from those of the world that clashes would be inevitable. Christians would not be able to embrace the priorities about Jesus without going against those of the world in such a way that even their friends and family might no longer accept them. In such a case one might have to choose between family and Jesus himself. It might seem like choosing Jesus over family would evince a coldness or a lack of love on the part of the Christian. But the followers of Jesus were meant to understand that they could not love their parents or children truly if they did not love Jesus still more. 

Whoever finds his life will lose it,

and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Not only ought we not love relatives more than Jesus if we wish to love them well we also must not love ourselves more than him. If we choose to put anything before the love of Christ that thing will become for us a destructive and demeaning idol. Only by loving Jesus more than ourselves can we love ourselves properly and according to the purpose for which we were made. Unfortunately the ego regards loving anything more than itself as a form of death. And in this sense the ego must die. We must lose this old life if we wish to find the new life offered by Jesus himself. The old life is a selfish one where we are the center and everything else orbits around us. The new life is one where the center is Jesus reigning on the throne. Naturally this is an either or proposition. Either we have Jesus or ourselves at the center. There is no workable compromise where they share the spot.

Whoever receives you receives me,

and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.

Given the importance of keeping Jesus at the center of our lives we should also realize how importance it makes receiving those he sent. We can't imagine that Jesus is truly central if we reject the teaching of his Apostles or their successors in the Church. A firmly defined relation to divine revelation prevents the centrality of Jesus from becoming a merely subjective idea. The ego would probably put up with the centrality of Jesus as long as it was in some way still the one defining what that entailed. This is why it important that we ourselves not be the last word on the interpretation of revelation. It can in fact become reassuring, if not immediately, at least over the long haul, when we encounter truths about our faith that are not in accord with our preferences or predilections. It's helps to prove we didn't make the whole thing up ourselves.

And whoever gives only a cup of cold water

to one of these little ones to drink

because he is a disciple–

amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.

We may not be prophets, but we can still share in the reward reserved for prophets. We may not be as righteous as we would like, but we can still receive a righteous man's reward. Our walk of discipleship may still be, even after years, quite immature. But by uniting ourselves to those disciples doing the will of Jesus by our own small acts of love we can hope to share in their reward. We may not be able to actually go out and involve ourselves in each and every ministry the Church has available. But by the small ways that we receive and welcome those who are involved by little actions done with great love it is as though we ourselves do in some sense go out together with them.

When I had looked upon the mystical body of the Church, I recognised myself in none of the members which St. Paul described, and what is more, I desired to distinguish myself more favourably within the whole body. Love appeared to me to be the hinge for my vocation. Indeed I knew that the Church had a body composed of various members, but in this body the necessary and more noble member was not lacking; I knew that the Church had a heart and that such a heart appeared to be aflame with love. I knew that one love drove the members of the Church to action, that if this love were extinguished, the apostles would have proclaimed the Gospel no longer, the martyrs would have shed their blood no more. I saw and realised that love sets off the bounds of all vocations, that love is everything, that this same love embraces every time and every place. In one word, that love is everlasting.

Then, nearly ecstatic with the supreme joy in my soul, I proclaimed: O Jesus, my love, at last I have found my calling: my call is love. Certainly I have found my place in the Church, and you gave me that very place, my God. In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love, and thus I will be all things, as my desire finds its direction.

- Saint Therese of Lisieux

To the external observer the growth of the Church may look a lot more like death and failure before it reveals itself to be new life. The appearance of failure is not necessarily an indication of failure. The apparent flimsiness of our own efforts does not necessarily mean they count for nothing. What matters most is to heed the words of Jesus, to love him well, and so become worthy of him. Then we can trust him to provide, not necessarily the rewards our egos want, but those that will truly satisfy us. He himself will align our actions, not with what we would pridefully plan ourselves, but with his purpose for us within his Body. And it is there only that we may hope to experience the fullness of life he intends for us.

TobyMac - Catchafire (Whoopsi-Daisy)