5 March 2018 - as many times as it takes

Today's Readings (Audio)

I thought that he would surely come out and stand there
to invoke the LORD his God,
and would move his hand over the spot,
and thus cure the leprosy.

How rigid are we in imagining how the LORD might choose to work? Do we assume that he will only act in a certain way or only heal certain (presumably holy) people?

It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.

The LORD is asking us not to limit him with our expectations. Our expectations do just that. They confine the ways in which the LORD will show his blessings and the people to whom he will show them.  He wants to heal us. But we need to be willing to submit our will to his and the ways he chooses for us. He may not have his prophet just move a hand over us. It may not be enough to bathe just once in the Jordan. We might have to do it once, again, and seven times to be cleansed. But if we get frustrated at attempt six, thinking the LORD couldn't really mean this, and we stop attempting it, it is our loss.

The LORD wants to make all things new, starting with our hearts. He wants to give us the hearts (and eventually the flesh) like little children. He wants us to be made clean. Let us do whatever he asks of us to receive those blessings. When we hear from him, let's not second guess it. Let's thirst for his touch so much that we pursue him no matter what.

Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?

4 March 2018 - law for order

Today's Readings (Audio)

The LORD brings us out from the place of slavery in Egypt. He leads us out by way of his cross and resurrection, by way of our baptism, to a place of freedom from sin.

He leads us out from Egypt but our hearts stay in Egypt. He gives us freedom but we are so accustomed to slavery that we don't embrace it. God is infinitely higher than creatures. In him is the only possible source of freedom. Yet we turn from him to choose creatures and creation over him. When we do this we choose to squander our freedom. To prevent this God gives us the law. The law is not antithetical to freedom. It is rather the minimum conditions necessary for freedom.

I, the LORD, am your God, 
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.
You shall not have other gods besides me.

Jesus understands how essential it is that first things be first.

"Take these out of here, 
and stop making my Father's house a marketplace."
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, 
Zeal for your house will consume me.

If we insist on serving idols we end up with less and less freedom. We become slaves of the flesh. But God intends for us to have the freedom of the Spirit (see Second Corinthians 3:17), the glorious liberty of the children of God (see Romans 8:21). On our own we find that we can't comply with even the most basic requirements of freedom. The law reveals to us our weakness and shows us our need for a savior.  Unless we welcome Jesus into the temples of our own hearts and allow him to chase out the idols we end up worshipping things which are less than God and surrendering our freedom to them. Only Jesus has sufficient zeal for the Father's house. But he is more than willing to use it in our hearts for the sake of our freedom.

It is counterintuitive, even paradoxical, that we only find freedom in service and that we only find life when we take up our cross. But this is true wisdom.

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

Let us welcome Jesus into the temples of our hearts. Let us ask and pray that he sets our hearts in proper order to offering fitting worship to the God who longs to set us free.

3 March 2018 - house of blessing

Today's Readings (Audio)

Let us return to the Father's house. Let us not wander in search of satisfaction. The risk is to not realize that all the Father has is ours when we choose to live with him. In not realizing that we may choose to leave looking for more. Or perhaps we stay, but we hold a grudge, not realizing the blessings which are ours.

My son, you are here with me always;
everything I have is yours.

Let us remain with the Father, rejoicing that all he has is ours. This attitude of thankfulness will prevent us from holding a grudge when brothers and sisters return from a life of dissipation. Let us learn to celebrate when brothers and sisters return to join us again. Without thankfulness, without knowing what the Father does for us, we hold it against others when we see them blessed, especially since it is clear that they haven't earned that blessing.

Quickly, bring the finest robe and put it on him;
put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
Take the fattened calf and slaughter it.
Then let us celebrate with a feast,
because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again;
he was lost, and has been found.

We see the magnanimous and unmerited love of the Father. When we don't realize how much we receive from and depend on that same love we often get upset when we see others receive it. But again, we need to realize more what we already have. We need to plant ourselves more firmly in the Father's house. We need to not let his blessings simply sit on the tables and the shelves. We need to recognize that these blessings are ours and put them to work in our life.

For both those that wander and those who forget to be thankful there is a God who is ready to forgive and who delights in clemency and compassion.

You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins;
You will show faithfulness to Jacob,
and grace to Abraham,
As you have sworn to our fathers
from days of old.

There is a shepherd who longs to keep his sheep in one flock. He longs to feed the  flock of his inheritance. Let us neither wander from nor fail to appreciate his love. Let us avail ourselves of the food with which he feeds us in Bashan and Gilead. Let us see the wonderful signs he shows us.

Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.

2 March 2018 - due attention paid

Today's Readings (Audio)

Finally, he sent his son to them,
thinking, 'They will respect my son.'

The Father sends his Son to us constantly. But we do not respect him. We're more worried about the vineyards we have on loan from him. We're too focused on blessings which we do not have but that we desire. We are envious of things which others have which we do not. We are envious of blessings which to which we feel entitled.

This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.

We don't actually kill anyone. But the way we focus our attention on our own wants and needs and completely shut out and ignore God and neighbor does this implicitly. Choosing to put ourselves first is not a victimless crime. It is a way is saying 'I wish you didn't exist' with our intentions.

The LORD sends his Son to us even in spite of knowing that we almost never show him the proper respect and awe that is his due. He does this because he is confident that he can win us over to his love, to more and more convince us to trust and to follow him. We may sell Joseph to Ishmaelites but God will eventually use even so great a sin as that to save his people from famine.

Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

Even though we ourselves kill the Son and must be put to a wretched death that isn't the end of the story. We need to recognize this tendency in our spirits to desire independence from God. In recognizing it, we must repent of it. If we trust in the LORD's mercy, death to sin in baptism leads us to life again, changing us from a people who hoard the fruit to a people who give God the produce at the proper time. 

The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?

1 March 2018 - the time is now

Today's Readings (Audio)

Abraham replied, 'My child,
remember that you received what was good during your lifetime
while Lazarus likewise received what was bad;
but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.

Let's not wait to do the right thing. Let's stop choosing comfort over righteousness. No matter what we have to endure now for the sake of righteousness, no matter what persecution, it is ultimately more than worth it.

When the poor man died,
he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham.

We are invited to a deep and abiding concern for the poor. We should at least make sure that the scraps of our tables aren't going to waste when resources which we casually discard can make a difference to others. This is a little bit uncomfortable because we know how little thought we give this. Many of us aren't living lives of profound luxury. But we do occasionally have leftovers. We do have resources with which to help. Do we consider the difference we can make or do we choose self-indulgence instead?

Concern for the poor doesn't mean that we can never go on vacation or that we should only eat rice and beans and give away all else. We need comfort above the absolute minimum to be effective in the vocations we are given. But all of our decisions should be made knowing that our resources are not our own and that the poor of the world are entitled to have their needs met. A vacation is then an investment in ourselves so that we can in turn be more effective for helping others.

The secret we need to learn is to put the LORD first in all things. If we trust in men we end up like the rich man, having succeeded according to the standards of men, but in a way that is empty and does not have a future. If we trust in the LORD than we can enjoy blessings when they are available and not turn aside even in difficult times. 

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose hope is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted beside the waters
that stretches out its roots to the stream:

Let us plug in to the source of life that the poor man now enjoys forever in heaven. Let us drink from the streams of delight that flow from the LORD and his temple. These and these only are true wealth. They make us able to act with prudence and use well the dishonest wealth of the world.

Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

28 February 2018 - the turning away

Today's Readings (Audio)

Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem,
and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests
and the scribes,
and they will condemn him to death,
and hand him over to the Gentiles
to be mocked and scourged and crucified,
and he will be raised on the third day.

We are following Jesus on this journey to Jerusalem. He calls each of us to take up our own cross and come after him. Sacrifice is part of this journey. Even suffering is a part of this journey. We try to give ourselves the consolation prize of religious pride to lessen our experience of sacrifice and dampen any suffering we feel. We becoming increasingly concerned with who is doing things rightly, who isn't, and charting out everyone in between.

When the ten heard this,
they became indignant at the two brothers.

We can tell this is happening because of how well it deadens our empathy for others. Jesus tells his disciples that he himself is going to suffer and die for them but immediately the subject is changed. They don't want to think about him suffering and dying. They only want to think about glory. If they can't think about his glory then, well, they'll think of their own. But the truth is that there is no glory apart from the cross.

Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?"

We only enter the kingdom of Jesus and find our place in it by first passing through the cross, through pain and death, before finally coming to the resurrection. We must first be the servants of all if we truly wish to reign with Christ.

Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Let's not close our eyes to suffering this Lent. Even if there is nothing to be done about it at a human level we can bring it to Jesus and offer it to him. We can rely on him instead of on ourselves to change suffering into glory and pain into life.

When we don't ignore suffering we become more free to love as Jesus loves. We become able to love even our adversaries who try to dig a pit for our life. We no longer simply place them in our hierarchy of religious performance. We speak on their behalf before the LORD, to turn his wrath from them. And in showing mercy at last we find it for ourselves as well.

But my trust is in you, O LORD;
I say, "You are my God."
In your hands is my destiny; rescue me
from the clutches of my enemies and my persecutors.

27 February 2018 - obscured by proudness

Today's Readings (Audio)

All their works are performed to be seen.

Are our works performed for love of for our own vanity and pride? One way to test this is to see whether we take pleasure when other people fail to live up to our standards.

They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry
and lay them on people's shoulders,
but they will not lift a finger to move them.

The Pharisees don't actually care so much about love and goodness as they do about feeling superior to others. Even if they could help others to carry the burden of the law they would not do it, because then they wouldn't have this perceived advantage over others. It's extreme enough that it impacts their own ability to keep the law. They preach but do not practice because as long as they seem holy and righteous that is good enough. They don't feel a strong need to actually be such.

Do we take secret pride in being Christians who check all the boxes? Are we proud when we know more about the mass or about Scripture or the Church than others? Secretly, of course. We would never say so. But isn't it something we feel as an affirmation first, and only then, after as a desire to share what we have?

As we are called to be virtuous day after day do we forget why and for whom we are called? Does it becoming more upkeep of our image rather than a fresh opportunity to be loving and just?

Wash yourselves clean!
Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;
cease doing evil; learn to do good.
Make justice your aim: redress the wronged,
hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow.

Let us get reconnected with what should have been our motivation all along.

The greatest among you must be your servant.

Let us choose to serve, in practical ways, for the sake of others. If we can do this in hidden and unrecognized ways so much the better. The more we fade into the background the more we let God into the foreground to show his saving power.

To the upright I will show the saving power of God.