8 October 2018 - mercy unlimited

Today's Readings (Audio)

But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, 
"And who is my neighbor?"

This man knew what must be done. He answered correctly what he would need to do to inherit eternal life. But he sensed even though he knew it he wasn't really doing it. So he asked about the limits of the teaching. He hoped to hear that he only needed to love those who were close and convenient, those who were 'his people', but suspected that was insufficient.

Which of these three, in your opinion,
was neighbor to the robbers' victim?"
He answered, "The one who treated him with mercy."
Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

There is no one in this parable who quits his job and travels to the ends of the earth to seek people on whom they can show mercy. All of the characters simply pass by the man as part of their path. But the Levite and the priest avoid him just as we often do. We need to become like the Samaritan. We need to be moved with compassion for those whom God places in our path. We need to be willing, when God asks us, to go out of our way and to use our own resources to show compassion. We need to be willing to get close even if it isn't comfortable. Our compassion and mercy need to come first.

This is the gospel of Jesus, and we can't turn aside for anything more limited even if politicians and prophets of our time call us to limit our love to specific groups. We cannot do this through human strength. We cannot do it if we care about human favor. We can only do it if we are slaves of Christ like Paul, relying on the grace of the Gospel that is not of human origin.

Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters,
that the Gospel preached by me is not of human origin.
For I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it,
but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

The LORD will not forget to do his part. Tending to the victim of the robbers was frightening. He was half-dead and from a different culture. When we face similar circumstances we need not fear, the LORD will give us the strength we need.

The works of his hands are faithful and just;
sure are all his precepts,
Reliable forever and ever,
wrought in truth and equity.

7 October 2018 - familiar themes

Today's Readings (Audio)

Christianity is sometimes mischaracterized as being individualistic. It is seen then to be only about oneself and God and the world to come. Family and neighbors and this world can be safely ignored according to that construction. We even see that there exist Christian hermits and we believe this confirms our suspicion.

The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a suitable partner for him."

God walked in the garden with Adam but still said that it was not good for him to be alone. He was made for relationship, not just with God, but with Eve, and with his children and extended family. Something is missing when Adam is still alone and none of the animals can fill the void.

"This one, at last, is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called 'woman, '
for out of 'her man' this one has been taken."

This does not mean that everyone must marry, although this is more or less how the ancient world often approached the issue. It does mean, though, the mankind is political animal, oriented toward polis, meaning the city or society. In other words we are meant to be part of a larger community of relationships. These relationships both obligate and support us. Even Christian hermits are active participants in this society through their prayers.

What lessons can we draw from this? One is that we should be cautious whenever we see ourselves isolating into some kind of self-imposed hermit status. We like to carve out space in our lives for just ourselves. And this isn't wrong. It is necessary to recharge. But it needs to be in the larger context of our ability to participate in the world and to do our best for others. Like Christian hermits, even our "me time" is actually in truth for others, even if we aren't thinking about them at the time.

Another lesson is the the family is not some negligible or artificial social construct. It is at the very core of God's design for the world. The family actually reveals the reason why God demands we live in relationship. It is because through the supernatural reality to which each family is called God reveals something about how he himself is love.

But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. 
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
So they are no longer two but one flesh. 

Since the family is the basis of society it cannot be neglected without drastic consequences for the world such as many that we see in our own day. Neglecting the family also hinders our ability to relate to God. And neglecting our relationship with God hinders our ability to live the family life to which we are called.

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church (see Ephesians 5:31-32).

Every aspect of family has something to teach. Welcoming children teaches us how to love those who cannot earn our love. Being like children teaches us how we ought to relate to God as our Father. We learn to relate to Jesus as a brother who has blazed the trail of our salvation for us.

For it was fitting that he,
for whom and through whom all things exist,
in bringing many children to glory,
should make the leader to their salvation perfect through suffering.
He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated
all have one origin.
Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them “brothers.”

May the LORD soften our hearts so that we can receive this teaching. May he guide us in the ways of love he intended since the beginning.

6 October 2018 - walking in victory

Today's Readings (Audio)

Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you,
but rejoice because your names are written in heaven."

The childlike rejoice to see Jesus. They are the ones who are able to recognize in him the desire of nations, the desire of their hearts. People who aren't childlike have too much of their own stuff going own. They are too busy with their own work to attend the feast. But children receive the invitation from the king and go at once.

Turning to the disciples in private he said,
"Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.

To remain children we have to walk in the victory Christ wins. We have to live knowing that Satan has fallen like lightning from the sky and that we do not need to fear anything the evil one can do. But as children this remains true for us only as long as we continue to trust in the one who alone is victorious.

Even Job, who was already blameless and upright (see Job 1:1), needed to come to a more absolute trust in the LORD. And so do all of us. We need to learn to trust in God and to not rely on our own understanding (see Proverbs 3:5). This does not mean God is irrational, unjust, or cruel, as Job might have been tempted to suspect. It means rather that at times when he is disciplining us we know better than to second guess him. Even in discipline we remain children faithful to our father. When we hold on to God in such time he is able to more fully reveal himself.

I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be hindered.
I have dealt with great things that I do not understand;
things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know.

Before we had only heard of him. Now we know him. Now we can trust in his victory and have no fear. Now, too, it is safe for the LORD to bless us, for now these blessings will not drive us away from him.

Thus the LORD blessed the latter days of Job
more than his earlier ones.

It is hard to say with the psalmist that it is good that we have been afflicted. But this is what it means to trust in God's plan. He makes all things work together for the good of those who love him (see Romans 8:28). Our eyes rejoice to see it. Our souls have peace because our names are written in the book of life.

It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
that I may learn your statutes.

5 October 2018 - hearing him

Today's Readings (Audio)

Let us learn to listen to Jesus and those whom he sends us.

Whoever listens to you listens to me.
Whoever rejects you rejects me. 
And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.

This applies not only to those in the Church speaking authoritatively in the name of Christ but also in a smaller way to every message he sends us. None of what we receive from Jesus is merely suggestion about how to better organize our lives. Every word he speaks is an invitation to either draw closer to him or to move away. We can't tell Jesus that we love him but that we want to ignore some of his teachings. The teachings are inseparable from the teacher. Jesus himself is the true content of the word proclaimed.

For if the mighty deeds done in your midst

As souls and bodies are healed and lives are transformed we must pay heed. These signs are meant to show us where the power of God is at work. They are meant to show us the possibility, necessity, and even also the beauty of repenting.

Job discovers this awesome beauty when God finally spoke. Job himself never spoke in sin but his was perhaps holding onto the fact that he hadn't done wrong a little too tightly. He still had more that he needed to surrender to God in terms of reasoning and comprehending. The temptation when God spoke as he did would certainly be to flee or become angry. But Job took this mighty deed as an opportunity to repent.

Behold, I am of little account; what can I answer you?
I put my hand over my mouth.
Though I have spoken once, I will not do so again;
though twice, I will do so no more.

God knows us better than we know ourselves. Let us never reject his voice whether in matters large or small. He is only trying to bring us closer to himself.

Where can I go from your spirit?
From your presence where can I flee?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I sink to the nether world, you are present there.

4 October 2018 - a simple plan

Today's Readings (Audio)

He said to them,
"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.

We need the master of the harvest to prepare and send laborers for his harvest. This is not something that can be done by human institutions. There is no program of training that can prepare us to be lambs among wolves as when Saint Francis went to preach to Sultan Malik al-Kamil. Only the Spirit of God can help us to so value the gospel that we are able to place it above our very lives.

Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals;
and greet no one along the way.

The Spirit of God allows us to be poor for the sake of the Kingdom. The reason is not that these things in themselves are necessarily bad but that they are distractions. We need to be willing to lay any distraction aside from the sake of Jesus. We should be simple enough to eat what is set before us so that our preferences don't prevent us from spreading this gospel.

Into whatever house you enter, first say,
'Peace to this household.'

We proclaim a peace that the world cannot give and cannot take away. We offer the peace that comes from Christ alone. It is too important to let any secondary things detract from it.

We would prefer to leave this job to professionals. But it is not just a job for priests and missionaries. God is calling us all to help bring in the harvest. And we need not fear. Success is not up to us. Our part is faithfulness. The rest is up to God and the free will of others. We ourselves can simply shake the dust when we don't succeed.

Job teaches us to proclaim the message of God even when we ourselves are stripped of all we have.

But as for me, I know that my Vindicator lives,
and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust;
Whom I myself shall see:
my own eyes, not another's, shall behold him,
And from my flesh I shall see God;
my inmost being is consumed with longing.

So let us pray for more helpers at this harvest and not slack for our part in the work. The whole world is being offered a chance to behold the face of God in Christ. May the Spirit teach us to long for this vision.

Your presence, O LORD, I seek.
Hide not your face from me;

3 October 2018 - limited time offer

Matthew wastes no time in following Christ

Today's Readings (Audio)

"I will follow you wherever you go."

It's easy to say we will follow Jesus. It is more humanly challenging to consider what it is like to do so.

Jesus answered him,
"Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."

Jesus is not going immediately to a place of rest or a place of victory. He does want to eventually bring all of humanity to share in the Sabbath rest found only in the Father's arms. This is the only place the Son of Man can truly rest his head. But along the way there are no guarantees. No waypoint along the journey is a destination where we can get too comfortable. We are citizens of heaven (see Philippians 3:20) and we do not belong to this world (see John 17:16).

There is a great deal of peace to be found by following Jesus. But it is not primarily a peace he creates in the earthly circumstances around him. It is a peace that comes from his presence. It isn't so much about where he directs us in this life as that he is with us on the journey.

Jesus must be our absolute priority. Even more than other genuine goods we are called to choose Christ if there is a conflict. We must love him even more than our parents. We must not miss the opportunity to follow him even if it means someone else will have to bury the dead.

But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God."

Jesus has a greater claim on us than Elijah does on Elisha, for Elijah allows Elisha to go and tend to his family for a while before joining him (see First Kings 19:20). But we can't risk waiting to respond to the call of Jesus.

The temptation when Jesus calls is always to make excuses. And so we get quite good at making some truly plausible ones. We need to learn to have no pretenses before the LORD. Even when we feel like we deserve to understand but don't we must trust him.

How much less shall I give him any answer,
or choose out arguments against him!
Even though I were right, I could not answer him,
but should rather beg for what was due me.

So we beg the LORD to let our prayer come before him. Now is the day of salvation. Now is the acceptable time (see Second Corinthians 6:2).

2 October 2018 - guardians of our hearts

Today's Readings (Audio)

"See that you do not despise one of these little ones,
for I say to you that their angels in heaven
always look upon the face of my heavenly Father."

One way in which we should allow ourselves to become small is to rely on the guardian angels whom our Father has given care over us. We should not act as if we have the strength or wisdom to manage on our own. In a war against the principalities and powers we will never reach a point of growth where we will really be fine on our own. Fortunately God does not leave us alone. Yet it is only little ones who avail themselves of this protection.

O LORD, my God, by day I cry out;
at night I clamor in your presence.
Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my call for help.

Our guardian angels can even help us to bear the discipline of the LORD, even though at the time all discipline seems painful (see Hebrews 12:11). Even and in fact especially if we're going through something like Job we need to rely on our guardian angels.

Why did I not perish at birth,
come forth from the womb and expire?

All that he has is taken from him. In order not to despair he must turn to and trust in God alone. Each time he loses something he loves he is tempted toward despair. And each time his angel nudges him to keep trusting. He guards him and helps him not to speak in anger against the LORD

Guardian angels, antidote to the despair to which we are inclined, protect us!