15 January 2024 - the feast of the bridegroom

Today's Readings

(Audio)

People came to Jesus and objected,

“Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast,

but your disciples do not fast?”

People saw what appeared to be a high standard of rigorous devotion among both the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees. They went above and beyond what was required of them by Judaism as a sign of their piety. And probably much of this fasting was actually a good thing for them at those times and places. Maybe there were some Pharisees who made a big show of it to let everyone know they were fasting. But probably even among the Pharisees there were some that were genuine. More so among John the Baptist and his followers. John had little patience with doing things for the sake of appearances. He wasn't interested in followers that came to him because it was what others were doing. Yet the fact that such fasting could be good did not mean it was always the right answer. Just because some was sometimes good did not mean that more was always and in all circumstances better.

Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?

As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.

In a world still awaiting the Messiah spiritual hunger, sometimes signaled by fasting, was meant to be a dominant characteristic. Now that the Messiah had come it was time for the feast to begin. But it was hard to appreciate why this was so until people came to appreciate that Jesus was not only Messiah, but also the bridegroom of Israel. He was not simply a holy individual, come to stamp out all opposition to the will of God. He was in fact God himself, come to fulfill the promises he made in the Old Testament toward Israel, his bride.

For your Maker is your husband,

the Lord of hosts is his name;

and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,

the God of the whole earth he is called (see Isaiah 54:5).

And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more (see Hosea 2:16-17).

This wedding feast had already begun as a consequence of the incarnation when humanity was joined irrevocably to divinity. This was why Jesus was the one upon whom angels would ascend and descend as a ladder between earth and heaven like the one of which Jacob dreamed (see John 1:51). But at the same time we see that the fullness of the marriage was not consummated when, during the wedding feast at Cana, Jesus said, "My hour has not yet come" (see John 2:4). The hour of the wedding feast was most properly understood to be both the institution of the Eucharist and the hour of his Passion. These were, mysteriously, the same hour, the hour in which Jesus gave us the true wedding feast of his Body and Blood.

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

and then they will fast on that day.

The dominant theme of Christianity is now the celebration of the resurrection. As Saint John Paul the Great said, "We are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song!", apparently paraphrasing Saint Augustine. And yet, though our weekly feast recalls us to Easter and the resurrection, there is still something of anticipation and hunger that defines the Christian people. There is still cause for fasting, but not according to the intuitions of the Old Testament, as though we were still waiting on the fulfillment of the messianic hope. Rather, even our fasting is meant to be centered on the bridegroom himself, helping us to draw into ever deeper relationship with the Messiah who has in fact come, but for whom we long to come again in glory.

Let us learn by reading the lesson that Saul had to learn the hard way. We are not to take for the Lord what he himself has not asked of us. He doesn't regard sacrifices, including fasting, nearly as much as obedience. Still, it probably isn't the case that most of us face the temptation to excess fasting. But for most of us when we are in fact called to fast we tend to choose a programmatic and lifeless approach that doesn't really touch our hearts. The call for us as a New Covenant people is to bring every practice back to the bridegroom and ask him how he would use it to draw us ever closer to the consummation of the wedding feast.

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

Joy Williams - Hungry (Falling On My Knees)

14 January 2024 - behold the lamb

Today's Readings

(Audio)

John was standing with two of his disciples,

and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said,

"Behold, the Lamb of God."

In a phrase, John the Baptist summed up God's plan for salvation through Jesus Christ. He would be the Suffering Servant, prophesied by Isaiah, who wrote that "he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth" (see Isaiah 53:7). 

During the Passover the Israelites were instructed to slaughter a lamb at twilight and put the blood on the doorposts of the houses in which they ate it. Then when the Lord passed through Egypt and struck down all of the firstborn of men and beasts those whose doors were marked with the blood would be spared (see Exodus 12). John the Evangelist made connection to Jesus's crucifixion more explicit when he noted that "it was the day of Preparation for Passover" (see John 19:14). There are more subtle allusions as well. The people were called to use a hyssop branch to anoint their door posts with the blood of the lamb. Jesus was offered sour wine to drink on a sponge held up to him on a hyssop branch (see John 19:29). Although certainly not what they intended, that branch would have returned with the Blood of Jesus and anointed the very earth.

Jesus was the lamb of sacrifice. He was also God's own firstborn Son. In the book of Genesis God had called Abraham to offer Isaac, but ultimately chose to spare him, wanting in that moment only to see the faith of Abraham. But Abraham made a mysterious statement that "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering" (see Genesis 22:8). Rather than demanding our own lives, which were forfeit from the very moment Adam ate of the fruit in the Garden, God instead offered himself in Jesus Christ, buying back our lives by the price of his blood.

knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot (see First Peter 1:18-19).

This was a lot for John the Baptist to convey to his followers, even in the unlikely event that he himself understood it perfectly. Thus the disciples of John were not immediately able to articulate precisely what they sought from Jesus. Jesus, for his part, did not simply sit them down and explain exactly what was to happen based on the Scriptures. He knew the only real way they would come to understand and appreciate his role without rejecting it was by seeing him embrace and live it. Even then it proved too much for Judas. But Jesus knew that friendship with himself and staying near him could help his disciples to accept his role in their salvation in a way that cold intellectual understanding could not. Hence the invitation, "Come, and you will see".

Do you not know that your body

is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you,

whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

For you have been purchased at a price.

Therefore glorify God in your body.

The Lord purchased back our entire self, body, soul, and spirit. By becoming incarnate in human flesh and offering that flesh as a sacrifice for sin our own flesh gained an even greater dignity than it had before the fall, and an even greater destiny at the resurrection of the body. This means we can't indulge in sin with our bodies and imagine our spirit is unaffected. It was through the body and soul together that sin came to dominate the human race. And it is now possible to live out the gift of freedom in Christ through both body and soul. If we persist in sins of the flesh we will eventually succumb again to slavery to sin. But if we treat ourselves as temples of the Holy Spirit our lives become about something greater than us and everything that we do can become an act of praise to God.

"We have found the Messiah" — which is translated Christ —.

Then he brought him to Jesus.

Once we recognize all that has been done for us we must open our hearts to share it with others. How can we leave them without so precious a treasure as that which we have found in the Blood of Christ?

Matt Maher - Behold The Lamb Of God

13 January 2024 - called out

Today's Readings

(Audio)

It has been observed that most of the history of religion could be summarized as man's search for God. But the history of Judaism and Christianity is a record of God's search for man. Man was alienated from God by his fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. After the fall God sought Adam in order to give him an opportunity to confess and to repent. But Adam had abandoned his trust in God and could not bear to be found, afraid to come into God's presence. As a consequence he attempted to hide from God. We would call this foolish, as of course it is, if we weren't aware of that we share this same tendency. Adam is the prototypical example of how we fare on our own apart from grace. We not only can't find the way back to God on our own but we even become suspicious of his attempts to find us. We misjudge his outstretched arm of healing as a potential threat. Thus, many of us, like Levi, have found no place for ourselves, spiritually speaking, but to sit at our customs post day after day.

As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus,

sitting at the customs post.

The customs post of the tax collector is a metaphor for the unsatisfactory nature of trying to achieve ultimate happiness by any temporal worldly means. We know that no matter how much we accumulate it will never make up for the sense of alienation we feel at a deeper level of our being. And yet, we return, day after day, because, we think, what else is there for us? There is probably a sense within our hearts that, in the end, this is all we really deserve, and that we are facing the just punishment of a hostile deity. But it is precisely into this self-isolated sense of hopeless despair that Jesus enters with his shocking and sudden invitation.

Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”

And he got up and followed Jesus.

How suddenly grace can change our lives! All at once, with a single sentence, Jesus turned Levi's world upside down. Every point of data that Levi thought he knew about himself and the world was proven immediately and irrefutably wrong. There was hope for him. His identity was not defined by the words 'sinner' and 'tax collector'. That which he could never have escaped or overcome on his own had in an instant lost all power over him. In meeting Jesus he came to understand that there was more to himself than he had ever dared to guess.

The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light (see Gaudium et Spes 22).

We sometimes celebrate the conversion of Levi from a safe distance. We think, 'how nice for him' while wondering what it has to do with us. And this implicitly means that we have a bit more in common with the scribes and Pharisees than we would prefer. It is a sign that we have begun to see ourselves as already completely healed and whole within ourselves without the need for Jesus to call us higher or invite us to share his life more deeply. We prefer not to recognize that we are still the sick in need of a physician, still sinners in need of mercy. And this is not to say that Jesus has not already made an immense difference in our lives. But it is an acknowledgment that he always has more in store for us until the day we see him face to face in heaven. The Adam in us continues to doubt that this is a good thing. But let's give more weight to the testimony of Levi. After Jesus interrupts our normal patterns of existence what awaits us is not condemnation, but rather, a banquet.

While he was at table in his house,

many tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus and his disciples;

for there were many who followed him.

Stoneleigh Worship Band - I Will Worship

12 January 2024 - that you may know

Today's Readings

(Audio)

They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.

Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd,

they opened up the roof above him.

The crowds often interfere with those who need to come into the presence of Jesus. It isn't necessarily through malice, as though they were intentionally trying to block the view. They just lack the awareness that their casual interest is creating a barrier from behind which those with genuine need can't get through. Sometimes these individuals manage to cry out or climb a tree to gain access to Jesus. But sometimes they are too crippled by need to be able to approach him on their own. If we don't aid such ones as these they may be left outside in the cold. And in order to actually be helpful to them we may have to be creative and get out of our own comfort zone just as did the friends of this paralytic.

After they had broken through,

they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him,

“Child, your sins are forgiven.”

They brought the man in seeking a physical healing. But Jesus preferred to address something deeper in the man's soul first. He did not want to mobilize a body only to leave it in the grip of sin. His priority was interior freedom first, physical freedom thereafter. Nevertheless, faith opened this man to receive greater than he sought. His desire led him to Jesus and Jesus revealed to him the truest need of his heart.

Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves,

“Why does this man speak that way?  He is blaspheming.

Who but God alone can forgive sins?”

They weren't wrong. And no doubt part of what Jesus wanted to do by using the paralytic as an example was to begin a process of self-revelation about just what was entailed in being the Son of Man, and what authority he possessed. Thus the external healing of the man would also serve as proof that the words he had spoken forgiving sin were not mere words. The power over the external physical world would hint at the inner divinity capable even of the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus immediately knew in his mind what 

they were thinking to themselves, 

so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts?

It must have been a little uncanny for Jesus to have read their hearts in this way. They did not think they were overheard since they were speaking among themselves. But Jesus "knew in his mind what they were thinking" and called them out on it. All of this was an invitation to glorify God as most of the crowd in fact did. But for some it was the beginning of the process of a hardening of heart. They weren't interested in a Son of Man who mediated forgiveness. They preferred to think they had their own spiritual situation well in hand. There was a bit of overlap between such an attitude and that of the people who demanded a king, since they were, by implication, rejecting God as their king. It is always appealing to be like the other nations, not ruled directly and immediately by God. Yet it is only in the Son of Man, when he reigns in our lives, can we find the freedom we desire. But when we do find it we are free indeed (see John 8:36).

Newsboys - I Am Free

Westlife - You Raise Me Up

11 January 2024 - if you wish, you can

Today's Readings

(Audio)

A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said,

“If you wish, you can make me clean.”

The important part of this confession was not any doubt about whether Jesus would, but rather the utter confidence that he could. This leper didn't entreat Jesus to pray to God on his behalf. Rather his faith was at a level where he realized that all that we necessary was for Jesus to wish a thing, and it would be so. It did not require many words or arduous effort. 

Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,

touched the leper, and said to him, 

“I do will it. Be made clean.”

Jesus chose to heal the leper with a word and a touch. Just as God had spoken the first man into being and fashioned him out of the earth so here did Jesus refashion this man with a word and the touch of his healing hand. Normally leprosy would contaminate the one who touched a leper. But precisely the opposite thing happened in the case of Jesus. His touch unleashed his healing power and the leper was made clean.

We sometimes imagine that Jesus would not want to have the kind of close contact with the uglier parts of our lives that he did with the leper. We would often honestly prefer to be healed at a distance rather than experience the level of intimate contact that Jesus desires to have with us. But the thing is, it is the contact with Jesus, even more than the healing, the relationship, even more than the cleansing that he desires for us. Sometimes it isn't so much that we doubt the power of Jesus but that we focus too much on what is wrong with us and not on his love and his power. What we are invited to realize in today's Gospel reading is that the heart of Jesus is always moved with pity for creatures who are prevented from becoming all they are meant to be.

but go, show yourself to the priest

and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;

that will be proof for them.

Jesus wants to set us free from those things that isolate us and gradually sap the life from us in order to bring us back into community, into a chorus of right praise. He is even willing to bear the burdens that are our own so that we may find the freedom that is his. Formerly it was the leper that could not enter a town openly, but after the cure, it was Jesus himself. This level of love must not be second guessed. In all the ways that we ourselves have been isolated and disfigured by sin let us look to the compassionate heart of Jesus who longs to make us whole.

The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.

At that time Jesus was not ready for his identity to be revealed in a way that would limit it to exorcist or wonder worker. He was, we know, much more. He was, first and foremost, a savior. But now, there is no such prohibition on proclaiming what Jesus has done for us. If we have been touched as this leper was how much more ought we to "publicize the whole matter" and "spread the report abroad". Let us remember that in return for the outpouring of grace that we have received we can make no better response than giving thanks.

Darrell Evans - Trading My Sorrows

10 January 2024 - speak, for your servant is listening

Today's Readings

(Audio)

On leaving the synagogue

Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.

Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever.

They immediately told him about her.

He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up.

Then the fever left her 

We are called to put Jesus first in our lives, to love him more than even our families. Those who could not do so found it impossible to follow Jesus. He would not permit would-be disciples to return to say farewell or even to bury their dead relatives. But it was not the case that Jesus didn't care about families or that he was looking to create a group of followers isolated from normal human relationships. Rather, it was only as he began to take the first place in the heart of his followers that he was able to play the role in their families he desired to play. We can see from how he entered Simon's home and healed his mother-in-law an indication of how Jesus wants to enter into the home and family life of all his disciples and bring them healing.

Then the fever left her and she waited on them.

The healing power of Jesus sets us free to serve him and help, in our own way, to bring about his Kingdom. The contribution of Simon's mother-in-law was not trivial, for Jesus would later say, "whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward" (see Matthew 10:42). Obviously there is nothing we can offer Jesus in proportion to the freedom and healing he has given us. And yet we are meant to want to do what we are able in thanksgiving for his gifts. Even though what we can offer him is very little we are meant to be so caught up in wonder at his power that we feel it a privilege to participate even in the small ways we can manage as we find ourselves with a new role in a larger story centered around Jesus himself.

Rising very early before dawn, 

he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.

If even Jesus took the time to pray, so too should we. Jesus, more than anyone, might have said, 'My work is my prayer', in particular since said work involved an ongoing communication with his Father for healing and exorcism. But Jesus himself took time away from the noise and busyness of the crowds in order to spend time alone with his Father. This seemed to reinforce his sense of mission and to help him follow the purpose for which his Father sent him into the world. When we hear something like, "Everyone is looking for you" many are tempted either to flee or feel obligated. It is hard to hear the will of the Father amidst such pressing expectations. Our time alone with God in prayer can help us to discern what next steps would be best. For us, this takes practice, as it did for Samuel.

When Samuel went to sleep in his place,

the LORD came and revealed his presence,

calling out as before, “Samuel, Samuel!”

Samuel answered, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

We may not correctly identify the voice of the Lord the first or the second time. But if we are faithful and keep returning to the presence of the Lord we will more and more become sheep who know the voice of our shepherd. The more we know his voice and align our lives to what it commands the more we too will take on the prophetic power that voice contains, as did Samuel. The world needs more people who are directed by the voice of the Father and able to bring his healing power to bear in the world. May we listen and continue to listen for that voice.

Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with him,

not permitting any word of his to be without effect.

John B Miller - Speak Lord I'm Listening (by Gary Ault)

9 January 2024 - the people were astonished

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The people were astonished at his teaching,

for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.

The teaching of Jesus was different than that of any who had come before him. It was not like that of the scribes who merely interpreted scripture and handed on opinion which they considered probable. Jesus spoke with certainty, and, although consistent with the scripture, he was not limited by it. He would go beyond it, as he did in the Sermon on the Mount, mentioning a litany of what had been written beforehand and then transforming it to something befitting the new law of grace with his famous "But I say to you". In his voice was no uncertainty or doubt. He was in fact truth itself speaking. This was a level of authority beyond even the greatest of the prophets, let alone the scribes. 

Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet!  Come out of him!”

The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.

Jesus did not have to recite lengthy prayers hoping for something to happen. Instead, he spoke, and it was so, just as at creation God spoke creation into being. And it was in fact the case that the incarnate word speaking within his creation was renewing it by his divine authority. The man with an unclean spirit was merely a representative of a world in the grip of sin. It was a world meant for the promise of the sabbath rest but unable and even unwilling to enter that rest because of compromise and containment by the power of the devil. 

Have you come to destroy us?

I know who you are–the Holy One of God!

The words of the unclean spirit were not useful or conducive to the revelation of the identity of Jesus. To that evil being the Holy One of God was merely a threat, a potential end to the tyrannical rule he enjoyed over the possessed individual. Even though what he said contained some measure of truth it was a truth from a warped and distorted point of view. Jesus did not need such a witness. Indeed, he preferred actions to words, revelation of the power of his Kingdom to idle chat. 

All were amazed and asked one another,

“What is this?

A new teaching with authority.

He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”

Rather than merely embracing a brand, "Holy One of God" and trying to sell himself by techniques of persuasion and marketing, Jesus demonstrated who he was by what he did. When he did take the opportunity to speak about his mission, he pointed back to what he had done and was doing.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (see Luke 4:18-19).

Jesus was famous, not by self-promotion, but by self-gift, bringing truth, freedom, and love into the world in places previously ruled by darkness. And as a consequence it became obvious that he was not merely another contender for the spotlight and "[h]is fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee".

Since Jesus is the one anointed by the Spirit to bring the Kingdom of God into the world we should not be afraid to pour out our troubles to him just as Hannah did, even exposing to him our deepest sorrow and misery. For Jesus is filled with compassion far exceeded that of Eli. He knows our deepest needs better than we know them and desires what is best for us even more than we do for ourselves.

Brian Blum - Trust Him (Psalm 62)