12 October 2025 - one in ten

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

"Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!"
And when he saw them, he said,
"Go show yourselves to the priests."

It took faith for these ten lepers to humbly come to Jesus and ask him to heal them. They expressed that faith by the way that they remained at a distance and addressed him as "Master". This wasn't just a show designed to appeal to Jesus. We can see their sincerity from how they responded to be told to go and show themselves to the priests, since they set out before it was obvious to them that anything had happened or that anything was different. Indeed it was only one of the ten of whom we read that he realized that he had been healed while still on the way. They all began with faith and were walking in faith. But only one became aware of what Jesus had done for him. Most likely the others eventually would as well. By the time they got to the priests we may assume that their physical healing would have been externally evident. But one of the lepers was uniquely attuned and attentive to what Jesus had done in him. He was so overwhelmed by this experience that he deviated from direct obedience to the command of Jesus and returned to give thanks. What made him special, or different from the others? Well, whether or not it is what made the specific difference in this case, one thing we know that seemed to distinguish him from the others was the fact that he was a Samaritan. He was perhaps less focused on the temple priesthood of Israel, and on the role it would need to play in his story. He came with a different set of expectations that made him more open to the central role of Jesus in his story. It could have been that the others were more eager than he to be reintegrated into the worship of their people, more focused on the current cult of their people, as they understood it, to be the focal point of their healing and subsequent spiritual life. The Samaritan did set out to see those priests in obedience to the command of Jesus. And probably, he would do that eventually. It would have to wait. For him the central role of Jesus was more evident, and it was this that required immediate acknowledgment. It was, however, meaningful for him to go to the priests eventually. That he would eventually present himself to the priests made him an instance of the healing power of Jesus tearing down the divisions between the peoples, toward the eventual reunification of all of the tribes of Israel. But it all began with Jesus.

Jesus said in reply,
"Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine?
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?"

The implication was that the nine omitted something they ought to have done. Had they realized what had been done to them they too would have imitated the Samaritan in returning to Jesus first before proceeding on their way to be reintegrated into the community. But they were more focused on the results, it seemed, and less on Jesus himself. That he commanded them to go did not imply that they were henceforth free to forget about his role in their story. They did come to Jesus with faith. But it was apparently a flimsy faith that seemed too ready to move on once it attained its short-term goal. All ten saw greatness of some sort in Jesus. But the nine seemed content to use that greatness to solve their problems. The Samaritan was the one who realized that the giver was greater than the gifts. He was changed forever, just as we read that Naaman was changed when he found healing in response to the command of Elisha. He was not content to merely return home. He needed something with which to mark the fact that he was forever changed, and indeed, a new way to live from that point on.

Naaman said: "If you will not accept,
please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth,
for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice
to any other god except to the LORD."

Maranatha! Music - Give Thanks

 

11 October 2025 - rather, blessed

 

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

"Blessed is the womb that carried you
and the breasts at which you nursed."

In the sense that one could be blessed by being a mother in that natural order Mary wasn't particularly more blessed than others. We believe that Jesus was an obedient child as he grew in wisdom and stature. But we know better than to think that Mary had an easier life than others because she was the mother of Jesus. It actually led to challenges, albeit different ones than those faced by other parents. He was pursued by Herod after his birth forcing his family to flee to Egypt. Without a word he remained behind in Jerusalem to talk with the scholars in the temple. Although he gained some fame and popularity it wasn't such as could be entirely beneficial for those with whom he was associated since he also made many enemies and gained notoriety within the religious establishments of the time. Finally, he was executed as a criminal while his mother looked on. None of these things, at least superficially, would cause someone to call Mary blessed.

Yet we know that Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, called Mary the most blessed among women. But Elizabeth's prophecy specified why Mary was thus blessed, and it wasn't on the basis on mere blood relationship. She said, "Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled" (see Luke 1:41-45). This was consistent with what Jesus told the woman who called out from the crowd in today's Gospel. His mother wasn't blessed merely because he was born of her womb and nursed it her breast. She was blessed, and indeed only became the mother of Jesus, because she heard the word of God and observed it. She agreed with the divine word spoken by the archangel Gabriel, allowing the word to bear fruit within both her body and soul. It was this supernatural relationship with her Son that transformed what many could have found to be, at best, an inconvenience and a liability, into the greatest possible blessing. At the cross no onlooker would have called Mary blessed. But Mary, reading the situation through the lens of obedience to the word, would have realized that it was indeed a privilege to be able to remain with Jesus as he offered himself for the sake of the world. No doubt even then she was able to persist in hope when all hope seemed impossible. For she had long since come to experience the truth of the promise of the angel that nothing would be impossible for God.

We who are not even distantly genetically related to Jesus can still share in these blessings of his spiritual family when we follow Mary's example of faith and obedience. Then, even as we individually face challenges for which no one would envy us, we can read even in difficult moments the blessedness that we cannot lose as long as we remain near to Jesus. We can persist, remaining confident in hope that does not disappoint (see Romans 5:5), just as Mary did.

Light dawns for the just;
and gladness, for the upright of heart.
Be glad in the LORD, you just,
and give thanks to his holy name.

Maverick City Music Featuring Brandon Lake And Phil Wickham - Forever And Ever Amen

 

10 October 2025 - wrong division

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste
and house will fall against house.

It is said that the good is a unifying principle, drawing all things toward God who is himself one. By contrast evil is said to be a principle of division, fragmentation, and dispersion. Yet in this world of ours we sometimes see those whose influence we know to be good welcoming division. By contrast, we sometimes see evil at work that seems highly united in belief and practice. These fanatical outliers are often the ones who seem to leave the least room for diversity in their ranks. Yet this is hardly something for which we give them praise. What should we make of all of this?

We must insist that evil is ultimately a principle of division. It does sometimes ape the appearance of goodness, in a cheap imitation of true unity. However, the supposed unity that is at the heart of fanatical groups is quite different from true unity. It is achieved by violence that is both the normal visible kind and also the hidden ideological kind. It is imposed and enforced. The supposed harmony of evil groups cannot issue organically as though everyone were individually and naturally reaching out toward a higher goal and then joining together in common pursuit. Instead, the the goals of evil are such as can only be attained briefly by a select few. Thus the best one can hope for in such a group is contractual nonaggression. But even then it will only by maintained as long as it was beneficial. Whenever someone has the sense that he can get away with seizing more for himself he has no real reason not to do so. There is nothing in the mock unity of evil that can prevent anyone from throwing another person under the bus if that seems convenient. For these reasons, no mattered how united evil superficially appears to be, there are always small cracks that are just waiting to give way under pressure. 

For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons.
If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul,
by whom do your own people drive them out?

Jesus was doing something that was genuinely good. It was meant to help draw all men to himself, so that, together with him they could share life with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He himself was the supremely unifying influence since he himself was the way, the truth, and the life, and since besides him there was no way to the Father. Why then, did he say that he came to bring not peace but division? We can say that he came to bring division to that which only had appearance of unity in order that the true unity that was found in him alone could be made known. There were, in the time of Jesus, various groups, each with their own consensus about the truth. But they couldn't all be right. And there was no way that such limited perspectives could provide the lasting basis for a kingdom. We see the obvious problem with such tensions when Paul led the Sadducees and the Pharisees into an argument about the resurrection. Jesus came to expose lies and the father of lies in order that the truth and the way to our heavenly Father could be revealed.

When a strong man fully armed guards his palace,
his possessions are safe.
But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him,
he takes away the armor on which he relied
and distributes the spoils.

The enemy used his strength to subjugate others. These were his possessions whom he kept "safe" only in the sense that they weren't stolen from him. But Jesus used his greater strength to give freedom to captives such as these. He said to those who listened to him, "you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (see John 8:32) and that "if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (see John 8:36). And yet somehow this freedom would conduce to a unity that was greater and more real than the one that the devil tried to impose and enforce.

But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order.
Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits
more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there,
and the last condition of that man is worse than the first.

One tempting illusion that is not actually a possibility is the idea of neutral ground. Without committing to the way of goodness we leave ourselves open as easy pickings for the powers of darkness. We aren't strong enough fight on our own, and aren't meant to be. We're meant to find our strength by participating in something bigger, better, and more beautiful than any of us alone. To this end, let us listen to Paul writing to the Galatians:

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery (see Galatians 5:1).

 

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

 

9 October 2025 - keep on asking

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked
and my children and I are already in bed.
I cannot get up to give you anything.'

It isn't that God is stingy or selfish. But it is a reality that to us he does sometimes feel disinterested and distant. We may come to feel as though we are inconveniencing God or bothering him with things with which he is not concerned, just as the man in the story would have felt guilty about bothering his friend at midnight. For him, his request seemed to be too late and of ultimately too little importance to merit a response. But if the man gave up because he was concerned about inconveniencing his friend he would have left unable to feed his guest. If he was willing to be persistent to the point of annoyance, and of making himself inconvenient for the sake of his guest, his friend would most likely concede eventually.

I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.

We can't actually annoy God into doing anything. He observes our attempts with perfect patience. He desires us to persist in prayer but he knows how this can feel to us, since a normal human would in fact be annoyed. Jesus is therefore encouraging us to be willing to feel as though we are making a nuisance of ourselves by the constant continuation of our prayers. In a way, it may even be a good sign that we are praying closer to the frequency that we ought when it feels to us like too much. Nor is it a problem to continue when the answer seems unlikely from our earthly point of view. Even if the door seems locked already and the hour seems too late Jesus assures us that this is not necessarily so.

Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you (see Matthew 7:7, Amplified Bible).

The point of persistence in prayer is not that we ask until God is finally convinced. It is closer to the point to say that God waits on our asking until we finally convince ourselves. At such times we are allowing our desires for the good things God promises to mold and shape us. This typically takes more than mere moments. But the results are always worth it. If the person in the story Jesus told kept on asking he would certainly have received the three loaves he requested. And as we keep on asking in our own prayer our desires will be refined and purified in order to want and welcome the Holy Spirit whom the Father longs to give us. 

 

Relient K - For The Moments I Feel Faint

 

8 October 2025 - teach us to pray

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

"Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples."

One thing that made John compelling as a spiritual leader was the fact that he seemed closer to God than others. He seemed to hear from God and live in a way that was a response to what he heard. It was dynamic. And not only that, he was apparently able to show his disciples how to enter into the experience themselves.

If John the Baptist seemed close to God, and if his life of prayer seemed to nourish him, and to be something without which he could not live, how much more so Jesus himself? Jesus found time and space to pray when the circumstances of life would have made it seem impossible for most people. He marked pivotal decisions by first referring them to prayer. It was obvious to those who spent time near him that God was for him a living God. His followers had even at times seen a privileged view into his relationship with his Father. They heard the Father speaking of his Son during his baptism and transfiguration. And they had only just heard an instance of the Son speaking aloud of his participation in the divine life of the Father:

I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will (see Luke 10:21).

The disciples realized that there was more possible in the prayer life than they had heretofore experienced, more than the rote performance of a duty. They knew this because the life of Jesus made it obvious. They hoped from what they saw from the disciples of John that it need not necessarily be limited to Jesus himself. After all, he had said that the Father could be known to "anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (see Luke 10:22).

In response to the request of the disciples to pray Jesus did, perhaps surprisingly, offer them what appeared to be a formula. But it was a formula that would only avail for them if they were attentive to, not just the words, but the meaning they conveyed, and the hierarchy of priority they implied. Before anything else, above all things in terms of importance, was that God's name be kept holy. It was holy in itself and could not be otherwise. But that it be kept holy in the hearts of women and men was by no means a given. Only with that disposition could anything else worth having follow. One could not even desire the coming of the Kingdom properly or well without first establishing the primacy of the God whose Kingdom it was. Without the holiness of God in their hearts they might pursue the Kingdom as though it were merely one of many human kingdoms in competition with each other. Without the holiness of God they might forgive sometimes, as they felt like it, but could not practice the radical forgiveness to which they were called by the Gospel. Without the holiness of God they would not have the drive to remain concerned with the final test. Rather than persevering, in bearing suffering for the sake of the name (see Acts 5:41), other priorities would instead quickly usurp the place of faithfulness to the end. Having said all of that, the call is not to a generic holiness in general, something potentially inapproachable and alien. It is rather the holiness of one whom we call Father that we are called to remember above all else. Doesn't knowing this fact, and seeing how Jesus lived the reality, make us desire to share in it as he did? Let's learn this morning as he teaches us to do so.

Matt Maher - As It Is In Heaven

 

7 October 2025 - seizing the moment

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.

In order to welcome Jesus, Martha focused on serving, on doing what was expected, doing what was required in order to make Jesus comfortable in her house. Mary, by contrast, seemed to be shirking her obligation to assist with serving. Sitting at the feet of Jesus when Martha could barely manage on her own and could use help seemed unperceptive at best and lazy at worst. The fact that Jesus allowed the situation to continue, for both sisters to persist in the roles they chose, struck Martha as indifferent. She was working hard to provide an optimal environment for Jesus while Mary seemed to be doing nothing of value.

"Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me."

The fact that Jesus neither told Mary to go to Martha nor went to Martha himself to explain the difficulty must have been because he knew she would come to him. Rather than accepting the societal norms of his day as a barrier, he showed by this that they could instead be overcome by one's choice. Martha was free to join them or not, regardless of what norms or circumstances dictated. Martha, of course, could not recognize this choice as a valid one. But the way Jesus expressed it made it seem as though it would not only be good for Mary but for Martha as well. He contrasted Martha's anxiety with the centering influence of being near to him as Mary had chosen to be. And this contrast was nothing if not an invitation for her to join them. She would henceforth know that she was always free to do so. The only thing that had ultimately kept her away was herself. Not that she was to blame. The reasons she assumed her course was necessary were manifold and plain.

"Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her."

There will always be reasons why it was not a good time to simply sit with Jesus. We might abstractly understand that we need to seek first the Kingdom. But we often assume it must wait until after dinner, until all the chores are done. There are a million practical necessities that seem like that must come first before the Kingdom. But there are moments of opportunity to be near to Jesus that must not be missed. It is absolutely the case that this might even provide a mild natural inconvenience to others if they must then, for example, wait longer for a meal. Jesus was not saying and could not have been saying that everyone should always in a mode of pure receptivity and never doing the extraneous tasks that were in fact necessary to support his mission. But he was explaining what must come first in the hierarchy of priorities. To the degree that we put second things in that first place we will inevitably experience the burden of being pulled in a million different directions. Only when being near to Jesus is our highest priority will we understand how to address everything else.

We may hope that Martha emerged from this experienced, not chastened for a failure, but with a new sense of freedom to share in the better part chosen by Mary. It might delay dinner, but not forever. And in any case, whenever Jesus himself was part of that process and assisted with the meal, it was always better than it could have been otherwise.

John Michael Talbot - Holy Is His Name

 

6 October 2025 - go and do likewise

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

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

The natural, unspiritual mind is always looking for the minimum necessary. It is aware of its tendency and desire to pass by those in need on the other side of the street. It does not wish to suffer interruption of its own plans and priorities. Thus it desires an interpretation of rules and laws that allow this. One must love God, obviously. But doesn't this still imply a wide space for personal freedom which is morally indifferent and therefore not directly encumbered by this necessity? No doubt some duty toward one's neighbor is also necessary. Even the ego sometimes realizes how horrific the world would be without love of neighbor. It understands that it may have to give something in order to expect anything in the social order. But the ego is incapable of going beyond such basic contractual obligations.

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot (see Romans 8:7).

The spiritual mind, by contrast, isn't not interested in minimums nor maximums, nor any other calculation. It is instead focused on what needs to be done. Because it is not trapped within the walls of the ego it is able to take in a situation more objectively. It does not see the needs of others as a threat to itself. Because it isn't actively resisting compassion it is open to the experience of profound sympathy. It is capable of true being for others.

Both then and now it was and is easy to identify a long list of reasons why it is unwise to get involved, to focus on all of the liabilities, and lost opportunities entailed in making a decision to help. We may even still manage to think of ourselves as compassionate people in the abstract, even if mercy never or seldom impacts our lives day to day. We quickly make excuses about the intractable nature of suffering in the world. What difference can one intervention make? Isn't the mantra of doing small acts with great love one of mere sentimentality? Yet this desire to only do something if we can do everything, to make an effort if we can achieve a perfect result, is also a symptom of the "stinking thinking" characteristic of the ego and the unregenerate mind. In any event, we know that we will not be judged on the basis of our failure to eliminate poverty in the world. But we will be judged on our willingness to ignore the suffering that is at our doorstep. We won't be judged because we did not do all possible things to end suffering in the world. But we will be judged by those which altered course to ignore when they crossed our path.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (see Romans 12:2).

Renewed minds lead to responses to suffering like that of the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan made anything but a minimal response when he came upon the man who fell victim to robbers. He made what can easily be considered a maximal response. We see this as well in Jesus, the true Good Samaritan. He easily could have stayed home in heaven, enjoying eternal bliss with the Father and the Spirit. But instead he came to earth, treating the wounds of our sinfulness. By carrying his own cross he brought us to the inn of the Church where he himself paid the entire cost (with the two coins of his humanity and divinity). We have now been entrusted to the Church so that we can continue to heal and have our minds renewed. As a start we can learn the correct answer to the question posed by Jesus to the scholar of the law:

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."

Todd Agnew - Romans 12:1