But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well"

 While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live."  So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples.  And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment.  For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well."  But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well."  And the woman was made well from that hour.  When Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, "Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping."  And they ridiculed Him.  But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.  And the report of this went out into all that land. 

- Matthew 9:18-26

Yesterday we read that as Jesus passed on from healing the paralytic, He saw a man named Matthew siting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  But go and learn what this means:  'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.'  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.  No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.  Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live."  So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples.  And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment.  For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well."  But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well."  And the woman was made well from that hour.  When Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, "Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping."  And they ridiculed Him.  But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.  And the report of this went out into all that land.   My study bible comments here that authority over life and death is in the hand of God alone (Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:6).  As Jesus is of one essence with the Father, He has this authority (John 5:21).  The healing of the woman with the flow of blood shows once again Christ's power as Physician (see yesterday's reading, above) in which He cleanses and heals (8:1-4).   This is yet another example of what was considered unclean, for in the Old Testament hemorrhage constituted ceremonial defilement, which imposed religious and social restrictions -- as contact with blood was strictly prohibited (Leviticus 15:25).  My study bible comments that as this woman accounts herself unclean, she nevertheless approaches Jesus secretly and with great faith.  Jesus brings her good cheer because of her faith.  But He also corrects her thinking, because she couldn't hide her touch from Him and neither is she excluded from Him by her illness.  Finally, Jesus exhibits and praises her faith to all, so that they might imitate her.

Let's consider what a "flow of blood" might symbolize.  As blood is frequently symbolic for life, and the color red often associated in icons with divinity (or the origin of life), we might see this woman as losing life.  Her illness is a constant reminder of weakness and frailty, and she is being drained of life and substance in some symbolic sense.  This woman's hemorrhage has lasted twelve years, a number suggesting the fullness of the people of God.  Luke tells us that she has exhausted all of her means on physicians but was not healed (Luke 8:43).  So, parallel to the blood flow is the outflowing loss of material substance, all her money having been spent.  But keeping that in mind, what the story tells us about faith is its capacity for compensating no matter what our weaknesses or liabilities are.  She's steadily losing life, most likely suffering from anemia at the very least from such an ailment.  Her condition not only steadily weakened her but she also has no social support, as she's excluded due to being considered unclean.  In her state she is likely unable to cook for or associate with her family; she will also be excluded from religious community.  So not only is she physically weakened, and unable to be helped by doctors, but she is further deprived of emotional and spiritual strength through community.   Her isolation puts her in great contrast with the paralytic in Thursday's reading, who was able to be helped by his friends.  She has no parents nor family as the young girl who would be willing to request Jesus to come to her.  All of this must be taken into account when we observe Jesus separating her from the crowd and praising her for her faith in front of all, for indeed it is her faith that has overcome all of those handicaps and weaknesses robbing her of life.   In such a context, we remind ourselves that St. Paul regarding having prayed for healing himself:  "And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.'  Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:9).  Her faith connects her with the power of Christ which flows to her to heal.  It is through faith that God's strength is made perfect in our weakness.  Therefore when we read of Jesus' praise for her faith, let us consider how many strikes she has against her, how deprived she truly is of strength.  As Jesus signals to us, it is her faith that has made her well.  She approaches in a hidden way, in secret, but her healing is made public by Christ.  Let us consider how powerful faith must be that it can override so many strikes against this woman, and overcome such great isolation and weakness.  Let us remember the power we access when we seek help in our secret and hidden prayer.

I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance

 As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew siting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  But go and learn what this means:  'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.'  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.  No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.  Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

- Matthew 9:9-17

Yesterday we read that, after the encounter with the demon-possessed men in the country of the Gergesenes, Jesus and the disciples got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city of Capernaum.  Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you."  And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, "This Man blasphemes!"  But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?  For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  And he arose and departed to his house.  Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew siting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  But go and learn what this means:  'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.'  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  Matthew is also called Levi (Mark 2:14).  Under the Roman colonial system, Jewish tax collectors were assigned specific areas.  These Jewish tax collectors were also free to collect extra revenues for their own profit, and they had Roman might at their disposal to enforce their practices.  My study bible says that their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and their corruption resulted in the hatred of other Jews and viewing them as unclean (11:19).  For Jesus to dine with tax collectors and also to call one as disciple ("Follow Me") is an offense to the Pharisees.  But Jesus' argument is straightforward:  His mission is to go where the need of the physician is highest.  Jesus quotes from Hosea 6:6:  "I desire mercy and not sacrifice."  My study bible notes that this is not a rejection of sacrifice per se, but rather it tells us that mercy is the higher priority (Psalm 51).

Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast."  At this time, the typical fasting practice of the Jews was twice a week (Luke 18:12), on Monday and Thursday.  Additionally there were fasts which were regularly observed, and also those occasionally proclaimed (2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21, 40; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:15).  This was especially important for the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5, 8:19).  The time of the Messiah was the opposite:  viewed as a wedding feast, filled with joy and gladness.  Jesus is proclaiming that day.   In so doing, He reveals Himself as Messiah/Bridegroom.  My study bible notes that for Christians, fasting is meant to be not gloomy but desirable, a "bright sadness."   In this perspective, we gain self-control and prepare ourselves fro the Wedding Feast by fasting.

"No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.  Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."   Traditionally, wine was kept in leather wineskins.  As indicated by Christ, as the wine ages -- like unshrunk cloth -- the old wineskins, incapable of expanding, could not contain the aging wine with its enzymatic action inside.  My study bible says that the old garment and old wineskins stand for the Old Covenant and the Law, seen here as imperfect and temporary.  The new wineskins are the New Covenant are those in Christ.   My study bible adds that the new wine is the Holy Spirit which dwells within renewed people, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.

What is the new thing that Christ brings into this picture?  It is the action of Himself as physician, and the need for medicine and rehabilitation as part of the picture of religious faith.  Jesus views sinners as akin to those with illness, and in need of treatment.  Of course, that opens up all kinds of other questions.  What is treatment?  What is rehabilitation?  How necessary is it that those who are ill recognize that this is their condition, and that they need treatment and medicine?  And that they need one particular kind of medicine, and not another?  All of these questions open up to ask ourselves.  For it is one thing to understand sickness and illness causing a visible ailment and its symptoms.  It is another to understand where empathy and compassion are good and important things -- and another to understand what only hampers and delays treatment, or even what the wrong remedy is.  When I was young I knew a young man with a chronic ailment.  He was extremely bright and talented.  But in response to the need for constant medical treatment, and a feeling of responsibility, he was quite spoiled and willful.  He grew up to be quite successful in his career, but also quite arrogant and problematic in his relations with people.  The "treatment" he received was, in effect, not good for him or his growth as a person.  Jesus does not teach us about indulgence.  He teaches us about care.  And so often we tend to confuse the two.  One does not suppose that Matthew continues his work as tax collector after he is called by Christ.  But there is another good case in the Gospels for us to look at in this context, and that is the story of Zacchaeus, found in Luke 19:1-10.  In that encounter, as Christ approached Jericho, Jesus calls to Zacchaeus who is a wealthy chief tax collector, and tells him that He must stay at Zacchaeus' house that day.  When the people complained that Jesus went to stay in the home of such a known sinner, Zacchaeus said, "Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold."  Zacchaeus found a way to correct and make restitution.  Jesus' reply tells us something about salvific medicine and therapy.  He said, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."  So salvation, redemption, medicine is about saving that which was lost.  If in sin we are ill or disordered in some way,  Christ's mission is to help restore us to proper order, in right relationship to God and to others, and in this way we are in good health.  So let us consider today what "right order" means.  What does it mean to be in good health in body, soul, and spirit?  Christ went the full distance to bring us healing.  For Him no sacrifice was too great.  What will you do for your restoration and healing?  What sacrifice is it worth to find the way to the health He offers?  Sometimes, we are so used to our own condition, we can't recognize when we're ill.  What is it worth to you to find Christ's vision for your own fullness of good health?  Jesus teaches, "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."   Which of us has no need for such medicine?  Sometimes -- perhaps most often (like the well-meaning mother who spoiled her ailing child) -- we are unaware of what would be better to change.  But that is what our faith is for, to lead us in the path of righteousness throughout our lives.  The whole question remains within whether or not we can accept the change.

Why do you think evil in your hearts?

 So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city.  Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you."  And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, "This Man blasphemes!"  But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?  For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  And he arose and departed to his house.  Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

- Matthew 9:1-8

Yesterday we read that when Jesus and the disciples had come to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (away from Capernaum), to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way.  And suddenly they cried out, saying, "What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God?  Have You come here to torment us before the time?"  Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding.  So the demons begged Him, saying, "If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine."  And He said to them, "Go."  So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine.  And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water.  Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.  And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus.  And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.

So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city.  Jesus' own city is Capernaum, to which He and the disciples return after the encounter with the demon-possessed men in yesterday's reading (see above).  They have crossed back over the Sea of Galilee to familiar territory of their ministry "headquarters," where Peter's family home is located.

Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you."  And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, "This Man blasphemes!"  But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?  For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  And he arose and departed to his house.  Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.  My study bible comments that, as shown by this healing of the paralytic, faith is an indispensable condition for salvation.  Faith is both collective and personal.  In this particular healing, it is the faith of the paralytic's friends that helped in his healing.  It notes that there are three signs present in today's reading that testify to Christ's divinity.  First (as discussed in yesterday's commentary), Jesus knows the secrets of hearts (see 1 Samuel 16:7, 2 Chronicles 6:30).  Second, Jesus forgives sins, which is a power (as the the scribes know) that belongs to God alone.  Finally, Jesus heals by the power of His word, as He did with the centurion's servant (in this reading).

Within the Church, and through the words of Christ, we accept that there is power to forgive sins which was spoken by Christ on the occasion of His first risen appearance and great Commission to the disciples.  He told them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (see John 20:19-23).  We also confess in the Nicene Creed, "I believe in one baptism for the remission of sins."  So through the power of Christ there is forgiveness of sins, an indispensable facet of our faith, which is also illustrated through today's reading and Christ's healing of the paralytic.  Here we find another evocation of a tie between sins and paralysis.  In the Church, through her history, sin has been understood to be a kind of paralysis of the soul.  That is, something in which we are "stuck" and not moving forward spiritually or otherwise.  We may repeat the same old sin day after day, frequently tiring of such repetition, and wondering why -- when we so desire to change and we know our lives would be better for doing so -- we still have not managed to escape from the same old destructive patterns of behavior.  This happens despite the fact that we know it only harms our own interest and well-being.  St. Paul writes, "For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice" (see Romans 7:15-20).  But something wonderful happens in today's reading, and that is the revelation that we're not simply all on our own in this business of faith.  We're not left to struggle with our meager resources of faith or strength as individuals, and far from it.  For we not only have the power of Christ, and of the Trinity, working to help us through our prayer.  We are also capable of being assisted by other faithful.  This is a remarkable thing to think about.  This is not an intellectual mission whereby we talk out our problems and become healed solely by thinking about it.  This is, in fact, a different and deeper tie, one more mysterious.  It is again a return to that mysterious inner place of all human beings, the heart.  Within the heart, we may somehow be touched by the faith of others who pray for us, who practice intercession through prayer, just as this paralytic's friends do.  In this story and this understanding, therefore, we find the ancient wisdom of the Church in invoking the prayers of the saints to help us -- for the communion of saints includes those living fellow faithful and those who are acknowledged through the history of the Church, as well as the angels who help to guide us.  This is quite an incredible, uncountable number of helpers connecting us with faith through prayer and helping us with our strength.  We are never alone.  The friends of the paralytic in today's reading give us a sense in which even when we are too weak to help ourselves, help is still available.  It gives us a sense that in the heart there are mysterious connections through faith that can't be understood purely on an intellectual basis.  It links with the understanding that Christ Himself -- the Lord -- is literally the "heart-knower" (καρδιογνώστης/kardiognostes in the Greek of Acts 1:24).  This mysterious space of the heart, we know, contains all kinds of things, both good and bad, as Christ has taught us:  "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things" (Matthew 12:35).  We also know that hearts can be "hardened" so that they don't perceive as they ought or work as they ought, and hardening is another image of paralysis, an inability to move, inflexibility.  Interesting to note that physically the heart is a muscle, isn't it?   But in Scriptural terms, the heart is the center of a person, the place that contains and connects all that we are -- and connects us also with faith and whatever it is we choose to love or worship.  In the heart, then, are connected vast spaces and forces beyond our grasp.  So for today, let us consider the state of the heart and Christ's repeated words regarding the heart and what it contains.  Let us remember that it is the "pure in heart" who shall see God (Matthew 5:8), but also the unexamined heart which may store all kinds of things to bad effect (Matthew 12:34).   Our healing is connected to the state of our hearts, and more importantly to whether or not we are capable of allowing Christ in to heal (Matthew 13:15).  Let us consider for today what it is to have a "hard" heart, one stymied by paralysis -- and how to go forward and break out of that which keeps us bound.

What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?

 When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way.  And suddenly they cried out, saying, "What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God?  Have You come here to torment us before the time?"  Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding.  So the demons begged Him, saying, "If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine."  And He said to them, "Go."  So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine.  And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water.  Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.  And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus.  And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.

- Matthew 8:28-34

Yesterday we read that when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side.  Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go."  And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."  Then another of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."  But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead."  Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.  And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves.  But He was asleep.  Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us!  We are perishing!"  But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?"  Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"

When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way.  And suddenly they cried out, saying, "What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God?  Have You come here to torment us before the time?"  Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding.  So the demons begged Him, saying, "If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine."  And He said to them, "Go."  So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine.  And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water.  Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.  And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus.  And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.  My study bible comments on the demons in today's reading.  It says that they recognize Jesus as the Son of God, and are surprised that their power is being terminated before the time of the last judgment.  Although the malice of the demons is evident, they still can do nothing against the will of God, and therefore can only enter the swine at the command of Christ.  The immediate destruction of the herd of swine, my study bible says, shows that the men had been protected by God's care.  Otherwise, they would have perished under this clearly destructive demonic influence.  Moreover, it's a reinforcement of the unlawful practice of swineherding for the Jews, and it also shows the incomparable value of human beings, for whom salvation is worth every sacrifice. 

It's interesting to think of the protection of these men, although they were demon-possessed.  Clearly the demons are destructive, and they lead the swine to mass suicide.  So what of these men?  Why does God allow evil in the world, and yet the men were protected?  I don't pretend to have the answers to all of the questions raised by such a scenario, for many theologians and philosophers -- geniuses all -- have provided us with various answers.  I can't even pretend to know or understand them all.  But we have been taught to stick with what we know or have experienced, and so I may say that it is my belief that very deeply within us there are choices that are made.  Sometimes, perhaps even often, those choices are made without our conscious knowledge.  We might wonder how we can claim a freedom to choose when we aren't even conscious of rational reasoning about those choices.  Nevertheless, I think it's true that we make choices from such deep places within ourselves that we're not entirely aware of them, and those choices do tell us something about ourselves.  Our deepest impulses of the heart are, importantly, clearly known to God.  This is why it is so significant that Christ is known as the "heart-knower" (see Acts 1:24).  There are things deep within ourselves of which we are not aware, but Christ is aware.  These demonic forces have chosen for destruction of human beings.  Why?  That is another question I could not venture to answer.  I simply know that it is so.  But one thing is clear from the Bible and the Gospels in particular:  that our world is not "fixed" simply because Christ has come into it.  Oh perhaps in an absolute sense this is true, that salvation is already full in a place we cannot access.  But the time when that occurs is "the time" of Judgment, Christ's return, to which the demons allude when they ask if He has "come here to torment us before the time."  Where we are now in time, we human beings live with both evil and good, and we are in the midst of time making choices.  Jesus teaches us, in the Sermon on the Mount:  "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:43-45).  To my mind it is a clear acknowledgement of the evil and the good existing at once together in this world.  That would include even the demonic influences we see at work in today's reading.  So given this state of the world, one might conclude that it's simple to think why that might be.  We are called to choose the good.  But choosing the good is not so simple.  Christ Himself makes that clear in the teaching just cited from the Sermon on the Mount.  We're not called upon to respond to evil with evil; that does not build up Christ's Kingdom in the world.  We are called instead to "withdraw" into Christ's love and protection, and to follow Him.  This is the way that we build the Kingdom in the world.  It is the way that we live a prayerful life with each decision and step.  It is the sense in which we may start to understand the mysteries He opens to us, that He came into the world to reveal and to draw us into.  And that protective power of God, even to cast off demons, is with Him and in Him and in the life into which He invites us to participate.  It doesn't come with conventional understanding nor conventional weapons.  It comes through the saints, through the Church as a whole, and by doing our best to keep His word, to love God as God loves us.  Let us start there and find our places, even as Jesus calls these demon-possessed men to wholeness as well.  Let us note in the text that those raising swine are most likely meant to be apostate Jews who do not follow the Mosaic Law.  They reject Jesus through fear, and do not embrace what He offers with love.  In that is also a story of how we choose and reveal what is most important to us - and that we cannot embrace both God and mammon, and what Jesus calls the deceitfulness of riches.

Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead

 And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side.  Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go."  And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."  Then another of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."  But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.  And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves.  But He was asleep.  Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us!  We are perishing!"  But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?"  Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"

- Matthew 8:18-27

Yesterday we read that when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented."  And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."  The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof.  But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.  For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me.  And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."  When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!  And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.  But the sons of the kingdom will be cast into outer darkness.  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you."  And his servant was healed that same hour.  Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, He saw His wife's mother lying sick with a fever.  So He touched her hand, and the fever left her.  And she arose and served them."  When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed.  And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:  "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses."

And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side.  Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go."  And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."   My study bible comments here that since the term Son of Man refers to the Messiah (Daniel 7:13), it expresses both Christ's humanity and His divinity.  Here it is referring to Christ's human condition.  Elsewhere (25:31-33) Jesus uses the term to describe His divine authority.

Then another of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."  But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead."     As always, Jesus is not negating a commandment (to honor parents).  But He is teaching us to put the things of the Kingdom as our highest priority.  Those who ignore this priority, my study bible says, are spiritually dead.

Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.  And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves.  But He was asleep.  Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us!  We are perishing!"  But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?"  Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"  Immediately after the text uses the name "Son of Man" for Jesus, indicating that He is both human and divine, this event is given in which both His humanity and divinity are on display.  Christ's mastery over creation is another sign that He is the Messiah and is divine.  My study bible suggests that commands to the sea and waves can only be issued by God (Job 38:8-11; Psalms 66:5-6, 107:29).  But Jesus was asleep because He is a man, and as human being, He needs rest.  My study bible says that in His Incarnation, Jesus assumed all the natural actions of the flesh, which includes sleep.  This image of Jesus and His disciples in a boat is a traditional one used to illustrate the Church itself.  My study bible adds that God both permits storms and delivers us through them, so that we can see God's protection more clearly.  Jesus' rebuke of the storm, it says, also illustrates His capacity to calm the tempests in the human soul.

I am one who can testify to Christ's capacity to calm the tempests in the human soul, as my study bible puts it.  As one who has met with frequent tempests of the soul, I can say with a certain authority that this is indeed the truth.  It reminds me of the man blind from birth who was healed by Jesus in John's 9th chapter.  When the disciples asked, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (thinking that sin must be the direct cause of such misfortune), Jesus replied, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him" (John 9:1-3).  Just as one calamity might be grounds for the work of God, so the tempests in our own souls might also be grounds for Christ's work in us, to calm what needs calming and heal what needs healing.  This ties in nicely with the first part of today's reading, in which we are reminded that in all things and through all things, we may prioritize the Kingdom first, as my study bible comments.  It sets us free from the immediate storm, disaster, hardship, or sorrow -- and also offers up to us answers we might not get otherwise, giving us baby steps out of our problems.  If we are capable of putting aside our immediate fears or struggles, even for a moment, and focusing on Christ, setting ourselves to prayer, we might find a better way, an acceptance, and a plan for moving forward into the future.  Indeed, for some of us, disaster might just be the way to God's kingdom, for we would not have turned to Christ for answers otherwise.  Hence, the wisdom in my study bible's comments regarding the storms that Christ both permits and delivers us through.  In fact, if experience is anything to go by, there are a number of ways in which disasters and personal dilemmas may offer us a great way to go forward in life, particularly if we're mainly or primarily concerned with spiritual growth.  This may not be a recipe for worldly success, or the greatest social impressions that may be sought, but it is a way to deepen faith and to growth within the reality that Christ wants for us.  And this number of avenues forward and into new life is multiplied through all those facets developed through the Church and historical worship through time, such as praying with the saints, and the angels who help to guide us, the Scriptures of both Old and New Testaments, and our fellow faithful.  A crisis is a time for turning over life with its "shoulds" and "would-haves" and "could-have-beens" to an open place for inquiry, a freedom we didn't allow ourselves before, and an open mind and heart to God and God's direction that just wasn't possible without it.  I find that when we come up against a wall of the impossible, it is most likely that our direction needs changing, or our expectations need to be re-examined, and possibly our goals and desires re-evaluated in light of God's sight and influence.  That is the time we turn to prayer and find our way.  Often we come up against a wall not necessarily of our own making, but one that others might put before us in the form of social rejection.  There may be a line which we can't cross and remain within a particular social circle.  For the earliest Christian martyrs, that line meant death when responding by refusal to worship Caesar rather than Christ.  In a modern context, there are other ways in which people may stand in the way of proper priority in worship, often demanding that our freedom to choose Christ first be surrendered to priorities which don't recognize that essential choice.  Like the young man whom Christ tells to "let the dead bury their own dead," we also may find ourselves having to leave behind certain groups of people whom we think are indispensable, but we'll find ourselves called forward if we let prayer be our guide, and put Christ's Kingdom first.  These things aren't easy to do, and they are not simple.  Like Jesus Himself, we won't evade all of the storms of human life and what it means to be fully human.  But we will be led through them, and we will find our dependence grow upon God.  It is a question of putting our trust in this particular basket, giving Christ the keys to our souls and our choices, and setting ourselves free through God's truth (John 8:32).  This just might be the time of our greatest freedom, a realization that we can choose differently, and are not bound through the things we think must be done or observed.  It is time to give Christ the chance to show us the way forward, to let go and be guided by praying with the saints, to accept change that otherwise seems impossible.  Let us consider His way when no other ways seem to work.  It might just be time for a change in priorities, an unloosing of even the ties that bind.

He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses

 Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented."  And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."  The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof.  But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.  For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me.  And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."  When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!  And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.  But the sons of the kingdom will be cast into outer darkness.  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you."  And his servant was healed that same hour.

Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, He saw His wife's mother lying sick with a fever.  So He touched her hand, and the fever left her.  And she arose and served them."  When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed.  And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

"He Himself took our infirmities
And bore our sicknesses."

- Matthew 8:5-17

On Saturday we read that when Jesus ended His Sermon on the Mount, the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.  When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.  And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.  And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

 Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented."  A centurion (a Gentile) was an officer in the Roman legion, with the title denoting that he commanded 100 men.  My study bible comments here that Jesus is the Savior of all, and in Him ethnic distinctions are void.

And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."  I will come, my study bible explains, has been read by many Greek scholars as a question:  "Shall I come?"  Either way, my study bible comments, Jesus is ready to deal gracious with this Gentile, even to enter his house -- which would result in Him being unclean in the eyes of the Jews.  In this sense, we see a parallel to the healing of the leper by touch (see Saturday's reading, above).

The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof.  But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.  For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me.  And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."   My study bible calls this an unusual expression of faith on the part of the centurion, by calling Jesus, who is a Jew, "Lord."  It says that the centurion's statement, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof," is often quoted in liturgical texts as an ideal expression of humility.

When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!"  Only twice in the gospels do we read that Jesus marveled.  One other occasion was at the unbelief in His hometown of Nazareth (Mark 6:6).  The second is here, at the belief of this foreigner, the centurion.

"And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.  But the sons of the kingdom will be cast into outer darkness.  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you."  And his servant was healed that same hour.   My study bible comments that in these statements Jesus nullifies any ideas of ethnic superiority.  Those rejected sons of the kingdom are both the Jews who deny Christ and those raised in the Church who do not live their faith, it says.  Outer darkness and weeping and gnashing are descriptions of the state of the unrighteous dead in Sheol (or Hades) in the Jewish tradition (see Enoch 103:8).  They are also common expressions found in Matthew (13:42, 50; 24:51; 25:30) and occur in Luke as well (Luke 13:28).

Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, He saw His wife's mother lying sick with a fever.  So He touched her hand, and the fever left her.  And she arose and served them."  When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed.  And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:  "He Himself took our infirmities / And bore our sicknesses."  This passage reveals to us that Peter was married (see also 1 Corinthians 9:5, where Peter is called Cephas).  Peter's family home in Capernaum becomes a "headquarters" for Jesus' Galilean ministry, and so the people are brought to Him there.  My study bible comments that Christ's healing miracles are divorce.  Here He heals Peter's mother-in-law by touch.  In the earlier verses of today's reading, He healed the centurion's servant by a word.  Peter's mother-in-law's healing is immediately, but others are gradual (Mark 8:22-25) or they require the cooperation of the healed person, or of that person's loved ones (Luke 8:54-55) or friends (Mark 2:3-5).  As the quotation from Isaiah 53:4 reveals, Christ's miracles are manifestations of His mission to heal and redeem "an ailing humanity" (as my study bible terms it).

In today's reading we're given different healings, and it is indeed interesting to note the differences in them.  In one case, the healed person is a servant of an official of the Roman Legion, a centurion.  We have to remember how despised the Romans were, generally speaking, as an occupying force, and in particular how an officer of the Legion would have been broadly viewed and feared by the people, so that we understand this text well.  That is not necessarily the case with this particular officer (for we must ask ourselves how and why he approaches Jesus in this community, and with such humility), but in terms of the text itself, it makes the occasion highly noteworthy.  It is made all the more significant by Jesus' statement about the faith He finds in the centurion, and the contrast Jesus makes to many of the "sons of the kingdom" who will be "cast into outer darkness."  Indeed, as my study bible points out, the centurion is a model of faith and humility when he says, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof."   Moreover, the centurion is appealing on behalf of a beloved servant, a gracious act indeed.  Peter's mother-in-law is a matriarch of the household.  She is healed and also gets up to serve, but she holds a high position.  Additionally, to serve Christ is a place of great honor.  She hasn't the kind of worldly power and authority that the centurion commands, but she is nevertheless a respected figure in this Jewish household, and, one presumes, in their community.  As my study bible comments, Jesus heals from a distance and with a word for the centurion's servant.  He heals directly and by touch with this woman, Peter's mother-in-law, who gets up to serve Him in the household, restored to her place.  As my study bible indicates, in Christ there really are no boundaries.  Our reading from Saturday illustrated a similar point, when He healed the leper by touch.  But boundaries aren't simply extended in the ways in which we might understand them materially, or in a worldly sense such as we might expect them to be.  This isn't a question of "rights" but one of grace.  Everything happens through and with faith, and with the humility before Christ that must go with faith.  This expansion and enhancement of an understanding of God's kingdom does not come through a legalistic sense, but rather through a connection of trust, a connection in the heart.  For this is what faith is.  The Greek root of the word for faith actually means "trust."  Trust implies confidence, the kind of confidence which this commanding officer in today's reading put into Jesus, recognizing Christ's authority, even through his humility.  We extend this confidence and trust in Jesus, in turn, through our own expressions of compassion, signifying an extension of community.  Let us consider how we are called by Christ, and what we do when we have confidence in Him, recognizing His authority, and expressing our humility before Him.  Today in the United States, it is Memorial Day, a day when we recognize the sacrifices of soldiers, and so perhaps an appropriate day for today's reading about the centurion.  Let us consider the quotation from Isaiah:  "He Himself took our infirmities / And bore our sicknesses."  Our Lord, the One in whom we can place all our confidence and trust, made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us, and took on our infirmities and sicknesses, the true model of what constitutes a hero.  Let us remember His love (John 15:13) and the place to which He calls us.

I am willing; be cleansed

 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.  And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.  And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

- Matthew 7:28-8:4

In yesterday's reading, Jesus concluded the Sermon on the Mount:   "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'  And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'  Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.  But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell.  And great was its fall."

 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.   As Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount, people are astonished at His teaching.  This is not because of the things He teaches, but rather because of the impact of His Person in teaching.  That is, He teaches as one having authority, and not as the scribes.  He possesses authority within Himself.  The scribes would cite famous rabbis for their teachings, and speak in the third person; but Jesus teaches the doctrine of His Father in heaven.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks of the Law and the Prophets, but also adds, "I say to you."

When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.  And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.  And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."  My study bible explains that the biblical law which concerned leprosy is found in Leviticus 13 and 14.  Deuteronomy 24:8 is a description of the purification of lepers and leprous houses, a duty entrusted to the priests.   It adds that leprosy was considered to be a direct punishment for sins, and as lepers were designated unclean, they were not permitted to live in the community or to worship in synagogues or the temple.  Although touching the unclean was forbidden (Leviticus 7:21), Jesus touched the leper.  This is an expression of God's compassion, and also an extension of Christ's authority perceived by the crowds who heard Him preach the Sermon on the Mount.  My study bible calls it an expression of the fact that He is not subject to the Law but over it.  It adds, "To the clean, nothing is unclean."

One thing that we can note about Jesus is always His impulse to expand community.  The sort of guidelines or limits or barriers around community that might form expectations or understanding are abolished in Him.  They are reshaped, reformed, redefined.  In this case, a leper, who is considered to be unclean under the Law, comes to Him in faith.   As the verses that form this story of the leper indicate, Jesus has just come down from this elevated high place on which He's given the Sermon on the Mount.  Great multitudes, the text says, are following Him, and it is in this context that the leper approaches Him to worship Him.  This word for "worship" in the Greek literally indicates a position of prostration, bowing one's head to the ground.  Perhaps the leper hid himself in the crowd to hear Jesus speak; perhaps he has heard of Jesus' teaching from these crowds.  But whatever the reason, Jesus has just finished expressing His own "fullness" of the Law and the Prophets (see especially 5:17-48).  In that context, we might consider this action of healing the leper to be one more extension of "you have heard that it was said to those of old . . . but I say to you . . .."   For although the Law prohibits touching what is unclean, Jesus reaches with His touch to heal the leper.  Note that this is an expression of the fulfillment of the Law, for Jesus does not say, "I am willing; be healed," but "I am willing; be cleansed."  If the true objective of the Law is for the community to be clean, Jesus' action of touching and healing achieves this goal in ways the Law could not envision.  He changes our entire perspective on community by doing so, for the unclean has become the clean through a forbidden touch.  It reminds us of the ultimate mystery of Christ's Passion, death, and Resurrection, by which death is destroyed through death.  Jesus' boundaries are those of the divine and not the earthly.  His extension of community happens through divine work in the world, through adoption via faith.  His expansion of definition of community is given to us in the story of the Good Samaritan, in which it is the one who acts as a neighbor who is truly a neighbor.  It is a foreign female, a Samaritan woman, and one who is a sinner, with whom He breaks all taboos by first speaking to her alone, and to whom He first fully reveals Himself as Messiah in John's Gospel.  She then becomes, in effect, the first evangelist to her own neighbors (John 4:1-42).  We should keep in mind that Jesus upholds the Law by instructing the healed leper to follow the precepts of the Law by showing himself to a priest, and offering the gift that Moses commanded.  But Jesus fulfills the Law also by inviting into the world His own expressions of rules, laws, boundaries, and expansion of community.  This is a fulfillment of the Law that works through faith and the power of grace which He brings into the world.  We are expected, in turn, to pay attention, to come to understand, and to be willing ourselves to be changed through His power and grace and through faith.  Let us remember that we get there not so much through remembering rules as we do via a prayerfully lived life, in which each new encounter must be approached with our own willingness to be changed and healed through the perception He offers us.   Keep in mind that Jesus teaches that those who are with Him gather, and those who are against Him scatter (12:30) -- even as He castigates the leadership for their failure to accept His teaching.  So we are led to cast off things of which we were certain, and to accept that which we might have excluded, through a life of prayer and growth in His teaching and grace.

Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock

Moni Agias Triadas (Holy Trinity Monastery). Meteora, Greece (photo courtesy of creative commons license)

 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'  And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.  But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell.  And great was its fall."

- Matthew 7:22-27

Yesterday, on the commemoration of Christ's Ascension, we read that the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.  When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.  And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."  Amen.

"Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'  And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'"  Today's reading continues and completes the Sermon on the Mount, which we were given in the lectionary prior to this week's readings leading to the feast of the Ascension.  These verses continue from Saturday's reading.   In this last section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus testifies to His deity, calling Himself Lord (which refers to the divine name "Yahweh" of the Old Testament.  He speaks of judgment, which can be truly executed only by God.  In that day, my study bible says, refers to the final judgment. 

 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.  But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell.  And great was its fall."  Jesus gives us a prescription for building and living our lives, and offers us what is clearly a choice.  My study bible notes that hearing the gospel alone is not enough, for salvation is based not on hearing alone, nor even on faith alone, but also on doing the things spoken by Christ (see James 2:24).

In His conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks of Judgment.  But then He also offers us a picture of our lives, a perspective on the whole of our lives, and not just advice for the moment or whatever decisions or struggles we may be engaged in at the moment.  In this perspective of building a house, He gives us an understanding of the importance of our choices in building the whole of our lives.  What are we living for?  On what principles do we build and live our lives?  What is our foundation?  Recently I read a review of a book by historian Tom Holland.  It's titled Dominion:  How the Christian Revolution Made the World.   What is notable about this book is not just its assertion that Christianity has shaped the Western World, but that the author is an atheist, and as a historian has come to this conclusion -- that Christianity might be necessary for the civilization.  According to the reviews, it's not a book to read to learn about Christianity, but it is noteworthy in its assertion that it is Christian values and convictions that have shaped our modern notions of law and justice, the dignity of all human beings, the evil of slavery, and so much more that we presently take for granted without considering precisely what kinds of choices were involved in shaping this reality.  Jesus' offering to us of His perspective teaches what an atheist historian might conclude given over 2,000 years of evidentiary effects:  that a sense of order and civilization -- particularly at the individual level in our lives -- is founded upon faith, and that it is this He offers to us.   Jesus' Sermon on the Mount offers to us a way of being in the world, a way of righteousness, that stands a Darwinian dog-eat-dog perspective on its head.  It offers to us a choice that determines that we do not merely need to live our lives in a purely materialistic way, but rather teaches us that we have a choice to allow God in as foundation to guide our lives in the world.  That foundation or mediation in our lives gives us alternatives to a life of opportunistic cruelty or coercion:  it offers us a life conditioned on mercy, on a righteousness and beauty that comes from faith, even from observing the beauty of the created world.  Christ releases us from a life based solely on reaction to our fears and anxieties, and offers us the love and care of God.  Mostly He strengthens us within the will of the Father and our own seeking of that will.  The verse that begins today's section (but is not included in today's reading) reads:  "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven" (7:21).   Although Jesus clearly speaks of Judgment, we might be tempted to believe that what He is offering us is merely a perspective on whether or not we receive eternal life, or entrance into this kingdom after our worldly lives.  But that is not what He is teaching with His illustration of building our houses upon a rock, nor in the entirety of the Sermon on the Mount.  What He gives us is a teaching that sets our own lives on a firm foundation of what we might term "civilization" for want of a better word.  The Sermon on the Mount is a teaching for righteousness, in which our lives may build up the world, in which we endure hardship and temptation in order to preserve and care and build up what is good and refrain from what is destructive to life.  We learn to endure in the good, in caring for others, in respecting life, in cherishing what is beautiful, in holding ourselves to a standard of truth that does not lose sight of the dignity and sanctity of life and its value as a gift from God filled with possibilities -- and indeed, struggles which are not meaningless but count for so much.  Let us heed His teachings and start from the beginning to build our lives upon this foundation which He offers, creating through our choice for faith something greater than what we can see right in front of us, lives upon which we may look back and find greater value than the world offers merely through choices of material value alone, or social structures based on currencies that leave God's values out of the equation.  Let us take our house and our foundation seriously.  The storms of life will demolish hopes based on a perspective outside of the strength and the constant steadfast love He offers.

Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age

Icon of Christ's Ascension, 16th century.  Michurin, Bulgaria (Burgas Art Gallery).  Photo in public domain

 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.  When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.  And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."  Amen.

- Matthew 28:16-20

Yesterday we read that during Holy Week, as He was being questioned in the temple, while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:  'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool" '?  If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.  When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.  And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth."   Today we commemorate the Ascension of Christ.  It is most significant that we understand the role of the Incarnation in this Ascension.  Jesus neither appears to His disciples as a ghost or disembodied spirit; in His post-Resurrection appearances to them, He invites them to touch Him, even to see the marks of the nails of the Crucifixion and also eats with them (see John 20:27, and especially Luke 24:39-43).  These appearances were in a glorified human state.  My study bible comments on Jesus' statement, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth," that Christ declares here that the authority that was His by nature in His divinity is now also possessed by His glorified human nature.  This human nature, it says, has now trampled the final enemy -- death (1 Corinthians 15:20-28).

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you . . . "  This is known as the Great Commission.  It is the Lord's final commandment give on earth.  My study bible says it is to be lived out in the Church until Christ returns again.  Making disciples, it says, cannot be done in the strength of man, but only in the power of God.  The power of the Resurrection, it adds, is not only for Jesus Himself, but rather is given to all believers for Christian life and mission.

" . . . and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen."  A note here tells us that Christ Himself is present in each believer and in the Church always.  That is, both personally and in the Holy Spirit -- as neither can be separated from the other.  To the end of the age, my study bible says, does not by any means imply that we will be separated from Christ at the end of the world.  He is with us now, and forever, and unto the ages of ages.  Amen.

Jesus' final words at His Ascension are, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."  These words form a promise, and something that we can count on.  Whatever it is, no matter how isolated or sad or lonely we might feel under certain circumstances, Jesus promises that He is with us always.  How can we take this promise?  First of all Jesus is making this promise at a gathering of His disciples.  The "you" is plural, for He is addressing more than one person.  And by extension, He addresses us all -- for clearly, those standing before Him would not need reassurances that extend to the end of the age.  What we can understand, then, is that this promise is made to each person who would be a disciple of Christ.  It is clearly made in a corporeal sense to the Church, the body of believers, but it is also something that can be understood to apply to each of us.  My study bible's note on this passage states that He is present in each believer and in the Church always,  and that this applies equally to Christ and to the Holy Spirit -- as they cannot be separated.  In John's Gospel, moreover, Jesus promises, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him" (John 14:23).  What that means is that the inseparability of Father, Son, and Spirit guarantee -- they promise -- that each is with us through faith and through faithful adherence to Christ's teachings, through keeping His word.  In effect, Christ teaches that through faith, we are embraced in a loving embrace of Father, Son, and Spirit, even to the end of the age.  We are a part of something.   Not only are we children by adoption, but we are never alone, even as Christ stated He was not alone ("Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me" - John 16:32).  And here we come to what is possibly the most important -- and even incredible -- fact of the Ascension.  That is, that the Incarnation of Christ is not merely about His human life in the flesh as Jesus, but that the Incarnation -- even of Christ in His glorified human body -- extends to this poignant moment which is full of meaning and promise for us.  This is because He ascends also as part of the Incarnation.  He ascends in glory not as a ghost or spirit, but in the glorified form of His humanity, and therefore can draw us with Him where He is.  If this is too awe-filled a concept to consider, then we should think about His promise that He is with us, even to the end of the age.  For without the Incarnation -- and without His ascent which includes His glorified humanity -- none of this would be possible.  It is His life as a human being, including His death on the Cross, and the resurrection appearances in His glorified body, that make it possible that He, the Father, and the Spirit are always with us according to His promise.  This is such as astonishing concept, and such a great mystery, that it is something we cannot afford to take lightly.  We may think about the generations of monastics in the desert and wilderness and elsewhere.  We may think about the saints who have served God even against terrible odds and suffering.  We might think of modern day figures who continue in faith through wars, persecutions, oppression, and all manner of battles against them, and yet come to understand that without this promise such effort and struggle would have died off long ago.  For the fact is that even through its persecutions, the Church thrives and returns.  I read recently an article about a woman named Etty Hillesum.  She was born in Holland, a Jew who was deported by the Nazis to a concentration camp.  And yet in the camp she found the Lord.  She learned to pray.   She learned to speak to God.  A very touching article has appeared recently documenting her idea that even in such horrible circumstances, and surrounded by so much terror and suffering, her choice was to remain a shelter for God.  (The article is titled Giving Shelter to God from Suffering, by Fr. Michael Plekon.)    Imprisoned in an internment camp, she writes about those who seek safety and shelter for things they own, for their fears and their bitterness.  "But," she says, "they forget that no one is in their clutches who is in Your arms."  We live today under the cloud of an epidemic, in which many perhaps might feel alone.  They don't know what their lives will look like or be like after it's over, what job they might return to, what things might be gone.  Many feel isolated.  Our suffering is not comparable to Etty's, but we might nevertheless take comfort from her wisdom and enlightenment.  She learned and rested in Christ's promise, knew it for herself, even among the worst of circumstances.  Let us, also, take heart in her words that kept Christ present -- indeed, Father, Son, and Spirit -- in the place of horrors, even as we know that Christ also descended into hell for us before His Resurrection.  Let us keep in mind all of these promises, and pray for Etty and others whose faith enabled them to ascend with Christ, and do the same for ourselves.  Let us understand the extraordinary living power of this promise these thousands of years later, and cherish it in our own lives for all it may help us to go through and to overcome -- for we are not alone.  In the icon above, we may also notice Christ's mother in the center among the disciples.  She was shelter for Him from start to finish, and remained faithful to her Son throughout her life.  She is representative of all those in the great cloud of witnesses, the saints, who also assure us we are never alone, never without their presence, even as we ask them to join us in our prayers.

The LORD said to my Lord

 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:

'The LORD said to my Lord,
"Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool" '?

"If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

- Matthew 22:41-46

Yesterday we read Jesus' explanation the the disciples of the parable of the Sower:  "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.  This is he who received seed by the wayside.  But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while.  For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.  Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.  But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces:  some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."

 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:  'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool" '?  If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.   Today's reading again prepares us for the Feast of Ascension (tomorrow, May 21st in the West and in the Armenian Apostolic Church; one week later, May 28th, for most Eastern Churches).  This dialogue in Matthew's Gospel takes place in the temple in Jerusalem as Jesus debates with the leadership during His final week on earth.  It occurs just before He gives His final public sermon, which would be a grand critique of the ways of the scribes and Pharisees, and laments over Jerusalem (Matthew 23).   In the context of the question Jesus asks the Pharisees, we should understand that all along the theme of their questioning to Him has been to ascertain His authority to do the things He does, and they have repeatedly asked for a sign of proof of His identity.  Here my study bible comments that Christ asks His question to lead the Pharisees to the only logical conclusion:  that He is God incarnate.  It notes that they supposed the Messiah to be a mere man, and therefore reply that the Messiah would be a Son of David.  David, as king of Israel, could not and would not address anyone as "Lord" except God.  But in Psalm 110:1, which Jesus quotes here in order to establish the ground for His question to the Pharisees, David refers to the Messiah as "Lord."  Therefore the Messiah must be God.  One's only possible conclusion is that the Messiah is a descendant of David in earthly terms, but also truly divine, sharing Lordship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.  The Pharisees do not answer, as they clearly realize the implications of the Scripture, and are afraid to confess Jesus is Son of God.

Why is Jesus' identity so important?  Why is it the crucial question the Pharisees keep insisting is not answered?  Certainly His authority is related to this question, or at least the leadership in the temple sees it that way.  By this time in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus has cleansed the temple, He has preached throughout all the lands of the Jews (and especially in the temple and in synagogues), He has gathered disciples, sent them out on successful apostolic missions,  and "great multitudes" come to hear Him speak.  Moreover, He is now generally perceived as an enemy of those who are officially the guardians of the faith:  the elders, chief priests, scribes, Pharisees, Saduccees.  He openly criticizes the practices of the leadership, and particularly the Pharisees.  They already plot to destroy Him.  If He is the Messiah, then they are refusing the leadership of the Messiah.  But if He is not, then all that He does lacks real authority that they must recognize.  When Jesus cites witnesses to His identity (and therefore authority), He names four in John's Gospel (John 5:30-47):  the Baptist, the works He does, the Father, and the Scriptures.   All of these things are the "witnesses" who give testimony to Christ's identity.  Interestingly, Jesus claims that He does not receive honor from men.  And the first thing He says is that if He bears witness of Himself, His witness is not true.   So what is left, then?  Over and over again, Jesus emphasizes a dedication to God the Father.  He cites this dedication in John the Baptist, whom He calls "the burning and shining lamp," in whose light they were willing to rejoice for a time.  It is this dedication to God the Father which makes John the Baptist that burning and shining lamp, this devotion that makes John a true witness, and gave him his light.  It is that dedication which Christ proclaims is His own true authority and identity, and which He says makes His testimony and word true in His ministry.  It is also that dedication which He says is missing in the leaders, and makes them false and unable to tell the truth or to recognize His doctrine, for they do not truly love the Father.  Moreover, Christ repeatedly tells His own disciples that to cultivate this love and to grow in it is their own assurance that they are "the light of the world" and the "salt of the earth" (see this reading).  It is our growth in this love which enables us to be true and just persons.  In the verses just before today's reading in chapter 22, Jesus responds to another question about the greatest commandment by saying that the first and greatest of all is "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."  (The second is like it, to love neighbor as oneself; and it is upon these two which hang all the Law and the Prophets.)  See 22:34-40.  Above all, at every opening, Jesus affirms that He and the Father are inseparable, for He has come not to serve Himself but the Father.  He follows the will of the Father in all things, and it is this that gives His ministry its truth, value, and worth.  It is only this that conveys real authority -- for even His authority is given from the Father.   In tomorrow's reading, for the Ascension, Jesus states:  "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth."  He does not proclaim that He seizes His authority, but rather it has been given to Him.  The only One who could do so is God the Father.  Let us understand that for Jesus, it is the Father who conveys all truth and worth and authority.  But He asks us to follow Him in the same devotion.  If we, like John the Baptist, and as the first great commandment states, learn to rely on this love and trust in its growth in us, then we also rest in the same place.  We may face life with the capacity to shine God's light into the world, to learn discernment, to live a righteous life, if we value that truth and that love above all else, even to the point of suffering and sacrificing what is worldly for that love.  Let us trust in the source of His authority, and follow Christ's lead in doing as He did, and putting this love first in our hearts.