Preaching among the Palms

Fr. Jeff notes a turn in theme in the last three weeks of our year-long study of the Gospel of Matthew. At the beginning of the Gospel narrative, Jesus is depicted as a teacher of radical ethics. Now in the final chapters of the Gospel it becomes obvious that Jesus is not only a wise teacher but also the judge of all humanity at the end of time. The parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids has...

For the feast of All Saints the lectionary offers us the opportunity to reflect on Matthew's Sermon on the Mount or Luke's Sermon on the Plain. Given the recent commemoration of St. Luke, our patron saint, Fr. Jeff opts for the Sermon on the Plain. Continuing his reflections from two weeks ago, he connects the Sermon to the announced mission of Jesus to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah as re...

Every Sunday we hear the Summary of the Law said at the beginning of the mass. Today's passage from Matthew features the first and great commandment—"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind"—and the second that is like it—"Love your neighbor as yourself." Fr. Grady unpacks the singular and central importance of these two co...

Today is the Feast of Saint Luke, the patron saint of our parish. Fr. Jeff celebrates the occasion by preaching on the communion of the saints, on what it means to have a patron saint, and some of the unique aspects of Luke's work as an evangelist.

Yet another parable from Matthew provides both food for thought and the basis of a classic joke. Fr. Jeff serves up both. The parable of the man who throws a wedding feast for his son teaches yet another aspect of life in the kingdom of God. The unworthy spurn the father's invitation, and instead of them he invites in whomever happens to be in street at the time. This lot is described by Matth...

Today's Gospel passage tells yet another parable, this time of a landowner whose servants rebel against him. Canon Lester returns us to the catechism to remind us of the foundational ministry of the laity. Among those who are baptized we find many spiritual gifts that flow from the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Today's brief parable in the Gospel of Matthew stages a collision between two themes that have been important to Matthew from the beginning: authority and hypocrisy. Fr. Jeff provides some background on both of these ideas. The Gospels emphasize that people respond to the teaching of Jesus because they recognize his authority. This is especially evidenced in Matthew chapter 8's account of...

On this Sunday the lectionary pairs the end of the book of Jonah and a parable of Christ from Matthew about a householder who hires laborers multiple times in one day. It's not clear at first what the connection might be, but Fr. Jeff has a theory: Jonah's story ends with him spitefully begrudging God's mercy and love being shown to the repentant citizens of Nineveh; the laborers in th...

Fr. Grady connects today's Gospel to the teaching of Jesus about the church community in this chapter. Peter has already suggested that sinners should be forgiven far more than they deserve, but Jesus responds that in effect forgiveness should be infinite in scope. The parable that follows illustrates this boundless grace of God and the unforgiving heart of human beings.

Today's Gospel reading contains some tough teachings on church discipline. Fr. Jeff points out that Jesus gives his disciples authority to teach and lead the nascent church he founds on the rock of faith. That's a weighty responsibility, and while the whole witness of Scripture is clear that we should do everything we can to bring home the lost and forgive the sins of others, in some situa...

Last week we heard about how Peter rightly confessed Jesus to be the Christ, the Messiah. No sooner does he make this breakthrough realization, which Jesus says comes from God and is the rock on which he will build his church, than Jesus is condemning him as a hindrance to his further mission. What changed so fast? Fr. Jeff opines that between Peter's confession and his objection to Jesus'...

At the center of today's Gospel reading is a crucial question that everyone must answer for themselves. Jesus asks his disciples: "Who do you say I am?" The answer matters a great deal. Throughout human history many people of great spiritual insight and depth have made all kinds of claims about their identities and accomplishments. Peter answers the question of Jesus in a way that he...

In today's Gospel reading Jesus ventures among outsiders, where he meets a woman in desperate need. Fr. Grady speculates that this Canaanite woman may have even heard about Jesus and is anticipating her encounter with him. She may have heard the stories of God's saving actions in history and hoped that meeting Jesus was the next opportunity she had for a blessing in her own life. The disci...

In today's Gospel reading the disciples are being buffeted by winds and waves, an episode that is hard to see in any other way than as a parable for our own lives, which are beset by difficulties. Fr. Jeff decodes three uses of the word "immediately" in this passage to signal what Jesus is trying to teach to his disciples and to us when he walks on water to be with them in the midst...

All four Gospels report the miraculous feeding of the five thousand. Matthew's account particularly emphasizes the festal dimensions of this miracle, in which Fr. Jeff argues that we glimpse an anticipation of the Eucharistic meal. Matthew underscores the actions of taking, blessing, breaking, and giving away the bread of the banquet in the lonely place where Jesus feeds the crowds. These same...

Matthew's Gospel continues to furnish parable after parable for our consideration. Fr. Jeff interprets four parables at the end of chapter 13 in light of Matthew's own commentary on Jesus's use of parables. Matthew connects Jesus's use of parables to the prophetic content of Psalm 78. Psalm 78 it turns out is a psalm of Asaph that recounts the history of God's interaction with...

St. Paul enigmatically refers to the eager awaiting of all creation for glorification, which Fr. Jeff interprets as an extension of the biblical promise that the saints in glory will become in the presence of God like heavenly beings. Jesus himself says that the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of God. Not only it would seem though are we human beings bound for celestial glory but...

The parable of the sower is found in all the Gospels, and it is therefore a great opportunity to learn about the kingdom of heaven, not just by studying the content of the parable but by understanding the form of all parables. Why does Jesus teach with parables at all? Fr. Jeff demonstrates why Jesus adopts this elusive mode of parables in the first place. The point of a parable is to challenge th...

In today's Gospel reading Jesus doesn't condemn his present generation and their disbelief so much as make fun of them. He ridicules his audience's lack of response to the message of the kingdom of God: John the Baptist and Jesus both preached repentance and the kingdom of God, but they did so in different ways. Either way though nothing seems to satisfy their hearers. Fr. Jeff explains one of the...

Every Sunday we ask God in the prayer of consecration to “grant that, by the merits and death of thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his blood, we, and all thy whole Church, may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of his passion.” What then are the other benefits of Christ's passion? St. Paul in today's epistle reading gives us one answer to this question: Faith in...

Fr. Grady confronts the reality of persecution, first the persecution of the prophet Jeremiah, and then of the disciples of Christ. Nevertheless, Jesus encourages his followers that they should have no fear. Like the disciples, godly fathers are also charged to proclaim the truth of God from the rooftops, though such a proclamation has always and is now likely to provoke persecution.

Today is a turning point in the Gospel of Matthew. Fr. Jeff reads the drama of the Gospel as unfolding along two parallel tracks: on the one hand, it becomes more and more clear who Jesus is; on the other hand, people's reaction to who Jesus is becomes more and more polarized. Jesus sends out the twelve to the twelve tribes of Israel, and he predicts that they will not always be warmly accepte...

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of Corpus Christi, which has been a universal commemoration of the real presence of Christ in the sacramental bread and wine since 1264. Fr. Jeff guides us through John chapter 6, which contains numerous scandalous utterances by Jesus, including his assertion that he is the bread that came down from heaven. The language of the mass refers no fewer than three t...

We affirm the reality of the Ascension every week in the Nicene Creed, but the Ascension is probably the most neglected and misunderstood part of the incarnate life of Jesus. Fr. Jeff accounts for how Jesus can be going back to his Father at the Ascension despite having never been separated from his Father. One way to understand this is Thomas Aquinas's idea of the persons of the Trinity being...

The Gospel reading for today features the New Testament's only reference to the Holy Spirit as an "advocate," or literally someone who is called alongside another. Fr. Jeff distinguishes between the ways John uses different terms for the Holy Spirit, and even refers to different works of the Holy Spirit, depending on whether Jesus is teaching publicly about the Spirit or whether he i...