The Church of Saint Matthew - Saint Paul’s West Side

When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, they took the child up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord. And when they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law, they returned to Galilee to their own town, to Nazareth, and the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God rested upon Him.

This section of the gospel concludes with the words, “once they saw they understood.” What was it that they understood? The angel said about this Messiah, this Lord, "This will be a sign to you. You will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” The sign, the sign that is given to them, is that humility of God, which has taken in extreme, and the love by which he assumes o...

The time came for her to deliver her child. She gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped Him in bands of cloth. She laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Now in that region, there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they were terrified....

There are so many characters, so many figures, so many people, associated with this season--Advent and the Christmas season--and they all have a different role to play. One of those characters, one of those personalities though, that I don't think we very often spend time reflecting on, is the one who is spoken about in the first reading. And that is King David. David is incredibly important for t...

God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee named Nazareth, to a young woman engaged to a man named Joseph of the house of David, and her name was Mary. The angel approached her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you." Mary was taken back by this greeting and wondered what it might mean. The angel said, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. You will conceive...

This short gospel passage comes from the first chapter of St. John's gospel beginning with verse 18. And what John does, is he describes four successive days in the life of John the Baptist, and describes four events that occur in that same four days. So today is the first day as he's describing it. And John the Baptist is affirming who he is--that he's not the Messiah, that he's not the prophet,...

There was a man sent by God, whose name was John. He came to witness, to witness to the light. He was not the light, but he came to give witness to the light. And this is the witness he gave. The authorities of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him to ask this question, "Who are you?" And he answered, and he did not deny. He said, "I am not the Messiah." Then they said, "Are you Elijah?" And h...

Of the four evangelists, Mark is the only one who mentions the word “gospel” at the very beginning of his writing. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Gospel is a word that means good news. This is the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God. But there's really another meaning to that. And it really revolves around the word “of”—“o-f”--the gospel of Jesu...

This is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Isaiah said, "I am sending my messenger before you to prepare the way for you. A voice crying out in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his way straight." John the Baptist appeared in the desert, proclaiming a baptism for forgiveness of sin. People throughout Judea came to him and all of Jerusalem. He baptized them...

Today we begin the season of Advent, that preparation for the Christmas feast and the Christmas season. And what the Church wants us to do as we enter into this time of preparation, is to recognize some of the very fundamental truths about who we are and what life is about. The Greeks believed that time was a cyclical thing. It went round and round so that every 3000 years or so, the earth would b...

Jesus said to his disciples, "Be attentive. Watch. You do not know the arrival of the day. It is like the householder who goes on a journey and before he leaves, he hands his property off to his servants, each one according to their gifts. Each one having their own work to do. I say to you: be attentive. Watch. If the householder comes back at sunset, at midnight, at cock crow, at dawn, may he not...

St. Matthew's gospel is divided into three books. The first book is the story of the infancy of Jesus, and it's the first two chapters. The second book is the story of the ministry of Jesus, and that's from chapter three to the end of chapter 25. It closes with the passage of the gospel today. And then the third book opens on the beginning of chapter 26 and is the story of the suffering, death, an...

When the Son of man comes seated on the clouds of heaven, surrounded by the angels and He takes His place on the throne of glory, He will gather all the nations of the world before Him and He will separate them as a shepherd separates sheep from goats--the sheep on His right, and the goats on His left. Then He will say to those on his right, "Come receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foun...

We are really blessed this afternoon to be able to invite Vera, and invite Martin, and invite Isaac and Jesus into the household of the faith through the waters of baptism. Now, you two guys, you're going to have to help your family with your little brother. Okay.? You've got to teach him something. Alright? Okay. The story in the gospel is about the master of an estate who takes his possessions,...

Jesus told his disciples this parable. There was a man going on a journey and he called together his servants to commit to them care over his possessions. To one he gave five talents and to another two talents and to another one talent, each according to their ability. And then he went off on his journey. Now the one who received the five talents, he went out and worked and added an additional fiv...

During the month of November, the church invites us to reflect on our lives and that our lives have a purpose. They have a goal. They are going somewhere. And this month, the church takes us to the 25th chapter of St. Matthew's gospel. There are three stories in that 21st chapter about being awake and waiting and being aware that the Lord is coming. And then the last part of that 25th chapter is M...

Jesus told his disciples another parable. The kingdom of heaven is like 10 virgins who went out to meet the bridegroom. Five were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps, but no supply of oil. And the wise ones took both lamp and oil. The bridegroom was delayed, and so they got weary and they fell asleep. After midnight, the cry went out, "Behold, the bridegroom comes. Come o...

We celebrate today the feast of all saints. Saints are men and women who have lived their Christian life in an extraordinary way. And there are all different kinds of saints, a great variety of saints. But to understand the truth of the gospel, I think it is good to go to those lives of the saints, because they're the ones who, we are told, lived out the truth of the gospel in an exemplary fashion...

The Lord be with you.   The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew When Jesus saw the crowd He went up the side of the hill, and there He sat down and He gathered his disciples around Him and He began to teach them. He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek. They will inherit t...

Judaism is a religion that is highly contained within the law. The observance of the law is the sign of holiness. The observance of the law is a sign of one's commitment to God. And while there are some major laws, there are so many minor laws as well, over 600. And the Pharisees were people who really were focused on the law. And they really wanted to hold people accountable to the law, a law tha...

The Lord be with you.   The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together in a group. And one of them, a student of the law, asked Jesus, "Teacher, of all the commandments which is the greatest? Jesus said, "You will love the Lord your God with all your mind, with all your heart, with all your strength. A...

The Pharisees continued to try to trap Jesus. They continued to try to get Him to say something that they can hold against Him. Now the difficulty with the Pharisees is they are really wed to binary thinking. A thing must be good, or it must be bad. A thing must be right, or it must be wrong. A thing must be something we do or something we avoid, exclusively seeing the world as black and white. So...

The Lord be with you.   The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew The Pharisees left and went to plot how they could catch Jesus in his speech. They sent their disciples and the Herodians to Jesus, and they said, "Teacherwe know you are a truthful man. And we know that you teach the ways of God in all truth. We know that you fear not the opinions of others because you do not give re...

The teaching of this parable is about being called, being invited, being welcomed. And what Jesus says is the kingdom of God is like a king who welcomes people into the feast; who calls them into the feast. Now the call is very important, but just as important is the response to the call, saying yes.  We're told in the gospel today that people had excuses. One had to go to the farm and another one...

The Lord be with you.   The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew Jesus spoke to the chief priests and the elders of the people, and he told them this parable, "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who gives a wedding banquet for his son. He sends his servants to call the invited guests, but they refuse to come. He sends other servants to again call the guests and he says, Everythin...