The BreadCast

(Acts 10:25-26,34-35,44-48; Ps.98:1-4; 1Jn.4:7-10; Jn.15:9-17) "This I command you: love one another." And so we hear the Lord's essential instruction: love. If we keep His commandments we will love, and if we love we will keep His commandments. His commandment is to love. But what is love? John gives us the simple answer, of course: "God is love," but also indicates further the nature of love, co...

(Acts 9:26-31; Ps.22:26-28,30-32; 1Jn.3:18-24; Jn.15:1-8) "Let the coming generation be told of the Lord..." Let the vine that is Christ continue to grow; let its branches extend to the ends of the world. Anointed by the Spirit, let all His children proclaim the name of Jesus, that "all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord," that in our midst the call upon the Church of God sh...

(Acts 4:8-12; Ps.118:1,8-9,21-23,26,28-29; 1Jn.3:1-2; Jn.10:11-18) "There is no salvation through anyone else." Do not "trust in princes" or in any man; it is by Jesus alone "we are to be saved." Though "the builders rejected" Him, though the princes of this age saw fit to crucify the Lord – yet "God raised [Him] from the dead" and exalted Him above every power on earth and in heaven. And so He is...

(Acts 3:13-15,17-19; Ps.4:2,4,7-9; 1Jn.2:1-5a; Lk.24:35-48) "He is expiation for our sins." Brothers and sisters, "we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one." For us this Savior has come; for our sins He has died on the cross. Even as it is written of Him in Scripture, so all has been accomplished in His Name. And so we need fear no more. We need not be "startled and terr...

(Acts 4:32-35; Ps.118:1-4,16-18,22-24; 1Jn.5:1-6; Jn.20:19-31) "His mercy endures forever." Our psalmist "was hard pressed and was falling, but the Lord helped" him. The disciples were locked in their rooms for fear, but "Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, 'Peace be with you.'" Thomas was hardened in unbelief, but His God appeared to him and said, "Bring your hand and put it int...

(Jer.31:31-34; Ps.51:3-4,12-15; Heb.5:7-9; Jn.12:20-33) "Father, glorify your name." Jesus cries out in supplication to Him who is "able to save Him from death," but He prays not to be saved from death, not to be saved from the sacrifice He must make, but only that in His death the Father might glorify His name. His "hour has come," He knows. He hears from His apostles of the Greeks who seek Him,...

(2Chr.36:14-16,19-23; Ps.137:1-6; Eph.2:4-10; Jn.3:14-21) "By the streams of Babylon we sat and wept." For "practicing all the abominations of the nations and polluting the Lord's temple," the people of God "were carried captive to Babylon." For all their "infidelity" they were forced to watch as "their enemies burnt the house of God [and] tore down the walls of Jerusalem." And so did their "tongu...

(Ex.20:1-17; Ps.19:8-11; 1Cor.1:22-25; Jn.2:13-25) "The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever." Is it not fear of the Lord, Jesus would instill in the people as He makes "a whip out of cords" and drives those who buy and sell out of the temple? Is His great zeal not to purify His Father's House of all corruption? And will the Temple He will raise up not endure forever? David tells us that "th...

(Gn.22:1-2,9-13,15-18; Ps.116:10,15-19; Rom.8:31-34; Mk.9:2-10) "You shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you." "Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love," the Lord instructs Abraham, calling him to sacrifice even as an animal his beloved child, upon whom God's promise rests. To a mountain he is led, with his son carrying wood in tow. And arriving at the...

(Gn.9:8-15; Ps.25:4-9; 1Pt.3:18-22; Mk.1:12-15) "I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth." In times past God made a covenant with Noah and his sons once they had come from the ark "that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all mortal beings," that they and those who would descend from them, indeed all races of men, should experience...

(Lv.13:1-2,44-46; Ps.32:1-2,5,7,11; 1Cor.10:31-11:1; Mk.1:40-45) "I said, 'I confess my faults to the Lord,' and you took away the guilt of my sin." The leper in our gospel confesses his faults to the Lord when he says, "If you wish, you can make me clean," for by these words he recognizes that "he is in fact unclean" – that he is a sick man in need of a physician. And Jesus takes away the guilt o...

(Jb.7:1-4,6-7; Ps.147:1-6; 1Cor.9:16-19,22-23; Mk.1:29-39) "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." In our first reading, Job is about as brokenhearted as a man could be, beset entirely by the devil's trials as he is. "Swifter than a weaver's shuttle" his complete loss of goods and family and his own health has come upon him. And so he seems to see his days "come to an end without h...

(2Sm.15:13-14,30,16:5-13; Ps.3:2-7; Mk.5:1-20) "Many are saying of me, 'There is no salvation for him in God.'" Today David's sins rise to his neck, and he is persecuted for them. But in accepting the persecution as chastisement from the hand of God, David regains his kingly stature, becoming once again humble and obedient to the Lord. David's son Absalom has successfully led a rebellion against h...

(Dt.18:15-20; Ps.95:1-2,6-9; 1Cor.7:32-35; Mk.1:21-28) "A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you from among your own kin." Thus does Moses speak to the people as he prepares to leave them, and they prepare to enter the Promised Land. He prophesies most immediately the anointing of Joshua, who will take his place as leader of the Israelite nation and guide them into the holy land...

(1Sm.3:3b-10,19; Ps.40:2,4,7-10; 1Cor.6:13c-15a,17-20; Jn.1:35-42) "The Lord came and revealed His presence, calling out as before, 'Samuel, Samuel!'" The call of Samuel, the call of Peter and his brother(s), and the call of us all to "glorify God in [our] body." As "Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord" when the Lord called to him, so we must all have the Holy Spirit within ourselves, we...

(1Sm.3:3b-10,19; Ps.40:2,4,7-10; 1Cor.6:13c-15a,17-20; Jn.1:35-42) "The Lord came and revealed His presence, calling out as before, 'Samuel, Samuel!'" The call of Samuel, the call of Peter and his brother(s), and the call of us all to "glorify God in [our] body." As "Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord" when the Lord called to him, so we must all have the Holy Spirit within ourselves, we...

(Is.55:1-11; Is.12:1-6; 1Jn.5:1-9; Mk.1:7-11) "A voice came from the heavens, 'You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.'" Brothers and sisters, God "has testified on behalf of His Son." With His own voice and by "the Spirit, the water, and the blood," He has borne witness that Jesus is the Christ. And should we not believe and so conquer the world? To the waters Jesus comes, and by His...

(1Jn.5:5-13; Ps.147:12-15,19-20; Mk.1:7-11) "God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." How reassuring John is to us who believe – "I have written this to you to make you realize that you possess eternal life" – for how easily we can forget the grace that is ours "in the name of the Son of God." How sure he is. How clear in his explanation. How loving. One has little reason to wonder...

(1Jn.3:11-21; Ps.100:1-5; Jn.1:43-51) "We should love one another." In our gospel, "first [Jesus] came upon Philip" – whose name means "love" – and invited him to follow Him. Love brought with him one in whom "there is no guile," and he (Nathanael) declared openly to the Lord: "You are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel." And so we must all be of love, and be without deceit. We must all "k...

(Gn.15:1-6,21:1-3; Ps.105:1-9; Heb.11:8,11-12,17-19; Lk.2:22-40) "The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon Him." What child is this of whom Simeon the prophet, filled with the Holy Spirit, declares to the Lord, "My eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the sight of all peoples," even as he holds Jesus in his arms? This indeed is He who is t...

(2Sm.7:1-5,8b-12,14a,16; Ps.89:2-5,27,29; Rom.16:25-27; Lk.1:26-28) "The Lord God will give Him the throne of David His father." "I have made a covenant with David my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant: forever will I confirm your posterity and establish your throne for all generations." Here is the promise made to King David. Upon his seeking to build a house for the Lord, "the Lord… re...

(Is.61:1-2,10-11; Lk.1:46-50,53-54; 1Thes.5:16-24; Jn.1:6-8,19-28) "A man named John was sent from God." Here is the one of whom the prophet speaks, and who can rightly proclaim the words inscribed by Isaiah: "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me." Here is he who has come "to announce a year of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God." The Spirit...

(Is.35:1-10; Ps.85:9-14,Is.35:4; Lk.5:17-26) "A highway will be there, called the holy way." Jesus is the highway; holy is He! He is the stream that "will burst forth in the desert." It is He who "strengthen[s] the hands that are feeble [and] make[s] firm the knees that are weak," that they might walk along His way. It is He who forgives sins. For "no one unclean may pass over" the safe path He ma...

(Is.40:1-5,9-11; Ps.85:9-14; 2Pt.3:8-14; Mk.1:1-8) "Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way." And so, "John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." And so comes "the voice of one crying out in the desert," in the desert that is our fallen lives: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths." Turn...

(Is.63:16b-17,19b,64:2-7; Ps.80:2-4,15-16,18-19; 1Cor.1:3-9; Mk.13:33-37) "Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways!" "O Lord of hosts, look down from heaven, and see." "Rouse your power, and come to save us." Do not "let us wander, O Lord, from your ways, and harden [not] our hearts so that we fear you not." We are your fruitful vine, but "we have all with...