Tag Archive for ‘Jesus’
Saturday 25 July
St James, Apostle 2 Corinthians 4:7-15, Psalm 126, Matthew 20:20-28 Ambition We can imagine James and John going to their mother and asking her to talk to Jesus about promotion. None of them understood that this would result in spiritual restriction. Ambition belonged to the “me first” instinct that locked people into a prison of […]
Sunday 19 July
Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time Jeremiah 23:1-6, Psalm 23, Ephesians 2:13-18, Mark 6:30-34 Filling up the well The disciples had been busy taking Jesus’ teachings to various communities. Jesus knew they all needed a rest, and he tried to organise a boat trip to a quiet place.It wasn’t quiet. Crowds had gathered in advance, and […]
Friday 17 July
Exodus 11:10-12:14, Psalm 116B, Matthew 12:1-8 Thou shalt not! Again, the pharisees accused Jesus of “work” on the sabbath, and again, Jesus attempted to offer a common sense approach to the law. Actually, the ideals of Jewish law made sense: they were for the survival of the tribe, and to bring people closer to God. […]
Thursday 16 July
Exodus 3:13-20, Psalm 105, Matthew 11: 28-30 My yoke is easy Traditionally, a yoke was a wooden bar across the shoulders of two oxen, holding them together side by side, for ploughing or haulage. In today’s gospel, loving words from Jesus, assure us that we are bonded to him, and any burden we might experience […]
Wednesday 15 July
St Bonaventure, B.D. Exodus 3:1-6, 9-12 Psalm 103, Matthew 11:25-27 Simplicity In his prayer of gratitude, Jesus is comparing belief based on ideas about God, and the simple knowing of God in the heart. On our own journey, we know how head and heart work together. The head has words. The heart has no words, […]
Tuesday 14 July
Exodus 2:1-15, Psalm 69, Matthew 11:20-24 Oppression All these readings are about oppression and hardship: the plight of the Jews in Egypt, a psalmist praying for protection, and Jesus crying out at the cities that have rejected him. As well, John the Baptist is in prison. Jesus knows what will happen to John. But he […]
Friday 10 July
Genesis 46:1-7,28-30, Psalm 37, Matthew 10:16-23 Wise as serpents, gentle as doves When Jesus sent out the twelve, he used four images that aptly described their mission. They would be sheep among wolves. Sheep were considered innocent, and they were sacrificial animals. In the Middle East, snakes were the symbols of wisdom and healing – […]
Tuesday 7 July
Genesis 32:23-33, Psalm 17, Matthew 9: 32-38 Moved with compassion When we read today’s gospel, do we wonder how Jesus managed to continually give of himself? We know that in his humanity, he got tired. It was his nature to give but there must have been times when he felt the limits of incarnation. For […]
Friday 3 July
St Thomas, Apostle Ephesians 2: 19-22, Psalm 117, John 20:24-29 My Lord and my God Much has been made of “doubting Thomas.” He was the apostle who could not believe stories about the risen Jesus: he had to see the evidence for himself. Once, I saw this as weakness because I’d been taught that doubt […]
Thursday 2 July
Genesis 22: 1-19, Psalm 115, Matthew 9: 1-8 The voices of love and fear When we follow Jesus in the gospels, we see an emerging pattern: his acts of healing get two reactions from the crowd – rejoicing and criticism. Once, I would have judged these reactions as “good” and “evil”. But Jesus, spoke truth […]
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