Category: Uncategorized

***

Gospel: Mark 12: 28-34

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
“Which is the first of all the commandments?”
Jesus replied, “The first is this:
Hear, O Israel! 
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind, 
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying,
He is One and there is no other than he.
And to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding,
with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

“You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

***

Imagine hearing those words from Jesus.

The man in the Gospel is a scripture scholar – and likely a very virtuous person – who is complimented by Jesus for his effort. 

Then he’s reassured, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

I wonder what this man was missing.

I wonder what we might be missing.

If knowledge of God and a virtuous life leads us to the brink of the kingdom but not into it, then what helps us leap across the finish line?

***

Love.

It’s one thing to believe in the command to love, and another to do it day after day.

What might it look like for me to love God and my neighbor a little more today than I did yesterday?

It could be as simple as an extra moment in prayer; a word of gratitude; a favor for a friend.

***

“You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

Keep loving those who are near you and you’ll cross the finish line.

***

***

Image credits: (1) Got Questions (2) Aleteia (3) Grand Canyon University

***

Gospel: Mark 12: 18-27

Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection,
came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying,
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers.
The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants.
So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants,
and the third likewise.
And the seven left no descendants.
Last of all the woman also died.
At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be?
For all seven had been married to her.”
Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled
because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
When they rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but they are like the angels in heaven.
As for the dead being raised,
have you not read in the Book of Moses,
in the passage about the bush, how God told him,
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, 
and the God of Jacob?
He is not God of the dead but of the living.
You are greatly misled.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

Our Christian faith has been described by some as a stained glass window.

From the outside, it can appear dark, dusty, even outdated. But once you enter into it and see the light shining through, it reveals marvelous truths.

***

In today’s Gospel, the Sadducees question Jesus about the possibility of the resurrection. But they’re approaching it from the wrong angle; they’re on the outside, looking in. 

They don’t believe in the possibility of the resurrection; nor do they have a heart willing to see. They only want to make Jesus look like a fool.

So, the Lord tells them plainly, “You are misled, because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” 

***

Not much has changed today. It seems most critics question our faith, not because they are doing so from within the Church, but from the outside looking in.

Some will never believe; like the Sadducees they don’t want to.

But others may have a valid curiosity, real questions, or concerns that keep them from entering into our faith. Part of what may bring them into the fold is whether or not we can answer their questions.

If someone asked you, for example, “How can there be life after death?” What would you say? 

Or, on a more basic level, “Why should I follow Jesus?” What would you say?

***

Perhaps you might return to that stained glass window. From the outside, it makes little sense. But once you enter in – once your heart is open to all possibilities – you begin to understand.

“Come, and see!”

***

***

Image credits: (1) Dreamstime.com (2) The Rosette Stained Glass Window, Notre Dame (3) Ibid.

***

Gospel: Mark 12: 13-17

Some Pharisees and Herodians were sent
to Jesus to ensnare him in his speech.
They came and said to him,
“Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man
and that you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion.
You do not regard a person’s status
but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?
Should we pay or should we not pay?”
Knowing their hypocrisy he said to them,
“Why are you testing me?
Bring me a denarius to look at.”
They brought one to him and he said to them,
“Whose image and inscription is this?”
They replied to him, “Caesar’s.”
So Jesus said to them,
“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God.”
They were utterly amazed at him.

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

“Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”

***

The Pharisees know how much their Jewish peers hate paying their taxes to Rome. They want their own land and their own government; they want to rule themselves.

If Jesus tells the Jews it’s lawful to pay their taxes to Rome, then he’ll appear to be a friend of the occupying empire, and in opposition to the Jewish cause.

But if he tells the Jews not to pay their taxes, then he can be arrested as an enemy of the State.

It’s a catch-22.

***

“Bring me a denarius to look at,” Jesus says.

Where else will the Pharisees draw a Roman coin from but their very own pockets?

As much as they hate to admit it, they, too, pay their taxes. “So, repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar,” Jesus says.

Pay your taxes, because that funds secular causes like building roads and cisterns for water.

But, “give to God what belongs to God.”

So, what belongs to God?

***

Our very selves.

In one of the first verses in the bible, God says, “Let us make man in our image and likeness.” 

Every human being bears the image – not of Caesar – but of God. And if we bear his image, then we belong entirely to him.

***

Pay your taxes. 

But offer your life to God.

In what ways do I offer the Lord my time and heart? And what would that look like today?

***

***

Image credits: (1) Got Questions (2) The Getty Museum Store (3) Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel