20 June 2018
Y’all, we are being schooled in Jesus right now with this gospel of Matthew Sermon On The Mount business! Let’s review what we have already learned in Jesus school shall we:
- Count The Blessings | Live the Beatitudes for heaven awaits those that do.
- Salt And Light | We are conduits of God’s grace, and salt and light are a beautiful metaphor for our faith lives.
- Do This In Memory Of Me | The fulfillment of the law and the prophets is love itself, sacrificial love. Sacrificial love is that which sacrifices ones own self for the other.
- I Can Do Better | Go above and beyond the bare minimum and do so in the name of love.
- We Are Made For More | We are God’s masterpiece, created in Their image, and we are all one in Love.
- Words Have Power | Say what you mean and mean what you say.
- Small Things | Small things done with great love show just how big God is and that His Kingdom is made up of each one of us, beautifully broken, but repurposed for glory!
- Do It Anyway | Jesus wants us to fight evil with peace, kindness, service, and generosity.
- This Is Not A Suggestion | “BUT I SAY TO YOU, (emphasis added by me) love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father.”
Today’s gospel focuses on some important spiritual habits that can be the fuel we need to practice what we preach (and what we have been schooled in by Jesus), and on the flip side, when practiced under the umbrella of pride, these habits, can actually stunt our spiritual maturity/growth. Prayer, fasting, and alms giving are amazing acts of faith, hope, and charity, however, when we put on a show with any or all of them so that others will be impressed or jealous or made to feel less than, then these good things turn into a form of idolatry. God wants us to do these things because we love Him first and wholeheartedly and in that love we desire to show gratitude, faith, sacrifice, and charity without expecting anything in return. This is the hard part because we all just want to be loved back don’t we? We want to show the world that we are faithful people.
God wants a private showing if you will. He wants our undivided attention, our undivided heart, and our undivided praise. This can only be done one on one, in secret. “Lovers find secret places inside this violent world where they make transactions with beauty.” (Rumi) These whispered secrets between us and the Beloved are the transactions with beauty that give us the grace to grow deeper so that we can stand firmly planted in the storms of life. These heart to hearts with our Creator are the wind in our sails and the breath in our lungs. These intimate and personal exchanges with the Lover of our soul are the stardust in our DNA and the handprints on our hearts. These sweet nothings shared in private with our Good Good Father are the drops of Jesus in our empty chalice. When we meet God eyelash to eyelash in the privacy of our soul, we let Him see us as we are, His favored work of art. When we truly believe in that favor, we will shine naturally, and others will see and know that we belong to Him.
I wish you many secret transactions with beauty this week and it is well with my soul. Don't you just love Jesus School??
Reading 1 2 KGS 2:1, 6-14
he and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.
Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here;
the LORD has sent me on to the Jordan.”
“As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live,
I will not leave you,” Elisha replied.
And so the two went on together.
Fifty of the guild prophets followed and
when the two stopped at the Jordan,
they stood facing them at a distance.
Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up
and struck the water, which divided,
and both crossed over on dry ground.
When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha,
“Ask for whatever I may do for you, before I am taken from you.”
Elisha answered, “May I receive a double portion of your spirit.”
“You have asked something that is not easy,” Elijah replied.
“Still, if you see me taken up from you,
your wish will be granted; otherwise not.”
As they walked on conversing,
a flaming chariot and flaming horses came between them,
and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.
When Elisha saw it happen he cried out,
“My father! my father! Israel’s chariots and drivers!”
But when he could no longer see him,
Elisha gripped his own garment and tore it in two.
Then he picked up Elijah’s mantle that had fallen from him,
and went back and stood at the bank of the Jordan.
Wielding the mantle that had fallen from Elijah,
Elisha struck the water in his turn and said,
“Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?”
When Elisha struck the water it divided and he crossed over.
Responsorial Psalm PS 31:20, 21, 24
How great is the goodness, O LORD,
which you have in store for those who fear you,
And which, toward those who take refuge in you,
you show in the sight of the children of men.
R. Let your hearts take comfort, all who hope in the Lord.
You hide them in the shelter of your presence
from the plottings of men;
You screen them within your abode
from the strife of tongues.
R. Let your hearts take comfort, all who hope in the Lord.
Love the LORD, all you his faithful ones!
The LORD keeps those who are constant,
but more than requites those who act proudly.
R. Let your hearts take comfort, all who hope in the Lord.
Alleluia JN 14:23
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him
and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel MT 6:1-6, 16-18
"Take care not to perform righteous deeds
in order that people may see them;
otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.
When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets
to win the praise of others.
Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you give alms,
do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,
so that your almsgiving may be secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
"When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites,
who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners
so that others may see them.
Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door,
and pray to your Father in secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
"When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.
They neglect their appearance,
so that they may appear to others to be fasting.
Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
so that you may not appear to others to be fasting,
except to your Father who is hidden.
And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you."
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