The Better Part

Matthew 13.44-52 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflection In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus still tells parables! He knows that people enjoy listening to parables, these stories that are both interesting and somewhat strange. They help us consider the Kingdom of God and what it could be like. Jesus says, “The kingdom of God is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” The Kingdom of

Matthew 13.24-43 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflection (Adults, begin by reading the Gospel aloud to the child, unless the child is a very fluent reader. It is a long Gospel, and a little troubling. But there is Good News!) In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus tells three more parables by the Sea of Galilee: two short parables caught between a longer one and its explanation. The two short parables may satisfy us. He tells the parable of the Mustard Seed, that impossibly ti

Matthew 13.1-9 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection At the beginning of the Gospel for this Sunday, we hear Jesus leave the house he is staying at to go sit by the water of the Sea of Galilee. Not much time passes before a crowd of people gather on the beach, too. His words do that—they gather people around him. People want to hear more; they want to know more. Jesus has a parable to tell them, a mystery for them to think about. But how can they all hear crowded about on the b

Matthew 11.25-30 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection In the Gospel for this Sunday, we hear an invitation and a promise. Jesus speaks to a crowd of people. The disciples are there, and some Pharisees. The rest of the crowd are ordinary people. Sinners, mostly. Jesus speaks to all the people gathered, inviting them to, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” We wonder what the people think when they hear this. Perhaps they

Matthew 10.37-42 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection Last Sunday, when we heard Jesus preparing his disciples to go out to teach about the Kingdom of God, we thought about the right order of things. First, Jesus speaks and we listen. Then, we go out to tell the world what we have heard. In this way, we are prophets. This week Jesus continues to prepare his disciples to go out as prophets, and again he speaks about the right order of things. Whoever loves father or mother more

Matthew 10.26-33 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection In the reading for this Sunday, Jesus prepares his disciples to go out into the world to tell people about the Kingdom of God. Some of the disciples worry, though. What will they say to the people? What will the people think? Jesus says, nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. A great force reveals truth to the world. Truth covered up, gets uncovered. Truth kept in se

Matthew 9.36 - 10.8 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection We know that Jesus has a group of twelve people close to him. Sometimes the Gospels call them the Twelve, or the twelve disciples, or the apostles. In the Gospel for this Sunday, we hear their names. We hear also what Jesus gives them. The Gospel begins with Jesus looking out at the crowds of people who gather to listen to him. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless,

John 6.51-59 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection This Sunday has a great long name: The SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. Sometimes we call it by a shorter name: Corpus Christi. Either way, we think more about who Jesus is and who we are with him. In the Gospel for this Sunday, he says, I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. He tel

John 3.16-18 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection This Sunday is called Trinity Sunday. We say that God is Trinity—One God, three Persons. It does not seem to make a lot of sense. It is mystery. On this Sunday, we stop to think a bit more about this mystery—about who God is. Long before Jesus was born, we hear in the Bible of a man named Moses who asks God what he should say if someone should ask him for God's name. God says to Moses, “I AM who I AM.” This is a strange name, i

Acts 2.1-11 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection Last week, we heard about Jesus ascending into heaven to oversee the building of the Kingdom. We also heard that the Lord works with them to build it. We wondered how this could be. How can Jesus sit at the right hand of God, overseeing the work, and at the same time be with us? We are missing something. Something has to happen between Jesus ascending, and the beginning of the building of the Kingdom. This Sunday, we celebrate t

Matthew 28.16-20 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection On Ascension Sunday, or the Feast of the Ascension, we celebrate the moment in Jesus' Risen life—forty days after the Resurrection to the full life of God—when he returns to his Father in heaven. "Ascend" means to rise from a lower level to a higher level. It can also mean to take the throne. We often call Jesus the King—the King of kings—and we celebrate the day that he takes his place on the heavenly throne. Once, when a

John 14.15-21 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection This Sunday's Gospel continues the discussion from last week that Jesus has with his disciples at the Last Supper. Before he dies and rises to new life, Jesus needs the disciples to understand that there is going to be a new way for them to be together. Jesus says, "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever." An advocate is someone who stands up for someone else, who speaks in their p

John 14:1-12 (read verses 1-7 for the 6-9 year old) Listen to the Gospel and Reflection The reading for this Sunday takes place at the Last Supper, before Jesus dies and rises to the full life of God. St. John tells us that before his death, Jesus reminds the disciples of what they know and gets them to think about who he is. Jesus says, ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not

John 10:1-10 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection Here it is, one of the best loved parables! Or, at least, here is one part of the parable. It is interesting that the church picks this part of the parable to proclaim this Sunday, because in it we hear trouble seven times. In the Bible, seven means perfect. In this reading then, we have the perfect storm of trouble. Three times Jesus mentions thieves, twice he mentions bandits, and twice he mentions strangers. A thief might st

Luke 24.13-35 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection The Gospel for this Sunday again takes place on the day that Jesus rises from the dead, full of the new life of God. This moment in Jesus' life, his birth into the Risen life of God, is so important that the Church returns again and again to the events of that day. This reading takes place in the afternoon of that day. Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and

John 20:19- 23 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection The Gospel for this Sunday actually begins on the evening of the day that Jesus rises from the dead, so full of the Risen Life that he can never die again. Although Mary Magdalene knows that Jesus is Risen and told the disciples, they hide in a house with all the doors locked. Fear fills them. Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘ Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the

John 20:1-18 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection We know that when Jesus is born, a new moment begins in the History of the Kingdom of God. Never before this, throughout all of creation, throughout all the universe and its many wonders, has God become human. Never before has the Creator become one of the Created. This is brand new. And throughout his life on earth, Jesus does many things that have never been done before. But it is the moment after he dies and is buried—the

Matthew 26:17-35 (full reading: Matthew 26.14 - 27.66 ) (Adults, begin by reading aloud the portion of the Gospel provided here, unless the child is a very fluent reader.) Listen to the Gospel and Reflection This Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week when, all over the world, the Church thinks deeply about the events of Jesus' dying and rising to new life. This Sunday we hear two Gospel readings: Jesus entering Jerusalem while the crowds wave palm branches, and St. Matthew'

John 11.3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45 (full reading: John 11.1-45 ) Listen to the Gospel and Reflection In the Gospel for this Sunday, the fifth Sunday of Lent, we hear about a miraculous thing that Jesus does. He has a family of close friends, two sisters and a brother—Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. Lazarus becomes very ill, and before Jesus arrives at their house, he dies. We hear that, Jesus began to weep. Of course Jesus cries. He grieves. He is full of sorrow because he loves Laza

John 9.1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38 (full reading: John 9.1-41 ) Listen to the Gospel and Reflection In the Gospel reading for this Sunday, Jesus gives sight to a man who has never been able to see. He heals him. This is a miracle and it is marvellous, and it is one of many examples of Jesus healing people. Healing and faith go hand in hand. There seems to be a certain order to faith and healing. Look at these three other accounts of healing and faith: 1. Jesus turned, and seei