The Better Part

Matthew 14.13-21 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflection Each Gospel reading for the last four weeks has been filled with parables. Our heads swim in parables! In fact last week, in considering the parable of the Kingdom of God like a net that was thrown into the sea...we thought, we swim in it, right now! How can this be? This week, Jesus is through with parables (for now). He is finished talking. Now he acts. Jesus performs a miracle. Miracles, we know, are signs of the Ki

Matthew 13.44-52 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflection In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus again tells three parables, just like last week! He must really like telling parables. He knows that listening to parables helps us to think about the Kingdom of God. Last week, when there were three parables, we thought about the middle parable—the Parable of the Mustard Seed, that teeny-tiny seed that somehow grows and changes into a tree! This week, let's again look at the middle

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 13.44-52 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflection In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus again gives us three parables. Three parables and then an instruction that sounds like yet another parable. Perhaps he thinks we can handle all this! Let's think about what he can mean. Photo by Sebastian Pena Lambarri on Unsplash Jesus begins with two parables that sound very similar:, “The kingdom of God is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his

Matthew 13.31-32 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflection (Adults, the Gospel this week is quite long and considers three of Jesus' parables. This reflection focuses on the parable that is sandwiched in the middle: the Parable of the Mustard Seed—an essential parable regarding the mystery of life.) In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus tells three parables. We know that parables make us think. They are stories that Jesus tells to help us understand something very important. Th

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 9.36 - 10.8 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection Wherever Jesus goes, people follow—crowds of people, so many people! They want so much to be near him. They want to listen to what he says. In the Gospel for this Sunday, we hear how Jesus feels about these crowds of people who come to him. “When he saw the crowds, Jesus had compassion for them…” Jesus has compassion for them… What does that mean? Compassion means Jesus knows how the crowds feel and he understands that f

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,

Matthew 9.36 - 10.8 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection During Jesus' time on earth, he speaks often about the Kingdom of God. He shows people glimpses of the Kingdom of God, too, when he performs miracles. Always, always, he invites others to share in his work of bringing about the Kingdom of God here on earth. In the Gospel for this Sunday we see the beginning of this sharing of the work of the Kingdom. When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they wer

Matthew 5:1-12 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n We know that in the Bible, Jesus walks from town to town teaching about the Kingdom of God . People follow him because they love to hear his voice. In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus takes a break from walking. He sits down. But Jesus does not stop teaching about the Kingdom of God . Oh no. The people still get to listen to his voice. When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his dis

Matthew 5:1-12 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n In the Bible, we often hear Jesus teaching people about the Kingdom of God. Jesus understands that we need to know about the Kingdom. He knows that when we set out to play a game with our friends, we first sit down to work out the rules. We want to know who can play. We want to know how to play well. Jesus understands that we need to know these things about the Kingdom of God. So he sits down and lets us look for a mo

Matthew 11.2-11 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n (Adults, this reflection focuses on the last line of the Gospel.) This Sunday we light the third candle of the Advent wreath. It is the pink candle. Pink is the colour for joy . We wonder—why joy ? Last Sunday, we heard John the Baptist prepare the people of Israel for Jesus who comes. This Sunday, Jesus talks about John the Baptist. The people wonder if John the Baptist is a prophet. Jesus says, A prophet? Yes, I t

Matthew 11.2-11 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n (Adults, you could begin by reading the Gospel to your child.) Matthew 11.2-11 This Sunday is called Gaudete Sunday. We light the third candle of the Advent wreath, the pink one. Gaudete means rejoice and pink is the colour for rejoicing . We wonder, though, why do we rejoice ? Last Sunday, we heard about John the Baptist—the Preparation Person— preparing the people of Israel for Jesus who comes. John the Baptist

Matthew 11.2-11 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n This Sunday we light the third candle of the Advent wreath for Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday of rejoicing . Last Sunday, we heard about John the Baptist, the one with the disturbing message about cutting away the dead wood, preparing us for the new abundant life that Jesus brings. Now, stuck in prison, he hears rumours about Jesus and he wonders. “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” He asks if

Matthew 3.1-12 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n (Adults, the Gospel for this Sunday talks about repentance in the sense of turning from sin which our 3-6-year olds are not needing yet. However, the deeper reality, the reason why we repent is the essential point they need to hear, I think.) In the Gospel for this Sunday, we hear about John the Baptist who is a cousin of Jesus. John the Baptist prepares the people of Israel for Jesus who comes. Jesus comes to speak ab

Matthew 3.1-12 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n In the Gospel for this Sunday when we light the second candle on our Advent wreath, we hear about John the Baptist who is a cousin of Jesus. John the Baptist is a preparation person. He prepares the people of Israel for Jesus who comes to speak about the Kingdom of God in a way no one has ever spoken before. In Advent , we listen to John the Baptist as we prepare to celebrate the feast of the Light of God coming i

Luke 7.11-17 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n This Sunday is a feast day. It is November 2nd, the feast of All Souls. Each year on this day, we think in a particular way about those people who died before us. Death is a part of life that touches us close to our hearts. On this day, we listen to the Gospel to find out what Jesus thinks about death. We want to learn something of his heart. Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with

Luke 17.5-10 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n Sometimes, the things that Jesus says just seem wonky. In the Gospel for this...

Luke 16.19-31 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus tells another parable. This is his best way...

Luke 11.1-13 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n Already we know that prayer is listening to God and talking to God. Already we...