The institution of the Lord’s Supper by our Savior Jesus Christ, on the night in which he was betrayed, is recorded in three of the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, and Luke – and in St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians. But in these four inspired accounts, the descriptions of exactly what Jesus said are…
Matthew 27:15-26 Barabbas is described in today’s text from St. Matthew, as a “notorious” criminal. St. Mark’s Gospel adds the detail that he was an insurrectionist and a murderer. And St. John’s Gospel tells us that he was a robber. It’s easy to see why he was notorious. As an insurrectionist, he was a flagrant…
Mark 1:21-28 Please listen with me to a reading from the 1st chapter of the Gospel according to St. Mark, beginning at the 21st verse: Then [Jesus and his disciples] went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them…
Matthew 15:21-28 “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” These words of our Lord, as recorded in today’s Gospel from St. Matthew, might seem harsh and cruel, especially in the context in which he spoke them. But he was simply stating the truth, as far as his vocation…
Matthew 4:1-4 St. Matthew tells us in today’s Gospel that, after his baptism, “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” If the Son of God was tempted by the devil, then it should not surprise us that the devil is more than willing to tempt everyone…
Matthew 3:13-17 When I was a teenager, one of my household chores was to wash the dishes every evening. One thing that became very clear to me, during these years of my juvenile dish-washing career, was that if you put dirty dishes into clean water, the water gets dirty. Depending on how encrusted…
Epiphany – Matthew 2:1-12 In the Middle Ages, in western Europe, the festival of the Epiphany came to be seen as a festival about three gentile kings – from Arabia, Persia, and India – who were guided by a star to come and worship the Christchild. The names that were attached to these kings were…
Matthew 2:13-23 The festival of Christmas is always a day of joyous celebration. We remember God’s goodness and love in the sending of his Son to be our Savior, and as we do so, we are glad. The story of the birth of Jesus is a declaration that God cares about us. He has not…
Matthew 1:18-25 In today’s Gospel from St. Matthew, we are told that Joseph was a just man – or, what would be a better translation, a righteous man. This description of Joseph’s character applies to more than one aspect of his life. First, it means that he was an honorable and moral man. He had…