Daily Reflection with Aneel Aranha

He came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?” And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house.” And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief. Many years ago, there was a guy named Theogenes. He was one of the greatest athletes in Ancient Greece. He had two victories at the Olympic Games. One was in boxing and the other in a free-for-all fight known as pankration. The Greeks erected a statue in his honor and people were generally happy. However, one of his rivals became jealous. He tried to push the statue over, but it fell on him and crushed him to...

" Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” When Jesus had finished these parables, he left that place. Jesus had this really terrible habit of speaking to people in riddles and most of the time they couldn’t understand anything he said. This is why I find what happens in today’s passage very amusing. Jesus tells his listeners seven parables in quick succession — The Sower, The Weeds, The Must...

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” This famous story of Mary and Martha suggest that a life of prayerful contemplation is better than a life of service. This has resulted in a divide between “secular work” and “sacred work”, with the latter generally considered superior, usually by those engaged in it, but this is simply not true. The point of this story of Mary and Martha, and what Jesus says to Martha, is that service follows relationship. An...

    Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the fiel.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!   We reflected on the Parable of the Weeds a few days ago (see The Good And The Bad - https://youtu.be/tQDMr70FHwI). In today’s readi...

He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth to speak in parables; I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.” Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. There are only two other places in the Bible where we find a reference to this particular seed. One time, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain,...

“The kingdom of heaven 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."Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. We have two parables, one following the other, in today’s reading, so let me tell you a third. There was a guy called Rob Cutshaw who lived in North Carolina. Rob was an amateur rock hunter. A rock hunter is a guy who digs for pretty looking rocks that he can sell to tourists, collectors, and jewelry stores. One day Rob found a sparkling blue rock that he described as “purty and big.” He thought the rock might sell for $500, enough to pay his power bill. He said he was so desperate for money, he’d have sold it for $100 dollars if somebody had made an offer. But, when he couldn’t sell it, Rob took the rock home and put it in his closet. He then forgot all about it, unti...

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favor of him. And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man ca...

  “Here then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” We have reflected on this parable so many times, I really wondered if I would have something new to say. Turns out I have. But let me ask you the question that...

  Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’ With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says: ‘You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn— and I would heal them.’  But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets ...

  Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”  B ut Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where yo...

  While he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers were standing outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” But to the one who had told him this, Jesus replied, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Pardon me, but I have never understood the animosity that some Christians harbor against Mary, the mother of Jesus. Even if they believe, incorrectly as it happens, that Catholics worship Mary, the venom with which they often speak of her boggles the mind. I mean, come on! This is a woman of grace chosen by God to become the mother of his son who would be savior of the world. How can anybody speak of her with anything other than the utmost respect.  The people who are disrespectful of her often use t...

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth. The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here! The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here! A few days ago (see A Warning to Nations: https://youtu.be/r9pX1Vj61rw) we looked at how God was not calling just individuals to repentance, but societies as well. We find this is being re...

He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ” Today’s parable is one that might help answer a few questions that many of us have. Or not. But let’s try to understand it in the context of real life situations....

  But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. When Jesus became aware of this, he departed. Many crowds followed him, and he cured all of them, and he ordered them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not wrangle or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope.”   I believe one of the most important questions that Jesus asked, if not the most important, is: “Who do you say I am?” He could well have asked: How do you see me? I think the image we have of Jesus may reflect our own character. If we are fighters, the kind of people who like to stand up for what we believe, taking no...

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is gnot lawful to do on the sabbath.” He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests. Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests in the temple break the sabbath and yet are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.” Have you heard the term “situational ethics”? No, it’s not another principle I have come up with. It simply means that one chooses how to act based on the needs of ...

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” We had the same reading a few days ago, and in the reflection (see No More a Donkey - https://youtu.be/ubsxlZ2ewr4), I spoke about how it wasn’t only the sinners Jesus was offering rest to, it was also wanna be saints. You may have heard the saying, “There is no rest for the wicked”? Well, there is often no rest for the holy either, not merely because they find themselves burdened with too many things they are told to do and not do, but also because of the continuous temptation that comes their way.  We all have “methods” for resisting temptation. When I invite students in our Schools of Discipleship to share what they do to resist temptations, there are quite literally hundreds of things they suggest: gazing upon the crucified ...

  At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Jesus loved little children. I think this was because he found it very easy to talk to them. Innocent and unpretentious, children are easily teachable, unlike many adults who are so puffed up with knowledge they believe they are smarter than everybody else. Consequently they are unteachable. I believe this is why the men Jesus called to follow him were simple (and perhaps illiterate). They would be prepared to listen to what he had to say and learn what he had to teach. The most intelligent of the twelve he chose was perhaps Judas, and there is probably a lesson in there s...