Monthly Archives: August 2026

Why Does Jesus Act Like This?

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Dear Folks,

This Sunday’s Gospel reading is uncomfortable. In Matthew 15:21-28 it seems that he is being mean to a Gentile woman. “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs (Matthew 15:26).”  

There are some realities to keep in mind. 

Jesus’ ministry was first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (see Matthew 10:5-6). But He found great faith in some Gentiles (See Matthew 8:5-11), and He responded to that faith.

The woman is being tested. Jesus was very good a reading people and knew what they needed. We notice that the centurion was treated very differently (Matthew 8:5-13) In Matthew 19:16-22, the rich young man gets a challenge that not many are given. See how He responded to the people of Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30). Remember, there is a lot that is not mentioned in the Gospel account, like the internal attitudes of the people involved. 

There is another factor. We see in Scripture : “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does? declares the Lord. Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand (See Jeremiah 18:1-10)” “Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? (Romans 9:21).” God will do different things with different people because they will have different roles. 

When we go to God, we might find that what happens next is not easy. Does this mean He had abandoned us or is mad at us for something? No necessarily. It could mean that we just need an extra lesson, or that God is making us into something special. Or both. Have you heard the expression, “No good deed goes unpunished?”  Have you ever felt it? If you read the Scriptures and the lives of the saints, you shall see you are not the first. 

I think life is like running an obstacle course with a backpack. We can see others’ backpacks, and some look heavier than others, but we won’t find out until the end how heavy each one’s pack is. We feel how heavy ours is, but we don’t really know how it is compared with others. We might find that our pack was really lighter than a whole lot of people’s and we had it easy. Or we might find our pack with heavier than most peoples. We might find that some people were given extra challenges and beautiful things came from that. We thought some people weren’t doing very well and find out their response to God’s gifts was heroic.  In the meantime, we really don’t know and God seems content to let some things be a surprise.  Some people seem to get challenge after challenge and we don’t know why. In the meantime, God is doing wonderful things.

Blessings,

Fr. Jim

Am I Doing this Right?

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Dear Folks,

Today we see Jesus walking on water. Matthew, Mark, and John all mention the walking on water incident immediately after the feeding of the 5000. Luke does not include the walking on water. Ony Matthew will have Peter getting out of the boat, walking on the water, and then sinking, like a rock. Only Matthew will tell the story in 16:16-20 of Peter declaring that Jesus in the Son of God and being bless and called Peter (But see John 1:43 which shows Jesus calling him “Cephas” which means Rock). All four Gospels mention Peter worst story then he denied Jesus three times (Matthew 26:69-75; Mark 14:66-72; Luke 22:54-62; John 19:17-18 and 19:25-27). It appears the more important one is in the early church, the more one’s failings become known.

As we saw in the multiplication of the loaves, we see in the walking on water, there are no forces on earth that can stop Jesus. As long as we keep our eyes on Him.

Peter got out of the boat and walked. No one else did that. But he looked at the storm and failed. We will often be challenged to step out in faith, and we might look at the storm and fail. Then we tell Him we need help.

If we want to do God’s work, we will make mistakes.  I have explained to God that if he would keep me from messing up, I could get His work done more efficiently. (I also mentioned that it would be very beneficial if He would give me some advanced notice what His is planning so I could get ready, and it would be a really good thing for gravity to give senior citizen discounts). 

In Ken Burns’ “History of Jazz” there was a clip of Artie Shaw criticizing Glen Miller for never making mistakes. He said that if you don’t make mistakes, you are not pushing yourself as hard as you can but staying where it’s safe. I suggest that Peter knew they were being called to greatness, and he tried very hard to answer the call, and that sometimes meant getting in over his head (so to speak). He would grow in the process and wound up giving his life for the Kingdom of God. 

How is God calling you? Have you made mistakes? If so, you’re in good company. 

Blessings,

Fr. Jim

We do What we Can, but it is Jesus Who Feeds

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Dear Folks,

Our Gospel today is the multiplication of the loaves and fish, the feeding of five thousand with five loaves and two fish. This story is familiar. After all, it is the only miracle mentioned in all four Gospels (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:35-44; Luke 9:10-17 and John 6), and Matthew and Mark also have the feeding of he four thousand with seven loaves and a few fish (Matthew 15-32-39 and Mark 8:1-10). If you only listen the Sunday readings, you would never know that. This year we get Matthew’s account. Next year, we will interrupt Mark to do the feeding and the bread of life discourse from the Gospel of John (July 25th to August 6th). If you read through the Gospels (which I highly recommend) we Clearly, this story is important to the early Church.

Consider the poor disciples. They watched Jesus propose that they feed all those families. They would have known the Hebrew scriptures and the story of Elijah feeding 100 men with twenty barley loaves and having some left over (2 Kings 4:2-44). This is much bigger.  I could imagine them saying, “No, boss, no! Look at this crowd. If we promise them food and don’t give them food they will tear us apart!”  All the tellings of the stories involve starting with what He is given. Surely it would be in His power to go Poof! Everyone has bread and fish. It would be in His power to go Poof! Everyone has filet mignon. However, He calls them to give what they have, even though it is horribly, laughably inadequate. Then he feeds everyone, and there is not just some left over.  The feeding of the five thousand families had twelve baskets left over, symbolizing the twelve tribes of Israel. The feeding of the four thousand took place in Gentile territory, and has seven baskets left over, symbolizing the seven tribes of Gentiles (see Joshua 3:10).

There is an echo of this in John 21, when Jesus tells the disciples to cast out their nets and they bring in a huge number of fish (which echoes Luke 5:3-7)   Jesus says to bring some of the fish they caught, while He already had some bread and fish being cooked for breakfast. More astute students of the Bible would be asking why He wanted them to bring some fish when He already was cooking the bread and fish for breakfast. I would suggest that He always asks us to bring what we have, while it is He who feeds. 

When we come to worship God, our worship is imperfect, so much short of what God deserves. We bring what we have, and Jesus works though us in the liturgy, and wonderful things happen. When we serve God in the world, our ability is horribly inadequate for the mess the world is in. We bring what we have, and it is Jesus who makes wonderful things happen. Sometimes (as in usually) it takes longer than we think it should. However, much patience I think I have learned, God seems to think I need to learn more. God is at work and doing things we do not yet understand. He calls us to participate. How will we respond?

Blessings,

Fr. Jim