The Sunday Gospel For Men

Sunday, November 13th, 2022 - Persecution

While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, “All that you see here— the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.”
 
Then they asked him, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” He answered, “See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ Do not follow them! When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.
 
“Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”
 
Luke 21:5-19
 
 
Persecution
What does a hostile persecution of the faith look like? Think of what it would be like to live somewhere in the world where Christianity is illegal; imagine being persecuted by your own family, arrested and imprisoned by the government, and killed for practicing the faith. For many people throughout the world, this is a reality, and Jesus predicted this would be the case.  
As Christian men, we should expect persecution. Persecution is nothing new in the history of the Church. St. Timothy warns us in his second letter saying, “[A]ll who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). It is not hard to find plenty of good illustrations of this. For example, St. Paul had just been stoned, dragged out of the cities of Antioch and Iconium, and thought dead. Then, when he was restored to health, he preached the Gospel in a different city and made many disciples by God’s grace. Next, he returned back to the city that stoned him and exhorted the disciples there, saying, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). 
So what does all this mean for you and I? It’s simple: be ready. Be ready for persecution from the world but know that you were not made for this world. Tell the world that you were made for more. That is the challenge for you and I this day – to be a bold witness, to be ready as St. Paul and so many others who have gone before us. The more you trust in the Gospel and practically apply it to your life, the less there is to fear. 
In your silent prayer today, imagine yourself deeply entrenched in a persecution. Where would you be? Are you hiding? Preaching in the streets? Or even, locked behind bars? As you reflect on this, beg God for the grace of perseverance and courage in the face of persecution.
 
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Sunday, November 6th, 2022 - Resurrection

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called out ‘Lord,’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” 
Luke 20:27-38
 
Resurrection 
Marriage is a beautiful thing. From the beginning of time, God created man and woman to complement and complete each other. Having already created the animal kingdoms, God said, “It is not good that man should be alone, so I will make him a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18). Clearly, God made us to be relational beings. This mirrors God’s Being: God is one God in three divine Persons. In today’s Gospel, the Sadducees are not questioning the goodness of marriage, but they are questioning the relations of married people in the afterlife. 
Seemingly out of nowhere, since this is the first time the Sadducees appear in Luke’s Gospel, the Sadducees come forward and put Jesus to the test. Because they did not believe in the resurrection, they bring Jesus a scenario of what they think is an air-tight argument against it. 
But in order to understand their argument, we must first grasp one of the Jewish commandments in Deuteronomy. There God says, 
When [a brother] dies without a son, the widow of the deceased shall not marry anyone outside the family; but her husband’s brother shall come to her, marrying her and performing the duty of a brother-in-law. The firstborn son she bears shall continue the name of the deceased brother, that his name may not be blotted out from Israel. (25:5-6)
God gave this commandment in addition to the first-ever commandment given to Adam and Eve: “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:22). This shows that, in addition to valuing relationships, God values life. But the Sadducees could not see the connection between marriage, remarriage (after the spouse’s death), and the afterlife in Heaven. So they pose a simple question to Jesus, “What if seven brothers were married to one woman but they all die; whose wife will she be in Heaven?” And Jesus says something to the effect of, “No one’s because there is no marriage in Heaven.” 
Jesus’ answer is profound on many levels. First, Jesus is not afraid to directly answer the question of his opponents. Second, he tells us there is no contradiction between remarriage and resurrection; in fact, he gives us an insight into the very purpose of marriage. Third, he gives us an insight into what existence will be like in Heaven. 
Jesus’ answer implies that marriage is a means to man’s ultimate end: which is salvation. Our Lord tells us: “[T]hose who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.” Therefore,  Jesus is telling us that Heaven is an eternal state of being with God, a place reserved for the risen. 
Our Lord’s response would have irked the Sadducees because they had just attempted to argue that belief in the resurrection of the dead is absurd. But Jesus doesn’t stop there; instead, he goes so far as to appeal to their highest Jewish authority. He says, “That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush….” His listeners would have known he was speaking about the great prophet Moses’ experience at the burning bush in reference to God’s theophany—the manifestation of God. Here God called out to Moses, saying, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6). Jesus concludes with a question: why would the living God refer to himself as the God of our fathers if they too were not still alive in him? Interestingly, this same reasoning and defense of the resurrection of the dead can be found later in the New Testament from both St. Luke (Acts 7:30-34) and St. Paul (Acts  26:22-23). 
Let’s take a moment to thank our living God today for the great reality and the great gift of the resurrection. Pray to “be made worthy” and that you may persevere to the end in order to experience this gift firsthand on the last day. 
 
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Sunday, October 30th, 2022 - With Joy

At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house." And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, "He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner." But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost."
Luke 19:1-10
 
With Joy 
Zacchaeus lived in Jericho, a city located northeast of Jerusalem in modern-day Palestine. As the chief tax collector, he was a wealthy man who was the head of other tax collectors in his district. Unfortunately for him, tax collectors had a “bad rep” in those days. The Jews saw them as traitors to their people because they worked for the Roman occupiers. They also had the reputation of cheating people and over-taxing them for the sake of personal financial gain. Despite his bad reputation, Zacchaeus actively sought to find the Lord.
When Jesus passed through Jericho, a large crowd began to form around him. Zacchaeus could not see because he was “short in stature,” so he climbed a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus. According to one source, these trees can grow up to 130 feet high and 6 feet wide.  Here, the irony is that Zacchaeus sought to see Jesus with great effort only to learn that Jesus was already seeking to see him. Our Lord told him, “[C]ome down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” And Zacchaeus obeyed the word of the Lord and received him with great joy. 
Some people did not like the fact that our Lord wanted to stay with Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector. In the minds of many of them, being a tax collector was synonymous with being a sinner. But Zaccheaus realized the great treasure he had found in Jesus and he was willing to do whatever it took to be in right relationship with him. That is why he said, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” In doing this, he was justly imposing a serious penalty for restitution on himself (see Exodus 22:1; CCC 2412). 
In your time of silent prayer today, put yourself in the place of Zacchaeus. He was hindered from seeing God because he was short. What hinders you from seeing God? He tried to overcome this impediment. How do you strive to overcome the things that impede your relationship with God? As you end your prayer, remember that even before Zacchaeus climbed the tree, Jesus was coming toward him. God takes the first step - He’s doing so for you, right now - and inspires faith. Today, praise God for inspiring your faith and seeking you out.
Is it time for your Exodus? Learn more here: https://ex90.cc/sunday
 
 

Sunday, October 23rd, 2022 - Exalted

 Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Luke 18:9-14
 
Exalted
Have you ever seen someone who is really bad at their job? Image an expert in your field—someone you are told to respect—but he just can’t seem to accomplish the simplest task. You are told to look up to him, but he is failing in his field of “expertise.” This is what is happening with the Pharisee in today’s Gospel.
The first verse of today’s tells us about the intended audience, saying, “Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.” If we are honest with ourselves, we know that this applies to us as well. In one way or another, we are all like the Pharisees in our low moments. Not only do we justify ourselves to ourselves, but we also justify ourselves to God himself. We fail at the simplest things in the fight for our salvation.
When was the last time you thought, “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous—or even like [that guy]?” Thinking this way is akin to playing God. As men, we tend to compare ourselves to others and act like we know it all. It is easy to assume the worst of others and the best of ourselves. But inn reality, we need to be more like the humble, little tax collector.
The tax collector’s prayer is the opposite of the Pharisee’s. First, note the difference in their posture as they stand before the Lord. The Pharisee stands confidently, while the tax collector “stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven.” His body language communicates his attitude of humility. Second, the tax collector “beat his breast,” a symbol of repenting from his heart. Third, he prays a short prayer: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” Nowhere in this prayer does he compare himself to others or justify himself to God. In other words, pride is absent. This man knows that he is in need of God’s grace and mercy. And that should be our starting point in prayer since “humility is the foundation of prayer” (CCC 2559). 
When you are talking to God, instead of acting like a defense lawyer, remember that you are a “beggar before God.” And, acknowledge that you need God and ask for his help from a place of humility, instead of pride. When you do, God lifts you up, and that is what it means to be exalted. 

Sunday, October 16th, 2022 - Persevere

Luke 18:1-8

Sunday, October 9th, 2022 - Give Thanks

Luke 17:11-19