The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 261: Ornate Souls (2023)

Episode Date: September 18, 2023

Fr. Mike explains the many parables we hear today in Matthew, including the return of the unclean spirit, and the danger of ornate souls. He emphasizes that when God sweeps the sin out of our souls, we must replace it with virtue, otherwise our souls remain empty without a relationship with God. Today's readings are Matthew 11-13 and Proverbs 19:5-8. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 261. We're reading from Matthew chapter 11, 12, and 13. Also Proverbs chapter 5, chapter 19, verses 5 through 8. We are, you guys, we are more than halfway. I mean,

you knew that already, but I just wanted to remind you. The Bible translation I'm reading from, as always, is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe to receive the daily episodes and daily updates, and you don't have to go hunting for them. They will find you. I imagine some of you have that already memorized, but maybe, you know, mix it up a little bit and there we go.

As I said, it is day 261. We're reading Matthew chapter 11, 12, and 13, Proverbs chapter 19, verses 5 through 8. The gospel according to Matthew, chapter 11. And when Jesus had finished instructing his 12 disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities. Messengers from John the Baptist. Now, when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said

to him, Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another? And Jesus answered them, Go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk. Lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is he who takes no offense at me. Jesus praises John the Baptist. As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John. What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind?

Why then did you go out? To see a man dressed in soft robes? Behold, those who wear soft robes are in king's houses. Why then did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who shall prepare your way before you. Truly, I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and men of violence take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it,

he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, we piped for you and you did not dance. We wailed and you did not mourn. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, he has a demon. The son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, He has a demon. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds. Jesus upbraids the unrepentant cities.

Then he began to upbraid the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom,

it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you. Jesus thanks his father. At that time, Jesus declared, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to infants. At that time, Jesus declared, the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Chapter 12, Plucking Grain on the Sabbath. At that time, Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. He said to them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry and those who were with him? How he entered the house of God and ate the showbread, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests. Or have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And 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. The man with the withered hand. And he went on from there and entered their synagogue. And behold, there was a man with a withered hand. And they asked him, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him? He said to them, your hand. And the man stretched it out, and it was restored whole like the other. But the Pharisees went out and took counsel against him how to destroy him. God's chosen servant, Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all and ordered them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. Behold my servant

whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him and he shall 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 till he brings justice to victory. And in his name will the Gentiles hope Jesus and Beelzebul. Then a blind and mute demoniac was brought to him and he healed him so that the mute man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed and said, can this be the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, it is only by Beelzebul, the prince of

demons, that this man casts out demons. Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.

He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. Therefore, I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever says a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

A tree and its fruit. Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you speak good things when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment, men will render account for every careless word they utter,

for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. The sign of Jonah. 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 seeks for a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the south will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came

from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The return of the unclean spirit. When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest, but he finds none. Then he says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept and put in order. Then he goes and brings with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. So shall it be also with this evil generation. The true kindred of Jesus.

While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood outside asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, Who is my mother and his brethren stood outside asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, who is my mother and who are my brethren? And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, here are my mother and my brethren. For whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. Chapter 13, the parable of the sower. That same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea and great crowds gathered around him so that he got into a boat and sat there

and the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables saying, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they had not much soil and immediately they sprang up since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell upon thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some 60, some 30. The purpose of in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, You shall indeed hear, but never understand. You shall indeed hear, but never understand.

You shall indeed see, but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn from me to heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. The parable of the sower explained. Hear 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 his heart. This is what was sown along

the path. As for what was sown on the rocky ground, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty. The parable of the weeds among the wheat. Another parable he put before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who

sowed good seed in his field. But while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the householder came and said to him, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds? He said to them, An enemy has done this. The servants said to him, Then do you want us to go and gather them? But he said, No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the

wheat into my barn. The parable of the mustard seed. Another parable he put before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all 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. The parable of the leaven He told them another parable. The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened.

Why Jesus speaks in parables. All this Jesus said to the crowds in parables. Indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet. I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world. Jesus explains the parable of the weeds. Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him saying, explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.

He answered, he who sows the good seed is the son of man. The field is the world and the good seed means the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one and the good seed means the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and 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. He who has ears,

let him hear. Three parables about the kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. 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, who on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net, which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad. So it will be at the close 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. Treasures new and old. Have you understood all this?

They said to him, yes. And he said to them, therefore, every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old. The rejection of Jesus at Nazareth. And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there and coming to his own country, he taught them in their synagogue so that they were astonished and said, where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brethren, 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, a prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house. And he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. The book of Proverbs chapter 19 verses 5 through 8. A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who utters lies will not escape. Many seek the favor of a generous man, and everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts. All a poor man's brothers hate him. How much more do his friends go far from him? He pursues them with words, but does not have them.

He who gets wisdom loves himself and he who keeps understanding will prosper. Father, we give you praise. Thank you so much. Lord God, thank you for the teachings of Jesus, your son. Lord, thank you. Thank you for your spirit that continues to inspire the readers and listeners to your word. Thank you for the words of your son captured and conveyed to us by your Holy Spirit and your friend Matthew, our friend Matthew. We thank you and give you praise for this reprieve we have, this journey through the New Testament, through the gospel of Matthew. In the midst of all the prophets, Lord God, we thank you for finally bringing us to this

fulfillment of everything the prophets had wanted, everything the prophets had pointed to, everything the Old Testament points to. Thank you for bringing us to this place in the New Testament, this gospel where Jesus is the fullness of you, your fullness of you revealed. Help us to understand him more fully and to love him more deeply and to follow him with everything we have. Make this prayer in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. So gosh, you guys, again, as always, there are so many things in the gospel today that's so

incredible. Now, one of the things I love, and I keep pointing it out, but at the beginning of the reading today, chapter 11, we have messengers from John the Baptist. And remember, we had the description of John the Baptist before. He was dressed in camel's hair. He had a leather belt around his waist. He was eating locusts and honey, and he lived out in the wilderness. And he was Elijah. And this is the incredible thing Jesus even references.

Behold, I will send my messenger before your face, who shall prepare your way before you. If you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. And that recognition that, that here is this not like reincarnated Elijah, but here is someone, John the Baptist in the role of Elijah. Now here is something so important to realize that Jesus gives incredible praise to Elijah. He says, among those born of women, there is a risen no one greater than John the Baptist. That's, that's massive. That's, it's incredible. But he goes on and he says, yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. You realize that when you were baptized, when you're

brought into the kingdom of heaven, that here's all the incredible things that prophets have done, all the incredible things that those who have served the Lord in the Old Testament have done. We do honor them and take nothing away from their role in the way God loves them, the way God has allowed, you know, use their ministry to transform hearts and to bring those to him. And yet, if you've been baptized, that means you're in the kingdom of heaven. If you've been baptized, you were made into a son or daughter of the father. And Jesus is saying, yep, no one greater born of women than John the Baptist.

And yet the least in the kingdom, the least person baptized is even greater than John the Baptist because you have been raised up to be a son or daughter of the father. That just even without doing anything just even without doing anything, even without doing anything, even remotely close to what John the Baptist did, just by virtue of the fact that you have the Holy Spirit within you and you can cry out, Abba, Father, Jesus says,

even greater, even greater, which is incredible. There's unrepentant cities. I don't know if you caught that. Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum. Remember, Capernaum is Jesus' home base. Chorazin and Bethsaida are not too far from Capernaum. So Jesus is doing all these miracles. I mean, keep this in mind, that there are people bringing every, you know, they're bringing from all corners. They're bringing their sick, their lame, their possessed, all these people they're bringing to Jesus and he's healing them all. In fact, Matthew says he's healing them all. And yet there were people who saw this and didn't change. In fact, there are people who say, give us a miracle. Remember the Pharisees will say this, give us a sign. And Jesus says, no sign will be given you except the sign of Jonah. Why?

Because listen, whenever anyone says, I just need to see a miracle, then I'll be fine. They don't know themselves and they don't know history and they don't know the gospels because there were so many people who saw the miracles and didn't change. They saw the miracles and they were not willing to give their lives to Jesus. They were not willing to pick up their cross and follow after the Lord. And so, so many of us, we might think, if I just saw the miracle, I'd be fine. And we look at the gospel from today and realize that's not actually, it's not actually true. It's not necessarily true. At

least now, a couple of things. We have so many parables in this section. It's so good. I mean, I don't know if you caught this. There is this teaching that Jesus gives in chapter 12, where he talks about the return of the unclean spirit. I don't know if you have ever wondered about that or puzzled at that. The unclean spirit has gone out of a man. The unclean spirit passes through waterless places, seeking rest, finds none. And he says, I'll return to my house from which I came, basically go back to the same person. And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept and put in order. And then he goes and brings with him seven other spirits more evil than himself. And they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. You might think, what is that? What's

that all about? Well, there's a priest. His name is Monsignor Charles Pope, who just, gosh, talk about someone who's brilliant. He's incredible. But Monsignor Charles Pope writes about this in one of his columns. He writes a column on a regular basis and he dives deeply into, oftentimes into the gospels. And he looks at the original Greek words. And I just want to kind of highlight, I'm not going to give you the Greek because it's maybe not important to us in this moment. The three descriptions that Jesus gives of that soul that has been set free from that demon, it's empty, it's swept, and it's put in order. But more technical term or more accurate term is it's ornate. It's ornate. And so Monsignor Charles Pope, he asked the question, what does that mean? Does that give us any indication of the state of this person's soul?

It's empty, swept and put in order or ornate. That sounds like it's a good soul. But he points out, he says, no, it's empty. You know, a lot of times when we get rid of something, something that wasn't supposed to be in our lives, we don't replace it with something good. It's empty. So here is the demon that left and left a vacuum, left a void. And this, the space that was left empty by

the departure of the demon was not filled with God, wasn't filled with God's presence. And so it's still empty. And that's something important for us because we can do that same thing. Monsignor Pope points this out. He says, you know, here's someone who gives up something for Lent, right? But doesn't replace that, that thing with goodness. Doesn't replace that thing with some act of virtue or prayer or whatever that is. And so it's empty. That doesn't mean good. It just means there's a vacuum there that is just waiting for evil to come back in. It's swept. And that's the same kind of thing. It's, it's what, what a great, he points out my senior Pope. If a good person has by God's grace,

been able to sweep sin from his life, praise be the Lord, but not to that person because they might think, well, I've swept this place. I've done this work. So yeah, God set them free, but now I've put in, I've swept it, I've cleaned it out. And so what was supposed to be the work of the Lord has become the work of the person. And so pride can be something that is, is enters in and then put in order does not simply mean ordered or simply mean everyone's, everything's in his right position, but a better word for that from the original Greek is ornate. And so you'd think, well, that's not too bad. I mean, it's been dressed up, it's been decorated. And yet again, that, that ornate interior life that has more preoccupation with appearing beautiful rather than choosing goodness, right? I want to appear to be

ornate, you know, I appear to have that beauty, that dignity, that honor, rather than actually having honor in my soul, in my character. And so again, the state of that person, empty, swept, and ornate reveals that, yes, of course that would be, that soul would be ripe for those seven demons coming into us. So we have to recognize when the Lord eliminates evil from our lives, he helps us with sin, we need to fill that with virtue. That when it's swept out, we need to always praise the Lord for what he has done in our lives and that are innate, to be able to choose the greater things than just simply let's have the image of having greater things. Okay. There's so many parables.

I don't want to go through all of them, but the parable of the sower is incredible. When Jesus explains it, here's the seed that falls on rocky ground. Evil one comes around the path. Evil one comes and snatches away on the stone on rocky ground. The word person receives the word and immediately receives it with joy, but has no root. And this is important because he says it endures for a while when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word immediately falls away. And we have to think of ourselves and that could be us. That could be us when it comes to, yeah, I'm really giving my heart over to the Lord, but the moment I have to actually stand against the culture, the moment that the culture stands against me, the moment that belonging to Christ costs me something, I need to have those roots or else I'll fall away immediately.

Those thorns is incredible because the thorns are not just, it doesn't even talk about how sinful that can be. He just says, what are the thorns? The thorns are the cares of the world and that the light enriches. So worries of the world, the light enriches. Nothing horrible, but just the kinds of things that can choke the very life of God in us. I'm more preoccupied with things of this world and the anxieties I have and the things I have to get done than God himself. And yet there's a good soil. Now here's the incredible thing.

We don't get to choose what kind of seed we receive. It's all the same. It's all the same seed. But we do get to choose what kind of soil will be. Last second thing, last second to last thing. The weeds and the wheat. This is such an incredible image of the church. That here is the field.

Here's the kingdom of God. Here is the church on earth. And the Lord plants wheat, but the evil one plants weeds. And we say like, God, why do you allow evil people to be in your church? Because as we know, as we undoubtedly know, there are so, there's so much evil that even is in the church and almost so much that we can say, is this really still your church, Jesus? When there's so much evil and so many evil leaders and evil pastor, evil priests, and

that kind of evil. And Jesus gives us kind of almost an answer here. He's like, I'm allowing them to grow up among the wheat. Believe me though, they're going to receive justice. Believe me that whether they're in leadership or whether they're not in leadership, when we choose evil over the Lord, we're going to receive justice. And so know that even while the Lord tolerates and permits evil in his church, which thanks be to God, because that means we get to be part of it or else we'd be already ripped out of the earth. When he tolerates the evil in his church, he is also not condoning it and he will bring justice. Last thing,

some of the last words that Jesus has for us in chapter 13, where he talks about the three parables of the kingdom. It's like a treasure hidden in a field. It's like a, a pearl of great price. And what happens is when you find it, you want to sell everything for that, for that gift, for that kingdom, for that pearl, for him. And that's what we're called to do. I'm so sorry this is so long, but God has given us such a gift in his gospel that the commentary just went on and on and on. So because of that, I'm going to ask you for your grace and your prayers for me. I am praying for you that you're able to make it all the way to the end of this episode today as we

read through Matthew's gospel 11, 12, and, and heard all these extra words of commentary. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.