The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 262: Miracle Worker (2023)

Episode Date: September 19, 2023

As we read about the many miracles Jesus performs in today's readings from Matthew, Fr. Mike asserts the objective reality of those miracles and reinforces that Jesus is truly the Son of God who has power over matter. We learn that in Jesus, we too can do things that we could never do on our own. Today's readings are Matthew 14-17, and Proverbs 19:9-12. 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 262. We're reading today from Matthew chapter 14, 15, 16, and 17. We have four chapters today in the gospel of St. Matthew.

We're also reading from Proverbs chapter 19, verses 9 through 12. As always, the Bible translation that I'm reading from 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 and have daily episodes and updates and gosh, all those things. It's super fun. It is day 262. We're reading four chapters of Matthew's gospel, chapter 14 through 17,

as well as Proverbs chapter 19 verses nine through 12. The gospel of Matthew chapter 14, the death of John the Baptist. At that time, Herod the Tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, and he said to his servants, this is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead. That is why these powers are at work in him. For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife,

because John had said to him, it is not lawful for you to have her. And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people because they held him to be a prophet. But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, she said, give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter. And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests, he commanded it to be given. He sent and had John beheaded in the prison,

and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took the body and buried it. And they went and told Jesus. Feeding the 5,000. Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place apart. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. As he went ashore, he saw a great throng, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, This is a lonely place, and the day is now over. Send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.

Jesus said, They need not go away. You give them something to eat. They said to him, We have only five loaves here and two fish. And he said, Bring them here to me. Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up 12 baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about 5,000 men besides women and children. Jesus walks on the sea. Then he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side

while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified saying, it is a ghost. And they cried out for fear. But immediately he spoke to them saying, take heart. It is I have no fear. And Peter answered him, Lord, if it is you bid me come to you on the water. He said, come. So Peter got out

of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me. Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him saying to him, oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt? And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, Truly you are the Son of God. Jesus heals the sick in Gennesaret. And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized him,

they sent round to all that region and brought to him all that were sick and begged him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well. Chapter 15, the tradition of the elders. Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat. He answered them, And why do you transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, Honor your father and your mother, and he who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die. But you say, If anyone tells his father or his mother, what you would have gained from me is given to God. He need not honor

his father. So for the sake of your tradition, you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites. Well, did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. Things that defile a man. And he called the people to him and said to them, hear and understand. Not what goes into the mouth defile a man. And he called the people to him and said to them, hear and understand, not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth,

this defiles a man. Then the disciples came and said to him, do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying? He answered, every plant which my heavenly father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone. They are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit. But Peter said to him, explain the parable to us. And he said, are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and so passes on. But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man. But to eat with unwashed

hands does not defile a man. The Canaanite Woman's Faith And Jesus went away from there, and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried, Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David! My daughter is severely possessed by a demon. But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, Send her away, for she is crying after us.

He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But she came and knelt before him, saying, Lord, help me. And he answered, It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. She said, Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's

table. Then Jesus answered her, O woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you desire. And her daughter was healed instantly. Jesus heals many people. And Jesus went on from there and passed along the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. And they put them at his feet, and he healed them, so that the throng wondered when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel. Feeding the four thousand. Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I have compassion on the crowd,

because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way. And the disciples said to him, where are we to get bread enough in the desert to feed so great a crowd? And Jesus said to them, How many loaves have you? They said, Seven, and a few small fish. And commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks, he broke them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. Those who ate were four thousand men besides

women and children. And sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan. Chapter 16. The Demand for a Sign. And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, When it is evening, you say, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red, and in the morning it will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening. You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah. So he left them and departed.

The Leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And they discussed it among themselves, saying, We brought no bread. But Jesus, aware of this, said, O men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to perceive that I did not speak Peter's declaration that Jesus is the Christ.

Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do men say that the son of man is? And they said, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah are one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the son of the prophets. He said to them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, You are the

Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. Jesus foretells his death and resurrection. Jesus foretells his death and resurrection.

From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, God forbid, Lord, this shall never happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me, for you are not on the side of God, but of men. The Cross and Self-Denial Then Jesus told his disciples, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life

for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done. Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the son of man coming in his kingdom. Chapter 17, the transfiguration. And after six days, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart. And he was

transfigured before them and his face shown like sun, and his garments became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is well that we are here. If you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were filled with awe. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, Rise, and have no fear. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, Tell no one the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead. And the disciples asked him, Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come? He replied, Elijah does come, and he is to restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the son of man will suffer at their hands.

Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist. Jesus cures an epileptic boy. And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and kneeling before him said, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples and they could not heal him.

And Jesus answered, O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me. And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, Why could we not cast it out? He said to them, Because of your little faith.

For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible to you. Jesus again foretells his death and resurrection. As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, the Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him and he will be raised on the third day. And they were greatly distressed. Jesus and the temple tax. When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the half shekel tax went up to Peter and said, does not your teacher pay the tax? He said, yes. And when he came home, Jesus spoke to him first saying, what do you think, Simon, from whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute from their sons or from others?

And when he said from others, Jesus said to him, then the sons are free. However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up. And when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself. The book of Proverbs chapter 19 verses nine through 12. A false witness will not go unpunished and he who utters lies will perish. It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury, much less for a slave to rule over princes. Good sense makes a man slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense. A king's wrath is like the growling of a lion, but his favor is like dew upon the grass. Father in heaven, we give you thanks. We praise you and glorify your name. Lord God,

we ask this day that you receive our thanks, that you receive our praise, you receive our thanksgiving because every good gift comes from you. Every good thing we have in our life comes from you. And we thank you. Please, please, Lord God, receive our praise. Receive our thanksgiving in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Gosh, we're deep, halfway into, basically halfway into the Gospel of Matthew. And we have the death, the death of John the Baptist, which is just, you know, it's remarkable because yesterday, have the death, the death of John the Baptist, which is just, you know, it's remarkable because yesterday, right, we heard the story of the parable of the sower and how there is some people who they hear the word and they like it. It springs up really quickly. And the other people who hear the word and they like it, but they have worldly anxiety and other things that choke the

word. Herod is kind of the incarnation of these things, right? So it's Herod hated the fact that John the Baptist convicted him of his sin. And yet he liked to listen to John the Baptist. And so he wanted to kill him. But at the same time, he was compelled by this and he was stuck. He was stuck in this place of sin, essentially, right? And that can be so many of us where we hate the fact that here I am sinning. And I just can't take that step to free myself. I can't take that step to allow the Lord to free me. And here is Herod and that ends with tragedy, obviously the death of

John the Baptist, but even worse, you know, it ends the tragedy in Herod's own life. Moving on, we have, you know, the two feedings of the multitudes, the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000, 12 wicker baskets left over and seven wicker baskets left over fragments. Now, one thing we just need to say is that Jesus is doing miracles all over the place, right? He's healing people. He's casting out demons. This is remarkable.

He's also feeding people. Remember how Jesus is the prophet Elijah. He is the prophet Elisha, right? That both of these people, they fed multitudes and they fed them with a limited amount of food. attitudes and they fed them with a limited amount of food. In those stories of Elijah and Elisha, these are not stories of sharing. And if you ever hear that the miracle of the feeding of 5,000 or the miracle of feeding the 4,000 was that when the little boy in the other gospel was willing to give his five loaves and two fish, then everyone else was like, well, I guess we'll share our own food

too. If you ever hear anyone's interpret it like that, just they're wrong. It's completely wrong. It's a nice idea, but that is not the point that Jesus inspires people to share. No, the point is that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophets of old. Gosh, you guys drive me crazy. Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophets of old. And not only that, but he is the true son of God who has power over matter, has power over life, has power over everything. And he can multiply this food. This is very important. I mean, it's a nice little idea that Jesus teaches people how to share because he taught me how to share. So did my mom and dad. But my mom and dad are not God. Jesus is God. And so, okay, I'll get off my soapbox right now because there's nothing more infuriating

than when people wanna rob Jesus of his divinity by saying that this piece, that this was the miracle of sharing. Okay, soapbox done. Let's move on. We have not only Jesus miraculously, I will emphasize miraculously, feeding 5,000, also walks on the sea.

But you know what? There's just a sandbar underneath where he was walking. So it wasn't really a miracle. Or he was just swimming. Just kidding. Okay, done with the sarcasm. Okay, done with the sarcasm. Here we are.

Jesus, again, a miracle of walking on the water. And it's remarkable. I love in Matthew's gospel how he recounts this. Not only how he recounts that the wind was against them, the waves were against them, how when they saw Jesus, they didn't think it was Jesus. They thought it was a ghost and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus speaks to them in a place of fear. And immediately Jesus speaks to them in a place where they could die. I mean, people die on the Sea of Galilee all the time in these kinds of storms. And Jesus says to them, take heart.

It is I have no fear. Into those places in our lives where we're not just afraid, but we're actually afraid for a great reason. And sometimes not, are we just afraid, but we're also maybe even tempted to be frustrated with God. You know, the reason why they're out in the storm in the middle of the night is because Jesus told them to get into the boat and go out onto the lake. So you can imagine people being a little resentful that the only reason I'm in a storm right now is because Jesus told me to go out into the storm. And so now I'm not only afraid,

I'm also maybe angry. And Jesus says, take heart. It is I have no fear. I love what Simon Peter does next. And Simon says, Lord, if it is you, command me to walk out on the water with you like you're doing. And this is really incredible because a lot of times, you know, Jeff Cavins has made this point so many times that I just want to make it to honor him. He's pointed out so many times and so clearly that a lot of times when we follow Jesus as Christians, we think that that means I believe in Jesus. And it does mean that it means I, I think like Jesus and it does mean that, but also means that we're called to do what Jesus does. And so here is

Simon who says, Lord, if you're the rabbi and I'm the student, if you're the teacher and I'm the disciple, and the goal is for the disciple to be able to do what the rabbi does, then command me to come out to you on the water. Is that true? Or is it just like, no, it's you, and we're just kind of surrounding you. That's all this is. And Jesus says, come, which is amazing. Jesus doesn't say, ah, are you kidding me, Simon? You know, in a second, I'm going to name you rock. Rocks don't walk on water. But Jesus says, come. And Simon does the impossible for a moment. Yes, he sinks. Yes, Jesus rebukes him. Oh, you have a little faith. Why did you doubt? But there was a moment there when Simon Peter was walking on water, when he was doing something impossible.

And this is what we're called to. When we're following after Jesus, we're called to not simply do what we could already do on our own power. We're called to do what we can never do on our own power. We're called to love in a way that we can never love if it was just us. Called to live in a way that we can never live if it was just us. And this is just remarkable. I know that we're running out of time. I don't want to keep these super long.

When I say running out of time, what I mean is I'm trying to be conscientious about y'all's time. The tradition of the elders in chapter 15, and one thing I want to point out in 16, the tradition of the elders is such an important thing because the Pharisees say, how come your disciples stayed without washing their hands? Now, one of the things that had happened was the command of the law of Moses is that you would purify yourself before you offered your offering in the temple. And so the Pharisees weren't trying to be bad guys.

They had said, well, that's good. If it's good that we purify ourselves when we enter the temple, why don't we just purify ourselves all the time? Like when we eat food, when we go to bed, when we get up in the morning. And so they were trying to extend the good things of the temple into the rest of their life, which is a good thing. But they had also added some things. They added some things that are meant to be optional that they did instead of doing what was essential. And so one of those things was, okay, if I take my money and I dedicate it to God, then now that money is set aside for God.

I get to use it however I want, which is completely backwards, rather than taking care of my parents. And we know that the fourth commandment is to honor one's father and mother. And so they were trying to avoid the essential commandment, taking care of your parents, by electing to do this optional, and it's not even a commandment, this optional counsel, this optional option of dedicating one's property to God. And this is what we, so many of us are tempted to do this, right? I will do everything but, everything but what God is asking me to do. And we can fall into that trap.

One of the things that we see in chapter 16 of the gospel here is Jesus going up to Caesarea Philippi. We talked about this before when we were going through the book of the prophet Isaiah, how Jesus leads the disciples up to Caesarea Philippi, which is about 29 miles north of where they would normally live in Capernaum. And they go on this 29 mile hike north. So it means they're going uphill too. And they get to this place called Caesarea Philippi. Now,

if you ever go there to the Holy Land, one of the things you'll realize is Caesarea Philippi has this incredibly massive rock. And I say rock, I mean, it's like a cliffs, like massive cliffs, like think hundreds of feet tall. And built into this are churches, essentially temples. And so Jesus asks, who do you say that I am? And Simon says, you're the Christ, the Holy One of God. And Jesus says, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, Simon, son of Jonah. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you,

my heavenly Father, so I say to you, you are now rock. And upon this rock, I will build my church. And this is remarkable. This is remarkable because Jesus didn't have PowerPoint, so he had to walk all the way up to Caesarea Philippi to give this powerful teaching of like, And this is remarkable. It's remarkable because Jesus didn't have PowerPoint. So he had to walk all the way up to Caesarea Philippi to give this powerful teaching of like, yes, that's correct. And now you, Simon, are now rock, Kepha or Peter. And upon this rock, just like you see behind me, there's churches built into this rock.

I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Now, I remember when I was growing up gates of hell will not prevail against it. Now, I remember when I was growing up, and not only is this a case for the Pope, right? The role of the Pope, because we already talked about this in Isaiah, the Al-Habayit, I'll give you the keys and when you open, no one shall shut. When you shut, no one shall open. But also when I was a kid, I always thought, you know, the gates of hell or gates of Hades here in our translation will not prevail against it. And I thought that means that what that means is that hell will not destroy the church.

Hell, even if the church gets really bad, hell cannot possibly destroy the church. But that's not what Jesus is saying. He says, the gates of hell, gates of Hades, shall not prevail against it, which means not that the gates of Hades are attacking the church, but the gates of Hades will not be able

to prevent the church from overtaking hell, will not prevent God's power, his kingdom on earth from destroying the kingdom of the evil one with his power. It's just incredible. It's not a defensive position. It's an offensive position, which is incredible. And you and I have been brought into this church. You and I have been made members of the body of Christ, sons and daughters of our Father. And so, yes, there's this defensive promise that God is with us, that God is for us, that he loves us, cares for us. But also, there's this offensive posture that we have, which is, where does his light need to be shined? Where does his grace need to be revealed? where does his light need to be shined?

Where does his grace need to be revealed? Where does his hope need to be proclaimed? Where does his love need to be brought? Because there's a lot of places without love, without hope, without light in our world. And so if we're meant to be on the offensive, if the members of the church, if the church is meant to be on the offensive, where the gates of hell cannot prevail against it, where can you and I bring light today where there is no light? Where can you and I bring hope today where there is no hope? Where can you and I bring love today where there is no love? And that could be in the life of the person sitting next to us. It could be in the life of the person down the hallway from us.

It could be not somewhere in another town, in another state, in another country. It could be that person under the same roof as me. That's something to pray about. Okay, you guys, here we are at the end of this day, day 262. What a gift. I am praying for you. Please, please pray for me. My name is Father Mike.

I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless. for you. Please, please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.