The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 263: The Father's Generosity (2023)

Episode Date: September 20, 2023

Fr. Mike takes us through various parables in Matthew such as the parable of the lost sheep, the merciful servant, and the laborers in the vineyard. He invites us not to be envious when others are blessed, but to allow the Father to be generous. Today's readings are Matthew 18-21, and Proverbs 19:13-16. 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 263. We are reading Matthew chapter 18, 19, 20, and 21, four chapters in Matthew's gospel. We're also reading Proverbs chapter 19, verses 13 through

16. As always, the Bible translation 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 receive daily episodes and daily updates. Someone told me recently that they said, the reason why I haven't subscribed is because I'm trying to catch up and I don't want all those episodes backing up and piling up on me. And so they're doing their best to catch up.

But as I always say, whatever day you're on now is the day you're on, which is great for us. It's day 263. For you, it's day 263. For everyone, that's one of the ways we're united in this day 263. Matthew chapter 18, 19, and 21, 20 and 21, as well as Proverbs chapter 19, verses 13 through 16. The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, true greatness.

At that time, the disciples came to Jesus saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Temptations to Sin Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck

and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world for temptations to sin, for it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the man by whom the temptation comes. And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than with two hands or two feet

to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. The parable of the lost sheep. See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven,

their angels always behold the face of my father who is in heaven. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the 99 on the hills and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.

So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. Binding and Loosing of Sins If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you,

whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Repetitiveness. The parable of the unmerciful servant. Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. The parable of the unmerciful servant.

Therefore, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the reckoning, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And as he could not pay, his Lord ordered him to be sold with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything. And out of pity for him, the lord of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But that same servant, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. And seizing him by the throat, he said, Pay what you owe. So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, Have patience with me, and I will pay you. He refused and went and put him in prison till he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed,

and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his Lord summoned him and said to him, You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me, and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you? And in anger, his Lord delivered him to the jailers till he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. Chapter 19 Teachings About Divorce Now when Jesus had finished these sayings,

he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause? He answered, Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one?

So they are no longer two, but one. What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder. They said to him, Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to put her away? He said to them, For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, Whoever divorces his wife, for unchastity and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. The disciples said to him, If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry. But he said to them, Not all men can receive this precept, but only those to whom it is given.

For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it. Jesus blesses the children. Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, Let the children come to me, and do Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said,

Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them and went away. The rich young man. And behold, one came up to him, saying, Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life? And he said to him, Why do you ask me about what is good?

One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments. He said to him, Which? And Jesus said, You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness.

Honor your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The young man said to him, All these I have observed. What do I still lack? Jesus said to him, If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me. When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus said to his disciples, Truly I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, Who then can be saved?

But Jesus looked at them and said to them, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Then Peter said in reply, Behold, we have left everything and followed you. What then shall we have? Jesus said to them, truly I say to you, in the new world, when the son of man shall sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for my namesake, will receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal

life. The many that are first will be last, and the last first. Chapter 20. The Laborers in the Vineyard. For the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you. So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he said to them, Why do you stand here idle all day? They said to him, Because no one has hired us. He said to them,

You go into the vineyard too. And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last up to the first. And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it,

they grumbled at the householder, saying, These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat. But he replied to one of them, Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last as I give to you.

Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity? So the last will be first and the first last. A third time Jesus foretells his death and resurrection. And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the 12 disciples aside and on the way he said to them, behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and the son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes and they will condemn him to death and deliver him to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified. And he will be raised on the third day. The request of the mother of James and John. Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons and kneeling before him, she asked him for something. And he

said to her, what do you want? She said to him, command that these two sons of mine may 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 chalice that I am to drink? They said to him, we are able. He said to them, you will drink my chalice, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine

to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father. And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at 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 men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave. Even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus heals two blind men. And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. And behold, two blind men sitting by the roadside,

when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, Have mercy on us, son of David. The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out the more, Lord, have mercy on us, son of David. And Jesus stopped and called them, saying, What do you want me to do for you? They said to him, Lord, What do you want me to do for you? They said to him, Lord, let our eyes be opened.

And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they received their sight and followed him. Chapter 21, Jesus' Entry into Jerusalem And when they drew near to Jerusalem, they came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them, and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, The Lord has need of them, and he will send them immediately. This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophets, saying, Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, and put their garments on them, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him shouted, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And when he entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, Who is this? And the crowds said, This is the prophet

Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. Jesus cleanses the temple. And Jesus entered the temple of God, and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes

saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, Hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant, and they said to him, Do you hear what these are saying? And Jesus said to them, Yes, have you never read, Out of the mouths of babies and infants

you have brought perfect praise? And leaving them, he went out of the mouths of babies and infants you have brought perfect praise? And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there. Jesus curses the fig tree. In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but leaves only. And he said to it, May no fruit ever come from you again. And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they marveled saying, how did the fig tree wither at once? And Jesus answered them, truly, I say to you, if you have faith and never doubt, you will

not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, be taken up and cast into the sea, it will be done. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive if you have faith. The authority of Jesus questioned. And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching and said, by what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority? Jesus answered them, I also will ask you a question. And if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men? And they argued with one another. If we say from heaven, he will say to us, why then did you not believe him? But

if we say from men, we are afraid of the multitude, for all hold that John was a prophet. So they answered Jesus, We do not know. And he said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. The parable of the two sons. What do you think? A man had two sons, and he went to the first and said, Son, go and work in the vineyard today. And he answered, I will not. But afterward he repented and went. And he went to the second and said the

same. And he answered, I go, sir, but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father? They said, the first. Jesus said to them, Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and the harlots believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe him. The parable of the wicked tenants. Hear another parable. There was a householder who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it and dug a wine press in it

and built a tower and leased it to tenants and went into another country. When the season of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first

and they did the same to them. Afterward, he sent his son to them, saying, They will respect my son. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance. And they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? They said to him, The stone which the builders rejected. Jesus said to them,

Have you never read in the scriptures, The very stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. But when they tried to arrest him,

they feared the multitudes because they held him to be a prophet. The book of Proverbs, chapter 19, verses 13 through 16. A foolish son is ruin to his father, and a wife's quarreling is a continual dripping of rain. House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord. Slothfulness cast into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger. He who keeps the commandment keeps his life. He who despises the word will die. Father in heaven, we give you praise. Thank you.

Thank you for your son, Jesus. Thank you for the gift of his grace. Thank you for his teaching. Thank you for his revealing that you love us and fight for us. You go after us, that you pursue us, that you don't merely wait for us to come to you, but you race after us even while we're racing away from you. Lord God, you are the hound of heaven and you chase us down. Please never stop chasing us down.

As often as we run away, run after us. As often as we fall, pick us up. As often as we betray you, please welcome us home. Bring us back. Let your face shine on us and we shall be saved. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. I just think, again, Proverbs, a little dip back to Proverbs, and gosh, two of them are pretty, I mean, okay, a foolish son is a ruin to his father. Yep, got it. We've heard those things

about how children can be difficult to parents and they can also be honors to parents. But this is just, a wife's quarreling is a continual dripping of rain. Now, we can swap that out and say a husband's quarreling is a continual dripping of rain too. So a spouse's quarreling is a continual dripping of rain. But I just, what am I doing? Why am I venturing into this territory?

I don't know. I just like the image. The contin Why am I venturing into this territory? I don't know. I just like the image. The continual dripping of rain is the thing. It's like whenever anyone is just nitpicking, right? It's just kind of like, just pick, pick, pick, pick, pick. It's like that. It's the drip, drip, drip, drip, drip. And I'm just, I'm only highlighting it not because I want to cause any problems between any spouses or between y'all and me, but just because I liked the image of whenever people are nitpicking, it can be one of those, you know, it's just like a little flip, flip, flip of rain. And I liked the image and there we are moving on, moving on to Matthew's gospel.

There is something remarkable, of course, about Jesus's teachings. And we will, duh, what am I talking about? Of course it is. But one of the things we have to realize in chapter 18, Jesus talks about not only true greatness, but also temptations to sin. And he says that if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Now, I think we might've talked about this before in other gospels when Jesus says something similar. And the reality, of course, is that not that God wants us to maim ourselves, but at the

same time, there are things in our lives that cause us to sin that we simply tolerate. And those things, many of them can be either adjusted or eliminated. The most obvious one, I work on a college campus. I work with high school students as well and young adults. There's a lot of temptation on the internet. I don't know if you're familiar with this, but there is. And a lot of times I'll talk to students who will say, you know, yeah, I'm going to sites and using different apps that I know I ought not to. And I say, well, get rid of your phone. And they're like, no, I

couldn't possibly do that. Couldn't possibly get rid of my phone. I couldn't possibly get rid of my tablet or my device, whatever. And we recognize that this is what Jesus is talking about. Not that he's actually encouraging people to disfigure themselves, but he's encouraging people to that thing you think you need that is causing you to sin, either augment it, you know, you adjust it so that you can't have access to those things that are sinful or you eliminate it and you get rid of it. And I even just came across someone online who had switched out their smartphone for a dumb phone because of that sense of like, not even if that thing led them into serious sin, but they found themselves being incredibly distracted

and said, I don't want to keep living like this. And I think that there's something really profound about that. And I think maybe all of us, regardless of where we're at, when it comes to certain sins, it's worth examining. Okay. There's things in my life that I'm tolerating that are not necessarily leading me closer to the Lord. In fact, are not necessarily leading me closer to the Lord. In fact, they could be leading me away. So that's the thing. Speaking of going away from the

Lord, the parable of the lost sheep is such an incredible parable that we just need to reflect on for a moment. And Jesus says, if you have a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, you would leave the 99 in search of the stray. And there is incredible, it says, goes on to say, he rejoices more over it than over the 99 that never went astray. If there is incredible, it says, goes on to say, he rejoices more over it than over the 99 that never went astray. If you ever found yourself wandering from the Lord and he finds you and brings you back, recognize when he finds you and brings you back, he finds you and rejoices. Right now, even the fact that you are listening to his word on day 263, the Lord rejoices in that. Even if your past, even if your present is full of brokenness, the Lord rejoices in that. Even if your past, even if your present is full of brokenness,

the Lord rejoices when you let him take you home. And at the same time, when he brings us home, we have the parable unmerciful servant, that Jesus makes it very clear that if we're going to enter the kingdom of God, if we're going to not only receive his forgiveness, but retain his forgiveness, that he offers it to us. As long as we're going to live in his forgiveness, we have to be not dead ends of forgiveness. We have to be conduits of forgiveness. That if we let God's forgiveness end with us and we don't extend it to the people around us, then we don't get forgiven. In fact, we pray this every time we pray at the Lord's Prayer, the Our Father, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And if I'm not willing to forgive those who have hurt me the most,

forgive those who trespass against us. And if I'm not willing to forgive those who have hurt me the most, then I can't be forgiven by the Father. I mean, even in the parable here, Jesus makes it very clear that the servant, first servant, owes 10,000 talents. I remember doing the math on that at one point. 10,000 talents was something, it was more than any normal worker could pay in something like, I don't want to exaggerate, I should do the math again, 34 lifetimes. It was obscene. Even him saying, hey, give me time and I'll pay back what I owe you. The master would say, that's not possible. You could never do that. And then his fellow servant owes him what? He owes him this fraction of the amount. And he says in scripture, it says he owes him 100 denarii, which is only 100 days wages, 100 days wages versus 34 lifetimes

of wages. And we realized that in comparison to how we have sinned against the Lord, those who have sinned against us, it pales in comparison. Now, I know there are people who are listening, who are part of this community, who have been hurt in incredibly grievous ways, like in ways that for a normal human being would be impossible to forgive. I know there are people listening right now, part of this Bible in your community that you would say, what has been done to me is impossible to forgive. And that's what we jump ahead to where Jesus says to, um, the apostles when they look and say, but Jesus, when Jesus says it's impossible for a rich man to enter

heaven, how difficult it will be. He says it's impossible for men, but nothing will be impossible for God. That's true when it comes to riches in heaven. It's also true when it comes to forgiveness. And if you find yourself and I find myself in a place of resentment and bitterness and unforgiveness, I realize I on my own can't forgive. So God, you need to help me. You need to help me forgive.

There are so many more stories that we just could go through. But I think we'll just conclude with this one. The parable of the laborers in the vineyard. And the end of it, of course, you know, everyone gets paid the same. Even the person who worked one hour versus those who worked, I don't know, maybe 12 hours. the person who worked one hour versus those who worked, I don't know, maybe 12 hours. And Jesus has the owner of the vineyard say, are you envious because I am generous? And I think sometimes we are.

I think sometimes we are envious that God is generous, especially if you've been a follower of Christ for a long time and you've really worked really hard to follow after him. Maybe you've been that later on that he has a parable of the two sons. You are the son who said, you know, I will go. And then you went, or maybe you said, I won't go, but you still went anyways. And you look at the others and think, man, there's people who have wasted their lives and they're coming to the Lord at the end. And they all these blessings and God's doing all these incredible things through them. And here I've been grinding away for my lifetime and. And he blesses them. And the question we get to ask is,

are you envious because God's generous? Would we rather that he didn't bless them? I mean, that's a real question we get to ask is, you know, here's these people and they're in control of the parish. They're the ones who make all the decisions. Say, okay, would you, do you want to be in control? Is that the issue right here? Do you want to be the one who, who says, oh, they don't get blessed because I've been working longer. And of course, when we hear it like that, we realize, oh no, no,

no, I, I don't want to say that. The father gets to be generous and he gets to bestow his blessings as he wants, as he sees fit, as he wills. And if he gives someone else more than he gives to me, then it just highlights his generosity. It just highlights how good he is. And at the same time, that's hard, right? It's hard as human beings to just kind of accept that. And so we need his grace even to accept his grace.

Isn't that crazy? So we pray for each other. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to accept his grace. Isn't that crazy? So we pray for each other. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.