“Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” When we hear these words, they usually strike us as a challenge, a threat, an obstacle to our happiness, to getting what we want. But the truth is, these words are one of the most encouraging, most hopeful, most liberating commands Jesus gave the Church. I realize that sounds crazy, unbelievable, but it’s true.

Many times, how a question sounds depends on the setting! This is certainly true about the question Jesus poses to the disciples in today’s gospel lesson. Every now and then Jesus quizzes his disciples to see how much they are taking in, how well they’ve been paying attention. Here he asks questions that touch on something truly central to what Jesus was up to: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is? Who do you say I am?”

When I was studying abroad in Ireland during college, I discovered the origin of a common expression, “beyond the pale,” and it has come to mean “beyond the bounds of what is acceptable, outside good judgment or civility.” Today’s lesson from Matthew is a story of Jesus going “beyond the pale,” in several senses. In a literal sense, Jesus has gone beyond the geographical “pale” of the land of Israel. In journeying to Tyre and Sidon, Jesus was entering a hostile, foreign co

I've heard quite a few sermons on this passage that can basically be summed up by the title of a book by John Ortberg: If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat. According to these sermons, Peter had the right idea getting out of the boat, literally “stepping out on faith.” The problem is Peter took his eyes off Jesus, and his faith faltered, but Jesus was there to save him. We are told, we need to be like Peter and summon up the courage to swing our leg

Jesus tells his disciples, “You feed them.” The disciples look confused. “Us? We don’t have anything to give them. We’re all out. Nothing left.” The disciples get together and come up with five small loaves and two fishes. It’s nothing much. Jesus says, “Bring your nothing to me.” He then blesses the food, breaks the loaves, and hands the bread pieces and fish to the disciples to distribute, to all 5,000 men and their families.