March 1, 2026, Third Week of Lent Healing of the Hemorrhaging Woman

Luke 8: 40-56

This Lenten season is filled with stories of healing. Last week, it was a leper. Today a woman, and yet to come, a Paralytic, a blind man will find the healing touch of the Savior. One of Luke’s favorite techniques is on display today, a story within a story. It starts with this plea of Jairus and Jesus gets moving toward his house. Before he can get there, another story interrupts, and we are left to wonder if he will get there in time. Then, before he can finish speaking with this woman who has interrupted his journey, there comes another interruption when messengers arrive with bad news. The daughter of Jairus is dead. Finally, Jesus does some interrupting himself as he puts a stop to the grieving crowd.

These verses are about healing, but even more so, they are about one great interruption, that we might call the Messiah. The Incarnation, the Word becoming flesh is the one great interruption of this world and its godless ways. A young girl in Nazareth has her life interrupted by an angel. A carpenter named Joseph has his sleep interrupted with news about his future wife. It’s all about interruption. Jesus Christ interrupts the power of sin and death with a greater power, faith. Sickness long considered the result of sin at that time has go. Death is finished not just once with this girl, but earlier with a widow’s son, soon with Lazarus, preparing us for the final interruption of death by an empty tomb.

Now, for twelve years that woman was not allowed to enter the synagogue over which Jairus presided. Because she was “unclean.” Her presence would have interrupted things. Yet the prayers of both Jairus and this woman were granted because they dared to interrupt Jesus. Now we witness through their stories the healing power of faith. Both Jairus and that woman go out seeking Jesus, and so do we. Those who really do seek Jesus Christ are likely to experience some interruption of their normal routines or their plans when the mission of Jesus and the plan of God become suddenly obvious.

I believe that when we begin to understand our relationship with Jesus Christ and what it asks of us, we will become part of the great Interruption that is God’s plan and the mission of Jesus Christ. We will interrupt cycles of injustice, interrupt hopelessness and emptiness. We will interrupt the loneliness so many live with day by day. We will interrupt the kinds of exclusiveness that keep too many people away and kept that woman out of the Synagogue. The fear and desperation Jairus felt as he faced alone the mortality of his daughter will be interrupted by someone who cares. Watching how these interruptions worked in this Gospel should motivate us to be unafraid to interrupt Jesus with whatever it is that leaves us helpless, afraid, or hopeless like Jairus and that woman. But we ought to be careful when we do, because grace and wisdom may interrupt the routines of our lives and open our eyes to the needs around us everywhere who are waiting

March 1, 2026 This homily will have no audio as it will not be delivered.

I shall be serving the Maronite Mission of Naples this particular weekend.

Genesis 12: 1-4 + Psalm 33 + 2 Timothy 1: 8-10 + Matthew 17: 1-9

This is the seventh day since, Peter declared his belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. When that number appears in our Sacred Scriptures, we should perk up because it means something is complete. At that time, Jesus told the disciples what is likely to happen to him in Jerusalem, and Peter, unable to reconcile his idea of the Christ with what Jesus has shared gets into trouble for suggesting that it can’t be true. With that, Jesus takes them for a walk up a high mountain. What happens there is more about the disciples than about Jesus because after it is all over, Jesus is the same as before, but they are not. Fortified, as it were by what they saw, ready or not, they all now set out for Jerusalem

On that mountain those three disciples were suddenly able to look at their friend and master and see something more than what their eyes perceived. They looked past or through the physical presence of Jesus and came to see the unique and precious relationship Jesus had with the Father. They saw him in a new and different light.

As I have prayed with this passage into Lent’s second week, I have set aside all the theological issues and the Biblical parallels of this mountain experience and that of Moses on Sainai with clouds and voices and radiant faces. All of that is important for understanding the Word of God, but sometimes the Spirit may move us to something more personal and more appropriate for our own time.

I have begun to wonder what it would be like if all of us could look at each other in a new and different light. I think that is what those three disciples did. On that mountain, God gave those disciples the power to see what otherwise was invisible to those who were not believing disciples. I wonder what might happen if we could see more deeply with the eyes of faith into the lives of the men and women with whom we live. I believe that if we would look at each other as those three looked at Jesus, we might see what they saw.  We might see divine life, and we might be so awestruck as to want to keep hang on to that vision because it would bring us such great and wonderful peace.

I want to hope that all of us who know that Jesus is the Christ and Son of the living God have been granted the same power by which Peter, James, and John saw more than just their friend and master from Nazareth. I wonder why we sometimes seem reluctant to use that gift. We ought to be able to see what is invisible to others. We ought to be able to see that every human life is precious in the sight of God. It may not seem so to some, but for us, when we choose to really look beyond the surface of things we could see what God sees, what God loves, and what God calls God’s own.

February 22, 2026 at Saint Peter the Apostle and Saint William Churches in Naples, FL

Genesis 2: 7-9; 3: 1-7 + Psalm 51+ Romans 5: 12-19 + Matthew 4: 1-11

The time Israel spent in Egypt was relived by the Holy Family’s time in Egypt, and the temptation story is an instant replay of Israel’s temptations in the desert. Now, Jesus relives their time in the desert, with one fundamental difference according to Matthew; while Israel had failed the tests, Jesus passed. While Israel turned to other gods, Jesus held fast to God alone. These temptations not only look back, but they also look ahead for they will be the temptations faced by all of us who will follow him.

In each of the trials, Jesus remains focused on God. This is a direct refusal to buy into the “What’s in it for me” attitude that easily pushes us far from the Kingdom of God. No matter what Satan offers him, Jesus stays focused on God. It would be great having as much bread as there are stones in the desert. It would be wonderful to feel safe enough to jump off that tower and know he would be safe and sound. Having all the fame and power in the world would be a dream come true. The question here is this: does he choose prosperity, satisfaction, safety, and power, or does he choose God? The kingdom of God is realized in those who, like Jesus, orient their lives toward God and not around the things God provides.

There is a subtle and important difference between celebrating the good gifts of God and turning them into idols. The ultimate temptation that is the sum of these three is to love the gifts more than the giver, and the surest test of this comes when the gifts are gone. If the giver of those gifts has been forgotten as the gifts become the most important thing, there is no evidence of the Kingdom of God. What usually happens when the gifts are gone is a terrible emptiness and loss because the giver of the gifts had long been replaced by the gifts themselves. We enjoy the gift of good health, and suddenly we get terribly sick and feel abandoned by God when the truth is God is the one abandoned. We enjoy security, power, safety and all it provides for us. If it falls apart those have made those gifts all they care about, are lost and helpless.

The temptation of Israel was to love the gifts of God more than the giver. We face the same temptation. We see it all the time. The wealthiest, most secure, and powerful nations are godless, lonely, and “what’s in it for me” is the question that drives every decision with never a thought about what might be God’s will. Somehow, the more we get, the less thought there is about God. I look at so many young people who have so much stuff and so little awareness who really provides it all. Their phones and toys, cars and sports, are more important than worship on Sunday. The golf course, games, and good life become more precious than the creator of it all.

We are living the temptation story. It was told of old Israel. It was told of the Son of Man, and it’s still being told to this day. We must remember that the Kingdom of God can only be realized with and by those who orient their lives toward God and not the things God provides.

February 18, 2026 at Saint Peter the Apostle and Saint William Churches in Naples, FL

Joel 2: 12-18 + Psalm 51 + 2 Corinthians 5: 20 to 6: 2 + Matthew 6: 1-6 and 16-18

When you give alms. When you pray. When you fast. It all presumes that we do give alms, pray, and fast. If we have not, then the next forty days are a joke or there is something to be done. Then there is this matter of the hypocrites. That’s usually somebody else, but maybe not. That Greek word, “Hypocrite” means a stage actor, and in Greek plays, the actors wore masks that hid their true identity.

Our age with its strident individualism can easily use this text to exalt private prayer and spirituality over corporate worship. It is the need for recognition so rampant in our culture that Jesus challenges with these words. Public prayer and worship give testimony to the presence of God and the grace of God working among us. Claiming that private prayer is the best for you can quickly become a cover up for not praying at all. There is danger here. For disciples who are sincere, worship in a community gives public praise to God becoming an act that may draw others to faith.

The same danger applies to almsgiving and more. Charity can be given out of pride or guilt, to manipulate or control. It can be a bribe or pay back. Ultimately it is about motive, and it is the motive about which Jesus speaks. When I was in the seminary, I never had a book bill, and for all those semesters, I was puzzled. The store manager would tell me nothing. Years after ordination, the widow of our family doctor told me that he had covered my expenses for the whole time. It was recently revealed at his funeral that my old Archbishop in Oklahoma City had won several million dollars in the Texas Lottery. Through an attorney he remained anonymous, quietly funding social justice projects in the Diocese until the money was gone. No recognition for either of those two, but I can tell you that their alms giving motivated me and countless others to a new level of generosity springing out of gratitude and the humble recognition that everything we have is a gift.

And when it comes to fasting, we ought to realize that this is not something just for lent, and it’s not a seasonal diet. It is about sacrifice and discipline. It is a challenge to a culture that is overweight and overindulgent. It’s not about giving up candy or movies. It is about saying “no” or “enough.” It is about taking seriously the enormous amount of food displayed so temptingly at the door of a grocery store and the fact that more than half of humanity is hungry right now. It is about wondering what we can do about it and making some decision.

I think that Jesus is firing a warning over the bow with these words, and there really is Good News here. It is about a treasure in heaven. Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving form the basic structure of life for us. Used rightly, these will free us to live in the abundance of God’s gracious and merciful goodness. They free us from “not enough” worry. This is good news, and more than enough reason to live with hope.

February 15, 2026 at Saint Peter the Apostle and Saint William Churches in Naples, FL

Sirach 15:15-20 + Psalm 129 + 1 Corinthians 2: 6-10 + Matthew 5: 17-37

Oscar Wilde once observed that “as one reads history, one is sickened, not by the crimes the wicked have committed, but by the punishments the good have inflicted. A community is infinitely more brutalized by the habitual employment of punishment than it is by the occasional occurrence of a crime.” It’s a long way of saying that revenge keeps the cycle of violence or evil going. As I often say to people who confess anger as a sin. There is nothing wrong with anger. Jesus was angry many times, but he was never angry about anything done to him. His anger was in response to things done to the innocent, the week, and the helpless. There is a time when anger is appropriate. But, when anger turns to revenge, we have let the evil enter our souls becoming part of it.

Love your enemies is one of the most revolutionary things ever said. Most revolutionaries say that the enemy must be destroyed. Most of us have a hard-enough time trying to love our friends. After a few years of marriage, many discover that loving your spouse becomes a challenge, and something you have to decide to do every day.

All of us have some “enemies,” or at least some people we positively dislike. If we take time to think about why we dislike them, our reasons are probably a bit shallow maybe even silly. The fact is, there is a deeper reason that has nothing to do with anything offensive or something they have done or said. The real reason underneath it all is that they bring out the worst in us. Enemies expose a side of us which we usually try to keep hidden from our friends, a dark side of our nature which we would rather not know about. The enemy stirs up ugly things inside us which is why we hate them.

It seems to me that to love one’s enemy is not, in the first place, to do them good. Rather, it is to allow them to be different, to be themselves, and not try to turn them into a copy of ourselves so that we may be able to love them. The first movement then toward loving an enemy is simply to let them be – let them be themselves.

I do not believe that Jesus expects us to feel love for our enemy because the love he expects is not a feeling, it is an act of will. It is a decision to respect, tolerate and be patient with someone for whom we do not have loving feelings. Jesus is not talking about feelings. He is talking about love as God knows it. The only way we can love in the way Christ asks of us is with the help of God. When Christ asks us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, the perfection he is talking about is the perfection of love. God loves his children unconditionally. He loves them not because they are good but because he is good. If we want to be good, then we learn from the example of Jesus Christ how to live in peace with those who are not a copy of ourselves. One of us is usually enough.

February 8, 2026 at Saint Peter the Apostle and Saint William Churches in Naples, FL

Isaiah 58: 7-10 + Psalm 112 + 1 Corinthians 2: 1-5 + Matthew 5: 13-16

In a world full of salt shakers, we have to work our brains around what Jesus has to say to us today, because what was precious when he first spoke these words is utterly common today. Yet, the Word of God always speaks to the present, and his direct address to us by saying, ‘You are the salt of the earth” suddenly does not suggest today that we are something rare and precious anymore. Now this living Word speaks to us in the present time when salt shakers are everywhere, and there are more kinds of lightbulbs for sale with more different colors than the rainbow and more different base sizes than any of us can figure out.

If Jesus is speaking to us today about something precious and rare, he would have said: “You are Gold. You are Uranium.” But no, it’s still about salt and light that he speaks. These may not be the most glamorous or important elements in the universe, but today they are worth more than anything else, because they are life-giving and useful for the well-being of the world.

Salt is a little thing, but just a pinch of salt can make a big difference. It is not much different with light. Whether it is a candle or a 1000-watt spot light, when it’s dark, a candle will do just fine. What Jesus would have us see is that these things, salt and light are quite ordinary, and at the same time quite useful, and that’s the point.

Look at us, no one is asking for our autograph or trying to take selfies with us to tell their friends about. We are simply ordinary people living ordinary lives. We are as common and almost as numerous as a salt shaker or one of those hundreds of light bulbs in Home Depot or Lowes, and here is the point. Jesus speaks today to ordinary people to remind us of something and perhaps clarify the purpose of our existence.

It’s about being useful. Like ordinary salt or ordinary light, we are here to be useful, beneficial, life-giving elements in this world. We are not here to consume, reproduce, play bridge or golf, or watch football on the weekends. The time we have here is provided for us to make a difference. It does not have to be something big all at once. It might just as well be something small that can make as much difference as a pinch of salt or a candle in the darkness.

We were not made to be hidden. There is a mission, that if taken seriously, will fundamentally shift how we plan our days, in terms of what we do, how we do it, and why. “You” says Jesus Christ, not someone else, and not at another time. “You are the salt of the earth.” “You are a light made for shining.” These are not words from the past. We just heard them right now, and every one of us who hears the Word of God must make a difference and be useful every day.