March 29, 2026 at Saint Peter the Apostle and Saint William Churches in Naples, FL

Isaiah 50: 4-7 + Psalm 22 + Philippians 2: 6-11 + Matthew 26: 14 to 27: 66

We have, probably from the beginning, the first time we heard this tragic story focused on Jesus, his last days, hours, suffering and death. We could all tell the story without a book we know it so well and always Jesus is at the center and what we remember most.

Perhaps there is another way to remember this story that is more difficult, and maybe we like the old way because it is so much easier. Maybe we could tell it with disciples as the focus because then it becomes more personal. Instead of telling what Jesus does and what happens to him, we might also look at what disciples did and sadly still do. Their story is really ours. They are bumblers, and they desert when the chips are down.

When Christian life becomes inconvenient, embarrassing or costly we retreat into denial, economic comfort, silence in the face of injustice wringing our hands and convincing ourselves that we could not have made a difference anyway. The disciples tell our story. We stand beside them or run with them at the first sign of danger. They protest when he calls them deserters, but the truth is really in their hearts.

Yet we all really want to do the right thing. We understand what he said in the Garden: “The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Good intentions cannot save us not even right action. Only the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection can save them and save us leaving us to be filled with gratitude and joy. For Jesus has accomplished what we have not, the perfect fulfillment of the Father’s will.

March 22, 2026 at St Peter and Saint William Parishes in Naples, FL

Ezekiel 37: 12-14 + Psalm 130 + Romans 8: 8-11 + John 11: 1-45

Now comes the last of the seven signs in John’s Gospel, and with it a lesson on waiting and grieving. Martha and Mary wait. Even these much-loved disciples and friends of Jesus cannot snap their fingers and have their wish fulfilled. Then Jesus says: “Let’s go” and the final days of his journey to Jerusalem begin. He’s not going to Lazarus. He is going to his death. Along the way, he will bring Lazarus to live again for a while until he finds his way home at last. But not before hope is nearly lost because Lazarus has been four days in a tomb.

A question is always there when hope grows dim. “What if”, and Martha says it with a broken heart. Grief does that to us all. It robs us of hope. Martha may not be the only one asking that question. Perhaps even Jesus asks: “What if” as he weeps. Is it grief over the loss of a friend, or is it the pain of the friends standing around him who are so stricken? Does he feel as though he let them down by not coming earlier?

More likely the tears of Jesus speak to his acceptance of death as an inevitable tragic part of human experience. People are born. People die. Even if Jesus had arrived earlier and healed Lazarus, eventually the man would have died. Certainly, even after Lazarus was raised from the dead, at some point he died again. Death cannot be avoided. On his way to Jerusalem now, Jesus had to be aware that his powerful enemies were out to destroy him. He weeps.

The reasons for his tears however are not as important as the fact that he allowed the tears to flow. He did not do what we are often told to do. He did not hold back tears, bottle-up his emotions, or maintain self-control. We can learn from this story to be free, to cry in the face of something that could prompt those tears and stand without shame or embarrassment with those who grieve and express their pain so openly. The tears, the grief, the sadness must never rob us of hope that is so easily lost in all the emotions around death. Martha’s hope expressed in her talk with Jesus leads him to the tomb where her brother will emerge to live again.

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

1 Samuel 16: 1, 6-7, 10-23 + Psalm 23 + Ephesians 5: 8-14 + John 9: 1-41

Light and Darkness are in a constant struggle in John’s Gospel. Last week a woman came in the middle of the day following the story of Nicodemus who came to Jesus in the middle of the night. Just before these verses today, Jesus said: “I am the light of the world.” Today, that Light of the World sees a man who has lived his whole life in darkness.

Through all the dialogue and questioning by the Pharisees, we see this man who has physical sight gradually come to spiritual sight. He could see with his eyes the man who healed him. By the end of the story, the man now sees fully, physically and spiritually as he proclaims his newfound recognition and belief in Jesus Christ.

Remember, there are no “miracles” in John’s Gospel. He never uses that word. This is one of the seven “signs” that frame John’s Gospel.  Just as before with the story of the woman at the well, this is a story told to reveal and confirm the identity of Jesus Christ. But, more than that. There is no stopping with identity. Once the identity is confirmed, the mission unfolds. We cannot stop by simply declaring our belief in Jesus Christ. The proof or evidence that we believe comes when we take up his mission in this world, and that requires spiritual sight.

We may not be spiritually blind like those Pharisees who thought they could see but could not. We must work and pray for a kind of wholeness that provides both physical and spiritual sight. Physical sight lets us see bread and wine. Spiritual sight sees the precious body and blood of Christ. Physical sight lets us see the homeless. Spiritual sight lets us see a helpless but loved child of God. Physical sight lets us see immigrants among us. Spiritual sight lets us see deep into their souls, friendless and frightened, only wanting the opportunities for their children that ours have had.

At the end of this story, Jesus, having heard that the man had been thrown out of the synagogue breaking all ties of friendship and support goes to find him. It is a lesson for us, the Church. To be prophetically compassionate and fulfill the mission Jesus began and handed on to us. We are to seek out those who have been excluded and with them work toward a future when all of God’s children recognize each other and worship together in a spirit of justice, love, and grace.

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

Exodus 17: 3-7 + Psalm 95 + Romans 5 1-3, 5-8 + John 4: 5-42

This treasured and rich story is full of significant details that could easily provide a two-hour homily. The location, the importance of that well, and the absence of the disciples are quick examples. Told in our culture at this time in history, we can easily be distracted by her past with several husbands. Yet there is no suggestion that she is a sinner. She does not repent, and Jesus has no condemnation. What we might focus on is the fact that neither of them ever gets any water. In fact, she leaves the bucket behind which might be John’s way of moving our attention from a well and a bucket to something else. That something is revealed through their conversation. As always in John’s Gospel, this story is about the identity of Jesus and what happens to someone who comes to recognize him.

Something important happens in the dialogue. At the first, she knew only that he was a Jew, an outsider to her people and someone she should not be talking to. Then she recognizes him as a prophet, one who speaks the things of God, who opens a future she has never imagined as they talk about the future and the prayerful reunion of their two hostile religious factions. Finally, she realizes that he might be the Messiah, and Jesus confirms her suspicion by saying, “I am he.” At this point, something happens to her. No longer going for water, she goes after others bringing them to the source of living water. “Come and see” she says.

The just before this story, we hear about Nathanial who comes to Jesus in the night and takes a long time to realize who he visits. This story takes place at Noon. She does not come in secret and in darkness. She has found the light, and she wants to bring other into that light.

That living spring of water gushing up to eternal life is the Holy Spirit. Now, the one John the Baptist spoke of who would baptize by water and the Spirit is revealed, and in a sense the first to be so Baptized by the Spirit is this Samaritan woman, and we cannot miss what happens to her. She becomes a true disciple/evangelist going out and calling others to come and see.

She has no name, and whenever a Gospel gives us a nameless person, it is a way of drawing us into the story making it our own story. We all have a shady past just like that woman, but does not keep us from the Lord, and he makes nothing of it. We are all thirsty for something and keep thinking that something in this world will finally be enough, but it never is. We all have dreams for the future stirred up by the hope we find in God’s promise. Those of us who have met our Messiah, who have come to the well water of Baptism are the people who must be inviting others to come and see the Lord Jesus Christ.  We have been Baptized by Jesus Christ, Baptized in his spirit. Moved by that Spirit what we say, what we do, what we hope for must surely tempt others to come and see what we have and what we have heard. The work of evangelism is our work. Bringing others to Jesus Christ, to the light, to the truth, and to joy of our faith is consequence and the first sign that we truly do believe.