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What do the final hours in the life of Jesus say to us about racism in America today? Previous Justice Articles Next Stations of the Cross on Overcoming Racism What do the final hours in the life of Jesus say to us about racism in America today? The first station in the Stations of the Cross in the Church of Saint Stephen in Salmbach, Bas-Rhin, France, cropped. Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Salmbach-St_Stephan-Kreuzweg-01-Jesus_wird_zum_Tode_verurteilt-gje.jpg . Tom Faletti March 1, 2024 Do the final hours in the life of Jesus say anything to us about racism in America today? The connections are numerous and compelling. I invite you to pray the “ Stations of the Cross: Overcoming Racism ,” which I wrote to explore those connections: Stations of the Cross: Overcoming Racism (PDF) The link to the PDF can be found in the Prayer Resources section of this page: Combatting Racism - Parish Resources Background The Stations of the Cross, also known as the Way of the Cross, are an ancient prayer form that Christians developed to remember the events surrounding the Passion and death of Jesus Christ. This particular version of the Stations challenges us to explore the ongoing problem of racism through the lens of the suffering of Jesus. While the Stations are often prayed in churches during the season of Lent, these Stations can be prayed anywhere, anytime. You don’t need to be in a church to reflect on the links between Jesus’s suffering and the struggles of those who endure racism in our nation today. You can download a PDF document containing the Stations here: Stations of the Cross: Overcoming Racism . You can also find a link to it and other resources under the “Prayer Resources” heading here: Combatting Racism - Parish Resources . The US bishops wrote a lengthy letter addressing the issue of racism. A PDF of that pastoral letter can be found here: Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love Pastoral Letter Against Racism . Links to that letter and other statements can be found here: Combatting Racism - Statements and Letters . The unjust and racist treatment of our Black brothers and sisters as well as people of many other races and ethnicities continues to tarnish our nation. Their pain must become our pain, their cause must become our cause, until the discrimination ends and all people are truly treated equally. USCCB Links PDF of the Stations: Stations of the Cross: Overcoming Racism : https://www.usccb.org/resources/stations-of-the-cross-overcoming-racism.pdf A variety of resources on racism, including a link to the Stations: Combatting Racism - Parish Resources : https://www.usccb.org/committees/ad-hoc-committee-against-racism/combatting-racism-parish-resources (see the Prayer Resources section) U.S. Catholic Bishops' Pastoral Letter: Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love – Pastoral Letter Against Racism : https://usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/racism/upload/open-wide-our-hearts.pdf Other resources: Combatting Racism - Statements and Letters : https://www.usccb.org/committees/ad-hoc-committee-against-racism/combatting-racism-statements-and-letters Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Justice Articles Next

We are not alone. We can work with groups that speak out for justice. Previous Justice Articles Next Groups That Work for Justice We are not alone. We can work with groups that speak out for justice. Image provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti August 1, 2024 Proverbs 31:8-9 calls us to be a voice for the voiceless and to defend the rights of the poor and needy. You do not have to be a silver-tongued expert in order to be an advocate. You can join with organizations that know the issues, the facts, and how to present the concerns of the needy to people in power. Here is a list of organizations that provide advocacy for people whose voices are often not heard in the halls of power. These links may take you to their home page or advocacy page. In general, you can look for words like “Advocacy” or “Campaigns” or “Take Action” (or similar words) in an organization’s menubar, to find out how you might get involved in advocacy efforts on behalf of others. Find a group whose agenda makes sense to you, and join in their efforts to be a voice for the voiceless: Franciscan Action Network . Bread for the World . Catholic Charities USA . Catholic Relief Services . Catholic Climate Covenant . Catholics Mobilizing Network . Justice for Immigrants . NETWORK . U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops . When you act as a voice for those who are not heard, you are showing your solidarity with Jesus, who told us we serve Him when we help the hungry, the stranger, the sick, and others in need. Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Justice Articles Next

What will those who give up earthly goods for Jesus receive? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 19:27-30 What will those who give up earthly goods for Jesus receive? Image by Emma Shappley, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti February 13, 2024 Matthew 19:27-30 The rewards of giving up everything for God Peter observes that the disciples have left everything behind to follow him. What does Jesus say they will have “at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne” (19:28, NRSV)? What does Jesus say that other believers who have left things behind will have in his kingdom? In verse 29, “a hundredfold” is a metaphor rather than a literal accounting term. What is “a hundredfold” describing, metaphorically? A hundredfold might mean an abundance, a richness of life. If they have left behind houses, brothers and sisters, parents and children, property, what do you think it means to say they will have “a hundredfold” in God’s kingdom? Perhaps “brothers and sisters” is metaphorically referring to the fellow believers we will have as spiritual brothers and sisters. It might have a similar meaning for parents and children, but wouldn’t it be awesome to think that I might have some great-great-great-grandparents who might, in heaven, be like parents to me? The property might stand for the abundance and richness of life that we will experience in heaven. Jesus concludes in verse 30: “But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first” (NRSV and NABRE). In what ways does this passage support the conclusion that “the last will be first”? Take a step back and consider this: This incident is part of a series of events in this part of Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus explains what I call Jesus's downside-up/upside-down view of life : the greatest must become like a child (18:1-5), God cares as much about the one stray as the 99 who are safe (18:10-14), the prayers of just two or three people can move heaven (18:19-20), forgiveness is not something we can choose to dole out in limited amounts — we are called to forgive to the utmost (18:21-35), men are to be committed to marriage and not find reasons to divorce their wives (19:1-9), the kingdom of heaven belongs to the children, who are the lowest people on the social ladder (19:13-15), wealth is a potential impediment to receiving God's salvation rather than being a sign of God’s favor (19:16-30), the rewards of the kingdom are available to those who come late to Jesus as well as those who (think they) have followed God’s law from the beginning (20:1-16), those who wish to be first must be the servant of all (20:20-28). Jesus’s perspective is often diametrically opposed to prevailing societal perspectives regarding what is important, or valued, or expected, or right. If you want to see as God sees, you generally need to train yourself to look at things from the bottom, not the top. This can be hard for us. We have to work to see as God sees. Sometimes we have to force ourselves to see differently than the world has trained us to see. What is one aspect of your life where you can challenge yourself to see what it looks like from the bottom up, from Jesus’s downside-up perspective? Why does God choose to take that vantage point? Can you do the same? What difference would it make? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next

Living the Christian life in the church. [1 Thessalonians 5:12-22; 5:23-28] Previous 1 Thess. List Next 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28 Living the Christian life in the church. Image from Wix. Tom Faletti January 31, 2025 1 Thess. 5:12-22 Relationships and behavior within the church Paul now turns to his expectations for how the Thessalonians should live with each other in the church. In verses 12-13, he describes how the leaders of the local church should act and how the “congregation” (the members of the local church) should treat them. In verse 12, what 3 things does he say the leaders do? They “labor” among you, they have a leadership role over you, and they “admonish” you. Different Christian denominations have different terms for these leaders of the church: priests, ministers, pastors, deacons, elders, etc. In the following questions, the term “priests and ministers” will be used, but please translate that into whatever terms you use in your church. In what ways do our local priests and ministers “labor”? What is the “work” they do? In what ways should we defer to them as our leaders? Do your priests/ministers admonish you? If so, how? If they don’t, should they, and if so, how? How important is it to have people in your life who will “admonish” you? And how should they do it so that it is effective and not just off-putting? In verse 13, what 3 things does Paul ask the members of the church to do in support of the leaders? He asks them to show their leaders “esteem,” love them ( agape ), and be at peace. Why is it important to “esteem” our priests and ministers and to show them “love”? Are there ways you could show them more appreciation for the work they do? Are there ways you could show more appreciation or support for the other church employees, who do so much unsung work? Paul adds that the Thessalonians – the members of the congregation – should be at peace with one another. Why is peace important? Why is being at peace with the other members of your church such an important part of loving the leaders of your church? What do you do to help bring about or maintain peace in your church? In verses 14-15, Paul moves into a longer list of things the members of the church should do with each other. What does he tell them to do? Why is he concerned about people who are idle (he also mentioned them in 4:11)? What would it look like to admonish people who are idle? How might you encourage the fainthearted and help the weak? Why is patience so important? How does it help us deal with the idlers, the fainthearted, and the weak? Verse 15 could be a good rule for life in a variety of circumstances. What does Paul tell them to not do and to do in verse 15? Don’t return evil for evil. Always seek the good for each other and for all. The first half of verse 15 says: Don’t return evil for evil. Why is this an important rule? What might this stop us from doing, and what are the kinds of circumstances where we need to remember this? The second part of verse 15 goes further. The first part only tells us what not to do. The second part tells us what to do instead . Why is seeking the good of “each other” important? And how does it counteract our tendency to focus on ourselves? But Paul goes even further. He tells us to seek the good of “all,” meaning everyone else, too. In order to be the kind of person who always does what is good not only for myself , and not only for just me and you, but also for everyone else , how might we need to change how we think about the situations we are in? How does this approach to interpersonal relationships reflect the way God does things? How does this approach to interpersonal relationships challenge you? In verses 16-18, Paul focuses more on what is going on inside of us – in our inner selves. What does he say? How can we rejoice always? (What have we to rejoice about even when things are going wrong?) How can we pray without ceasing? For a simple way to approach the habit of praying constantly, you might explore the very short book The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence, an uneducated 17th century monk who spent most of his time working as a cobbler and in the kitchen of the monastery. It can be bought very inexpensively, but it can also be found online at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library . How can we give thanks in all circumstances? What might we give thanks for when we are experiencing illness, mistreatment, or misfortune? How might this attitude of rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks at all times revolutionize your relationship with God? How might it revolutionize your relationships with the people in your world? In verses 19-22 where Paul talks about prophetic utterances, he is probably talking about the kinds of manifestations of the Spirit that appear to have been common in the early church and are sometimes seen in charismatic communities in our time. What is the balance he is seeking? Paul seeks to allow people to speak freely in response to the movement of the Holy Spirit, but with testing and discernment by others. How might this be a good approach to inspiration in general? 1 Thess. 5:23-28 Paul’s closing prayer and greeting Paul ends with prayer (verses 23-25) and greetings (verses 26-28). In his prayer, what does Paul ask of God? Looking at verse 23, what would it take for you to embrace the goal of being “perfectly” (NABRE) or “entirely” holy? Paul’s hope is that the lives of all God’s people would be entirely without blame or fault, “spirit, soul, and body” – i..e, in all aspects of their being. God is working to perfect us. How do our spirit, soul, and body all play a role in the perfecting process that God wants to work in us? What does Paul add in verse 24, and how is it an encouragement? Do you live as though God is faithful and will accomplish your perfection in Christ? How might that insight transform your life? In verse 25, Paul also asks them to pray for him. Why is that important? What does it tell us about Paul? In verse 26, Paul tells them to greet “all the brothers” with “a holy kiss.” A kiss was a common form of greeting in his time. It was used in Christian communities and very early in the life of the Church it became part of the ritual or liturgy. (The Roman Catholic Church reclaimed it as a formal part of the liturgy after Vatican II.) In light of verse 27, however, there may be more to verse 26 than meets the eye. Paul orders, in unusually strong terms (roughly equivalent to “I charge you under oath”), that the letter be read to “all.” He says this right after he tells them to extend the holy kiss to “all.” We do not know why he felt the need to issue such a stern order to have the letter read to everyone in the Christian community. Scholars speculate that there might have been factions developing and Paul wanted to make sure his words reached everyone. But we don’t need to assume that there were factions in order to make sense of verse 27. Paul wanted to make sure that his letter reached everyone – even the idlers (5:14), even the ones who were not peaceful (5:13) or patient (5:14), even the ones who were not walking as children of the light (5:4-8), even the ones who were not living in sexual holiness (4:3-8). Greet all of them, he says, with a holy kiss, and make sure this letter is read to all of them. Paul wants his letter to reach even those who are not living the holiest of lives. Why is it important that we keep reaching out to all of the people in the church, not just the ones who are consistently living holy lives? How might your church be more welcoming of people who are not (and maybe not anywhere near) perfect? How might you be more welcoming of people who are not living a fully Christian life as you perceive it? Paul ends (5:28) where he began (1:1), with grace: May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. How can you grow in being the kind of person who extends God’s grace to everyone? Take a step back and consider this: We need a Christian community. First, we humans are social creatures and need other people. Second, it is difficult to become like Christ without spending time in a community that is dedicated to living like Christ. Third, we cannot abound in love (3:12), encourage each other and build each other up (5:11), support those who are weak or fainthearted (5:14), or do the many other things Christians are called to do, if we are not living in a Christian community. We need to be around people in order to minister to them. Christian communities also offer opportunities to become more like Christ in another way. Spending time with other people opens us to interactions that may have some friction, which become additional opportunities to grow in holiness (5:23) as we try to serve our Lord together. They also give us a place to ask questions and answer questions (3:10; 4:13). We can explore together who God is, what he is trying to accomplish in our world, and how we can participate in God’s work in the world. It is fair to say that we need to be in a Christian community to be all we are intended by God to be. The fact that Paul ends his letter by urging that the holy kiss be extended to everyone and that his letter be read to all tells us how important he thought it was that everyone be supported and included in the community of believers. What is your church or Christian community? How is your Christian community important to you? How does your church enable you to be all you are meant to be? How could your church do more to enable others to grow in Christ, and what part might you play in that effort? How does your church challenge you to grow in Christ, and what might God want you to do in response? What is one practical piece of advice or insight or attitude that Paul offers in this letter, that you can take to heart and pursue within the context of your Christian community? Bibliography See 1 Thessalonians - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/1-thessalonians/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous 1 Thess. List Next

Herod seeks to kill Jesus, which is why Jesus ends up as a refugee in Egypt, and then in Nazareth. Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 2:13-23 Herod seeks to kill Jesus, which is why Jesus ends up as a refugee in Egypt, and then in Nazareth. Image by NEOM, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti February 13, 2024 Matthew 2:13-23 Jesus becomes a refugee, avoids a massacre, and ends up in Nazareth Matthew tells this part of the story to help us understand how Jesus could be the Messiah even though he grew up in Nazareth, not in Bethlehem. Why does Joseph take Jesus and Mary to Egypt? When the angel tells Joseph to “flee,” the Greek word for flee is pheuge , which is related to our English words “refuge” and “refugee.” It was common for Jews to hide out in Egypt if they were in trouble or in danger in Judea; there were Jewish communities in a number of Egyptian cities, so they would not have felt totally alone. Still, it was a long way from home. Jesus began his life as a refugee. Fortunately, Joseph and Mary did not have to convince a skeptical government that the family was worthy of asylum status. God was willing to become not only a human, not only a poor person, but a refugee. How does that help us understand the inherent dignity of refugees and the importance of being welcoming to them? The “fulfillment prophecy” that Matthew cites in verse 15 is not actually about Jesus or the Messiah. It was a statement from Hosea 11:1 about the fact that God called his “son,” the people of Israel, out of Egypt, long ago. Matthew repurposes it, perhaps to try to convince Jews that there is a huge amount of evidence in the Hebrew Scriptures pointing to Jesus. Matthew might also be thinking that Jesus’s experience of being brought out of oppression is a foreshadowing of our own experience of being brought out of oppression by Jesus. Matthew’s frequent use of these “fulfillment prophecies” leads some scholars to conclude that Matthew is picking out Old Testament prophecies and then creating stories to fit them. There is no evidence that he is doing that. Rather, it appears that he is organizing the stories he knows about Jesus and then searching the Old Testament to see if it has “prophecies” that might fit with those events. The stories come first; not the prophecies. When the wise men do not return to him, what does Herod do? Bethlehem was not a large town, so scholars think this would have been a slaughter of perhaps 20 or 30 children. While not large in number, all the children killed by Herod would have been deeply mourned by their mothers and fathers. Some scholars think the killing of the innocents is inspired by Pharaoh’s killing of the first-born sons of the Israelites before the exodus from Egypt, but again if Matthew created the story for that purpose he could easily have made the connection explicit and he did not. The “fulfillment prophecy” in verse 18 is from Jeremiah 31:15, where the original verse is about the Israelites being forced into exile by the Babylonians. It is followed by prophecies that the people will return from exile. Ramah was 5 miles north of Jerusalem, so it was 10 miles from Bethlehem. Rachel’s tomb was thought to be in the vicinity of Bethlehem. Matthew puts that all together and sees Jesus. Where do you think God was, as this was happening? God allows humans to do a lot of evil things, without intervening. Why do you think that is? God is guiding us to be people who as fully as possible reflect God’s image. If he intervened every time something bad happened, we would not be able to learn the lessons of our actions and would not grow to spiritual maturity. Also, we might stop trying to be our best selves, figuring that God will make things better if we mess up. Allowing us to do evil is the price that must be paid for giving us the chance to grow and mature and be great: to take on the mind of Jesus, to be the Body of Christ to the world, to live in the power of the Spirit. Jesus escapes from a tyrant by going to Egypt and then returning when the tyrant is gone. How does this connect with Moses’s escape, as an infant, from a pharaoh who was a tyrant in Egypt, and the Israelites’ later escape from a tyrant pharaoh in Egypt? The words “go . . . for those seeking the child’s life are dead” (2:20, NRSV) echo the Lord’s direction to Moses to go back to Egypt because the Pharaoh who wanted to kill him is dead (Exodus 4:19), setting up a possible linkage between Jesus and Moses: Jesus is the new Moses, leading his people out of oppression and giving them a new Law. When Herod dies, why doesn’t Joseph go back to Bethlehem? Joseph is afraid of Herod’s son Archelaus, who is given the southern territory including Jerusalem and Bethlehem by his father. Joseph had good reason to be afraid of Archelaus. Archelaus was so oppressive and hated so much by the Jews that he was eventually deposed from his position by Rome. Recall that Herod’s roots were in Idumea. Archelaus had roots in Idumea and Samaria, so he was even more suspect of not being a real Jew, and he treated the Jews so horribly that this suspicion was confirmed in the people’s minds. For example, Josephus tells us that in one of Archelaus's first official acts, 3,000 Pharisees were killed in response to an uprising protesting his father’s last act of oppression in Jerusalem. Joseph goes north to Galilee, to the town of Nazareth, a place far away from Jerusalem and not under Archelaus’s jurisdiction. Matthew’s final “fulfillment prophecy” in this chapter (verse 23) cannot be found in the Old Testament. Scholars have searched and never found anything that matches. So we don’t know what Matthew had in mind here. The closest thing is a prophecy before Samson is born that Samson will be a “nazirite” (Judges 13:5), but that is not the name of a place. Perhaps Matthew was inviting a connection to the nazirites, which were Israelites, including Samson and Samuel, who consecrated themselves to God, never drank alcohol, and never cut their hair, among other strict practices (Numbers 6). But the connection is flawed, since Jesus didn’t live an ascetic life and refrained from the demonstrations of human strength that Samson excelled at. Other scholars point to a possible word-play as Isaiah 11:1 talks of a “branch” arising from the stump of Jesse, and the Hebrew word for “branch” is netser , which sounds similar to the beginning of the name Nazareth. Since Jesus fulfilled in his own person some prophecies that were addressed to “Israel,” some scholars think this word-play hinting at the branch that arises from Israel is in Matthew’s mind. All of these are nice ideas, but we don’t know what Matthew had in mind; so this suggested quote remains a puzzle. Even if we don’t expect God to communicate to us nowadays through dreams, how is Joseph a role model for seeking guidance from God? When you figure out what God is asking you to do, do it! ; make yourself open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit; trust that God has a way forward for your life; take care of those around you; be aware of what is going on around you in the world, but don’t be paralyzed by it. Joseph settles his family in Nazareth. What do you know about Nazareth as a place to live and work? Joseph might have seen that he could find good work in the area of Nazareth, especially in Sepphoris, 5 miles away. This is explained in Raymond Brown’s one-volume biblical commentary: “Joseph, involved in the building trade, probably settled in in Nazareth, because he could find abundant work in neighboring Sepphoris, which Herod Antipas was rebuilding as his capital at that time” (Benedict T. Viviano, O.P., “The Gospel According to Matthew,” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary , par. 15, p. 636). Historians say that Sepphoris, though a Jewish city, did not join the Jewish rebellion against Roman rule in 66 A.D., suggesting that it took a more cosmopolitan rather than strictly Jewish approach to life under Roman occupation. How might this choice of a hometown have affected Jesus as he grew up? Although Nazareth was a small town, it was not a backwater. Besides being just 5 miles from Herod Antipas’s capital at Sepphoris, it was nestled in the fabric of trade routes to faraway places. It was only 15 miles away from the major international north-south Roman highway that ran through Israel along the Mediterranean coast from Syria to Egypt. Nazareth was also the crossroads of two smaller highways that served as trade routes, one starting at Ptolemais on the coast (modern-day Acre, Israel) and running southeast to Samaria, and the other running northeast through Nazareth to Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee, a city founded by Herod Antipas (see “Palestine in the time of Jesus, 4 B.C. - 30 A.D.: (including the period of Herod, 40 - 4 B.C.),” Library of Congress , https://www.loc.gov/item/2009579463/ ). As a result, Jesus, as a growing child and as a young man, would have been exposed to other cultures and a bigger world even while living in his Jewish village. This is all we get from Matthew for the “Christmas story” – very little compared to what we have from Luke. What important points about the background, birth, and infancy of Jesus are provided to us by Matthew? Jesus is Son of David, son of Abraham, Son of God due to his virgin birth, Emmanuel (“God with us”), perhaps a new Moses, born in Bethlehem, and raised in Nazareth. His birth story shows how the hand of God protects a little one so that he can grow up and save us, and the first people to recognize that this little one is great is a small group of Gentiles, a bit of foreshadowing that continues to play out as Matthew shows that the gospel is for Gentiles as well as Jews. How do you see the hand of God working subtly but decisively to bring good out of evil in these stories? How do you see the hand of God doing the same thing in your life? Do you think Matthew succeeds in making his point that Jesus fulfills the messianic prophecies even though he grew up in Nazareth, not Bethlehem? Explain. What can you take from this story of the wise men, Herod, Joseph, and Jesus to strengthen your faith or your approach to God? Take a step back and consider this: God could have chosen anywhere in the world for his Son to be born as a human. He could have selected a “chosen people” anywhere. He could have chosen any time in history for his coming. God chose this particular people, whose particular history placed them in this particular place in the world at this particular time. At this particular time, the Roman Empire made it easy to spread a message far and wide. Growing up in Nazareth would place Jesus among people who could both nurture him in the monotheistic culture of Judaism and also expose Him to the rest of the world, and living at a minor crossroads could help him tailor his message to speak to both Jews and Gentiles and prepare the way so that his followers could use their location in the midst of the Roman Empire to take the gospel ultimately “to the ends of the earth.” You also live at a particular time, in a particular place, among a particular people, at a crossroads of particular relationships and opportunities. God desires to work through you to share some piece of his good news with some particular people by your words and actions. How is God calling you to use the embedded realities, relationships, and crossroads of your life to bring his good news to others and make the world more like the kingdom of God that it was meant to be? What is God calling you to do next, where you are? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next

Subscribing to Faith Explored is free and lets you receive an email notification when new posts are added that can help you apply the Bible to your everyday life. Thank You for Subscribing! We appreciate you! As a subscriber you will receive email notifications when we post new articles, which can help you grow in your faith! If you haven't already become a member, join here to post comments: Become a member Check Out Our Blog Posts What Would You Like to Do Now? Explore a Bible study to grow in your faith: Matthew Philemon John Hope 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians Mary Read an article on how to apply the Bible to everyday life: The 3 Temptations We All Face We face 3 common temptations: to fill our wants inappropriately, to seek inordinate attention, and to pursue power at the cost of integrity. They lure our public figures. How do you respond when they entice you? Birthright Citizenship Protects Every American, Not Just Newcomers Among the unseen implications of the attempt to abolish birthright citizenship is this: Even natural-born citizens would be at risk. Here's how abolishing birthright citizenship would hurt natural-born citizens. Are We Afraid of Black American History? Does it traumatize you to hear the truths of Black American history? Are they too dangerous? Do we have to hide from them in fear? Or can we handle the truth in the stories of our nation’s history? A Martin Luther King Day reflection. A Lesson from an Open Casket Funeral As I looked at my friend’s body, the message was clear: Your days are numbered; use the time you have well. It’s a lesson that applies both to our personal lives and to our professional lives. The “Three Kings” Show That the Good News is For Everyone The “wise men” of the Christmas story are foreigners who travel from another country to see Jesus and are welcomed by the Holy Family. But these wise men are part of a much bigger story that Matthew is telling in his Gospel. What is Matthew's bigger point, and how do the wise men fit into it? Lessons from a Christmas Cactus My Christmas cactus didn’t bloom for years. When it did, I learned some lessons about having patience and not judging others. Image at top  Mateus Campos Felipe, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Oher images provided by Wix.

Members of Faith Explored can post comments and questions on the Faith Explored blog. Subscribing (free) gives you an email notification when new posts are added. Thank You for Being a Member! We appreciate you! Members can comment on posts and asks questions, which can help you and others grow in their faith. If you have not already subscribed to receive email notifications when we post new articles, please do so. Receiving notice of new material will help you get the most out of our website . Subscribe to receive email notifications of new posts What Would You Like to Do Now? Explore a Bible study to grow in your faith: Matthew Philemon John Hope 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians Mary Read an article on how to apply the Bible to everyday life: The 3 Temptations We All Face We face 3 common temptations: to fill our wants inappropriately, to seek inordinate attention, and to pursue power at the cost of integrity. They lure our public figures. How do you respond when they entice you? Birthright Citizenship Protects Every American, Not Just Newcomers Among the unseen implications of the attempt to abolish birthright citizenship is this: Even natural-born citizens would be at risk. Here's how abolishing birthright citizenship would hurt natural-born citizens. Are We Afraid of Black American History? Does it traumatize you to hear the truths of Black American history? Are they too dangerous? Do we have to hide from them in fear? Or can we handle the truth in the stories of our nation’s history? A Martin Luther King Day reflection. A Lesson from an Open Casket Funeral As I looked at my friend’s body, the message was clear: Your days are numbered; use the time you have well. It’s a lesson that applies both to our personal lives and to our professional lives. The “Three Kings” Show That the Good News is For Everyone The “wise men” of the Christmas story are foreigners who travel from another country to see Jesus and are welcomed by the Holy Family. But these wise men are part of a much bigger story that Matthew is telling in his Gospel. What is Matthew's bigger point, and how do the wise men fit into it? Lessons from a Christmas Cactus My Christmas cactus didn’t bloom for years. When it did, I learned some lessons about having patience and not judging others. Image at top  Mateus Campos Felipe, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Oher images provided by Wix.

We welcome everyone as we explore how to apply the Bible to our lives today, with resources for individual and group study developed over 40 years of church service. Welcome to Faith Explored! What is Faith Explored? Faith Explored is a virtual community for people interested in exploring how to apply God’s Word to our lives today. Our mission is to help each person understand God’s Word and put it into action in their lives. To achieve this goal, we seek to help people: increase their understanding of the Bible ; explore how we can apply God’s Word to our lives today; embrace the adventure of living our lives for God, in our unique individual lives and in communion with others; and identify concrete ways we can work for justice and change the world as we are inspired, transformed, and empowered by Jesus. We welcome people of all faiths in this exploration. We believe that everyone can benefit from studying how the Bible applies to our lives. While our approach is decidedly Christian (and Catholics, evangelicals, and Pentecostals can all be comfortable here), we believe that we can learn from others even as they may learn from us. How Faith Explored got started Faith Explored grew out of Tom Faletti’s quest to bring to a wider audience what he has developed in more than 40 years of small-group Bible Study. When we meet in small groups for Bible Study, we seek to provide a place where people can increase their understanding of the Bible, learn how to put their faith into action through the application of God’s Word, and experience Christian community. While Faith Explored is a virtual network rather than an in-person faith group, we hope Faith Explored will also promote understanding of God's Word, foster spiritual growth, and provide a supportive community for people interested in exploring their faith. Who is Tom Faletti? I am a native of California. In 1976, I investigated the evidence that Jesus rose from the dead and therefore was not just a great man, concluded that Jesus is God, and gave my life to Him. I entered into a personal relationship with God and promised to serve Him the rest of my life. Having been raised a Catholic, I remained in my church and started working to expand understanding of the Scriptures to anyone who was open. I also led programs with evangelical Christians and people in the charismatic renewal, and learned how to present the truth of God’s Word in ways that can help people of all backgrounds grow in faith. That is why, even though I remain deeply involved in my local Catholic parish, Faith Explored should be a comfortable place for people from any denomination. I graduated from Stanford University and earned a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley. I also earned a Graduate Certificate in Catholic Theology from St. Joseph’s College of Maine. My work life included 3 years of service as the youth minister in the parish church I grew up in; 24 years of service on Capitol Hill, where I worked to expand access to health and nutrition programs and improve the lives of everyday people; and 13 years as an award-winning high school teacher. I have been a committed follower of Jesus since 1976; a Bible Study leader for more than 40 years; and an advocate for truth with a passion for justice all my life. I live in Washington, DC, with my wife (and best friend) Sonia. We have been happily married for 45 years and have 3 adult children. My life is guided by a commitment to faith, family, kindness, respect, truth, and a wholehearted response to the call issued to every person that “You Can Change Your World!” Image at top by Mohamed Nohassi, and image of cross by Tabea, both provided by Unsplash via WIx. Image of small group provided by Wix.

What would you like to do next at Faith Explored? We offer articles and Bible Studies to help you explore how to apply the Bible to everyday life and current issues. Thank You for Responding! We appreciate you! If you have not already subscribed to receive email notifications when we post new articles, please do so. Receiving notice of new material will help you get the most out of our website . Subscribe to receive email notifications of new posts What Would You Like to Do Now? Explore a Bible study to grow in your faith: Matthew Philemon John Hope 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians Mary Read an article on how to apply the Bible to everyday life: The 3 Temptations We All Face We face 3 common temptations: to fill our wants inappropriately, to seek inordinate attention, and to pursue power at the cost of integrity. They lure our public figures. How do you respond when they entice you? Birthright Citizenship Protects Every American, Not Just Newcomers Among the unseen implications of the attempt to abolish birthright citizenship is this: Even natural-born citizens would be at risk. Here's how abolishing birthright citizenship would hurt natural-born citizens. Are We Afraid of Black American History? Does it traumatize you to hear the truths of Black American history? Are they too dangerous? Do we have to hide from them in fear? Or can we handle the truth in the stories of our nation’s history? A Martin Luther King Day reflection. A Lesson from an Open Casket Funeral As I looked at my friend’s body, the message was clear: Your days are numbered; use the time you have well. It’s a lesson that applies both to our personal lives and to our professional lives. The “Three Kings” Show That the Good News is For Everyone The “wise men” of the Christmas story are foreigners who travel from another country to see Jesus and are welcomed by the Holy Family. But these wise men are part of a much bigger story that Matthew is telling in his Gospel. What is Matthew's bigger point, and how do the wise men fit into it? Lessons from a Christmas Cactus My Christmas cactus didn’t bloom for years. When it did, I learned some lessons about having patience and not judging others. Image at top  Mateus Campos Felipe, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Oher images provided by Wix.

Faith Explored offers resources for anyone interested in exploring how to apply God’s Word to our lives today.  The website was launched by Tom Faletti to bring to a wider audience the study materials he has developed in more than 40 years of small-group Bible Study. Please check out our blog Our website host is no longer supporting a forum. Jump to the Blog Page Blog Page Please review our Comment Policy to make sure your comments are appropriate. To see this working, head to your live site. All Posts Categories My Posts Login / Sign up Sort by: Newest Follow All Categories Create New Post Comments Views Recent Activity Item option menu What can we learn from Jimmy Carter that might help us live out our faith? Tom Faletti · Questions & Answers 0 1 Jan 10, 2025 What are your recommendations for strong family relationships? Tom Faletti · Questions & Answers 0 0 Oct 13, 2024 Welcome to the Forum Tom Faletti · General Discussion 1 0 Jul 03, 2025 Introduce yourself Tom Faletti · General Discussion 0 0 Feb 09, 2024 Forum rules Tom Faletti · General Discussion 2 0 May 10, 2025 Forum - Frameless Image at top provided by Wix. Join Faith Explored and Join the Conversation! Members of Faith Explored can comment on our blog posts, post comments in the forums, and post their own questions. C lick here or the blue button below to join (it's free). Use the other buttons below to post a comment. Become a Member to Enable Comments Blog Page Forum Page

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Faith Explored applies the Bible to our lives today, with Bible Study resources for individuals and small groups and analysis of issues related to faith and justice. Copyright and Permissions Copyright © 2024 – 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com . See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Scripture quotes are copyrighted by their respective owners; including the following: Some Scripture texts on this website are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner. Some Scripture texts on this website are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.