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Who can be saved? Your wealth won’t save you, but what will? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 19:23-26 Who can be saved? Your wealth won’t save you, but what will? Image by Jussara Romão, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti February 13, 2024 Matthew 19:23-26 The danger of riches Jesus uses a vivid illustration to make his point about the dangers of wealth. His statement about the camel going through the eye of a needle has led many people to search for answers – particularly because they don’t want to take it literally (and given that fact that Jesus was raised as a Jew in a culture where exaggeration for effect was the norm, he probably was exaggerating in some sense). Some scholars suggest the existence of a small gate into a walled city, separate from the wide, main gate, where a camel could only go through if it was stripped of all it was carrying. This smaller entrance is supposed to have been called the “needle’s eye.” There is no evidence for the existence of such entryways, but the image might be apt anyway. We need to let go of any possessions that would keep us from entering the kingdom of God, and that means we need to let go of everything we cling to, like a camel being relieved of its burdens, before we can go through. However, the disciples don’t envision there being any way through the eye of a needle. The disciples are astonished by what Jesus says about rich people because they think rich people are more likely to get into to heaven than poor people. That was common thinking in their day. Would that be a correct way of thinking? Explain. What is Jesus’s answer to their question, “Then who can be saved?” (19:25, NRSV) Note that Jesus is not saying rich people can’t go to heaven. Zacchaeus was rich (Luke 19:9). Joseph of Arimathea was rich (Matt. 27:57). Nicodemus was rich (John 19:39). Rich people were not required to give up their wealth in the early church (Acts 5:4). What do you think Jesus means by saying that for humans it is impossible? What do you think Jesus means by saying that for God all things are possible? What is he saying about us and wealth? What is your reaction to this passage? What does it say to you about your own wealth or lack of it and how it might affect your salvation? Take a step back and consider this: God is at work in us, in this world. He knows that we need possessions: a frying pan to cook in, clothes to wear, a toilet; etc. And the more advanced our world gets, due to the ingenuity of the human mind – which was created by God and then invited to use its free will to create other things – the more things we come to need: cars or bicycles, cell phones, microwave ovens, etc. The problem is not that things exist; the problem is that they sometimes take over the focus of our lives. Jesus has at least two different purposes in today’s conversation: to push us to re-focus and put our priorities in the right place, and to guide us to a deeper point – that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. Only God can do that. Wealthy persons can live a life focused on their many possessions and the next possession they hope to get, or they live a life focused on sharing the love of God with those around them. Poor people can live a life focused on their meager possessions and the next possession they hope to get, or they live a life focused on sharing the love of God with those around them. Whatever a person’s situation, only God can bring them to the kingdom of heaven. Neither having many possessions nor having few possessions gives you a ticket to heaven. Only God can do that. What is one, small change you could make today, to take a bit of your mind off of wealth or “things” so that your mind and heart can focus more on people and God? 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

Are you serving others and helping to lift their burdens, or seeking attention and honor for yourself? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 23:1-12 Are you serving others and helping to lift their burdens, or seeking attention and honor for yourself? Image by Sai Madhav, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti August 19, 2025 Matthew 23:1-12 Don’t follow the example of the scribes and the Pharisees In the previous passages, Jesus dealt with challenges from the various leadership factions in Jerusalem. Now he turns to the crowds and his disciples. In this chapter, Jesus severely criticizes the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy and their heartless indifference to the burdens of others. But these groups did not come into existence for nefarious reasons. They started from a sincere desire to follow God’s Law completely, which is a cautionary tale for us. The scribes were the experts regarding the Old Testament scriptures – what they mean and how to apply them to life. We might compare them to the scholars and theologians of our time: people who have theology degrees or other forms of lengthy training in religious matters. Most scribes had a deep reverence for the Law and believed that it was the highest of all callings to spend one’s life studying the Law. They worked very hard to identify the 613 commands they found in the Law of Moses and to apply the God’s commands to every minute detail of life, because they loved the Law so much. The Pharisees were a deeply dedicated group of Jews who sought to follow every detail of those 613 commands in the most rigorous way possible. They sought to live every part of their lives, as fully as possible, according to their strict interpretation of the Scriptures. We might compare them in our time to the most devoted members of ecclesial organizations such as Opus Dei or Third Order Franciscans. Just as not all theologians are members of Opus Dei and not all members of Opus Dei are theologians, but some people are both, so too there was an overlap but also a distinction between the scribes and the Pharisees. Jesus zeroes in on the ways that they have obstinately resisted his good news and have remained stuck in narrow and often self-serving approaches to faith. In verse 2, the reference to Moses’s “seat” may be metaphorical or it may refer to the seat of honor reserved for the people who taught in the synagogues. Synagogues did not have ordained “ministers,” so many people were invited to teach and interpret the Scriptures. In verse 3, what does Jesus instruct the crowds and his followers to do? There are two halves to what Jesus says here: Do whatever they teach you, but don’t do as they do. The first half – to do what they teach you – doesn’t seem to fit, given that Jesus has pointed out so many errors in their teaching throughout this entire Gospel. He is implying that sometimes they get it right. What do you think are some of the things they taught that he wants the crowds to follow? What do you think Jesus means in the second half of his statement, when he says: Don’t do the things they do? He might be saying that when they start focusing on their extreme and sometimes heartless interpretations of the Law, emphasizing little details that maybe even they don’t always follow, and when they make an ostentatious production of their faith, then you should not follow their example. How might we apply this in our day? What might Jesus suggest in our day that we should not do? What do you think verse 4 means when Jesus makes a metaphorical reference to “heavy burdens”? How are they imposing “heavy burdens” on the people who follow them? Their endless multiplication of detailed laws makes life very hard for everyday people. Their laws are burdensome and don’t benefit people’s faith life. Are there ways that people today pile rules and laws onto ordinary Christians unnecessarily, and perhaps miss the core of the gospel? Jesus adds that they don’t lift a finger to help the people who are struggling under the burdens they have created. Read Matthew 11:28-30 . How does their indifference compare to how Jesus deals with our burdens? Beginning in verse 5, Jesus focuses on the ways they do things for show. He has already warned the disciples about this in Matthew 6:1-18 with regard to almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. What is wrong with wanting to be seen when you do things that follow God’s Law? In verse 6, Jesus says they wear bigger phylacteries and longer tassels. Here is an explanation: Phylacteries are small leather boxes containing a little scroll with Scripture verses on it, that Jews would strap to their arm or forehead . This practice was based on Exodus 13:9. It was intended to remind them to keep God’s teachings on their lips and to remember God’s saving hand that delivered them from Egypt. The command is repeated in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, right after the famous command to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and might, implying that this practice would help them do that. It is also repeated in Deuteronomy 11:18-21, where this practice is linked with keeping God’s commands in their heart and soul. Tassels were pieces of string that were sewn onto the four corners of a person’s cloak to fulfill the command prescribed in Numbers 15:37-41. They were meant to be a reminder to follow God’s commandments. (The command is repeated in Deuteronomy 22:12 without the explanation.) When the woman with a hemorrhage touched the “hem” or “fringe” of Jesus’s garment in Luke 8:44, she was probably touching the tassel on his cloak. Do you think we would be more likely to remember to follow God’s commands if we went through our day with a reminder strapped to our foreheads or arms? Explain. What were the Pharisees doing wrong with regard to their phylacteries? What were they doing wrong with their tassels? In verses 6 and 7, Jesus denounces more of their practices. What were they doing wrong at banquets, in the synagogues, and in the marketplaces? What ungodly attitudes were being shown by these Pharisees? Where are the temptations for you to become a “scribe” or “Pharisee” in this way? Where might you have to be careful to avoid these kinds of attitudes? Verses 8-10 talk about titles to avoid. It is probably not useful to apply this too simplistically or literally. Even the apostle Paul referred to himself as the “father” of other Christians in 1 Corinthians 4:15 and Philemon 10. What is the ungodly attitude that Jesus is challenging? Jesus is challenging the pride that wants to be honored and treated as greater or more important than others. Almost every Christian denomination identifies the people who are allowed to teach the truths of their faith in colleges and seminaries as “teachers” (or “doctors,” which is just a title for a high-level teacher). The Catholic Church and some other denominations call their ministers “Father,” and many denominations make a big deal about who gets to be called “Pastor” (which means “shepherd”) or Bishop (which means “overseer”). Do we handle these titles appropriately, or do they run afoul of Jesus’s reserve the honorifics for God? If we dropped all honorifics for our church leaders, would it still be possible for them to fall into the pride that wants to be honored and treated as greater than others? And if so, what is the deeper point here? In verses 11-12, Jesus sums up what he is saying by making a bigger point. What does he say? This statement echoes what Jesus said in Matthew 20:26-27. How do verses 11-12 apply to Christian leaders, regardless of what we call them? How do verses 11-12 apply to you personally, as you live your own life? What do you need to do to honor Jesus’s teaching here? It is easy to try to put myself ahead of others without even realizing it, and to exalt myself in big or small ways. How can I keep from falling into that trap? There is also a risk that we might find ourselves trying to call attention to how humble we are. How do we sometimes do that? And how can we avoid it? Take a step back and consider this: For every scribe or Pharisee who was strutting around, flaunting his phylacteries and tossing his tassels, there were probably 2 or 4 or 9 others who were simply trying to live their faith with all the devotion they could muster. The same is true in our day. It is easy to point our finger at the TV evangelist with gold rings and a Mercedes. It is harder to recognize the subtle ways we are tempted to buy into a culture that tells us, “You need more ‘likes.’ It’s your time. You deserve the best. Everyone needs a little bling. Bigger is better. You earned it; now flaunt it.” If I listen to the ads and the social media culture, I’ll start to think that I need all kinds of things, and a lot of attention, in order to be important, or fulfilled, or happy. Jesus says, “No. Stop thinking about yourself. Stop wasting time on what does not matter. God has much bigger purposes for you than this. Focus on what God is trying to do.” What are the messages embedded in our culture that are most likely to steer you off track or knock you off your game? What are the distractions that can take your eyes off of Jesus? What can you do to stay focused, so that when people see you, they say, “There is a servant of God who makes life a little bit easier for the people around them”? And in your life as a servant, what can you do to help lift the burdens of others? 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

Jesus spends time alone, leaving the disciples to get across the lake without him. When he walks on the water and joins them, they reach their destination. How do we handle the times when we don’t feel his presence? Previous Next John List John 6:16-21 Jesus spends time alone, leaving the disciples to get across the lake without him. When he walks on the water and joins them, they reach their destination. How do we handle the times when we don’t feel his presence? Anonymous artist in the circle of Jacopo Tintoretto (probably Lambert Sustris, 1515-c. 1591). Christ at the Sea of Galilee . Circa 1570s. Cropped. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Public domain, courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, https://www.nga.gov/artworks/41637-christ-sea-galilee . Tom Faletti February 20, 2026 Read John 6:16-21 Jesus walks on the water This is the 5 th of John’s 7 “signs.” In a sentence or two, what happens in this incident? The reason why Jesus is not with the disciples in the boat is because, as verse 15 tells us, he withdrew to the mountain on his own. Why do you think he wanted to be alone, without his disciples? Matthew 14:23 tells us that he went up the mountain to pray, but can we take that a step further? Why do you think Jesus wanted to pray alone at this time, and not with his disciples? Are there times when we need to be alone? How is spending time alone important? Jesus is alone on the mountain, but the disciples are also “alone” in the boat in the sense that they are without Jesus. They have probably gotten used to having Jesus around, everywhere they go. Now they are facing strong winds and rough waves without him. At verse 19 before Jesus appears, how do you think they are feeling? Think of the fears you have had over the years, from when you were a child to now. What did you used to fear most, and what do you fear most now? What is Jesus’s response in verse 20? As you face troubling times in your life today, what do these words of Jesus say to you: “It is I; do not be afraid”? What effect do you think Jesus’s presence has on the disciples? Can you think of a time that Jesus had a similar effect on you or someone you know, where he came to you or made his presence known in a time of struggle? How important is Jesus’s presence to you? How important is it to feel his presence? In verse 20, most English translations have Jesus saying, “It is I.” However, in the original Greek, his words are, “I am,” which calls to mind the name by which God revealed himself to Moses in Exodus 3:14. (In Hebrew, God’s name is spelled using the Hebrew letters for “YHWH,” which is often written in English as “Yahweh” and also inaccurately written as “Jehovah”). Jesus also used “I am” with the Samaritan woman in John 4:25, but why is this moment on the sea an especially appropriate time for Jesus to claim for himself the divine name of God? At Cana, Jesus showed his power to transform nature, turning water into wine. With the feeding of the 5000, he showed his ability to multiply things in the natural world: to make something exist that did not previously exist. Here he shows his transcendence over nature: his ability to overcome the limitations of human nature and the chaos in the natural world. All of these acts show his power, but the third of these miracles demonstrates that he is not just a magician manipulating things; he transcends the natural world as only God does. How can you apply this passage in your life? What does this story tell us about faith? John ends abruptly with the cryptic statement in verse 21 that they immediately arrived at the shore. In Matthew’s telling of the story (Matt. 14:22-27), there is a dialogue and Peter walks on the water. John has a different focus. Perhaps to John the great miracle here was not the walking on the water but the immediate arrival at their destination once Jesus was with them. John emphasizes that once Jesus was present, the struggle is over: they don’t even have to do any more rowing – they immediately reach their goal, arriving at Capernaum immediately. How does the presence of Jesus make a difference as we try to reach a goal? In all 3 Gospels that have this story (Matthew, Mark, and John), Jesus walks on the water immediately after the feeding of the 5,000. They are connected in the movement of Jesus and the disciples and the crowd away from and back to Capernaum, but are they also connected symbolically? In what ways are the two stories similar in what they tell us about Jesus? Take a step back and consider this: The crowd so thoroughly misunderstood Jesus’s nature and purpose that they wanted to make him a king. So he withdrew from them. He also sent the disciples without him to Capernaum. Later in this Gospel, Jesus will say that he must go away to prepare a place for us but that he will return (John 14:3, 28). We can explore whether this passage says something to us about the times when we feel alone. There are times in our lives when Jesus feels more present and times when he feels more absent. How might those times when we feel more alone have value in our spiritual life? How might they help us become who we are meant to be? What does Jesus want us to do when we don’t feel his presence? How can this story help you in those difficult times? The disciples must row hard for a long time as they struggle to get across the lake while Jesus is not with them, but he hasn’t forgot about them and when he arrives, they reach their goal. What does that say to you in your times of trial? Bibliography See John - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/john/bibliography . Copyright © 2026, 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 John List Next

Blessed are those who are focused on what God cares about. Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 5:6-12 Blessed are those who are focused on what God cares about. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti April 20, 2024 Matthew 5:6-12 – For context, re-read Matthew 5:1-12 : The “Sermon on the Mount” In our last study , we looked at the first 3 beatitudes that appear in what has been called Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount.” Today we will look at the remaining beatitudes. Having read the entire list of beatitudes, what do you think is the overall message Jesus is trying to communicate in this discussion about what makes a person “blessed”? Verse 6 What does it mean, to “hunger and thirst for righteousness”? In general, how is hungering or thirsting for something different than simply wanting it? Barclay says that in the Greek language, the ordinary grammatical structure for the words hunger and thirst connote a desire for some – I hunger for some bread, not the whole loaf; I thirst for some water, not the whole pitcher. But in this sentence spoken by Jesus, the grammatical construction connotes a desire for all of it, for the whole thing – in this case, for total righteousness, for being wholly righteousness (William Barclay, Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 96). Do we truly hunger and thirst for righteousness? Or do we tend to just want some righteousness? What can we do to become more like the person Jesus pictures who hungers for total righteousness? There is a promise associated with this hungering. What does it mean when he says that they will be “filled” (5:6 NRSV) or “satisfied” (NABRE)? How can we become filled to the point that we are no longer hungry for righteousness? What does that mean? Luke’s 6:21 says, “Blessed are you who are now hungry, / for you will be satisfied” (NABRE) or “filled” (NRSV). That is a literal hunger. Why would Matthew focus on a spiritual interpretation rather than Luke’s literal experience of hunger? What value is there in Matthew’s version of this beatitude? It is very possible that Jesus said it both ways at different times. What does Matthew’s choice of words suggest about his audience, compared to Luke and his audience? Verse 7 What does it mean to be merciful? How does it feel to receive mercy? What is that experience like? How can I become more merciful? Among many possible answers, consider these: Cut others some slack. Try to walk in their shoes. Does this remind you of any other Bible passages? For example, the Lord’s Prayer; the forgiven servant (who didn’t forgive). What kind of mercy do you particularly hope you will receive, or in what kinds of situations do you most hope you will encounter mercy? Are those situations perhaps the situations where you also need to give mercy? Verse 8 What does it mean to be “pure in heart” (NRSV) or “clean of heart” (NABRE)? Pure has many good connotations. We often focus on purity in our conduct or behavior. There is also the idea of having a pure heart in the way we relate with others. What does that kind of pure heart look like? Purity of heart also can be considered in our relationship with ourselves, in an honesty with ourselves. What does that look like? Among many possible answers, consider these: Being free of mixed motives; not manipulative; doing the right thing regardless of your feelings; without a personal agenda, but rather, having God’s agenda as your only agenda (because then you will be connected to him in an intimate way; you will “see” him). What does the promise mean, that they will “see God”? Do you think this opportunity to “see God” is all in the future, or is there a sense in which the pure in heart experience it partially in their present life? Why is purity necessary in order to see God? In what sense do the pure in heart see God in a way that other, less pure Christians might not? What can I do to become more pure or clean of heart? Verse 9 What is “peace”? “Peace” in Greek is eiréné , but the Jews would have had in mind the Hebrew word shalom , which does not mean the absence of strife but the presence of all that is good (William Barclay, Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 103) or a “total well-being” ((Benedict T. Viviano, O.P., “The Gospel According to Matthew,” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary , par. 24, p. 640). What is a “peacemaker”? What do you have to do to be a peacemaker? Is it possible to be so focused on keeping the peace that you fail to address problems that then grow and break the peace? Is peacemaking sometimes a struggle? If so, how can we stay focused on peace making , and not just avoiding strife? Barclay tells us that the Jewish rabbis said that peacemakers are the people who “establish right relationships between man and man” (William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 105) – i.e., who bring people together and resolve conflicts. He contrasts “peace-makers” with “trouble-makers.” In what ways are you a peacemaker? How does a person make peace between people? Are there ways that you would like to be more consistent or effective as a peacemaker? Explain. How can we become better peacemakers? What promise comes to the peacemakers, and what does it mean? They will be called children of God when all is said and done – not necessarily in the heat of the peacemaking struggle. The phrase is literally “sons of God.” They are like God or reflect the lineage of God because they are doing the work of God. In what ways is God a peacemaker, so that being a peacemaker is being like God? Verses 10-12 What kind of persecution is rewarded with this blessing – i.e., according to v. 10, for what are they being persecuted? What do you know of the sufferings of the early martyrs? What persecutions did they suffer, and why? They were executed in many gruesome ways, mainly for not offering the required sacrifice to Caesar. They could not acknowledge Caesar as Lord because for them, only Jesus was Lord. Jesus elaborates on this beatitude in vv. 11-12, shifting from talking about “they” to talking to “you.” In v. 11, when are “you” blessed? Why are you blessed when you are persecuted? Notice that Jesus does not name a promise in this beatitude the way he did in the other beatitudes. The promise is implicit – that you will be counted with the prophets. Why is that a high reward? What do you think are the benefits or rewards that come with being persecuted? Some of the rewards include: the chance to live with God forever, to be counted among the prophets, to know that you were able to stay faithful to the God you love, and to know that you were participating in God’s great work on earth. Translations that use the word “glad” are understating the level of joy Jesus is suggesting here. The Greek word means to exult – nearly the same word Mary uses in her Magnificat when she says, “my soul rejoices .” It comes from two words that mean “much” and “leaping” – i.e. to leap for joy (see, for example, William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 112, and “21. agalliaó,” Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance , Bible Hub , https://biblehub.com/greek/21.htm ). What would it take for you to see persecution as a cause for rejoicing? How, if at all, are we persecuted in our time? What can we take from this exploration of the blessings of being persecuted? Looking back at the whole expanse of the beatitudes, what key points do you see? What stands out to you as especially important? What is most important to remember? What beatitude is God calling you to live out more fully? What can you do to become more a beatitude person? Take a step back and consider this: The beatitudes are just the beginning of the story Matthew and Jesus are telling us about kingdom of heaven and what the life of a Christian looks like. What attracts you about a Savior who starts with the Beatitudes as an introduction to life with God? What troubles you about this as his starting point? What do you think Jesus would say to you about what attracts you and what concerns you here? 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

Quotes worth thinking about. Previous All Special Materials Next Quotes Quotes worth thinking about. Tom Faletti September 26, 2025 This collection will grow over time. Quotes on issues of faith, life, truth, and justice, etc. FAITH There are no ordinary people “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” – C.S. Lewis. The Weight of Glory . 1941. LIFE Measure your performance by how much better you made the people around you “The most important measure of how good a game I’d played was how much better I’d made my teammates play.” – Bill Russell. Inscription engraved on a block that stands with a statue of Mr. Russell at Boston’s City Hall Plaza See John Hareas. “City of Boston celebrates Bill Russell: Player, activist, mentor.” NBA.com , 1 Nov. 2013, https://www.nba.com/news/bill-russell-city-of-boston . Recover from your mistakes “If you stumble, make it into a dance.” – Inside a Dove candy wrapper TRUTH Read old books “Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books. . . . Not, of course, that there is any magic about the past. People were no cleverer then than they are now; they made as many mistakes as we. But not the same mistakes. They will not flatter us in the errors we are already committing; and their own errors, being now open and palpable, will not endanger us. Two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but because they are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction. To be sure, the books of the future would be just as good a corrective as the books of the past, but unfortunately we cannot get at them.” – C. S. Lewis. “Introduction” to On The Incarnation , a translation of Athanasius’s On the Incarnation of the Word of God . Translated by Sister Penelope Lawson, a nun in the order of the Convent of the Community of St. Mary the Virgin. Originally published in 1944. Current edition published by GLH Publishing, Louisville, KY, 2018, pp. 2-3. (Italics are in the original; boldface added. In the original publication, the translator was listed as “A Religious of C.S.M.V.” Athanasius’s treatise was written prior to A.D. 319.) JUSTICE Justice, injustice, and democracy “Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.” – Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971). In the foreword to The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness: A Vindication of Democracy and a Critique of Its Traditional Defense . 1944. University of Chicago Press, 2011, p. xi. (See Joseph E. Hartman. “Democracy and Sin: Doing Justice to Reinhold Niebuhr.” Academic Questions . Fall 2015. National Association of Scholars . https://www.nas.org/academic-questions/28/3/democracy_and_sin_doing_justice_to_reinhold_niebuhr#_ftnref27 .) (For clarity in the 21 st century, the quote is often rendered: “Humanity’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but humanity’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.”) PURPOSE God has created me to do Him some definite service; I have a mission [A slightly shortened version of this is often printed with the title “The Mission of My Life”] “1. God was all-complete, all-blessed in Himself; but it was His will to create a world for His glory. He is Almighty, and might have done all things Himself, but it has been His will to bring about His purposes by the beings He has created. We are all created to His glory – we are created to do His will. I am created to do something or to be something for which no one else is created; I have a place in God’s counsels, in God’s world, which no one else has; whether I be rich or poor, despised or esteemed by man, God knows me and calls me by my name. “2. God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission – I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. Somehow I am necessary for His purposes, as necessary in my place as an Archangel in his – if, indeed, I fail, He can raise another, as He could make the stones children of Abraham. Yet I have a part in this great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling. “3. Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me – still He knows what He is about.” – John Henry Newman (1801-1890). “Hope in God – Creator.” 7 Mar. 1848. In Part 3: Meditations on Christian Doctrine, in Meditations and Devotions of the late Cardinal Newman . Edited by Fr. William Neville. London: Longmans, Green, 1893. Newman Reader , https://www.newmanreader.org/works/meditations/meditations9.html . THE POOR Contact with the lowly and powerless is a fundamental way of encountering the Lord “Love for the Lord, then, is one with love for the poor. The same Jesus who tells us, ‘The poor you will always have with you’ ( Mt 26:11), also promises the disciples: ‘I am with you always’ ( Mt 28:20). We likewise think of his saying: ‘Just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me’ ( Mt 25:40). This is not a matter of mere human kindness but a revelation: contact with those who are lowly and powerless is a fundamental way of encountering the Lord of history. In the poor, he continues to speak to us.” – Pope Leo XIV. Dilexi Te (Apostolic Exhortation on Love for the Poor) . The Vatican , 4 Oct. 2025, https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/apost_exhortations/documents/20251004-dilexi-te.html , par. 5. Love for God is not possible for the Christian without love for the poor “In his new apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te , Pope Leo . . . traces the uninterrupted centrality that the poor have played in the Church’s proclamation of the Gospel in every age and culture, and the rich legacy that the saints have left us in their comprehension that love for God is not possible for the Christian without love for the poor.” – Robert McElroy (Cardinal of the Archdiocese of Washington). “Cardinal McElroy’s statement on Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic exhortation ‘Dilexi Te.’” Archdiocese of Washigton , 9 Oct. 2025, https://adw.org/news/mcelroys-statement-dilexi-te/ . 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 All Special Materials Next

John the Baptist: Repentance is not comfortable but is part of our calling. Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 3:1-12 John the Baptist: Repentance is not comfortable but is part of our calling. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti March 15, 2024 Matthew 3:1-12 John prepares the way by calling for repentance, baptizing those who respond John is in a place east of Jerusalem, perhaps 6 miles north of the Dead Sea. It is not an easy place to live. The Greek word used to describe that place is translated as the “wilderness” (NRSV) or “desert” (NABRE). People had to make an intentional decision to go there. In the West, Christians call this man John the Baptist. If we want to clarify that we don’t mean he was a member of the Baptist denomination, we might say John the Baptizer. In the Eastern Orthodox Churches, Christians call him “John the Forerunner,” because he came before and announced the coming of Christ. Let’s look first at what is going on in this passage, and then we will look at what his message of repentance means. What is happening in this passage? Who is involved? How would you describe John the Baptist’s character traits or personality? What is John’s central message? Is there significance in his being in a wilderness/desert? Matthew makes explicit Old Testament connections everywhere he sees them, and he sees John in the Old Testament: In verse 3, Matthew quotes Isaiah 40:3. What does that quote from Isaiah suggest to us about John? Why do you think it is important to Matthew that John fulfills that Old Testament passage? In verse 4, Matthew describes John’s clothing and food. What do you picture as you read this? Why is this image of John important? In 2 Kings 1:7-8, the prophet Elijah wore a hairy garment and a leather belt. Zechariah 13:4 tells us that prophets, include false prophets, wore a hairy mantle. John is baptizing not far from the place traditionally identified as the place where Elijah was taken up into heaven, and the Jews expected Elijah’s return before the coming of the Messiah. Why might John’s mannerisms and language have heightened interest in him? The Jews were concerned that there had not been a prophet, a voice of God, in their midst for several centuries. The connections between him and the Old Testament heightened the significance with which they saw him. John uses the word “repent” in verse 2. What does it mean to “repent”? The Hebrew word teshubah comes from the verb shub , meaning to turn (William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 45), leading to the idea that repentance means turning around. The Greek word for “repentance” is metanoia , which means to think differently or have a change of mind. These concepts are often combined to create the concept that to repentance is to change your mind and turn away from sin and to God. Why should the people repent, according to John? What is “the kingdom of heaven”? What does that phrase mean to you? Matthew is the only Gospel writer to use the term “kingdom of heaven” rather than “kingdom of God.” The two different phrases are often used in the same statements and stories in the different Gospels, so it is hard to argue that they have different meanings. However, they have different connotations. Matthew might have decided to avoid the word “God” out of deference to the Jews, who were hesitant to speak the name of God (H. L. Ellison, “Matthew,” The International Bible Commentary , p. 1123), but there is a further point. In Jesus’s time, the Jews expected a messiah who would free them from political oppression. Referring to the kingdom “of heaven” might have allowed Matthew “to distinguish the kingdom proclaimed by John (3:2) and Jesus (4:17) from popular hopes for a literal restoration of Israel’s political empire” ( Ignatius Catholic Study Bible , p.11). The kingdom Jesus preached is not an earthly political kingdom; it is a kingdom that encompasses far more, a realm that transcends temporal political arrangements. In verses 7-8, John makes it clear that baptism is not free. It demands a change. What is the “price” of being baptized? What does John expect people to do to show that their repentance is genuine? What would that evidence look like? Is it genuine repentance if you decide you are doing something wrong but don’t actually do something else instead? Explain. In verses 9-10, what does John warn that God is going to do? In verses 11-12, John makes a prophecy about what is coming. What does he say is coming? What will the one who is coming do? Considering John’s overall message and what you know happened later, was John right about how things were going to play out or did his vision need to be corrected/tweaked? Read the passage again, but this time, pick a character and see it through that person’s eyes, thinking their thoughts, and asking several questions that I will give you below. (If you are studying this passage with a small group, have different people take different characters so that the whole list is covered by someone.) The characters to consider are: John. A “perfect 10” Pharisee (devoted to honoring God by strict observance of the entire law – including the Pentateuch (the written Torah), the rest of the Hebrew Bible, and also the oral legal traditions (sometimes called the oral Torah). An ordinary “5-6” Jew (The “5-6” Jews are the ones described in verses 5-6, who are trying to live a reasonably religious life but are probably not zealous about it and would not be rated a “10” like the Pharisees). A Sadducee (from the priestly aristocratic party, committed only to the written Torah/Pentateuch rather than the whole Old Testament and more politically savvy). Jesus (not having started your public ministry yet). God in heaven (whose kingdom and actions John is talking about). With regard to the character you chose: Why are you there? What do you think about John (or about what John is doing)? What does John’s preaching lead you to do or make you think you should do? Now fast-forward 2000 years. Where would you be in this scene? If you did not already know about John the Baptist, what would you think about him? Knowing all that you know, in what ways might you respond to John? What repentance do you need to consider? In what ways does God want you to think differently? What is God asking you to change right now? What good fruit (v. 8) do you think you need to be showing? Scholars disagree about whether the baptism with “the holy Spirit and fire” is talking about one thing or two. Is there a baptism of the Holy Spirit for the repentant and a baptism of fire for the unrepentant? Or are the terms synonymous, with the one baptism producing either purification (for the repentant) or destruction (for the unrepentant)? (This issue is raised, for example, in the NABRE in a footnote to 3:11.) Does it matter? Or is this just a good way to segue to: When John was preaching, no one would have known what being “baptized with the Holy Spirit” means. But we know more. How is this baptism of the Holy Spirit different from John’s baptism of repentance? Among other things, it is transformational in a way that the baptism of repentance was not. What does it mean to you to be baptized with the Holy Spirit? And what is the meaning of the baptism with fire and the burning of the chaff? If this is a baptism of fire in a positive sense, which later New Testament descriptions support, it is a purification that, again, changes us in ways that a simple repentance and confession of sin may not. Does it provide some encouragement that Matthew connects repentance and the Holy Spirit? How does the Holy Spirit get involved in our lives to help us repent and produce good fruit? Take a step back and consider this: Repentance is necessary for spiritual growth, but it is usually not a comfortable process. To repent requires us to recognize where we are falling short. Furthermore, it requires us to act on that recognition and actually make a change. The change comes in two parts: a change of mind – thinking differently than we used to think – and a change of action to conform our lives to the new thinking we are doing. If we were going to write the equation of repentance, we might write it this way: Repentance = Recognizing what’s wrong + thinking differently + acting differently Thinking differently is often uncomfortable. Acting differently can also be uncomfortable – we are creatures of habit and relinquishing old habits in order to take on new habits can be hard. Fortunately, we are not alone in the repentance process. God is trying to work the character of Jesus into us and then let that character guide all we say and do. He does not leave us alone in that process. He is always trying to help us. He has sent his Holy Spirit into our hearts, to guide and empower us. We are constantly invited to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can make the changes that allow Jesus to radiate in us and through us. For Christians, we are not asked to “tough it out” on our own. Repentance is something God is doing in us, with our cooperation – if we are willing. And the fruit of repentance is not something we need to dream up and then carry out on our own. God wants to work through us to change the world around us, to advance the work of the kingdom of heaven through our lives. So the fundamental question is: Am I willing to let God show me where I need to change my thinking? Am I wiling to put his thinking into action in my life? Am I willing to let the Holy Spirit empower me to produce good fruit? If the answer is “Yes,” then I need to stay in close contact with God. What am I doing to stay tuned in to God, so that my thinking and actions reflect his character and desires? 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

Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. How does he want to give new life to you, and how can you receive it? [John 11:1-45] Previous Next John List John 11:1-44 Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. How does he want to give new life to you, and how can you receive it? The raising of Lazarus, from the Rossano Gospels, which is one of the oldest surviving illuminated manuscripts of the New Testament. 6 th century. Maria Santissima Cathedral, Rossano, Italy. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raising_of_Lazarus_manuscript,_Rossano_Gospels.jpg . Tom Faletti March 13, 2026 Read John 11:1-16 Lazarus is sick The raising of Lazarus is the seventh and final “sign” in John’s Gospel. In verses 1-2, John explains who Lazarus, Mary, and Martha are. He does not tell the story of Mary anointing Jesus until chapter 12, but he assumes his readers know that story well. In verse 4, how does Jesus describe what will be the outcome of Lazarus’s illness? How can an illness result in God (or Jesus) being glorified? Verse 5 says that Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. John has not mentioned them previously, and all he tells us here is that they live in Bethany, which is a village around 2 miles east of Jerusalem, beyond the Mount of Olives. Matthew 21:17 tells us that during the final week before his crucifixion, Jesus spent the night in Bethany (presumably at the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus). If Jesus spent time at their house when he was in Jerusalem, what do you think his relationship with them was like? Because of the opposition Jesus encountered the last time he was in Jerusalem, he is currently in the area near the other Bethany, across the Jordan River, where John the Baptist had preached and where Jesus’s ministry had begun. When Jesus says in verse 5, “Let us go to Judea again” – i.e., back to the region that includes Jerusalem – how do the disciples respond? Jesus gives a cryptic response in verse 9. What does he say, and what does it mean? Jesus says: When you walk in the daytime, you don’t stumble because you see the light. You only stumble at night, when you are without light. Jesus made a similar comment in John 9:4 when he said that we need to do the works of God while it is still day, because the night is coming when no one can work. Here, he is implying that it is safe to go to Lazarus: they will be in the “light” because his hour has not yet come. Jesus says that Lazarus is asleep and he is going to wake him (verse 11), before stating more plainly in verse 14 that Lazarus is dead. He then adds that he is glad for them that he is not there, “so that you may believe.” Don’t they already believe in him? What benefit will they have when they see him raise Lazarus from the dead? Thomas’s response in verse 16 is instructive. Many people think of Thomas only as the Doubting Thomas. But here, we see that he is much more complex than that. What kind of faith does it take to say, “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (verse 16)? Thomas shows his deep faith in Jesus and a willingness to give up his own life rather than stay behind while Jesus goes out into danger. Thomas is willing to follow Jesus even though he thinks it will lead to a bad end. How can we follow Thomas’s example of faith and stay dedicated to walking with Jesus even when we think it will lead to a bad outcome? Are there particular situations in your life right now where you are uneasy about following Jesus because of how you think things will turn out, but you want to follow him anyway? How can Thomas be an example for you so that you can trust Jesus and keep walking with him? Read John 11:17-27 Jesus tells Martha that he is the Resurrection and the Life In verse 21, Martha sounds like she is almost chiding Jesus: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” She is showing both faith and disappointment in Jesus. When have you been disappointed in God, and how have you dealt with it? In verse 22, Martha tells Jesus that she still has faith in him: “Whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” How can you have that kind of faith in God even when you have not received what you hoped for? How does Jesus respond in verse 23? In this Gospel, Jesus has talked about never dying and about being raised on the last day. In verse 24, Martha affirms that she believes in the resurrection of the dead (as did many of the Jews at that time). That opens the door for Jesus to say something new. What does he say in verse 25? What do you think it means, to say that Jesus is the resurrection and the life? What does this mean to you? How is Jesus the resurrection and the life in your life? What does the rest of verse 25 and verse 26 mean? The Jews believed that only God had power over life and death. So again Jesus is asserting his divinity in identifying himself as the one who holds the power over life, death, and resurrection. In verse 27, Martha professes her faith in Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. Why is this an important step? We often face difficult situations that don’t end in a miraculous healing of a loved one. How can we hold on to Jesus’s promise of life when have to face death so regularly in our world? Read John 11:28-37 Mary comes to Jesus in tears, and Jesus also weeps Mary comes to Jesus in tears and says the same thing Martha said: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (verse 32). But whereas Martha was controlled and probing, Mary is disconsolate. In verse 33, how does Jesus feel when he sees her and those with her weeping? The first word John uses, which is translated as “deeply moved,” “perturbed,” or “disturbed” (depending on your translation), is a Greek word that has the sense of being angry. John also says that Jesus is deeply troubled. Jesus asks where Lazarus has been buried, and they say, “Come and see” (verse 34) – the exact same words Nathaniel said to Philip in John 1:46 when Philip wasn’t sure what to think about Jesus. Notice the power in the words “Come and see,” It’s not “Go and see.” It is an expression of accompaniment: I will come with you; let us go together and see. Why is accompaniment so important in times of grieving? Verse 35 is one of the two shortest verses in the Bible: “Jesus wept.” (Ironically, the other shortest verse in the Bible, 1 Thessalonians 5:16, also involves a feeling, but on the other end of the emotional spectrum: “Rejoice always.”) What does Jesus’s weeping tell you about him? Jesus has certainly seen other people die. Why do you think he is so deeply moved and emotional affected here? In the centuries after Jesus lived, people argued over the nature of Jesus. Some said he was only human; others said he was only divine and not really human at all. (Christians believe he was full God and fully human.) How is weeping a sign of Jesus’s humanity? What does the fact that Jesus, who is both God and man, weeps tell you about God? Some people find it difficult to be deeply moved by sad events, and other people experience such deep emotion that it feels like too much to bear. Where are you on the spectrum of how people react to sad events, and how does God work with you in those times? As always, what Jesus does elicits at least two different reactions. How do people react in verses 36-37? Do you see in yourself sometimes a tendency to look at other people’s behavior in a negative way, when there might be a more positive way to think about it? How can we train ourselves to be more generous in how we view other people’s actions and intentions? Read John 11:38-44 Jesus raises Lazarus Lazarus’s tomb was above ground, which was the norm in Jesus’s time – a cave cut out of rock. If you would like to see what Lazarus’s tomb might have been like, you can view this video of a tour group visiting the site that people have considered to be the site of Lazarus’s tomb since at least the 4 th century. It is in the town of al-Eizariya in Palestine, not far from Jerusalem, where Bethany was in Jesus’s time ( Hyman ). We have no way of knowing whether this was actually Lazarus’s tomb, but it can help us visualize it. They came to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone rolled across the entrance. Jesus told them to take away the stone. Martha doesn’t understand what is about to happen and objects. What does she say (verse 39)? Note that even if Jesus had come immediately when he received word that Lazarus was ill, Lazarus would still have been dead for two days when Jesus arrived, since he only waited two days before coming. However, 4 days was long enough that the rabbis would be very convinced that Lazarus really had been dead and not just in a swoon. Jesus responds (verse 40), “Did I not tell you that if you would believe you will see the glory of God?” Raising Lazarus obviously brings glory to God. What about when people are not raised from the dead? How can we bring glory to God by the way we accept death? What does Jesus say to God in verses 41-42? What do his words say to you? When Jesus cries out, “Lazarus, come out,” Lazarus does come out. How do you think Martha and Mary felt when this happened? How do you think the other people who were there felt? How do you think Lazarus felt? How do you think Jesus felt, knowing that his own death is coming soon? In 1 Thessalonians 4:16, Paul says that when Jesus returns at the end of time, he will descend from heaven with a loud cry of command, and the dead shall be raised. When he cries out to Lazarus to come out, it might be considered a foreshadowing of that final shout at the end of time. In John 5:25, Jesus said that the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear his voice and live. How is the raising of Lazarus a foreshadowing of everything that Jesus has been saying for the last several chapters? When Lazarus’s body was prepared for burial, they would have wound strips of cloth around it (which, among other things, would prevent the limbs from flopping around as the body was carried since they did not use caskets). So Lazarus is, in effect, all tied up. In verse 44, Jesus says, “Unbind him and let him go.” Are there ways that we are still bound when we are brought to life by Jesus? What kinds of things “bind” us and make it harder to live the full life God has called us to, if we are not freed from them? We can remain “bound” by fears, by sin, by toxic relationships, by work that does not reflect our dignity and calling, etc. Jesus wants us to be freed from what keeps us from living fully in the light and life of Christ. Jesus doesn’t unbind Lazarus himself. He lets others do that. How is Jesus still using us today to unbind others and help them find freedom? How does Jesus want to bring his resurrection life into your life today? Take a step back and consider this: We Christians live in a curious blend of the now and the not yet. Jesus says in John 11:25-26 that if we believe in him, we will live even if we die, and if we live and believe in him we will never die. This suggests that although some aspects of Jesus’s role in our lives as the Resurrection and the Life will take effect later, we have already begun to experience some aspects of it now. His resurrection is real both in the now and in the not yet. In what ways do you hope to experience, when you die, Jesus’s promise that you will rise (11:23)? In what ways do you experience Jesus’s resurrection and life as a present reality that enlivens you today? How can you embrace his life more fully? Paul wrote, “If we have died with Christ . . . we shall also live with him” (Romans 6:8). In what ways do we need to die even now, while we are still alive, in order to live with him? Bibliography See John - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/john/bibliography . Copyright © 2026, 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 John List Next

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

If we try to make sense of God based on our human limitations, we will misunderstand the Scriptures and the power of God. How can the Scriptures guide us to a bigger picture? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 22:23-33 If we try to make sense of God based on our human limitations, we will misunderstand the Scriptures and the power of God. How can the Scriptures guide us to a bigger picture? Image by Frank McKenna, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti August 18, 2025 Matthew 22:23-33 The Sadducees and whether there is a resurrection This is the second in a series of 3 challenges Jesus faces when he arrives in Jerusalem – this time from the Sadducees. The Sadducees believed only in the Torah – the first 5 books of the Old Testament, which Christians sometimes refer to as the Pentateuch, which is Greek for “five books.” The Sadducees did not consider the books of the prophets authoritative, nor did they accept the wide body of oral tradition that the Pharisees adhered to. Since the Torah does not suggest that there is a resurrection or an afterlife, the Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection. The Sadducees tended to be wealthy. They made up a major portion of the political leadership among the Jews and tended to be collaborators with the Roman occupation. But those characteristics do not seem to be relevant here, where the question revolves around their religious beliefs. The Pharisees believed in a resurrection and an afterlife. They not only believed in an afterlife of the soul (as, for example, the Greeks believed); they also believed that our bodies are raised. They pointed to passages later in the Old Testament that provided varying degrees of support for such a position. Here are some of those passages: Isaiah 26:19 says, “Your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise.” Ezekiel 37:1-14 describes a vision of a valley of dry bones. The bones come back together and regain flesh and skin, breath enters them, and they come to life. Although in the passage itself the image is of a new Israel being restored after the exile to Babylon, Jews (and later, Christian commentators) saw it as a sign or foreshadowing of individual resurrection. Daniel 12:2 says that after a time of terrible persecution, “many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Psalm 73:24-25 says, “You guide me with your counsel, and afterward [or, in the end] receive me with honor [or, into glory].” This could merely mean that the psalmist will be restored, in this life, after when the difficulties he faces are over, but some saw it as a description of entering into God’s realm like Enoch (Gen. 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11-12), both of whom are described as being taken up to God without dying first. The Sadducees, who don’t believe in an afterlife, approach Jesus with a puzzle that they think shows the foolishness of believing in a resurrection. What is the problem the Sadducees pose? There is a commandment in the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy 25:5-10, that directs a man to marry his brother’s wife if his brother dies childless, so that through the first child of that union the brother will have a legal heir. Genesis 38:7-11 gives an example of a refusal to follow this command. Both of these books are part of the Torah, the limited part of the Hebrew Scriptures that the Sadducees acknowledged. The Sadducees imagine a series of brothers marrying the same woman, each dying before any offspring is produced, and they ask: Whose wife is she in heaven? In verse 29, Jesus tells them they are wrong (misled, led astray) for two reasons they don’t know the Scriptures and they don’t know the power of God. How is knowing both of those critical to the spiritual life? In verse 30, what does Jesus say about how they are thinking incorrectly? Jesus says there is no marriage in heaven, because in heaven people are like angels. It is important not to misinterpret the statement that humans are “like angels.” Humans in heaven are “like angels” in the sense that, like angels, they live forever and don’t need to engage in sexual reproduction in order to produce offspring and keep the family line alive (see New Oxford Annotated Bible, NRSV , Matthew 22:30 fn., p. 1780). This does not mean we are like angels in other ways; for example, unlike angels, we will have a body in heaven. Angels are a different kind of creature than humans. They only have a spiritual nature and don’t have a body or a material nature. Although Jesus frames his answer in terms of the Sadducees’ underlying assumption, common at the time, that the point of marriage is to carry forward the family line. This should not be misinterpreted to mean that that is the only purpose of marriage. St. Paul, and theologians and everyday believers throughout the centuries, have seen much more in marriage, in addition to its function of continuing an individual’s family line and ultimately propagating the species as a whole. In verses 31-32, Jesus turns specifically to the Scriptures. We might expect Jesus to focus on how they are wrong in not accepting the parts of the Old Testament that the Pharisees accept. Instead, in verse 32, Jesus quotes from Exodus 3:6, which is in the Torah, the part of the Old Testament that the Sadducees do accept. What does God say in Exodus 3:6, and why does Jesus argue that this indicates people do live on after death? In Exodus 3:6, God says, “I am” the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They must be alive, because otherwise God would have said, “I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob before they died. The fact that he is still their God indicates that they are still alive. God is the God of the living, not the dead. The Sadducees are wrong about the Scriptures partly because of their crimped reading of the Torah. They think marriage works the same way in heaven as on earth, which shows that they think that heaven isn’t all that different from earth. Why is thinking that heaven is like earth such a big error, not just with regard to the question they asked but in our understanding of heaven more generally? Jesus also says the Sadducees are wrong about the Scriptures because they have not noticed a key statement by God in their Scriptures that presupposes that people do live on after death. What does this tell you about Scripture study? Now let’s come back to the fact that Jesus says in verse 29 that the Sadducees are also wrong because they do not know the power of God. What is it that they are missing about God’s power? They think that God is limited by what we understand from our human perspective. They think he is only powerful enough to create physical lives, which come and go. They don’t think that God has power over death and can extend life beyond death. At a fundamental level, they don’t understand how powerful God is. They underestimate God. In what ways do we tend to act like God is bound by human limitations or underestimate God’s ability to transcend problems that stump us? There are a lot of different threads in this exchange between Jesus and the Sadducees. What insights does this passage give you about God, or heaven, or the resurrection, or the Scriptures, or yourself? Take a step back and consider this: It is possible that the Sadducees didn’t really want to think of God as having a power and perspective that transcended theirs and could cut through their conundrums. They were very invested in their own power and comfortable with their own ways of seeing things. Accepting a God who transcends their power might have forced them to rethink some of the ways they were using their own power. How does our own desire for power affect our responsiveness to the power of God? How does our belief that we have power, at least in some areas of our lives, sometimes make it harder to appreciate the Scriptures and the power of God? Where, in your own life, do you need to let go of your preconceived notions about God and his ways? And replace them with what? 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

You will be judged in the same way you judge others. Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 7:1-6 You will be judged in the same way you judge others. Image by Chris Curry, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti June 7, 2024 Matthew 7:1-6 Judge not, lest you be judged What is Jesus saying in this passage? What does v. 2 mean, in speaking about the “measure” you get? A “measure” is the method used to weigh or count the portions of something. In the supermarket, if you buy potatoes by the pound, a “pound” is the measure. If you buy mangos by the number of mangos, then the number of units (mangos) is the “measure.” Lettuce might be sold using either measure – by weight or by the number of heads. Jesus says that the measure you use for judgment is the measure that will be used to judge you. What are some of the things about which we tend to judge others, and what measure do we use to judge their guilt or innocence, or how good or bad their actions are? If we will be judged in the same way that we judge others (i.e., using the same measure we use), what does this tell us about making judgments about other people? What do you think is an appropriate measure for judging other people, or an appropriate way of approaching your judgments, if you know that you will face the same standard of judgment? Consider Galatians 6:7, which tells us that whatever we sow we will also reap. Although Paul is making a different point in that passage, how does the concept of sowing and reaping illuminate verse 2’s discussion of judging? God has built linkages into the natural world that provide useful analogies for the linkages he has built into the spiritual fabric of life. Just as we can’t sow grass seed and reap vegetables, so too we can’t sow judgmental attitudes and reap mercy. In many aspects of our lives, you get back what you give out. What is the meaning of Jesus’s image of the speck (or splinter) and the log (or beam) in verse 3? What might be some examples of the logs or beams in our own eyes that might make it hard for us to make sound judgments about what others do? What biases make it hard for people to judge other people accurately? How do you know when you have a “log” in your eye? How do you know when you have a blind spot that makes it hard to accurately judge what is going on around you? Someone else can tell you; you can try to put yourself in others’ shoes; you can immerse yourself in God’s Word and check your actions against God’s Word. One of my Bible Study members, Phyllis Hegstrom, told us that she asks her boss: What are my blind spots? How might that approach to our own behavior make us more effective followers of Jesus? Jesus tells us to take the log (or beam) out of our own eye first. How can we do that? How can we remove the things that make it hard for us to see clearly? In Matthew 5:38-42, Jesus tells us not to resist those who seek to do evil to us but to turn the other cheek, go two miles, etc. What are the traits of Christian character that Jesus is trying to foster both in that passage and here in Matthew 7:1-6? Verse 6 uses some metaphors that need to be unpacked: for example, what does a “pearl” stand for and what does a “dog” or “swine” stand for? Note: Dogs were mostly undomesticated scavengers in Jesus’s time. According to the Law, swine were unclean, so Jews were prohibited from eating or handling them. When you put it all together, what does verse 6 mean? What are the “pearls” we should be preserving? One interpretation of verse 6 is that the pearls are the deeper truths of our faith. If we follow that interpretation, what is Jesus saying about not giving the pearls to those who will trample them? Don’t try to convince others of the deeper truths of the faith if they have not accepted the more basic truths. In order to follow verse 6, we would need to make judgments about who falls into the metaphorical category of the “dogs” or “swine.” Doesn’t that require judging? Explain. Do you conclude from this passage that we should never judge, or only judge certain kinds of things (and if so, what)? Explain. How can we apply in our lives the principles Jesus is teaching us here about judging? Take a step back and consider this: Social psychologists working in the field of attribution theory explore how we decide why people do what they do. If someone does something we think is wrong (fails to show up for a meeting, says something unkind, etc.), how do we decide what the causes of their behavior might be? We might attribute their behavior to situational causes – to external factors that might explain their behavior. For example, we might say to ourselves: He must have had an unexpected crisis that kept him from coming; maybe someone in his family got sick. She must be having a bad day; maybe her boss chewed her out or her child did something wrong – that’s why she said what she said. Alternatively, we might attribute their behavior to dispositional causes – to internal factors in their personality or character. In this case, we might say to ourselves: He is unreliable; he doesn’t respect other people’s time and effort. She is a mean person and doesn’t appreciate the effect of her words on other people. We don’t usually know the whole story behind people’s actions. To be honest, we never know the whole story. But we make judgments. And arguably, judgments are sometimes necessary. If George routinely fails to show up for meetings that have been arranged with him, we need to recognize that and not assign essential tasks to him where a no-show would cause harm. The interesting thing is that we have attribution biases that distort our assessments. If we already have a positive view of a person, we are more likely to explain a false step as being caused by situational factors rather than signaling a flaw in their personality. If we think a person is similar to us, we are more likely to give them a pass rather than deciding that they have a bad character trait. The bias that is most relevant to Jesus’s words about judging others is the fundamental attribution error : the tendency to think that if we have done something wrong, it is because of something external that caused the problem; but if someone else has done something wrong, it is because of their own internal dispositions (Robert S. Feldman, Understanding Psychology , 14th edition, McGraw Hill Education, 2019, pp. 563-564). In other words, people have a tendency to think that the speck or log in the other person’s eye is caused by flaws in the other person’s character, while any speck in our own eye is only due to the external circumstances we face. This fundamental attribution error may be the biggest log of all in our eyes, because it signals an unconscious belief that we are better or less flawed than other people, and that other people are choosing to be bad while we are with good intentions just trying to make the best of a difficult world. Jesus calls us to stop thinking that we are better, or that we are doing better, than others. That is the fundamental log in our eyes. When someone does something that you perceive to be a slight or that hurts you in some way, are you more likely to attribute it to a flaw in their personality/character or to attribute it to external circumstances that made it difficult for them to do what you wanted them to do? Can you describe a time (or times) when you did that? When you do something that someone else perceives to be a slight or that hurts someone else in some way, are you more likely to make justifications for your action based on external circumstances or to do some soul-searching about whether this shows you need to work on your character? Can you describe a time (or times) when you did that? If you were talking with Jesus right now, what would he say to you about whether you treat others the way you treat yourself in terms of how you attribute motives to your behavior and others’ behavior? What steps can you take to adjust your thinking about other people, so that you are more merciful in the judgments you make about other people? 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

At the wedding feast at Cana, Jesus turns water into wine. It is far more than a miracle; it is a sign that God is present, calling us to “Do whatever he tells you.” [John 2:1-11] Previous Next John List John 2:1-12 At the wedding feast at Cana, Jesus turns water into wine. It is far more than a miracle; it is a sign that God is present, calling us to “Do whatever he tells you.” Paolo Veronese (1528-1588). Venedig Die Hochzeit zu Kana (The Wedding at Cana) . Circa 1571. Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Gallery), Dresden, Germany. Photo by Tom Faletti, 25 June 2024. Tom Faletti November 8, 2025 Read John 2:1-12 The wedding feast at Cana What happens in this incident? We don’t know how many disciples Jesus brought with him to the wedding – even the wedding host might not have known how many were coming. But those disciples got to see how Jesus addressed the shortage of wine, and John tells us in verse 11 that this strengthened their faith. Let’s look at the whole story. First, look at the interaction between Jesus and his mother. Does Mary actually ask Jesus to do something? How is she both deferring and pushing? Does Jesus say yes or no, or does he leave the conversation unsettled? Jesus calls his mother “Woman.” Although that may not have been rude in his time, it was also not a normal way to address one’s mother. Scholars think that Jesus is signaling that whatever he does will not be based on his family connection to Mary. What guides Jesus’s decisions throughout his ministry? On what does he base his decisions? Jesus does what is the will of his Father. In verse 4, Jesus says, “My hour has not yet come.” Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus’s “hour” is the time of his suffering (his “Passion”) and death, and sometimes also includes his resurrection and ascension (for example, John 13:1). What does his “hour” have to do with whether he does something here? Although this miracle may have important symbolic meaning, it also shows in a small and practical way that Jesus cares about the little things – the everyday things in life that matter to us humans. How have you seen ways that Jesus cares about the little things in our lives? How does this encourage you to trust Jesus in every part of your life, not just in the “big” decisions? In the other Gospels, Jesus says, “This is my body.... This is my blood” at the Last Supper. John does not include that in his account of the Last Supper. Instead, he presents Jesus as the Bread of Life in chapter 6 after the multiplication of the loaves. In the Old Testament, there are poetic passages that refer to wine as the “blood” of grapes (Gen. 49:11; Deut. 32:14). Is John similarly replacing the Last Supper cup of wine with this provision of wine at Cana? How is this miraculous sign of providing wine for all like his gift of himself to us in what Christians commemorate in “communion” or the “Eucharist”? Mary tells the servant, “Do whatever he tells you” (verse 5). How is that an appropriate guide to everything we do in our lives? Jesus gives the servant some instructions, and they do what he tells them to do, even though he doesn’t explain why. Have you ever had a situation where you felt that God was asking you to do something that was perplexing but that turned out to be the right thing to do? What happened? Is there a particular challenge you are facing right now, or a difficult part of your life, where God might be asking you to “Do whatever he tells you”? What might he be asking you to do? In verse 11, John calls what happened here the beginning of Jesus’s “signs.” A sign is something that points to something bigger than itself; it tells or proclaims something about the thing it is pointing to. John will show us 7 of Jesus’s signs – actions that are more than just physical miracles, actions that point to something bigger. In what way is this miracle a “sign”? Beyond just the physical miracle, what does it tell us or show us? It demonstrates the power of Jesus in such a way that his actions glorify God. John makes connections between Jesus and Moses in a variety of places in this Gospel. He has already suggested in chapter 1 that Jesus is greater than Moses (1:17). Moses’s first “plague” in Egypt was to turn water (the Nile River) into blood (Ex. 7:14-19). Jesus’s first sign is to turn water into wine. What might be the connection? What was the point or “sign” in Moses’s action and how was that similar to Jesus’s “sign”? Both signs called people to respond to God, who was speaking through the person standing in front of them. Through Moses, God was saying, “Let my people go.” Jesus is communicating the love of the Father. In verse 11, John tells us that this first sign revealed Jesus’s glory, “and his disciples believed in him.” John is suggesting that for some of the disciples, this was a turning point. Why might this have been a decisive factor that brought them to believe in him? How important are Jesus’s miracles or “signs” to your faith? What do they tell you or how do they support your faith? If you were at the wedding feast at Cana, through whose eyes would you have seen what Jesus did? (The disciples? The servers? The chief steward/headwaiter? The bridegroom?) And how might this miracle have affected you? John not only tells us about the surface level – what physically, literally happened – he also helps us see the deeper spiritual implications. Besides what we have already discussed here, what other spiritual insights do you see? What can you bring from this story into your everyday life? Take a step back and consider this: Imagine you were the water in the story of the wedding feast at Cana. You were poured into the jars used for purification, so you expect that you will be used to help a human who needs to be purified (besides ritual washings before meals, Jews went through purification rituals after having been defiled by contact with a dead animal, a grave, or something else that conferred ritual impurity). The humans are having a party, so you don’t really expect to be needed right now. It’s not the time for purification rituals. Suddenly, voices are talking near you, someone draws a ladleful of you out of the jar, and you realize that something has changed. You’re no longer just water for purification. You have been transformed into something more! Jesus has changed you into wine – something that will bring joy to others and glory to God. (That’s what Jesus does. He transforms us into something more than we were.) You, the water-turned-into-wine, catch a glimpse of the one who has done this. They call him Jesus, and he is smiling. He clearly loves being with other people. And you have made him happy by fulfilling the purpose he assigned to you. Jesus does this with us, too. He does it with everyone who follows him. Opportunities appear that may bring joy to others and glory to God. They may be big or small. It might be the chance to offer a smile or a cheery greeting to someone in need, which might bring them more joy than a glass of wine ever could. It might be a simple act of service; a fully engaged, eye-to-eye conversation; an effort to speak out for justice for those whose voices are not heard. In ways too numerous to count, God seeks to transform the situations we are in. He gives us the opportunity – the privilege! – of letting him first transform us into more than we were, so that we can do more than we were doing to convey the love of God to those around us. God is always finding opportunities for us to bring joy to others and make them more aware of the presence of God in their midst. How can we be ready and flexible, so that when Jesus calls us to do something different, we can fulfill his purposes even though we might not see the full picture of what God is doing? Bibliography See John - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/john/bibliography . Copyright © 2026, 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 John List Next

The person Paul is writing to, Philemon, is an example of the kind of encouraging partner everyone might like to have, and Paul is an example of giving thanks and praise. How can we be like them? Previous Philemon List Next Philemon 1-7 The person Paul is writing to, Philemon, is an example of the kind of encouraging partner everyone might like to have, and Paul is an example of giving thanks and praise. How can we be like them? Image by Luis Georg Müller, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti October 5, 2025 Introduction Paul’s letter to Philemon is the shortest of Paul’s letters that were included in the canon. It is so short that it was not separated into chapters, and therefore we only designate the verses – so Philemon 7 is the 7 th verse (and a very good one). In the New Testament, it is located after all the other letters attributed to Paul, so it is after Titus and before Hebrews, which was not written by Paul. Philemon is pronounced fih-LEE-muhn, with the accent on the second syllable. Who is the letter to and from? Paul wrote this letter to a man named Philemon. Philemon is believed to have lived in Colossae because of the language in Colossians 4:7-9, although some look at Colossians 4:16-17 and wonder if it is the letter to the Laodiceans, which otherwise has been lost to time. Colossae was in southwest Asia Minor, now southwest Turkey (Türkiye), and Laodicea was nearby. Ephesus was 100-120 miles west, on the coast of the Aegean Sea. The subject of the letter is a man named Onesimus (in standard English, pronounced oh-NEH-sih-muhs). Paul wants Philemon to treat Onesimus kindly. Date and place of writing Paul says in the letter that he is writing from prison. The traditional and most widely accepted view is that Paul is writing from house arrest in Rome, which would place the letter around AD 61-63 (according to Fitzmyer and others; some scholars count the years slightly differently and say 60-62). Traditionally, scholars have believed that Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians were written during the same imprisonment and they are called the “captivity” letters. Some scholars prefer to see the letter as having been written during Paul’s two-year imprisonment in Caesarea, before he was sent to Rome, which would mean around AD 58-60 (or 57-59). A newer view is that Paul is in prison in Ephesus and writing around AD 56-57. We do not have any explicit evidence that Paul was ever in prison in Ephesus. However, Paul says he was imprisoned multiple times (2 Cor. 11:23), and neither Paul nor Luke in the Acts of the Apostles describes any of those imprisonments. He could have been jailed in Ephesus at some point (he stayed there for 2 years). Paul’s statement in Philemon 22 that Philemon should prepare a guest room for him to come for a visit if he is released makes more sense if he is writing from Ephesus, 100-120 miles away, than if he is writing from Rome, a distance of 1,312 miles by land and sea (Witherington, p. 530). Witherington ( PDF ) and White ( PDF ) provide competing, both very thoughtful, arguments against and in favor of the view that Paul’s captivity was in Ephesus. Read Philemon 1-7 . What is the tone of the letter, so far? What do you think the relationship is between Paul and Philemon? Read Philemon 8-11 . Paul finally turns to the subject of his letter, a man named Onesimus. How does the tone of the letter shift at this point? Read Philemon 10-25 . What is Onesimus’s social status? How has Onesimus changed? What does verse 14 tell us about Philemon? Verse 14 tells us that Philemon has the power and authority to decide what happens to Onesimus. He must have at least a little bit of wealth to be able to afford a slave, but many people “owned” slaves at that time in the Roman Empire. What does verse 19 tell us about Philemon? Verse 19 tells us that Philemon owes his life to Paul, presumably meaning he owes his faith in Christ to Paul – i.e., Paul converted him. What does verse 22 tell us about Philemon? Verse 22 tells us that Philemon’s house is big enough for the local church to meet there and has at least one spare room that could be made available for Paul to stay there as a guest. So, again, he is reasonably wealthy. Looking at all of the things Paul says about Philemon, how would you describe Philemon? What is Paul asking Philemon to do? Why does he think Philemon might be willing to do it? We are going to look at the details of what Paul writes, and then we will take a step back and look at the broader issue of slavery in the Roman Empire and how Paul handles that issue. Let’s dive into the details of what Paul writes: Philemon 1-3 Greetings How does Paul describe himself? In the first verse of Ephesians and of Colossians, Paul describes himself as an “apostle,” In Philippians, he describes himself as a “slave of Christ Jesus.” How does he describe himself in the first verse of this letter, and how is this difference significant? In verse 2, “your” is singular – the house the church meets in belongs to one of them. Scholars think the most likely interpretation is that Apphia is Philemon’s wife and Archippus is his son; but some think these are leading people in the church community. Similarly, the general belief is that the house the church meets in belongs to Philemon, who is a leader of the Christian community there, and that Onesimus is owned by Philemon; but some scholars think the house they meet in is owned by Archippus. Paul has already established a standard way of greeting the people he writes to: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 3). We see the exact same wording in Ephesians and Philippians, almost identical wording in 1 Thessalonians, and abbreviated versions of it in other letters. In verse 3, Paul uses the Greek word “grace” ( charis ). This is a New Testament/Christian concept for the unearned favor we receive from God. For that concept, Paul uses a word familiar in the Greek world that described the unearned favor or blessing a person might receive, for example, from a wealthy person. Paul also uses the Greek word for “peace,” which would call to mind the standard Hebrew greeting of shalom that expressed the desire for wholeness and well-being in all of one’s relationships. How do the two words “grace” and “peace” in Paul’s greeting capture well what we might wish for people we care about? Paul describes each of these three people – Philemon, Apphia, and Archippus – in very positive terms using just a few words. What is important to him about them? What can we learn from Paul’s example in the way he acknowledges the good he sees in other people? Philemon 4-7 Paul is thankful for Philemon In verses 4, 5, 6, and 7, the word “you” is singular each time. Paul is talking specifically to Philemon, not to the family as a whole. Let’s look some more at what kind of person Philemon is. In verse 2, Paul calls him “our co-worker.” What do you think “our co-worker” means? What does Paul say about Philemon in verses 5-6? Verse 5: Paul is thankful for Philemon’s faith in the Lord Jesus and his love for Jesus and his fellow Christians. Verse 6: Paul says that Philemon shares a “partnership” in the faith. In verse 5, Paul praises Philemon’s faith and love. Ignatius of Antioch, writing 50 years later, said that “faith and love in Christ Jesus . . . are the beginning and the end of life. For the beginning is faith, and the end is love” ( Ignatius of Antioch ). How do faith and love encompass the Christian life? In verse 6, what do you think Paul means when he refers to Philemon’s “partnership in the faith”? In what ways are we called to be co-workers or partners in the work God is doing through his people? What does Paul say about Philemon in verse 7? He says that Philemon encourages others in a way that refreshes the hearts of the believers. What do you think Paul means when he says Philemon refreshes the hearts of others? Some possible answers are: Philemon is hospitable or generous towards others in a way that helps them feel encouraged, renewed, and loved. Note: The Greek word Paul uses that is translated as “heart” is actually the word for “bowels” – the inner parts of us. To a Hebrew mind that is the seat of the emotions or place of one’s “innermost self” ( New American Bible, revised edition , Phile. 7, fn.). The translators wisely substitute the word “heart” because that is where people in our time locate our deepest self. In what ways are we called to refresh the hearts of our fellow believers, and how can we do that effectively? Some possible answers are: Be there for others, which means we need to be connected to them (for example, part of the church community with them). Talk with others and listen well. Be positive and encouraging. Practice being aware of other people’s needs. Avoid seeming to be telling people what to do as though we know better than them how they should live their lives (otherwise, they will not feel encouraged and refreshed). How important is it to be plugged into a local church in order to be a co-worker and refresh others? What seem to be Paul’s criteria for evaluating a person, and how do his criteria compare with the criteria our culture uses to measure a person’s worth? Looking at the example Philemon has set by how he has lived his life, what do you see in Philemon that you might be able to manifest more fully in your life? Take a step back and consider this: We have gotten through 7 verses of Paul’s letter to Philemon, and Paul hasn’t even begun to broach the main subject of his letter: Onesimus. We could cynically say that he is just buttering up Philemon so that he can win him over. Or we could say that this just shows how important it is to Paul to maintain a strong relationship with his friend. Or we could say that this is what effective Christians always do: praise other people and express appreciation for them whenever they can, in order to encourage them in their walk with the Lord. What does Paul’s expansive praise say to you about your own way of interacting with other people? Are there any suggestions here for your own relationships? Bibliography See Philemon - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/philemon/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 Philemon List Next