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In today’s Gospel, people come to Jesus with a complaint: “Why do the disciples of John and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples eat and drink?” In other words, “Jesus, why aren’t Your followers doing things the way we expect?”

In today’s Gospel. The disciples are hungry, so they pick heads of grain and eat them. The Pharisees see this and immediately ask, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” It is interesting that they notice the rule before they notice the hunger.

In the First Reading, St Paul says: “If anyone among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool, so as to become wise.” We spend so much of our lives trying to prove that we know what we are doing. We want to look capable, informed, successful, even spiritually mature.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law, and immediately she gets up and begins to serve. Then, by sunset, the whole town seems to arrive at the door. People are sick, suffering, possessed, desperate and Jesus heals them.

Today, on the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, our first reading tells us something extraordinary: “We have the mind of Christ.” Think about that for a moment.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus returns to Nazareth, the place where He grew up. He goes into the synagogue, reads from the prophet Isaiah, and announces something extraordinary: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” At first, everyone is impressed

In today’s Gospel, the scribes and Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign. At first, that doesn’t seem like a bad request. After all, if someone claims to be sent by God, wouldn’t you want proof?

Have you ever wished God would immediately remove everything that is bad from the world? Every injustice, every sinner, every failure, every temptation?

The Gospel today begins with a sad reality: “The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus to put Him to death.” Imagine that. Jesus had just healed a man, yet instead of celebrating the miracle, His enemies planned His destruction.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes we can become so focused on doing things right that we forget why we are doing them? In today’s Gospel, Jesus’ disciples are hungry, so they pick some heads of grain to eat as they walk through the fields.

Have you ever prayed and felt like nothing was happening? You ask God for help, healing, or direction, but all you hear is silence. Most of us have experienced that.

Today’s first reading tells us about Assyria, a powerful nation that God allowed to become an instrument of His justice. But there was a problem. Assyria forgot that it was only an instrument.

There is something surprising about today’s Gospel. Jesus is not speaking to people who have never heard of Him. He is speaking to towns where He preached, healed the sick, cast out demons, and performed many miracles.

Jesus says something in today’s Gospel that can make us uncomfortable: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword.” So what does He mean? Jesus is not talking about violence or war.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower. Notice something interesting. The sower is the same. The seed is the same. The only thing that changes is the soil.