The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

August 16, 2026 – Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time  - Matthew 15:21-28

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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The woman described in today’s gospel had two things going against her when she decided to ask for help from Jesus. First, she was a Canaanite which was an indigenous group living alongside the Jews in ancient Israel. So, she would have been considered an “outsider.” Second, she was a woman, and much like many societies of that time (and often our own) she would be thought of as second class. Nevertheless, with determination and courage, she seeks out Jesus and asks for his help.

But the help she sought was not for herself, but for her daughter. Another distinctive aspect of this narrative. And while at first Jesus seemed uninterested in helping her, he was clearly impressed with her persistence. Eventually the help from Jesus that she requested was given.

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

August 9, 2026 – Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time  - Matthew 14:22-33

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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Surviving rough white water rafting was not something I had much experience with until a few days ago. Our eldest daughter was visiting and she was investigating local places in the mountains and waters of northwest Montana where we live. It was decided to try white water rafting on a challenging river bordering Glacier National Park. I told her that was a good choice.

Then she asked if I’d be interested in going, too.  I had previously done this many years before when we lived in Colorado. But that was about forty years back. My body had changed over those years. But being one not wanting to appear old (although I am) and fearful (which I try not to be), I said “why not?”

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

August 2, 2026 – Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Matthew 14:13-21

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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Today we are once again escorted to a hillside gathering where lots of people had come to hear the words of Jesus. And we are also told that after Jesus spoke perhaps a little longer than they were used to, they were hungry. This event, often called “the multiplication of the loaves” is one of the few times that an event involving Jesus is recorded in all four gospels. It must have been considered a very important event in the life of Jesus.

 As I gather my thoughts for each Nazareth Page, I typically read each gospel a few times and sit quietly with them wondering what’s important for us to think about all these years later in the Sunday gospel. While my reflections are saved somewhere in my laptop, I never reread past ones. I want my words to sound and feel fresh. No leftovers.

 Here’s what struck me today like a bolt of lightning. It was what Matthew mentioned right after Jesus blessed and broke the bread and gave it to his disciples to pass around to the hungry masses. His exact words being “… who in turn gave them to the crowds.” In other word, feeding the hungry throng (or any other act of helping others) is usually not a matter of resources, but rather one of actually helping others, or of distribution. Jesus needed a distribution system for this miracle of his to be successful.  

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

July 26, 2026 – Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time  - Matthew 13:44-52

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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There are many references to “treasure” in the Bible. These images are used to emphasize what should be most important in our lives. Like what values get us up in the morning? When faced with decisions large and small, what moves us to make a good choice? What specifically do we judge as very important?

In the time of Jesus finding a treasure in a field would be considered extremely fortuitous.  Acquiring a large perfectly formed pearl would be a true blessing.  And Jesus implies in today’s gospel that we all have our own list of what we would consider genuine treasures.

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

July 19, 2026 – Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Matthew 3:24-33

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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We seem to be living during a time where the act of judging goodness and evil in others is like an epidemic involving most all of us. Of course, this is especially witnessed in the political arena where judgments relating to political favorites and foes is commonplace. This also results in our dividing people into those who we think are good and those who are not. We label people and divide them into the good and the bad. Politically we do this by placing some on the right from some on the left. In fact, such judgments can consume our thoughts as we look upon others as either good or bad, right or wrong, dangerous or helpful. We think it’s our God-given right to make these judgments.

Today’s gospel somewhat addresses this matter of human judgment though a parable Jesus uses to describe how human judgment of each other’s goodness and evil can be deceptive and even very inappropriate.

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

July 12, 2026 – Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Matthew 13:1-23

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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Today’s gospel contains one of the most recognizable gospel lines in the New Testament. “A sower went out to sow.” You likely know what comes next. It’s an image Jesus used to help us understand the process of learning and living the teachings he came to offer us. For me this directly relates to my own teaching career as a theologian.

Let me elaborate. The first group of students given to my care were first graders. I was a young seminarian, and I was assigned an opportunity to teach youngsters that offered little danger that I would corrupt the little ones assigned to my care. That was more than sixty years ago.

The Nazareth Page  - A gospel meditation for your home

July 5, 2026 – Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Matthew 11:25-30

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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We are in the midst of celebrating the 250th birthday of the creation of the United States of America. There are many unique qualities of life incorporated into the Declaration of Independence, but I want us to focus on one that in its time was perhaps the most revolutionary: All are created equal. No one is inherently better that anyone else. All are fully entitled to lives of opportunity, value and importance.  And all should be given a path and support to accomplish this.

 Now let’s place this revisionary idea next to today’s gospel where Jesus notes that God does not create some better than others. All are given life and opportunity. Even those considered “little” are created by God, loved by God and cared for by God. Again, we can call this idea as revolutionary then as it is now.

The Nazareth Page  - A gospel meditation for your home

June 28, 2026 – Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Matthew10:37-42

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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My wife and I have been blessed with a large family. And for the last fifty or so years, I confess to spending a lot of time and energy worrying about our kids, helping them when they needed us, inquiring about how they were doing and generally trying to be helpful and reliable parents. I cannot judge whether as parents we were overly involved or not. I can only say, as many parents would, they have been a major source of our joys and difficulties over the years. We have loved them a lot!

Then I read the following line from Jesus in today’s gospel: “And whoever loves a son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” My first reaction to reading these words is that Jesus seems to be putting himself in competition with our children for our attention and affection. Then I notice the “more” word, an invitation to enter the gospel’s world of “both-and.” This is especially a comparison often found in Matthew’s gospel.

The Nazareth Page  - A gospel meditation for your home

June 21, 2026 – Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Matthew10:26-33

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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Jesus advises us this Sunday not to be fearful. Yet during our time of public unrest and uncertainty, this may seem to be unrealistic advice. In fact, there are dangers around us. We can think globally or locally and list any number of reasons to be fearful. Is Jesus being unrealistic? I think not.

What I think he warns us about is not to allow fear to overwhelm us. To shut us down to the point where we are almost afraid to get out of bed in the morning. Or greet a passing stranger. Or to apologize when we have offended someone. In other words, we live life too passively,  

The Nazareth Page  - A gospel meditation for your home

June 14, 2026 – Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time - Matthew 9:36-10:8

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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You might have noticed that there is a pattern in the way Jesus began his public ministry. It begins with Jesus and then his invitation to some close to him to help spread his message. Today’s gospel lists twelve individuals. Many see this as representing the twelve original tribes of Israel.

They seem simply a group of people close to him.  He did not seem to have a list of qualifications.  They came from varied backgrounds. After his resurrection and entry into heaven, they each (with the exception of Judas who was replaced by Mathias) moved out into the world enlisting new followers for Jesus.  They began locally and eventually included the whole world in spreading the gospel message and the healing power that accompanied it.