The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 320: Peter's Denial Foretold (2024)
Fri, 15 Nov 2024
As we draw near to the end of the Gospel of Luke, Fr. Mike briefly expands on the story of the poor widow’s offering, emphasizing that the Lord cares more about the size of our hearts than about the size of our gifts. Fr. Mike also underscores Jesus’ moving words to Peter when he foretells Peter’s denial. Jesus’ words remind us that no matter how fiercely the enemy tries to attack us, he is always praying for each and every one of us. Today's readings are Luke 20-22:38 and Proverbs 26:17-19. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Chapter 1: What is the focus of today's readings?
Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 320. We have only this day and tomorrow left for the Gospel of Luke. And then we launch into... the last age, the church now, essentially. And that is great. We're reading Luke chapter 20 to chapter 22, verse 38.
And then we'll pick up and conclude the gospel of Luke tomorrow morning, or tomorrow, whenever you listen, as well as Proverbs chapter 26, verses 17 through 19. As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension.
If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. And I know that a Um, you know, what happens is in these last couple of months, if you, I think there's maybe 5,000 reviews or so of the podcast, if you were to go to iTunes and everyone who's listening today were to review it again, give it maybe five stars. I don't know.
You don't have to give it five stars, but if you did that. what would happen is it would bump back up to maybe the top five, who knows, maybe even higher than top five, because sometimes they look at the algorithm and see not just how many downloads there are, but how many people are reviewing it.
So I'm not saying you have to, but it'd kind of be like a good, I don't know, fun little end of the year situation where you could just say, I might as well go down there and do that. You don't have to. Obviously, this is for you. This is for the Lord. It's day 320. We're reading Luke chapter 20 to chapter 22, verse 38, as well as Proverbs 26, verses 17 through 19.
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter 20. The authority of Jesus questioned. One day as he was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority? He answered them, I also will ask you a question.
Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? And they discussed it with one another, saying, If we say from heaven, he will say, Why did you not believe him? But if we say from men, all the people will stone us, for they are convinced that John was a prophet. So they answered that they did not know where it was from.
And Jesus said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. The parable of the wicked tenants. And he began to tell the people this parable. A man planted a vineyard and leased it to tenants and went into another country for a long time. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants that they should give him some of the fruit of the vineyard.
But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant, him also they beat and treated shamefully and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third, this one they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, what shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be they will respect him.
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Chapter 2: What does the widow's offering teach us?
Chapter 3: How is Jesus' authority questioned?
But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant, him also they beat and treated shamefully and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third, this one they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, what shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be they will respect him.
But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, this is the heir. Let us kill him that the inheritance may be ours. And they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others. When they heard this, they said, God forbid.
But he looked at them and said, What then is this that is written? The very stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. The question about paying taxes.
Chapter 4: What parables does Jesus tell regarding the tenants?
The scribes and the chief priests tried to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people for they perceived that he had told this parable against them. So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be sincere that they might take hold of what he said so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.
They asked him, Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not? But he perceived their craftiness and said to them, Show me a coin. Whose likeness and inscription has it? They said, Caesar's.
He said to them, Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him by what he said, but marveling at his answer, they were silent. The question about man's resurrection.
There came to him some Sadducees, those who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the wife and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers.
The first took a wife and died without children, and the second and third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterward, the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife. And Jesus said to them, The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.
But those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. For they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. but that the dead are raised.
Even Moses showed in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him. And some of the scribes answered, teacher, you have spoken well, for they no longer dared to ask him any question. A question about the Messiah.
But he said to them, How can they say that the Christ is David's son? For David himself says in the book of Psalms, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right till I make your enemies a stool for your feet. David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son? Jesus denounces the hypocrisy of the scribes.
And in the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples, Beware of the scribes, who like to go about in long robes and love salutations in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation. Chapter 21 The Widow's Offering
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Chapter 5: What signs does Jesus warn about regarding the end times?
Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. Thank you so much for your word.
Thank you for giving us this opportunity to walk with Jesus as he gets closer and closer to entering into his passion. Lord, thank you for letting us hear the true value of things, the true value of everything that is surrendered to you, the true value of when we give not only our first fruits, but our final fruits and place them into your hands. Help us to be watchful. Help us to be aware.
Help us to be awake. Help us not to become drowsy or to fall into the trap of just thinking or believing that this life will just keep going on endlessly. But help us to be vigilant. Help us to be awake. Help us to watch for you this day and every day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sometimes, as you know, after 320 days, there are some Proverbs that just, you know, they get you. So, Here's a couple of them. This is chapter 26 and Proverbs 17 through 19. That's two Proverbs. Basically 17 is he who meddles in a quarrel, not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears. Yes.
Mind your own business is one of the, the upshots of this, like taking a passing dog by the ears, meaning, yeah, you don't know if this dog is a killer. Maybe the dog is going to do some destruction. You have no idea. I just taken a passing the other one though. This is good.
Man, oh, like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, I'm only joking. Oh my gosh, how crazy is that? How accurate is that? You think that you're the book of Proverbs written all the way back, you know, maybe in the time of Solomon. And you think, holy smokes. We still do that. We do that all the time.
So I say something and then just, ah, just kidding, you know, kind of be a little fire starter. Someone's life kind of get in there and mess with them. And then, ah, just, just kidding around, just joking and realize that yeah, there are some things that are funny and there are some things that are not funny.
And one of our tasks in maturing and growing is getting to that place where we realize the difference between what was funny for me and what was definitely not funny and should not have been said or done. But all that to be said, here is the gospel of Luke today. And we're getting closer and closer to the end of the gospel. And Jesus giving up his entire self for us.
One of the things that I think is really So powerful. I love not only all of the gospel of Luke, but you also have, we have the widow's offering at the beginning of chapter 21. And that sense of here she is and she puts in two small coins, two copper coins, couple cents, couple pennies. But Jesus praises that because he is highlighting the fact that
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Chapter 6: Why did Judas betray Jesus?
Think about how incredible it would be to be Peter and to say, yeah, in the midst of all this trial, in the midst of all this danger, in the midst of all this failure, You can trust Jesus. How do you know? Because I betrayed him the night my best friend in the world needed me. I denied even knowing him. So you want a witness to mercy? There it is right there.
You want a witness to what is it like to lean into love and to let yourself be loved in the midst of failure? There it is right there. It's not a claim to being impeccable, right? It's not a claim to sinlessness. It's not a claim to, gosh, how do I say it? Simon Peter can never claim, I was so good that God loved me. Why do I have this role? Because I'm so holy.
No, it's he only can claim God's grace. He can only claim when I was at my weakest and my lowest. God was there for me. He said he prayed for me specifically so that when I came back to his heart, I could strengthen my brethren. And this is the truth for you right now, right now for all of us. Our lives will be marked with disaster.
Chapter 7: How did Jesus prepare for the Passover?
There may even be public scandal, public sin that is a part of your story. But here's Jesus. I invite you to hear the words of Jesus to that first Pope as words to you. But when you've turned back, I'm praying for you that when you've turned back, even in the midst of public disaster, in the midst of public sin, public scandal, strengthen your brethren.
Let them know that my mercy is without end and I still love them. Because right now, even if you're at the bottom, in the gutter, and it's all your fault, even if you have all these wounds and they're self-inflicted wounds, the truth of the matter is, here's Jesus saying, I'm praying for you. Praying for you. Come back. Trust in my love. Trust in my mercy. Trust in me.
And that's why I'm praying for you. And that's why I'm asking you to pray for me. So that when that day comes, God willing, it never does, but when that day comes, that we can turn back to the Lord. and strengthen each other. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow, our final day of Luke's Gospel. God bless.