[media presentation below] GospelThink Friday, July 14 MATTHEW 10:16-23 I warn my disciples and you that not everyone will agree with you. Prayerthoughts a. The English translation, “beware of people” is interesting. Who are the people in my life that I should trust more? b. There will be people who do not agree with me because of my Christian and/or personal beliefs. I must learn to respect everyone no matter how they are treating me. Are there some people that I do not respect as much as I should? c. I must watch what I say and how I say it. Do I find myself being too quick in my response to some situations? d. Do I call on the Holy Spirit enough as I am seeking guidance for what to do in my life? e. In the early persecutions which Matthew is remembering here, families were torn apart. In my family right now, are there some people that I should reach out to? f. My prayerthoughts…   Today, I will study what I said yesterday to determine if I could have been more charitable. Some Thoughts on the Liturgy  TRUSTING IN THE SPIRIT EVEN IN DIFFICULT TIMES  + Jesus is speaking during the so-called missionary discourse in Matthew’s Gospel           – a time when Matthew gathered together all of the sayings that Jesus told his Apostles concerning what they were to do as they went from town to town proclaiming the Kingdom that Jesus was preaching           – and in this Gospel, we are in a section in which Jesus warns the missionary Apostles about things that will happen because of other people           – it is an important area of Jesus’ doctrine as we generalize Jesus’ sayings from words to Apostles to words to all of us                      – Jesus calls us to love, even love enemies,                                – but we can’t be naïve in our dealings with those others that we love                                          – Jesus tells the Apostles and us as we deal with others that we have to be on guard                                                    – to watch who we trust           – and even though we are on our guard and as clever as serpents and innocent as doves, sometimes things are not going to go the way we want them to                      – that is, there will be difficult times                      – and then Jesus tells the Apostles and us that we have to rely on the Spirit to direct us  + That Spirit has a pretty good track record in the sense that the Spirit directed the lives of the great people of the Old Testament           – during the past couple of days in the first reading, we have been listening to how the Spirit directed Jacob, one of the great early patriarchs of the Hebrew nation                      – and today, how the Spirit directed him and his family to Egypt                                – so that nearly 400 years later, Moses can lead them back to the Promised Land           – and that whole history is full of difficulties that Jacob and Moses faced  + It is a relatively simple directive that we receive from the Lord in this morning’s readings,           – but it is not an easy one to carry out                      – as Jacob had difficulties in his life and yet followed what his God told him to do                      – as the Apostles will have difficulties as they spread the doctrine of the Kingdom of Jesus, and yet they are told to trust in the Spirit                      – you and I are told that we have to do the best that we can, to continue to love others even though they don’t love us, to continue to work with the Lord’s work whatever that may be in our lives                                – but when we have the difficulties that we will always have                                          – we have to trust in the Spirit of the Lord                                          – and honestly believe that the Lord is directing things somehow, someway  + It is the wisdom of the Scriptures that we have to do the best that we can in whatever endeavor we are involved in           – and trust that the Lord will direct us. MEDIA PRESENTATION Song: “All About That Bass” — Meghan Trainor BASS WITH NO TREBLE The Gospel MATTHEW 23:25-26 Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean.”

Gospelthink: My words to the Pharisee are words to you as well: purify your insides, your thinking. Do I say a prayer for the people I think ill of?

“Yeah, it’s pretty clear: I ain’t no size two, but I can shake it like I’m supposed to do ‘cause I got all the right junk in all the right places. Every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top. You know I won’t be no stick figure silicone Barbie doll, so if that’s what you’re into, then go ahead and move along. Because you know I’m all about that bass, no treble.”

Meghan Trainor’s song “All About That Bass” is a clever song, beginning with its title. One must use imagination to determine exactly what the title means. Ultimately, she says that the person in the song’s overweight can make things even more pleasant than a thin body. Translating it into music language, the bass could stand for more weight while the treble stands for less. And her point, clear from the song, is that you do not have to be thin and beautiful to have fun. One can have fun even if overweight is a problem. It is a good thought, and perhaps can be applied to Jesus’ words to the Pharisees about the inside and outside of a person. In Jesus’ mind, it is the inside that is more important. The outside may look fine, but that which counts for eternal life is how people are inside–what their motivations are, why they are thinking the things they do, and the like. Putting the thought into Meghan Trainor’s song, beauty must be defined from a different point of view than simply weight. From the song’s thought, enjoying life can just as easily happen with more weight as it can with less. The reason is that enjoying life is the internal part of the way a person thinks, while defining things from an external perspective misses the point. The spiritual point of Jesus’ words, of course, deal with the spiritual part of enjoying life. The gauge of eternal life is whether the internal is right with God, no matter what the external may be. We can work with the external, of course, wanting to make the way we look a little different, but ultimately our eternal lives are defined by what is inside our minds. Meghan Trainor’s song is an irreverent statement that brings home the point that being overweight is not bad. But if we look at the song as saying that beauty is more internal than external, we indeed have a Christian point of view.

PRAYER Good and gracious God, our world is often taken up with what appears good on the outside, the part that people see. Your Son taught us to be concerned about what our insides are like. May I truly learn your lesson. Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: Beauty is more internal than external. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. What is your definition of a “hypocrite”? 2. In your opinion, are there many hypocrites in our world today? Yes or no and why? 3. In religious circles, do you think that there are many hypocrites? Yes or no and why? 4. Text analysis: “All the right junk in all the right places.” What is the meaning of the phrase? 5. Analysis: “Stick figure silicone Barbie doll.” In your opinion, is there too much emphasis put on being “thin” in our culture? Yes or no and why? 6. Text analysis: “All about that bass, no treble.” What is your interpretation of this phrase? 7. How would you define what is “inside” a person as Jesus talks about it? 8. What do you think the meditation means by being “right with God”? 9. Do you think that most people would agree with the statement that beauty is more internal than external? Yes or no and why? 10. What does the song “All About That Bass” teach young people?