Friday of the First Week Integral 2026
Recently a well-known preacher wrote an essay addressing a situation that sounds unreal: “There is less missionary work carried out by the Church in our time, which places responsibility on all of us to be witnesses to Christ in a culture that believes it doesn’t need the truth.” Are we in a culture that believes it doesn’t need the truth? Let’s look at a real-life situation.
Not long ago, federal authorities enforcing immigration law in a north central part of the US got into a situation that resulted in a federal agent shooting a citizen driving an SUV. Close investigation of the many videos taken of the incident showed convincingly that the citizen was driving her vehicle directly at the agent. He pleaded self-defense, the truth of the matter. But hundreds of protests erupted over the next days, fueled by an alternate story that implied that the agent was in the wrong. Decisions were being made by many people ignoring the evidence that the dead woman was targeting the agent.
Whatever one’s politics, in this and many other cases, a significant number of our fellow citizens will believe only what they feel and think they see, or what someone else tells them, no matter what evidence shows. And those of us who’ve taken a large number of turns around the sun should agree, if the truth slams hard against a family member, anybody will be tempted to resist it.
The first book of Samuel picks up the story of Israel in the transition between the informal and temporary leadership of the judges like Samson and Gideon, and the formal rule of the kings, like Saul and David. The last of the judges was Samuel, who came into leadership when the Philistines were a mortal threat, and a bad defeat of the Israelite army even lost them their precious Ark of the Covenant. Samuel also acted as a high priest, and as he aged he found himself unable to judge in both the north and south of the tribal nation. But when his two sons held court down south in Beersheba, there were complaints that the young judges were corrupt, and took bribes, something forbidden by the Law and resented by the people.
The older one gets, in general the less do they want change. When the people demanded that judgeship be transferred to a king, Samuel resisted. We don’t know how God spoke to Samuel, but he told Samuel not to resist, because what the people were doing is what they always did under the judges. They were rejecting the lordship of YHWH, their true king. Instead of acting as a nation ruled by their God, they wanted to be just like every other kingdom, with a human king. Samuel told them they’d get a king, alright, but they must be prepared for his rule. There was a price to pay, in taxes, in giving up family members for service, in losing land. That’s what they wanted, and that’s what they got. As the story progresses, we’ll see them paying the price. The truth always prevails.
In today’s Gospel, St. Mark tells the story of the Capernaum legal scholars learning a truth about the Messiah even before they recognize Him. Some friends bring a disabled man to Jesus but are unable to get through the crowd around Him. So they climb up to the roof of the house, remove part of the roof and lower the man into the presence of Jesus. Jesus, the God-man, sees the man but immediately knows his basic problem. It’s the same problem all of us come to Jesus with. Sin is the problem, so Jesus tells the man his sins are forgiven. Only then does Christ cure the obvious problem, and the man is able to walk because Christ’s power is effective both spiritually and physically.
Here is one example of what we learn from John’s Gospel. The scribes have the proof before their eyes: Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. That Life is both physical and spiritual, so that’s what we must pray for today for ourselves and all those we love.
