This morning I woke up listening to Joshua. The reading spoke of kings, cities, Jerusalem, and the conquest of Canaan. My first reaction was surprisingly simple: I had forgotten Jerusalem was originally a Canaanite city.

That led me down a rabbit hole into the Torah and an old Jewish teaching. The rabbis ask why the Torah begins with Genesis instead of the first commandment given to Israel. Their answer is practical. Genesis establishes that God is Creator, and therefore the land belongs to Him. The story is not merely spiritual reflection. It is also an accounting of covenant, inheritance, and promise.

There is a strange moment in the Gospel that many of us overlook. The demons recognize Christ immediately. They know His authority. They know His power. They even tremble before Him. Yet they still resist. At first, that can seem confusing. If evil already knows it loses, why continue fighting? Why oppose God at all?

The Church is not a political costume. She is not “my party with incense.” She is not a lifestyle brand for people who like candles, Latin phrases, and moral opinions. The Church is the Body of Christ in history, still speaking, still correcting, still healing, still confusing the world because she refuses to be reduced to the world’s categories.