Daily Gospel Reflection

Examine Your Motives

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. Today's reading comes from the Gospel of John 1:19-28. "This is the testimony of John. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, 'Who are you?' He confessed, he did not deny, but confessed, 'I am not the Christ.' And they asked him, 'What then? Are you Elijah?' He said, 'I am not.' 'Are you the prophet?' And he answered, 'No.' They said to him, 'Then who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?' He said, 'I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, "Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said. Now they had been sent from the Pharisees, and they asked him, 'Then why are you baptizing if you are neither the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet?' And John answered them, 'I baptize with water, but among you stands one whom you do not know. Even he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.' This took place in Bethany, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing."

What jumps out at you today? It's a great reading, so many great things. One thing that jumps out at me, we talked about it before, but the last line, we can think, "Well, that's just a throwaway line," or, "It's not that important," or, "There's no message there." It says, "This took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing." What is the writer doing? He's clearly placing it in a specific place. Why? Because there was always going to be people who said, "Well, Jesus, they just made Jesus up. Jesus didn't really live. He didn't really live in a particular place in time. He wasn't really a person. It's just a story." But, no, the writer is placing Jesus or the story, in this case, in a particular place and time.

John the Baptist was in Bethany, beyond the Jordan. He was baptizing, and he was talking about Jesus. He says, "There is one among you. He stands among you now." And so what does that do? Puts it in a specific time in history. So we've got time. We've got place. We've got a person. The person is John the Baptist. He's saying, "I'm not Elijah. I'm not the Christ. Go back and tell the people who sent you." And these people, they're asking all these questions. Are they looking for truth or are they looking for ammunition to use against John? And they're already criticizing him. "Why are you baptizing? If you're not Christ, you're not Elijah, why are you baptizing?" And so they're on the attack. They're not in search of truth.

And very often we ask questions of people. We need to ask ourselves, "What is my motive? Am I looking for the truth, or am I trying to put this person in a corner, or am I trying to gather information I can use against this person in the future?" Is there a questioning coming from a pure heart? Who are you questioning at this time in your life? Is your questioning coming from a good motive, from a motive of light, from a motive of darkness? It's always good for us to ask where are our questions coming from? And what are our questions seeking? Are they seeking truth or are they seeking something else? Have a great day and remember, be bold, be Catholic.