Today's Gospel

The Pause Your Soul Needs

Welcome back to Radical & Relevant. Remember, each day we're looking for a word or a phrase or an idea to anchor your day in the gospel. Today's gospel is from John 7:1-2, verse 10, and verses 25-30. After this, Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea because the Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand, but after his brethren had gone up to the feast, then Jesus also went up, not publicly, but in private. Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, "Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?" - and here he is speaking openly - "and they say nothing to him?" Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? Yet we know where this man comes from. And when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from. So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, "You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true. And him, you do not know. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me." So they sought to arrest him. But no one laid hands on him because his hour had not yet come. Yet many of the people believed in him. And they said, "When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?"

What jumps out at you today? What jumps out at me is the idea that Jesus is going to go to Jerusalem, the Feast of the Tabernacles, privately, not publicly. That's what it says. That's what it says. Verse 10, "But after the brethren--" so Jesus' disciples and friends, family, they've gone to the Feast of the Tabernacles up to Jerusalem, and says, "But after Jesus' brethren had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but in private." Now, I want you to think about the biggest celebrity in the world. Whoever that is in your mind at this time, that person basically can't do anything privately, right? They go out to a restaurant, they get mobbed. They go to see a movie. Forget it. They can't go and see a movie. Try and get it on an airplane. May him. So I find it amusing that the idea that Jesus is going to go to Jerusalem privately. Just, for some reason, I find that a little bit amusing. And of course, what happens? People work out, okay, this is who he is. And then they start to mob him, and then some want to kill him, and some believe him. And what was in his heart? Because if he went there privately, he must have had a desire to have a private experience. Must have had a desire to have a private experience. And I think we all do sometimes. I think sometimes we want to hang out with family and friends. Sometimes we want to hang out with people from work. And sometimes we just want to have a private experience. What private experience are you yearning for in your life right now? Have an amazing day. Remember, be bold, be Catholic.