Daily Gospel Reflection

The Truth About Intimacy

Hi, I'm Matthew Kelly.

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. We take a couple of minutes each day to look at today's gospel and see just how radical and relevant Jesus' teachings are to us in our own lives today. Jesus is constantly seeking to turn our lives upside down, which as it turns out, will be right side up. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Mark, 11:27-33 And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, and scribes, and the elders came to him. And they said to him, "By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority to do them?" Jesus said to them, "I will ask you a question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? Answer me," Jesus said. And they argued with one another. If we say from heaven, he will say, why then did you not believe him? But if we say from men, they were afraid of the people, for all held that John was a real prophet. So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

So each day we're looking for a word or a phrase or an idea that jumps out at us to anchor our day. The idea that jumps out at me today is the idea that the chief priests, the Pharisees, are constantly peppering Jesus with questions, and they believe they're entitled to the answer to every question they ask. And of course, today Jesus is backing him off the plate. Many years ago, I wrote a book called The Seven Levels of Intimacy. And when it first came out, I was out speaking about it, and it was a question-and-answer session, and I was being asked a question about, well, I'm having trouble with the fifth level of intimacy, you know, with, you know, this person who works at my office. And as it turned out, this person only spent five minutes a week with this other person, and a fifth level of intimacy isn't actually appropriate to that relationship. And in fact, most of our relationships spend most of their time in the first three levels of intimacy. And all seven levels of intimacy should only be available to a very, very small number of people in our lives. Not everyone who asks you a question deserves an answer to that question. And I think in a world of social media, I think in a world of instant gratification, I think in a world of massive entitlement, we think just because someone asks us a question that they deserve an answer, and the truth is, they don't. So next time someone asks you a question and you feel uncomfortable with that, I think to pause to take a moment and ask yourself, is this a question that I should be answering to this person? God bless you. Have an amazing day.

Remember, be bold, be Catholic.