Today's Gospel

Let God Surprise You

It's so interesting that Herod is perplexed. Why is he perplexed? He's perplexed because he killed John. He cut his head off, and people think John's come back. And I would think that any person with great power will be freaked out by the idea that somebody else has more power than them. And of course, if John had come back, if John had raised from the dead, then that would have been a clear demonstration that he had much more power than Herod could ever imagine having. And of course, Herod was sort of a suspicious guy. He was a superstitious guy. And I can see how the emergence of Jesus would have done a real number on Herod.

But what is really going on? His conscience is all over the place, right? It's his conscience that's running amok within him, running in every different direction. That's where the confusion comes from, where the perplexity comes from, just the refusal to listen to, "Okay, what is going on inside of me?" and obviously, just the absence of God and all the good and the clarity that that brings to our lives. But the other thing that I really love about Herod is he's curious. The reading ends and he sought to see Him. So he wasn't going to avoid Him. He was curious. And we see this with Pilate as well, toward the end of Jesus' life, where Pilate actually is quite fascinated with Jesus. And that curiosity, that fascination, sort of opens these men's hearts a little. But then something slams that door shut, and maybe just the overall hardness of their hearts slams that door shut, and Jesus is led to be slaughtered. But that's what we're seeing again here today in Herod. His perplexity is also curiosity. And curiosity is a beautiful thing. If we use it in the right way, we direct it toward the right things.

And sometimes, as people of faith, we can subconsciously believe that we know more about God than we do, or that we know more about the gospels than we do, or that we know more about the teachings and the tradition of the Church than we do. And of course we don't. There's so much for us to learn. And so for me, the message today is stay curious. Stay curious about God. Allow God to surprise you again today. Stay curious about the Church and the teachings and the tradition. Stay curious. Have a great day, and Be Bold and Be Catholic.