Daily Gospel Reflection

Seek to See Jesus

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we explore the gospel, which is beautiful and challenging and rich and wise and radical. And Jesus wants to turn our lives upside down, which as it turns out, will be right side up. And of course, we're resistant to that. And so each day, we're trying to work away at that resistance. We're trying to be a little more open, a little less resistant, a little more willing, a little more enthusiastic about embracing the radical ways that Jesus wants to transform our lives. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Luke 9:7-9.

Now, Herod the Tetrarch heard of all that was done and he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen. Herod said, "John, I beheaded. But who is this about whom I hear such things?" And he sought to see Jesus. What jumps out at you today? Herod, right? He had John beheaded at the will of really a-- like a teenage brat. And here he is. Now you can see the psychology here, right? You can see the guilt complex working. You can see that Herod knows what he did-- you can see he knows what he did was wrong. And you can see he is fearful. And he's hearing things. There's this guy out there and he is doing all these things that they talked about the Messiah would do. And some people are saying, "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead." We can imagine how Herod felt about that because deep down, Herod had some understanding of who John was. Deep down, he did not want to behead John the Baptist. Deep down, I think he was actually afraid of John the Baptist. And then to satisfy his ego and to keep his word to a girl who asked for something she never should have asked for and he never should have granted. But he did. And he had John beheaded. And here we see he's dealing with all these thoughts, this guilt, this paranoia, all sorts of stuff.

And what are the last words? "And he sought to see Jesus." For me, that's the phrase today. It's like, okay, today I'm going to seek to see Jesus. And where am I going to see Him? Okay, yeah. Church? Absolutely. In the Mass? Absolutely. In the Tabernacle? Absolutely. In other people? Absolutely. In people who really rub me the wrong way? That's going to be a little bit harder. In people who have treated me very poorly in the past, going to be even harder to see Jesus in them. But he's there, right? That's what he teaches us. And so to seek to see Jesus, if you spent your whole life and just focused on that, in every moment, in everything, in every person, in every situation, in every circumstance, all I'm going to do is seek to see Jesus, to find Jesus in every person, in every situation, every circumstance for the rest of your life, you would be a great saint. Just that one thing, just those last four or five words of today's readings. And he sought to see Jesus. Have a great day. And remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.