Daily Gospel Reflection

Set Out Resolutely

Hi, I'm Matthew Kelly, and welcome back to radical and relevant, where each day we take a few minutes to reflect on the gospel of the day, to look for ways to anchor our day in the life and teachings of Jesus. Remember, we are looking for a word, a phrase, or an idea from the reading. A word or a phrase or an idea that jumps out at you so you can take that word, phrase, or idea into your day, allow it to nurture you, allow it to challenge you, allow it to enrich you, encourage you, as a way for us to live out the gospel in a practical sense.

Today's reading comes from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 9:51-56. When the days drew near for Jesus to be received up, he resolutely set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messages ahead of him who went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him. But the people would not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples, James and John, saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to bid fire, come down from heaven and consume them?" But he turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village. It's a fantastic reading.

Jesus in his public life sometimes appears just to be, he's wandering around, he's visiting with people; he's healing people; he's teaching people; he's feeding people, and there's great purpose there. There's great mission there. There's great meaning there. But there comes a point in his public life where he does turn toward Jerusalem, where he does turn toward what he knows is going to happen to him. And it wasn't good, and he knew it wasn't going to be good, and yet he set his course, and, and he stayed the course. And there's a phrase here that I've always loved. He resolutely set his face to go to Jerusalem.

In other translations, it reads, he set out determined to go to Jerusalem. So resolutely determined. It's like there's an intensity to that, right? There's a focus to that. There's a sense of purpose in that, and I think that's beautiful. I think that's challenging. There's probably something in your life right now that is difficult, but you know it needs to be done in one of my books, and I forget which one, I talk about the idea that at most times in our lives, we need to have a difficult conversation with somebody. And most times in our lives, we are putting off that difficult conversation. So let's use that as an example.

Who in your life do you need to have a difficult conversation with right now? Are you putting it off? Are you avoiding it? And if you apply today's gospel just to that difficult conversation that you know you need to have, not to be cruel to somebody, not to be harsh to somebody, not to be mean or vindictive or any of those, but it is a difficult conversation that you feel called to have. And if we applied this gospel to that, you would set out toward that difficult conversation resolutely or with great determination. And I think we know that we don't set out to have these difficult conversations resolutely or with great determination.

We set out to delay these difficult conversations. We set out to avoid these difficult conversations. And even sometimes when we do have the conversation, we don't actually have the conversation. Sometimes you think, "Oh, I really got to talk to that person about this." And then you go, and you set it up, and you're going to meet the person, and you're having a conversation, but you don't actually have the difficult conversation that you need to have. And I think we've probably all been there. I know I've been there. I don't love conflict. I'm probably conflict avoidant in many respects, and I try to piece things over sometimes when I probably should have a more difficult conversation. What word jumped out at you? What phrase jumped out at you? What idea jumped out at you? What jumped out at me is that Jesus resolutely determined to go to Jerusalem, even though he knew it wasn't going to be good. What do we need to set out resolutely toward today? Have a great day. And remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.