Daily Gospel Reflection

God’s Gracious Will

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we're looking for a word, a phrase, or an idea from today's gospel to anchor our day in the life and teachings of Jesus. Today's reading comes from the Gospel of Luke 10:17-24. Remember, yesterday, Jesus was sending the disciples out. And today, some time has passed, and they're coming back. The 70 returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name." And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

In that same hour, he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed theme to the children. Father, for such was your gracious will, all things have been delivered to me by my father. And no one knows who the Son is except the father, or who the father is except the Son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him." Then turning to his disciples, he said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see and did not see it and to hear what you hear and did not hear it."

What jumps out at you today? Was there a particular phrase or a word or an idea? Were you challenged? Were you encouraged? The gospel is full of paradoxes. Or what seem like paradoxes to us are common sense to God. And one of those paradoxes today, Jesus praises the Father. He said, "I thank you, Father. Praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earthen, for you have hidden these things from the wise and the understanding and revealed them to the children." So it's like, "Hmm, okay, but we want to be wise, right? Yeah. And we want to be understanding, right? Yeah. And yet it's to the children that he's revealed these things." And so then we think, "Okay, do we not want to be wise? Do we not want to be understanding?" Of course, we do. So what is Jesus saying? Well, firstly, two things can be true at one time. And we forget that sometimes. I'm going on a trip. Sometimes I'd be leaving for a trip. And the kids are sad, right? And they're like, "How many days, dad?" And Harry's always negotiating. I'll be like, "Three days, Harry." He'd be like, "No, two days." And I was like, "No, I think this one's going to be three days." "No, one day." "I know." And they're sad, right? And they'll be like, "Are you excited for your trip?" And I'll be like, "Yeah, I'm excited for my trip." And they'll be like, "I'm sad because you're leaving." And I'll be like, "I'm sad because I'm leaving too." And they'll say, "But I thought you were excited for your trip." And I say, "Yes, but two things can be true at the same time. I can be excited for my trip, and I can be sad to be leaving you. These two things can be true at the same time. And so we see here in the paradoxes of the gospel. It isn't that God doesn't want us to be wise. It isn't that he doesn't want us to be understanding. It isn't that he doesn't want us to seek wisdom. But he wants us to do it in a childlike way.

He wants us to do it with awe and wonder, which are beautiful, childlike qualities. And he wants us to do it with a profound humility. And so that jumps out at me today. But tell you what else jumps out at me is the next phrase right after that. We're in verse 21, and Jesus has just-- it's sort of a throwaway phrase. Right at the end of this profound saying, he says, "For such was your gracious will." Remember, he's talking to the father. He says, "For such was your gracious will." We talk a lot about the will of God. We talk about union with God. We talk about will of God.

We talk about these elevated states of trying to do the will of God and live the will of God and be in union with God. But we almost never think about the qualities of God's will. I think we think about it as just a thing. It's the will of God. And what Jesus does here is beautiful. He gives it depth. He gives it movement. He gives it texture. He says, "For such was your gracious will." And he gives us insight. What is that insight? The will of God is not cold and dictating, the word of God it's gracious. It's many things, right? But it's gracious. So let's go out into the world today and in search of the gracious will of God. Have a great day. And remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.