Today's Gospel

Little By Little

Hi, I'm Matthew Kelly, and welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where we are exploring the genius of Jesus in the Gospels. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Mark 16:15-20. And he said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole of creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe. In my name, they will cast out demons. They will speak in new tongues. They will pick up serpents. And if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them. They will lay their hands on the sick and the sick will recover. Then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it. Amen."

So this is the very end of Luke's Gospel. Remember, every day we're looking for a word or a phrase or an idea. Jesus talks about two groups of people today. He talks about those who believe and are baptized and those who don't believe. And then the believers will be saved, and the non-believers will be condemned. And it's interesting to think about these ideas. It's easy to fall into thinking that saved is one action, that condemned is one action.

And very often that isn't the case with so many things when it comes to our faith. If you think about conversion, people say, "Oh, I converted to Catholicism." Yes. But then the conversion is a lifelong journey. Right? The conversion of the heart is a daily conversion. It's a daily conversion. And so, to be careful, I think when we're reading the Scriptures, to get into these very narrow interpretations. I think people who are saved are saved little by little. I think people who are condemned are condemned little by little.

And I think we're constantly invited to this conversion of the heart every single day of our lives. Have an amazing day and remember, don't just be yourself, be the very best version of yourself all that God created you to be.