Today's Gospel

Raise Me Up

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where we are exploring the genius of Jesus in the Gospels. And just each day taking a look at the Gospel reading and looking for a word, a phrase, or an idea to anchor our day in the Gospel. Today's reading is from the Gospel of John, chapter 6:51 through 58. "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as your fathers ate and died. He who eats this bread will live forever."

So here we are, we're in the Gospel of John, and we're in this section that focuses so much on the bread of life and so much on the Eucharist. And over and over through this section of John, we see people really struggling with this teaching about the bread of life, this teaching about the Eucharist. And that hasn't changed in 2000 years. There's still people struggling with this teaching. But what is the word or the phrase or the idea that jumps out at you today? The phrase that jumped out at me is when Jesus says, "I will raise him up." And it goes on, "I will raise him up on the last day." But just the phrase, "I will raise him up." Jesus wants to raise you up. He wants to raise you up in ways you can't even begin to imagine. He wants to raise up every aspect of you. He wants to raise up every aspect of your life. He wants to take it to a new level. He wants to raise it up.

And so as you think about your life today, or you think about your whole person, which aspect of your life, or which aspect of your person do you want God to raise up right now, today? And in identifying that, I think it helps to ask the question, when is the last time you ask God to raise you up? When is the last time you asked God to raise up that aspect of your life? It might be your personal finances. It might be your health and well-being. It might be your parenting. It might be your marriage. It might be your career. But when is the last time you ask God to raise you up in that aspect of your life? Or maybe it's an aspect of your person. When is the last time you asked God to raise you up in that aspect of your person? Maybe you're struggling to be patient, or maybe you're struggling to be generous, or maybe you're struggling to be courageous. When's the last time you asked God to raise you up? Because what we see throughout all four Gospels is an invitation to ask. It is a promise that in asking, we will receive. And yet, I find that we don't ask anywhere near enough. We don't come to God anywhere near enough and ask and ask with the courage and the faith that the people in the gospel came to Jesus asking and very often begging for Him to raise them up in some way.

So go to Jesus today, ask Him to raise you up, but ask Him to raise you up in a very specific way. 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.