Today's Gospel

Jesus Doesn’t Want to Lose You

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. Why do we call it that? Because the gospels are radical, right? They want to turn your life upside down, which as it turns out would be right side up. But really, Jesus wants to turn our lives upside down. That's what Jesus did. When he was alive, that's what he did. That's what he's been doing ever since for anyone who would let him. And so the gospel is radical. And is it 2,000 years old? Yes. Is it ever new? Yes. And so it's ever relevant to our lives. We could read the same reading every day for our whole lives and new things would come from it. Why, does it change? No, we change. Our ability to see it changes. Our ability to hear it changes. Our ability to live it changes.

Today's reading is from the Gospel of John 6:37-40. "All that the Father gives me will come to me. And Him who comes to me, I will not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day. What jumps out at you?

Well, firstly, you see we're jumping around a little bit here, right? We've been in Luke for a while. And then we were in Matthew yesterday. And now in John today. And what's the theme? The theme is the kingdom of God. And today Jesus is talking about His relationship with the Father, which is very powerful throughout the Gospels. Jesus' connection with the Father is, it's beautiful. And I think it's something we don't think enough about. And it's something we need to think about, I think, at this time in history, particularly because there is a poverty of fatherhood in our culture. And we need to-- we need to put forth great images of fatherhood. It's very rare to see a really good father in a television show or in a movie or in popular literature. You think about that.

When you go about watching things and reading things, it's really sad. It's very rare to see a great father in these things. We need great fathers. We need a resurgence of fatherhood in our culture. And so Jesus is talking about this relationship he has with the Father. What jumps out of me is Jesus says, "I haven't come to do My own will. Come to do the will of the one who sent me." And so what's he teaching us is not about what you want. It's not about what I want to do. It's about what is God calling me to? This stage of my life, this phase of my life, this season of my life. And today, not somewhere in the future, but what is God calling me to today? And the same for you. What is God calling you to in this stage of your life, phase of your life, season of your life? And today, what is God calling you to today? And can you hear the voice of God in your life? Can you hear the voice of God in your life? There's too much noise. He can't get through because there's too much noise.

Do we need a little bit more time in the classroom of silence? It's such a short reading today. And then, of course, the reading closes with Jesus not wanting to lose anything or anyone who's entrusted to Him. And you have been entrusted to Him. And that's a beautiful thing. That's a thing of beauty. Have a great day. Remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.