Today's Gospel

A Radical Paradigm

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. We're each day and we're exploring the wisdom of the gospels and looking for new, innovative, interesting ways to apply the gospel to the moments of our day, to the situations of our lives. Today's reading comes from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 7, verses 21, and verses 24 through 27.

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand.

And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great was the fall." What jumps out at you today? We've all been-- the wise man illustrated here and we've all been the foolish man illustrated here. And it might be helpful today to reflect upon a time when you have acted in the wisdom of the gospel and a time where you have acted in the foolishness of the world. That might be a helpful reflection today.

The reading opens with Jesus saying, "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven," which then obviously begs the question, who will enter the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus answers that question by saying, "But he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." A couple of days ago we talked about the centurion and his recognition that he was a man under authority and renewing our recognition that there is an authority that we are under in God. And Jesus points out to do the will of the Father, are we actively seeking the will of the Father?

Very often we're looking for ways to impose our own will on situations. We're looking for ways to manipulate situations to get what we want. And we all want something in every situation. And Jesus is proposing a radically different paradigm. He's saying, "No, don't worry about that. Set that aside. But let's turn to the Father, say, what is the will of the Father in this situation? And let's execute the Father's will." Let's get out there in the world today, looking for the will of God and looking for creative, innovative, exciting ways to live out the will of God in our own place, in our own time. Have a great day and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.