Today's Gospel

A Strong Sense of Self

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we explore the genius of the Gospels. Today's reading us from the Gospel of John chapter 3 verses 22 through 30. After this, Jesus and His disciples went into the land of Judea. There, he remained with them and baptized. John also was baptizing at Anon near Salim because there was much water there, and people came and were baptized for John had not yet been put in prison. Now a discussion arose between John's disciples and a Jew of a purifying. And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness. Here he is baptizing, and all are going to him." And John answered, "No one can receive anything except what is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, "I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom, the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is now full. He must increase and I must decrease." It's a great reading. What jumps out at you today? What is the Spirit using to stir your soul? So many things here.

I mean, it begins the essence or the core of the gospel today is these people coming to John and saying, "Hey, John, Jesus has got more followers. He's got more subscribers. He's got more friends. He's got more they're all going to Jesus now is essentially the essence. And John the Baptist is like, "Yep, that was inevitable. I told you, I'm not the Christ. I was just sent before Him. It is inevitable that they would go to Jesus." And then there's this epic line, or really two epic lines at the end of the reading, where he says, "Therefore, this joy of mine is now full." So they're looking at John and saying, "Well, before you were baptizing all these people and teaching all these people, but now they're all going over to Jesus, and he's baptizing them and teaching them. And, how do you feel about that?" And John is saying, "Now my joy is full." And that's a beautiful thing because he understands his place. He has a sense of self. He's living out of that sense of self. And that is powerful, and that's beautiful. And then the last line, one of the most famous lines in the New Testament, "He must increase and I must decrease." And isn't that true for us all? And maybe that's your prayer today. Maybe that's the prayer you use as the mantra throughout your day today. He must increase and I must decrease because over and over in our lives as Christians, we're being called to allow Jesus to fully embody our words, our thoughts, our actions, the way we carry ourselves, the way we live our lives. He must increase, I must decrease. Have a great day and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.