Today's Gospel

Invite God into the Destruction

Hi, I'm Matthew Kelly. And welcome back to Radical & Relevant, where each day we listen to the gospel, listen to the Word of God, allow God to speak into our lives so that we can go out into our day and live the gospel more fully. We're looking for practical ways to take Jesus and His message out into the world. Today's reading comes from the Gospel of Mark 3:1-6. Again, Jesus entered the synagogue and a man was there who had a withered hand. And they watched him to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man who had the withered hand, "Come here." And he said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life, or to kill?" But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against Jesus, discussing how to destroy him.

What is it that jumps out at you today? For me, it's the different characters. You've got these different people in the story today. Obviously, you've got Jesus. What was the mindset of Jesus? What was the heartset of Jesus? And then you've got the man with a withered hand. What is that like? I don't know exactly what that is, but I imagine that you can't use your hand and just trying and live your life for a few hours, just not using one hand. And you realize the practical implications of that are endless, literally endless. And then you've got the Pharisees, again, looking to criticize, looking to bring Jesus down. Why? What was their heartset? Well, their heartset was not with God. Their heartset was not with virtue. Their heartset was not with character. Their heartset was in envy. Their heartset was in negativity. And then you have the Herodians who are conspiring with the Pharisees. So you have this conspiracy. What struck me, the word that just really struck me was right toward the end, where we read the Pharisees, Jesus heals the guy. Everyone should be rejoicing, right?

Imagine yourself there. You're witnessing this. Jesus heals this guy. I'm sure there's pandemonium, people would be like out of their minds. And the Pharisees just sort of storm out. And then they're conspiring with the Herodians about how to destroy Jesus. And the word that struck me was destroy. And the question I ask you today, a question I set before you today to reflect upon is who or what are you destroying? Who or what are you trying to destroy? Who or what is destroying you? Who or what is trying to destroy you? Destruction is real. Destruction is real. What role is it playing in your life right now? And how can we invite God to help us step around that, step through that, step over that, remove ourselves from that? Have a great day. And remember, don't just be yourself. Be the very best-version-of-yourself, all that God created you to be.