Today's Gospel

How to Spread Christianity

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we explore the gospel. When Jesus walked the earth 2,000 years ago, who he was, the things he said, the things he did were radical. They're just as radical today as they were 2,000 years ago. Jesus said, "Love your enemies." That was radical 2,000 years ago. It's radical today. That's why we take these few minutes each morning to reflect on the gospel of the day, which is radical and immensely relevant to our lives, to our relationships, to our work, to everything we do. Today's reading comes from the Gospel of Mark 3:13-19.

"And Jesus went up into the hills and called to Him those whom He desired, and they came to Him, and He appointed 12 to be with Him and to be sent out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. Simon, who he surnamed Peter, James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, whom he surnamed Boanerges, that is the sons of thunder. Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas and James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him."

What is it that jumps out at you today? Jesus is gathering the twelve. One of the things that strikes me is these twelve Jesus gathered to himself, he taught them. He mentored them. He coached them. He lived with them. He worked with them. And then he sent them out to change the world, and they did. Christianity changed the world. And sometimes we get caught up in modern life. It's easy to forget that. But if you go back to like pre-Christianity, the idea of the Christian values that are so central to society today, these things were just missing. And then Christianity emerges. Why was it so attractive to people?

It's attractive to people because society was a mess. It was attractive to people because it was like every man for himself out there. And then all of a sudden, you've got this group of people who are really taking care of each other, really love each other. And that was incredibly attractive to people. And this is how Christianity spread from the twelve to the early Christians, from the early Christians, to the next generation and the next century and the next millennium. How did it spread? It spread through attraction, not through promotion. And so the examination that we're called to make of our own lives is, "Am I living Christianity in an attractive way? Am I living Christianity in a way that attracts other people to God? Well, what am I doing that repels people, not only from me, but from God, because they look at me and say, 'Well, he's trying to be a Christian, but what about this and what about that?'" And the this and that turn people off. And we all have the this and the that.

And that's the work God is calling us to do. So today we hear the call of the twelve and from the twelve, generation after generation, century, and millennium, Christianity spread. It spread through attraction, not through promotion. The great temptation is for us to want to promote Christianity. But the reality is people are attracted to Christianity when it is lived in an authentic way, and we all have work to do when it comes to being more authentic, living a more authentic Christian life. Have a great day. Let's get out there and do that. And remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.