Today's Gospel

Will You Lay Down Your Life?

There were so many instances of Jesus foretelling, foreseeing what was going to happen to himself, to the world, to Christianity. And today we encounter one of those. Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where, each day, we explore the genius of the Gospel. Today's reading comes from John chapter 13, verses 21 through 33 and 36 through 38.

When Jesus had thus spoken, he was troubled in spirit and testified, "Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me." The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was lying close to the breast of Jesus. So Simon Peter beckoned to him and said, "Tell us who it is of whom you speak." So lying thus close to the breast of Jesus, he said to them, "Lord, is it I?" And Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I shall give this morsel when I have dipped it." So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then, after the morsel, Satan entered into him, and Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly." Now, no one at the table knew why he had said this to him. Some thought that because Judas had the money box, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the feast," and that he should give something to the poor. So after receiving the morsel, he immediately went out, and it was night. When he had gone out, Jesus said to the other disciples, "Now is the son of man glorified, and in him, God is glorified. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify Him in Himself and glorify Him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and as I said to the Jews, so now I say to you, where I am going, you cannot come." And Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, where are you going?" And Jesus answered, "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you shall follow afterward." And Peter said to him, "Lord, why cannot I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." And Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me?" "Truly, truly, I say to you, the cock will not crow till you have denied me three times."

What is it that jumps out at you today? Is there a word, a phrase, or an idea? Jesus is betrayed. And if we live long enough in this world, we all perhaps experience betrayal in different shapes and forms and magnitudes. And what is that? It's a breach of trust, right? One of the saddest things in the world is to be betrayed by someone that you you thought you could trust. And betrayal is a breach of trust. And it knocks us off our axis, right? And the closer the person is to us, the more it knocks us off our axis because it makes us question things. It makes us question our judgment. It makes us question our worldview. It might make us question ourselves. It might make us question God. It could make us question everything depending on the nature of the betrayal, and that is disorienting. And so betrayal is disorienting. And we don't see that disorientation in Jesus, in the betrayal. He says to Judas, "What are you going to do, do quickly." And then he moves straight on, right, to his disciples, instructing them about what's going to happen next, and preparing them for what's going to happen next. So I think that's the first thing that strikes me. The second thing that strikes me is Peter's words to Jesus. He says, "I will lay down my life for you. I will lay down my life for you." And of course, that's the invitation of the gospel, right? It's an invitation of self-sacrifice. It's an invitation to lay down our lives for God, yes, but also to lay down our lives for each other. And the truth is, we all lay down our lives for something. Some people lay down their lives for trivialities. And that's sad and tragic, right? When they come to the end of their lives, and maybe they don't even realize. Maybe they do. Maybe they wake up near the end of their lives and realize, wow, I spent my life. I laid down my life for something that's quite trivial. And of course, God is calling us to lay down our life for him and to lay down our life for our neighbours.

And through that sacrifice, to be refined, to grow, to develop, to become the very best version of ourselves, or that God created us to be. That's the reason to grow in holiness. And so, you can't disconnect these two things. You can't disconnect the laying down of your life, the sacrifice, from God's desired outcome. And that's why it's important for us to reflect on, okay, what is God's dream for us? God's dream for you? He wants you to become all you're created to be, that very best version of yourself. And everything he invites us to is designed to bring that about and to help us to help other people accomplish the same thing in God.

Have a great day and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.