Today's Gospel

What is Heaven Like?

Hi, I'm Matthew Kelly. Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where we're exploring the genius of the gospel and looking each day to create the habit of listening the gospel for a word or phrase or an idea that God is speaking directly to you to anchor your day in that word phrase or idea. Today's gospel is the very end of the third chapter of John, verses 31 through 36. He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth. And of the earth he speaks. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard. Yet no one receives his testimony.

He who receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God. For it is not by measure that He gives the Spirit. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hands. And He who believes in the Son has eternal life. He who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him. So you know we're in John, and we have these passages, where it's like a lot of acrobatics, and sometimes it can be hard to focus. But did you get a word or a phrase or an idea?

It struck me, and it's never struck me before. John is saying, "He bears witness to what he has seen and heard." What struck me here today is that over and over throughout Jesus' life, he was talking about what he had seen and heard. And one of the most prevalent and persistent questions in the history of Christianity has been, what is heaven like? But when Jesus was alive and walking the earth, he was constantly alluding to what he had seen and heard and how he was representing what he had seen and heard.

But I don't think we have any record of somebody actually asking him, "Hey, Jesus, what is it like?" And I think that lack of curiosity or that lack of asking the question, I think, can filter into our own spiritual life. I think we can read the scriptures and fail to ask the questions, fail to lay the question before God. He, God, what is it really like? Reveal it to me in some way. Show me in some way. What questions, if Jesus was alive today, would you ask him?

What questions do you-- as you read the scriptures and the disciples are around him, what questions are burning in your heart, thinking, "Guys, you should be asking him this right now." Have an amazing day. And remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.