Today's Gospel

Put Your House in Order

Hi, I'm Matthew Kelly, and welcome back to Radical & Relevant, where each day, we explore the genius of Jesus in the Gospels. We're in chapter seven of Matthew's Gospel today. I love Matthew 5, 6, 7. These three chapters always challenge me big time. There's just so much wisdom in here. Today's reading comes from the seventh chapter of Matthew, verses 1 through 5. "Judge not that you not be judged. For with the judgment, you pronounce, you will be judged. And the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."

Remember, each day we have this time together, we're looking for a word, a phrase, or an idea that jumps out at you, that the Holy Spirit uses to capture your attention or intrigue you. Did you have a word or an idea or a phrase today? There's a lot here, right? There's the judgment. There's how you judge, you're going to be judged, and there's the, like, put your house in order. Don't be going out putting other people's houses in order. Put your house in order before you go out to put someone else's house in order, the speck in the eye.

And I think we all struggle with all of these things. But what jumped out at me today was right towards the end, and I think it's easy to miss it. I think it's easy to read through it. The words are, "You will see clearly," okay? That's the phrase, "You will see clearly." And it comes from this line, and because of the line, I think it's easy to miss this phrase. But the line is, "You hypocrite." Firstly, any time Jesus is calling you a hypocrite, you're probably distracted by that. But He then goes on to say, "First, take the log out of your own eye." So we're thinking about that, right? Thinking about taking the log out of our own eye. And then it's easy to miss this. "And then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye," because we read through it, not only because of what comes before it, because of what comes after it. But it's the whole point. "You will see clearly." Jesus wants us to see clearly. And you can't live with clarity if you don't see clearly.

And that's one of the reasons we have this time together each day; one of the reasons we dedicate ourselves to the habit of daily prayer; one of the reasons we participate in all sorts of spiritual practices, so that we can see clearly, so that God can cleanse our sight, can align our sight with His vision, with His wisdom. And that's what jumped out at me today. If you do these things that Jesus is recommending, you will see clearly. And I think we want to see clearly. So what is it that you need to do today so that you can see clearly?

Have a great day. Remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.