Daily Gospel Reflection

You Can't Hide Jesus

I'm Matthew Kelly and welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where we are exploring the genius and the simplicity of the gospel and learning to apply that genius and simplicity to our own lives. Today's Gospel is from Mark, 7:24-30. Remember, you're looking for a word or a phrase or an idea that God is using to speak to you today, to challenge you, to teach you, to encourage you. "And from there, Jesus arose and went away to the region of Tyra and Sidon, and he entered a house, and would not have anyone know it, yet he could not be hidden. Immediately, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her that the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. And she answered him, 'Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.' And Jesus said to her, 'For this saying, you may go your way. The demon has left your daughter.' And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone." Many of these readings we've heard many times in our lives, and it's easy to read through them. It's easy to miss them. It's easy to assume we know them. And the truth is, is that they're always revealing new levels of meaning. One of the dangers when we get into this is that we stop feeling it. It's important not just to read the gospels, but to feel the gospels.

This woman has come to Jesus. Her daughter is possessed. What is her state of stress? What is her state of anxiety? What is her state of sadness? What is her state of desperation? Did you feel any of that when you were reading it? Because the reality is often I don't. We just read through it. It's an intellectual exercise. We have to take that journey from the head to the heart and really feel this woman's distress. And when we feel her distress and she comes to Jesus and Jesus says, basically compares-- no, doesn't basically. He does compare her daughter to a dog. And we think, "Whoa, hold on a minute. How do we reconcile that with Jesus, the Savior of the world? The Messiah come to save all people in all places and all times." And of course, this woman, she has enormous faith, but what else does she have? She has enormous humility. But the phrase that really struck me today is up in the beginning. Jesus comes to this place. He doesn't want anyone to know, but it says, "Yet He could not be hidden." You can't hide Jesus. He can't be hidden. When He comes to live in us, He wants to live in us in powerful ways, and you can't hide that. That will demonstrate itself in ways that we understand and ways that we will be amazed at. And so today, let's invite Jesus again to come and live in us. Powerfully live in us and live through us. God bless you. Have a great day. Remember, don't just be yourself. Be the very best version of yourself, all that God created you to be.