If You Only Knew
8 min
The First Ever Guide to Eucharistic Consecration
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Gospel
Jn 2:13-25
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; you shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for thy house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign have you to show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he spoke of the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did; but Jesus did not trust himself to them, because he knew all men and needed no one to bear witness of man; for he himself knew what was in man.
Readings are from Dynamic Catholic’s New Testament Bible: RSV Catholic Edition
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Transcript
If You Only Knew
Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. Another long reading today. But remember, you're just looking for your word, your phrase, your idea, whatever the Holy Spirit stirs in you so that you can anchor your day around that word, your phrase, that idea, and anchor your day around the gospels ultimately. Today's reading is from the Gospel of John 4:5-42. So, Jesus came to a city of Samaria near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and so Jesus wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. And Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink, for His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food." The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans." And Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?"
And Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this well will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. The water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." And Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here." The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying I have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband. This, you said truly." The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. A Father worshipped on the mountain. And you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know. For salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For such, the Father seeks to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming. He is called Christ. When He comes, He will show us all things." And Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he." Just then the disciples came. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but none said, "What do you wish?" Or, "Why are you talking with her?" So the woman left her water jug and went away into the city and said to the people, "Come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" They went out of the city and were coming to him.
Meanwhile, the disciples besought him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have food to eat, of which you do not know." So the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone bought him food?" And Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work." Do not say there are yet four months. Then comes the harvest. I tell you, lift up your eyes and see how the fields are already white with harvest. He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life. So that Sower and Reaper may rejoice together. For here, the saying holds true. One sows, and another reaps. I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored. And you have entered into their labor."
Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days, and many more believed because of his words. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world."
So it's a long reading. A lot of words there, a lot of concepts there, a lot you could draw from, a lot you could draw from. But the phrase that struck me is here when Jesus is talking to the woman, and he says to her-- it's toward the beginning of the conversation. He says to her, "If you knew the gift God was giving you." Okay? So God was giving her an amazing gift right here, right at this moment. And Jesus is like, "If you knew the gift that God was giving you right now." And doesn't that apply to me 100 times a day, 100 times a day?
If I knew the gift God was giving me in all of these different moments of the day, what would I do? I'd focus on different things. And this is what we encounter with Jesus. He encounters people. They're obsessed about something. And what does he do? He said, "Look. You're focused on the wrong things. That's okay. Let's focus on this. Focus on what really matters most." Let's focus on the most important things. So where is the blessing in your life that God is calling you? God is whispering in your ear today if you knew the gift I'm giving you right now. Where is that gift in your life today? God bless you. Have an amazing day. Remember, be bold, be Catholic.
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