Daily Gospel Reflection

The Right Way to Judge

Hi, I'm Matthew Kelly. Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where we are exploring the genius of the gospel, the genius of Jesus, the genius of Catholicism. And each day, looking for a word, a phrase, or an idea in the Gospels, so we can anchor our day in the Word of God. Today's reading is from the Gospel of John 11:45-56.

Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, "What are we to do?" For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on this way, everyone will believe in him. And the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation. But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all. You do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish." He did not say this on his own account, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation and not for the nation only, but to gather into one, the children of God, who were scattered abroad. So from that day on, they took counsel how to put Jesus to death. Jesus, therefore, no longer went about openly among the Jews. He went from there to the country near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples. When the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, "What do you think, that he will not come for the feast?" Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know so that they might arrest him.

So the time is coming short for Jesus. The Pharisees are after him. And one thing they absolutely refuse to look at are his works, are his miracles, is the fruit of his life. And they absolutely have rejected the idea of judge a tree by its fruits. They're not interested in the fruit. They just don't like the tree. You think about it when you criticize somebody else, what are you critical of? Are you critical of them as a person? Or are you critical of the fruit of their life? I often reflect on these sorts of things, when I'm criticized and you put yourself out there publicly, you're going to get criticized. I read some of these comments on YouTube some days, and I'm like, whoa. And the criticism is almost never of the actual work, almost never of the actual ideas, almost always a personal attack. And I'm sure you have critics in your life and experience the same thing. So let's not be like the Pharisees. Let's think, "Okay, who are we critical of? Are we critical of their person or critical of the fruit of their life?" And let's look at the fruit of their life. If the fruit of their life isn't that great, maybe we shouldn't hang out with these people too much. Maybe we should give them some grace and certainly we should pray for them. Have a great day and remember, be bold, be Catholic.