Daily Gospel Reflection

Shift Your Paradigm

I'm Matthew Kelly. Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where we're exploring the genius of the gospel. Each day, we're looking for a word, a phrase, or an idea to anchor our days. So sometimes the whole reading can be long, sometimes it can be confusing, sometimes there can be parts that you understand and parts that baffle you. Don't worry about the parts that baffle you. Just look for a word or a phrase or an idea. We're just looking for the word to feed you today. And we're not looking to do a deep analysis of this one gospel. We're just allowing the gospel to give us our daily bread, to feed us today.

Today's Gospel comes from the Gospel of John 2:13-22. 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 changes at their business. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all with the sheep and the 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?" And Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "It has taken 46 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.

So we've got this Monday in Holy Week. Jesus goes to Jerusalem. He goes to Jerusalem every day this week. And he gets to the temple. All this is going on, puts together whips, drives them all out. What is it that strikes you in today's gospel reading? Is there a word? Is there a phrase? Is there an idea? The wrestle that I see between Jesus and His opposition, Jesus and His enemies and even sometimes Jesus and His followers is their inability to shift paradigms. Jesus came, He wanted to completely shift the paradigm. And very often, those who are arguing with Him are stuck in an old paradigm. And so what strikes me today is Jesus says, "Destroy the temple in three days I will raise it up." And of course, the end of this week, that happens. But the Jews are stuck in this old paradigm. They're stuck in this literal paradigm, and they're stuck in man's ways. And they say, "Hold on a minute. It took 46 years to build this temple. Who is this lunatic who thinks he's going to knock it down and build it again in three days?" And so here we see the paradigm conflict between the ways of God and the ways of man.

Jesus keeps proclaiming the ways of God, and those who are pushing back against him, even sometimes his believers say, "Hold on, Jesus, we don't understand that. Explain that to us." Because they're coming from the paradigm of man's ways. And Jesus keeps coming back. God's ways are very, very different to man's ways. And so that's what strikes me today. And the question I would ask you is, what challenge do you have going on in your life right now? And in what ways are you applying the paradigm of man's ways? I got to get this done. I got to come up with a solution. I got to come up with a plan. And in what ways are you allowing God's paradigm of God's ways to illuminate a path forward for you in whatever the challenges that you're facing? Have an amazing day. God bless you. And remember, don't just be yourself, be the very best version of yourself, all that God created you to be.

One thing I did want to mention is, for the first time now, we're releasing a video every day based on the Daily Gospel. And so Lent will finish, and we have this Holy Week experience. And usually, our Best Lent Ever videos would end this Sunday on Easter Sunday. But every day, the rest of the year, you're welcome to come back and enjoy this experience of looking at the daily gospel just for a word or a phrase or an idea to anchor our days. I hope you'll enjoy that, take advantage of that, and share that with your family and friends.