Today's Gospel

The Unsaid Things of God

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we explore the genius of Jesus, the genius of the gospels, and look for new and interesting, exciting, creative ways to live the gospel out in our daily lives. Today's reading is from the Gospel of John, 16:12-15. I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot hear them now. When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak. And He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. Therefore, I said that He will take what is mine and declare it to you." Just a short reading. Maybe you got distracted, maybe you didn't get your word or your phrase or your idea. The first couple of sentences made me smile a little bit inwardly because Jesus says, "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot hear them now." I have some children that I would like to say that to. And I'm sure my parents wanted to say it to me, and I'm sure your parents wanted to say it to you, probably wanted to say, "I have many things to say to you, but you cannot hear them now."

Why is that? It's because some things we don't have enough context, we don't have enough experience to understand. And I look back now at some of the things my parents tried to tell me when I was younger, and they were absolutely right, and I was absolutely incapable of hearing it. And so that's just a small example between human and human. And now we've got Jesus, true God, true man, and he's saying, "I have many things yet to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." You cannot bear them now. When you hear that, what is your response to that? When I hear that, I'm like, "Why can't I, Jesus?" Tell me what I got to do. Show me what I got to do. Help me get in a place where I can hear all the rest that you want to say to me because there's, I'm sure, tons more that he wants to say to me and tons more that he wants to say to you. But what obstacles are we placing in the way of hearing the next thing that God wants to speak into our lives? What obstacles are you facing? What obstacles am I placing? What obstacles are we placing as a society or as a church or as a parish, school, or a workplace or culture? What obstacles are we placing between ourselves and the next thing that God wants to speak into our lives.

Have a great day. And remember, do not just be yourself. Be the-very-best-version-of-yourself, all that God created you to be.