What Conversation am I Avoiding?

One of the writing tools the Gospel writers all like to use is contrast. Think of Pontius Pilot, a ruler with perceived power judging Jesus. Jesus is beaten, broken, and adorned with a faux crown on his head. Now one of those two men is totally free and truly powerful. And the other is trapped and forced to bow to the will of the people even if it goes against his better judgment. 

Or think of the great scene where the religious rulers come standing with rocks in their hands ready to stone Mary Magdalene and Jesus, sitting on the ground, defeats them with a simple sentence. 

Throughout the Gospels, there are so many iconic and powerful examples of the ways Jesus’ life and teaching, his death, and his resurrection caused an unfathomable paradigm shift in everyone willing to listen to him. 

But we tend to only really think about the extraordinary moments where Jesus changes everything in someone’s life. What is so wonderful about this week’s Gospel is that it conveys the ordinary means that Jesus tends to change a life.

Consider the contrast here: Jesus is talking about laying his life down for the salvation of the world and the disciples are arguing about who the greatest among them is. 

Jesus is literally telling them what’s about to happen in blatant terms. And the disciples are like, “I don’t really know what you’re talking about Jesus. By the way, which among us is the greatest and your favorite.”

In other words, Jesus is trying to have one conversation and the disciples are struggling to listen because they’re preoccupied with something that doesn’t really matter. In the Kingdom of Heaven, no one cares who is ranked higher than who. No one is even thinking about themselves. The whole focus rests on living in perpetual, endless, joy. 

So this week, as you listen to the readings and the homily and the prayers, ask God this bold question: God, what kind of conversation are you trying to have with me that I’m struggling to hear?

Let go of what has you preoccupied for a moment and try your best to be open to the conversation you really need to have, the one that Jesus has been trying to have, maybe for weeks. 

God bless you and remember, you were made to do hard things.