Today is Day 35 of our reflections on the Gospel of John.  Thanks so much for listening!   You can contact us at www.markandkatiemartinez.com

A Reflection on John 15:18-27

“But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.” (v 24)

Jesus, I think I know you. I think I know the way you work. I think I know who you are. But then, things don’t go as planned. I am hurt. I am confused. I’m not sure if I even really knew you at all.

When I’m faced with this new knowledge, I realize I have a choice. I can choose to accept you and this circumstance. I can see it as a way I am called to change and grow, a place you want to transform in my heart.

Or I can reject you. I can reject the way you are working, the things you are doing. I can reject You because this is not the way I thought of You and so I feel it must not be You.

I think this is what it was like for the Pharisees. I think they had a picture in their minds for what the Messiah would look like. Someone who was more like them, maybe, or someone who came from a prominent family. Someone who would say they are doing everything right: they are right in their judgements and they don’t need to change!

But you weren’t what they expected. You rejected their judgements, ate with sinners, called simple people to follow you. And this was too much for them. What they had in mind didn’t line up with the image in their heads and they had a choice to make. And many chose to reject you. Because rejecting you was easier than changing. And in rejecting you, they rejected the Father.

Lord, I don’t want to reject you, but sometimes it feels like the change you want me to make is so big, so hard.  It seems easier to say, “I can’t do it.” Lord help me to see you as my shepherd, gently calling me to better food and better drink. When you call me to change, you are calling me deeper into your heart, to a place of joy unspeakable.

Prayer: Jesus, open my eyes to the places where I reject you, the places where I need to let you transform me. Change my heart, Lord, from hard stone to soft flesh. Let me be molded by you.

Scripture quotations are from The Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright ©1965, 1966 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved worldwide.