“Whomever believes in me, will have eternal life”. God gives us the tools to have eternal life with him, and to live in the ways of the Holy Spirit. In today’s reading God reminds us that we will face objection and we will face the despair of those who don’t believe in his holy graces. In this reading, Paul turns away from those who choose not to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. In those days, Paul was considered a rebel. Judaism was the main religion and Christianity new and uncharted territory.
Despite the strong conversion of disciples surrounding the teachings of Jesus Christ, rebellion was common. Paul was an outcast and the disciples deserters of the true religion. Paul, unphased by the animosity towards Christianity, turns his attention towards the true believers refusing to throw pearls to swine.
Today we face some of the same struggles. So often media captures only a glimpse of the truth, or a disfigured version of the truth. A world so infatuated with hate, violence, and negativity feeds of these truths. We see a strong pull towards the real truth from the rebels that take the stage. Take Christians in the Middle East, persecuted by ISIS or Americans plagued by the false portrayal of Religion in our own backyard.
Somehow Christianity in America has come to equal hate. Hate towards certain groups or beliefs. Ironically, true Christianity is the call to love.
The gospel shows us that Jesus said God is within him. This translating to the knowledge and belief that God is in all of us. So transparently so that God has the ability to show us truth in the world filled with lies, so long as we choose to listen, just as Paul chose to listen. In crowds of noise there may not be anything to hear, but in silence there may be the best lessons.
