Gospel: John 1: 19-28
The Gospel of John will explore a theme in great detail that is a central problem in all religious traditions: the inability of religious leaders to see God at work in their midst. John will begin the exploration "from the beginning" with John the Baptist's ministry, and then continue this theme throughout the ministry of Jesus, as in today's Gospel John will note that these same religious authorities who come to question the Baptist will fail to recognize the reality of Jesus the Lord.
The authorities come from Jerusalem with their preset categories of inquiry, but John does not fit into any of their categories. But the presence of these categories right away suggests that religious leaders are not interested in really listening and looking for God's work in the moment. If they were looking for God, the categories would be set aside as God cannot be contained by such things.
When our sense of security, power, and comfort are the primary driver of an inquiry, we can be pretty sure that we are not searching for God at all, that we are in fact making ourselves God. For God calls us to uncomfortable places - to the margins - in order to expand our hearts for greater love and our communities to be ever wider in their outreach and acceptance of others.
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