Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master
nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him.
If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.
Jesus calls us to go out to all the world. He gives us a message of truth with which we are to serve the world. We are not to lord it over them. We have received freely and we are to give freely. Jesus speaks truth but washes feet. We are called to do likewise. Neither can we force anyone to accept what we say. We speak the word with no control over where it will bear fruit.
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send
receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
In fact, just as many did not receive the word of Jesus so too will they not listen to us. This does not excuse us from offering the truth. We offer it in a spirit of humility and of service. The more or our ego we can extract from the process the less there is to hinder the word. One thing we cannot do is only speak the word where it seems likely to be accepted. God is ready to surprise us with who will and who won't come to him. We are called, rather, to trust God when he tells us to speak, whether it seems like success is likely or not.
"My brothers, if one of you has a word of exhortation
for the people, please speak."
The world is always asking questions like this question asked at Antioch in Pisidia. We need to be ready to respond with the hope that is within us (see First Peter 3:15). We don't necessarily need to narrate all of salvation history as does Paul. But we need to at least be able to say simply that Jesus is the one. He is the answer to the question of every human life (Saint John Paul II in Dignitatis Humanae).
We all need to come to deeper conviction that Jesus really is the great I AM. When we see what he speaks come true our faith is deepened. This goes for when the world hears us as well. We suggest, in humility, that a certain moral path is not likely to end well. And when it doesn't the next time they are perhaps more ready to listen. If we live reflective lives this happens for us as well. One blessing that we can find even in our mistakes is to see how trustworthy is the word that warned us in the first place.
Let us look to the one who is greater than John the Baptist and yet a servant of all. Let us hear and proclaim his words so that all may know that he the great I AM.
He shall say of me, 'You are my father,
my God, the Rock, my savior.'"
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