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Jesus
said to them: “You sent
emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth. I
do not accept testimony from a human being,
but I say this so that you may be saved. He
was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to
rejoice in his light. But I have
something greater than John’s. The
works
that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform
testify on my
behalf that the Father has sent me.”
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“Someday
I’ll fly, someday I’ll soar, someday I’ll be
something much more ‘cause I’m
bigger than my body gives me credit for. Maybe
I’ll tangle in the power lines, and it might be over in a
second’s
time. But I’ll gladly go down in a
flame
if the flame is what it takes to remember my name.”
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Testifying
to the truth—Jesus said that that is what John the Baptist did,
and now, he
says, after the time when “you were content to rejoice in his
light,” now, he
has works of the Father that testify on his behalf. The works that the
Father gave Jesus to
accomplish were the good works that helped people be better, works that
in
truth, made them mature human beings.
In a sense, you and I as followers of the same Jesus, now have the works of the Father to accomplish in our own behavior. Arguably, the most important of those works is that of bringing about our own individual maturity. John Mayer’s song “Bigger Than My Body” is a love song, but with a twist, because it is a love song that can be understood as a young person ready to grow up. “Someday I’ll soar,” he sings, that is, someday, he will be more than he is right then. He’s ready to grow up not only in the area of love, but in the area of life. The works of the Father that Jesus did that testified on his behalf were the works of maturity, the works that eventually led people to God. You and I are called to the works of maturity, so that eventually, we will be “bigger than our bodies give us credit for.” |
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THOUGHT
What
are the
characteristics of a truly mature person?
PRAYER Good and gracious God,
you testified to your Son by giving him the means of helping people
find their
way to you. Help us grow to be more mature
in
our thought by choosing to follow Jesus better than we are now. Be with us, we pray.
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©2007
Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America |