SPEAKER_00: Well, as we wrap up this week on Saturday, come, Holy Spirit, come.
SPEAKER_00: Hope you did your homework this week.
SPEAKER_00: But as we wrap up this week, one of the most dangerous things that can happen to the soul is not outright rebellion against God.
SPEAKER_00: It's hesitation, half belief, half surrender.
SPEAKER_00: Standing close enough to hear Jesus, but never close enough to let him truly change you.
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what we see in today's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: The chief priest, the scribes, the elders approach Jesus and ask him, By what authority are you doing these things?
SPEAKER_00: Now the irony is almost painful.
SPEAKER_00: They're standing before the Son of God, truth himself, with a capital T.
SPEAKER_00: And instead of seeking truth honestly, they're calculating politically.
SPEAKER_00: Notice their conversation.
SPEAKER_00: They are not asking what is true.
SPEAKER_00: They're asking, what answers protect us?
SPEAKER_00: And that changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: Because once a person becomes more concerned with protecting themselves than surrendering to truth, the heart begins to harden.
SPEAKER_00: That's why their final answer is tragic.
SPEAKER_00: We do not know.
SPEAKER_00: But the reality is they did know.
SPEAKER_00: Or at least they suspected.
SPEAKER_00: They saw the miracles, they heard the authority in his teaching, they witnessed the holiness of John the Baptist, but accepting the truth would require conversion, humility, and change.
SPEAKER_00: And that is why they resisted.
SPEAKER_00: And honestly, we can do the exact same thing.
SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes we already know where the Lord is calling us.
SPEAKER_00: We know the relationships that need to heal.
SPEAKER_00: We know the sin that needs to go, that addiction, that vice that we keep falling into.
SPEAKER_00: We know that prayer life we keep postponing.
SPEAKER_00: We know the compromise that we just keep justifying.
SPEAKER_00: But like the religious leaders, we hesitate because conversion costs something.
SPEAKER_00: That's why this first reading from St.
SPEAKER_00: Jude is so powerful today.
SPEAKER_00: Build yourselves up in your most holy faith.
SPEAKER_00: Keep yourselves in the love of God.
SPEAKER_00: You see, faith is not something passive.
SPEAKER_00: It must be protected, strengthened, fed.
SPEAKER_00: Because the world constantly pulls us towards cynicism, compromise, confusion, distraction, and spiritual laziness.
SPEAKER_00: And then St.
SPEAKER_00: Jude says something beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: On those who waver, have mercy.
SPEAKER_00: I love that line because it reminds me that many people are struggling quietly.
SPEAKER_00: Some people in church today are wavering.
SPEAKER_00: They believe, but they're tired, they're exhausted, they're wounded, they're confused, they're carrying disappointments with God and the church.
SPEAKER_00: So what does the scripture say?
SPEAKER_00: Well, have mercy on them.
SPEAKER_00: Not contempt, not arrogance, mercy.
SPEAKER_00: The Christian life is not about standing above people, it's about pulling each other out of the fire.
SPEAKER_00: And then the reading ends with one of the most beautiful, comforting lines.
SPEAKER_00: To the one who is able to keep you from stumbling.
SPEAKER_00: Notice that carefully.
SPEAKER_00: Your salvation does not rest merely on your own strength.
SPEAKER_00: God himself is holding you.
SPEAKER_00: God himself is sustaining you.
SPEAKER_00: God himself is fighting for your soul even when you're weak.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that doesn't mean we become passive.
SPEAKER_00: It becomes we stop living with despair.
SPEAKER_00: Because some people think holiness means never struggling.
SPEAKER_00: No, holiness means continuing to return to Christ even in that struggle.
SPEAKER_00: The saints were not perfect because they never fell.
SPEAKER_00: The saints were people who stopped running from the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's the question for us today.
SPEAKER_00: Where am I resisting God's authority in my life?
SPEAKER_00: Because every one of us has an area where we prefer control over surrender.
SPEAKER_00: But peace only comes when we stop negotiating with God and finally trusting Him enough to say, Lord, not my will, but your will be done.
SPEAKER_00: And when that happens, faith stops being theoretical.
SPEAKER_00: Faith now becomes transformational.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.