Oh how Jesus calls me out in today’s Gospel. There I am in the scene, oh how many times I shout to the Lord, “tell us (me) plainly.” Show me the way with clear language, and a lightning bolt from the heavens wouldn’t hurt either.

And Jesus responds, “I told you.” What, where, how did I miss that, Lord? Because it wasn’t in that lightning bolt I was so earnestly waiting on, but in the “works I do in my Father’s name testify to me,” our Gospel today proclaims. Oh, that is where the revelation is, in the works You do, Jesus? In your healing, preaching, justice seeking, and reaching out to the outcast? In your schools, hospitals, and refugee tents? In the people you encounter in your earthly and heavenly ministry ongoing?

The good news of John’s Gospel today is salve for this seeking soul that can so often look for the bright lights of revelation and miss Christ in all things. This revelation evades me only to the degree that I am out of touch with others in service, in the works Jesus speaks to today. When I am in the place of service for others I am connected with Jesus and know His voice, a voice so often discovered in the simple encounter with another.

Matthew Couture, Provincial Assistant for Secondary and Pre-Secondary Education, Chicago-Detroit Province and Wisconsin Province