"But they were looking for a king to conquer and to kill"

Not sure why I am not inclined to deal with today's Gospel, which takes us back to Saint John's Last Supper Discourse. I think perhaps it's because it's one of those passages that compacts a lot into a relatively few verses- though still a fairly long Gospel reading. Maybe it's because our first and epistle readings are post-resurrection I am drawn to them. Heck, I don't know.

Since I haven't been posting a Friday traditio, I thought today I would post a Sunday traditio

As it pertains to the Gospel, Rich Mullins' "That Where I Am There You May Also Be" came to mind. This is one of those songs Rich was working on at the time of his death. This is why I am posting the demo version. What was entitled The Jesus Record was recorded by the Ragamuffin Band with various Christian artists after Rich's death.

Since I did my reflection on the reading from Acts 6:1-7, which is taken to be the institution of the diaconate, our Sunday traditio arises from our reading from 1 Peter (1 Peter 2:4-9). In verse 8, the Greek noun skandalou is used. In the NABRE, this noun is translated as "A stone that will make people stumble." Literally, the English word "scandal" is something that causes others to stumble and finds its root in the Greek skandalon.

Both then, in the early Church being persecuted, and now, even (maybe especially) in a comfortable culture, Christ is a skandalon. So, Michael Card's "Scandalon" is our Sunday traditio. Tying this to today's Gospel, it is the cause of no little scandal that Jesus insists, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Now, without watering down His words, understanding what this really means requires some unpacking and unfolding. But I am not going undertake that here.