The Hidden Power!

Saturday, December 13, 2025

Sir 48:1-4,9-11; Mt 17:9a, 10-13

Today’s Gospel highlights the hidden power of goodness.

We encounter Jesus as someone with greater clarity about his role and future. When he talked of John the Baptist in terms of Elijah, just as his disciples understood him, Jesus was aware of the similar fate that awaited him in the end. 

John’s mission was to ‘restore all things.’ But his work of restoration was rejected, and he himself was killed. In other words, John was killed for doing what God sent him to accomplish as a preparation for Jesus’ coming. Did John’s goodness go in vain? No.

Jesus continued from where John left. He resumed John’s work of restoration and started facing rejection. Sensing the danger Jesus was about to face, his disciples would have expected him to course-correct. But Jesus differs with them.  

Jesus’ life becomes a testament to the fact that we should be good, not for the sake of rewards but because we reflect God’s nature. John, Jesus’ predecessor, lived and died for God, allowing no compromises to safeguard his life. With full knowledge and awareness, Jesus will do the same.

Through his life, passion, and death, Jesus teaches that goodness is a Christian identity, not a mere strategy. Jesus gives us hope that when we persist in our goodness, we will discover its hidden power. Following his example, Jesus expects us to firmly believe that our vindication comes from God alone.

Let us pray that we may persist in our goodness, knowing well its true hidden power. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar