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People often times say that Jesus (aside from you know, being God) was a really nice guy. And yeah, there’s some truth to that. . . but then I read something like the Gospel today (Matthew 21:33-43) and I’m like

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Here’s Jesus, coming with a seemingly innocent and hypothetical situation. But He’s totally baiting them (maybe when Jesus was talking to the disciples about being “fishers of men” this is what He was referring to). Not that Jesus was lying – He was dropping truth bombs galore. But He reeled them in, made them feel like they were just answering a question, and then bam! Turned the tables on them right quick (Jesus apparently has a thing for tables too – turning them, flipping them over, eating on them…).

Alright, so Jesus wasn’t always a nice guy. And that’s alright, because nice is too simple a description for Jesus. And for us.

Nice ≠ Love

Nice is subjective. I can give my kids candy at any point throughout the day. They’ll think I’m being nice. But I’m not being loving. As kids, they need to be shown how to eat [somewhat] healthy. I can’t allow them to eat junk food all the time, because that would hurt them in the long run. So to me, I am being nice to them. Because of my love for them, I am watching out for their well-being, not just what makes them happy.

Even though Jesus was throwing shade at the chief priests and elders, He was doing it because He loves them (also, if you look at the passages before this, the chief priests and elders approached Him to try to corner Him. But Jesus was having none of that).

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So we are challenged to be compassionate and loving, but we’re also called to stand up for our faith, and to be able to defend when we are attacked. I don’t know about you, but I do not feel ready to defend my faith confidently all the time. There’s a lot of fear of saying the wrong thing, or turning people away from the Church and/or God. But I am working on it. If you want to work on it too, here are a couple of things that have helped me make some headway:

Choose a topic/teaching of the Church that you want to know more about. via GIPHY
Read on why the Church has that teaching. There’s more to it than just what the teaching is. via GIPHY
Find an article, podcast, or video of a Catholic discussing the teaching, or better yet defending it to someone. This has helped me think of ways to put Church teachings into words that are more accepted and understood. via GIPHY
Talk to people about it – start off with those who are already Catholic because often times they can give you insights or other thoughts that you can use. via GIPHY
Trust in and pray to God to continuously guide you and give you the words if ever you were called to defend your faith (this actually can be a step throughout the process – that process being your life). via GIPHY