“It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” // Mark 6:18
My stomach tightened. It was happening all over again. Another person offended? I tossed and turned that night, relaying conversations I had with a friend.
God didn’t just call you to be nice!
That statement has been rattling around in my head ever since. For a long time, “niceness” was not just about being accepted; it was an ‘identity’ I struggled to leave behind. Its insidious influence is creeping into my relationships like warm and inviting idolatry, wedging itself between me and my obedience to Christ.
In today’s reading (Mark 6:14-29), we reflect on the unflinching zeal of John the Baptist, whose truth-telling proved fatal while confronting Herod about his adulterous marriage to Herodias.
But John stood like a rock, unwavering in mission. He understood the difference between graciousness and compromise, between fearing men and obeying Christ. John was a lover of truth. He was willing to risk everything for it, even his life.
We live in a culture where it is easy to say, “This is none of my business” or “I don’t have the influence to change things” or “They won’t listen anyway.”
Yet, Love is inseparable from truth.
As I lay awake that night, I became aware of familiar fears—fears of rejection and ridicule, fears of losing relationships, of being weaned away from earthly possession, of stepping out of comfort zones.
I realized I cannot follow Jesus and be nice. Not equally. I may win acceptance, but I will forfeit genuine truth-telling. In the end, niceness will only turn me into a “whitewashed tomb” (Matthew 23:27)—pristine on the outside but empty within.
The choices for living truth in this world are radical: Happy or holy? Comfort or courage? Shiny veneer or openness to “light momentary” discomfort? To remain silent or to speak?
On days when we sense the pressure to soften our convictions or feel the surge of temptation to opt for the wide gate of “niceness,” may we lean on Saint John’s intercession—for wisdom to know when to speak and the courage to live it.
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