The word obedience appears several times in our readings today! It seems that no one likes to hear that word: obedience – which proves that it is a central issue in the story of salvation!
It was the dis-obedience of Adam that caused the Fall of Mankind; it was the voluntary obedience of Jesus – Word of God made Flesh – that reversed the curse – and brought about redemption!
In the gospel passage Jesus tells his disciples that just as he obeyed his Father's will in everything – and thus gained resurrection after death, so will those who obey him get the reward of eternal life! It is by obedience that we plug ourselves into the mysteries of Christ! It is by obedience that we access the grace and mercy that have been won for us! It is by obedience that we prove that we are adopted sons and daughters of God and brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ!
In the first reading today we see the Sanhedrin resisting such obedience to the maximum. Not only were they insistent that they would not obey God – and believe what had just happened in their midst for their own reconciliation with God; but they would not allow anyone else to listen to the teaching of the Apostles, to obey God, and thus to set themselves up in seeming opposition to them as leaders!
They were infuriated with the apostles who disobeyed them so that they could obey God – whose will always supercedes the will of men!
May our voluntary, generous and loving obedience to the will of God this day – be a sign that we are connected with Jesus who is the very obedience of God, be a sign that we appreciate the redemption that was accomplished for us, be a sign that we have our priorities straight: and God and service to others is paramount in our lives!
Taste and see how good the Lord is; blessed the man who takes refuge in him!
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