+ In the unfolding of the history of salvation, today we see Samuel, a messenger of the Lord, confronting Saul with his sinfulness, with his disobedience to what God had asked him and intended him to do as leader of his people. Samuel agreed that Saul fought the battle he was directed to fight, but when it was over he overstepped his bounds by taking from the spoil sheep and oxen and the best of what had been banned to sacrifice to the Lord in Gilgal. Samuel then said: Does the Lord so delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obedience to the command of the Lord? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission than the fat of rams. For sin is rebellion, and presumption is idolatry. Because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he, too, has rejected you as ruler. Since God sees the whole picture, he wants us to obey what he tells us to do in fulfilling the plans he has for us, which are each integral parts to the whole picture – otherwise, the picture will be imperfect – and will take that much longer to correct and mend.
In the gospel passage there is the mentality of the new apparently replacing the old: what is of John and the Old Testament, replaced by Jesus and the New Testament. So long as the new finds its roots in the old and is but a development and evidenced growth of it – it must be welcomed like shrunken cloth mending an old cloak, and new wine poured into new wineskins.
May we this day – rooted in all of the best of our faith – allow the Lord to touch our hearts to further develop, build and apply what he has already given us – for our good, for the good of the whole church, and the good of the whole world.
The word of God is living and effective, able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart!
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