On Being Obedient…

           Jesus was head among human beings and the son of God. And he was given all the authority and dominion over earth. He had all the power to change the whole world. He had the same power which was used by God, during the Great Deluge, the destruction by water, because the world was filled with sin. Jesus had the power of making everything new, without undergoing even a pinch of pain. But he chose the other way. He chose to be obedient to His Father; he chose to do the will of his Father.

Obeying is Trusting: When we obey someone, we show our trust in that person. If we have no trust in someone, we will never obey that person. We are familiar with the story of that man, who climbing the mountain, slipped and was heading to embrace his death when he found himself hanging in between with his climbing rope and he called upon God for help, and God asked him to let go the rope. The man, not sure in the darkness how high he was hanging, did not trust in the voice of God and did not obey. In the morning the villagers found him hanging dead, just few feet above the ground.

           Jesus was obedient unto death because he trusted in God, he knew that the Father will not let him die like that; he trusted that he will be raised after death. His obedience shows the degree of trust between the son and the father.

          There is no obedience without purpose or reward. Obedience strengthens the relationship between the obedient and the obeyed.

               As we journey towards priesthood, is there a better way to come closer to the Father, than to say with Jesus: “Father not my, but thy will be done.” Nothing takes place in our life without the knowledge and wish of our Heavenly Father, even so called, “the tough times.” Sometimes we may not understand God’s will and may not obey Him, those are the times when we choose to go away from God.

            Each one of us is chosen by God for completing an assigned task like that of Jesus. Jesus was sent to save the world, and his work does not end on Calvary, but continues till today. It is the duty of the priests, another Christ, to continue the saving mission of Christ. And we can never continue if we are not obedient to Christ, our ultimate commander and head if we have to live our vocation meaningfully, we have to obey Christ, in the form of our superiors, our colleagues, classmates, our friends etc. we may not be so worthy, so holy, so sinless, that we hear God’s voice directly like… God calling our name… son so and so… come on get up, now do this, I command you to go there and do that etc…

              God speaks; God speaks to us through our superiors, through the persons whom he has appointed to direct us. Are we obedient? Christ is our model; let us look forward to him to teach us to be more faithful and obedient to him.

- B. Johnson Maria