January 24, 2019
Thursday, 2nd week in Ordinary time
Hebrews 7: 25 - 8: 6; Mark 3: 7-12
The letter to the Hebrews gives a distinguished importance to the quality of obedience of Jesus! In fact it speaks of obedience as special ministry of the Son of God. St. Paul's letters too have the same dimension (eg: Phil 2). At times holiness does not consist in doing great things to a great effect, but in simple and humble submission to the Lord.
Hence, Christian obedience is not merely doing something that is commanded, but being conscious of the overwhelming Grace that surrounds us all the time and leads us by hand every moment of our lives. It is a humble acknowledgement and submission to the Power from above! When we submit ourselves in our entirety, we begin to possess not only the consciousness of this power of God but the very power itself, as true and trusted children of God.
Jesus possessed this consciousness of the proximate presence of the power from above and that was sensed by all, specially the evil spirits that he often encountered. It is by this power from above that he became the high priest who can save all of us - the power invested in him by the Father.
Each of us has received our share of this power to grow and nurture ourselves into true people of God. What if we are mindful of this power and start using this power - of course the opposition from the enemy camp will be more, but will we not set up ourselves as great signs of God's presence to this world that needs it so badly? And another question that is more crucially relevant is: to what end are you willing to use this power - your own selfish ends or for the greater glory of God?
The letter to the Hebrews gives a distinguished importance to the quality of obedience of Jesus! In fact it speaks of obedience as special ministry of the Son of God. St. Paul's letters too have the same dimension (eg: Phil 2). At times holiness does not consist in doing great things to a great effect, but in simple and humble submission to the Lord.
Hence, Christian obedience is not merely doing something that is commanded, but being conscious of the overwhelming Grace that surrounds us all the time and leads us by hand every moment of our lives. It is a humble acknowledgement and submission to the Power from above! When we submit ourselves in our entirety, we begin to possess not only the consciousness of this power of God but the very power itself, as true and trusted children of God.
Jesus possessed this consciousness of the proximate presence of the power from above and that was sensed by all, specially the evil spirits that he often encountered. It is by this power from above that he became the high priest who can save all of us - the power invested in him by the Father.
Each of us has received our share of this power to grow and nurture ourselves into true people of God. What if we are mindful of this power and start using this power - of course the opposition from the enemy camp will be more, but will we not set up ourselves as great signs of God's presence to this world that needs it so badly? And another question that is more crucially relevant is: to what end are you willing to use this power - your own selfish ends or for the greater glory of God?