Obedience or Rebellion?

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 19th week in Ordinary time

August 11, 2020: Ezekiel 2:8-3:4; Matthew 18:1-5, 10,12-14.

When a child places its trust in someone, be it father or mother, or a loved one, or a teacher or a friend, the child obeys without questions. That is what makes a child so vulnerable in front of those. That vulnerability makes the child so special and so valuable in the eyes of the Lord. Obedience, docility, humility, surrender - these are the dispositions that are expected of a child of God, in the presence of God. 

The first reading so figuratively presents through the experience of Ezekiel, the message that Lord gives to each of the Lord's sons and daughters: to be children, to obey and not to be rebellious, but to receive the Word of the Lord, take it in, savour it, understand it, live by it, and announce it to the world. It is not about taking in what you like and leaving out what you don't like - that is childishness! Instead, childlike-ness would be to take in what the Lord says, the Words of the Lord, without any question or rebellion! 

"Obey and you will not have sinned" says the famous monastic rule. And that is the strength of obedience. The first sin recorded in the Word of God is of rebellion, and the atonement for it was offered in Obedience, on the Cross! Should we hold on to the sentiment of rebellion, we shall be weak in our obedience. The sign of growth in obedience to the Lord is accepting what comes from the Lord without any question or second thought.

The Lord says love; the Word says forgive; the Saviour says believe; the Son of God says do not be afraid; the Spirit says abide in truth; the Triune God says make peace and live in harmony... are we ready to obey...or are we rebelling in our own way? The Word instructs us today, if you are to be called children of God: Obey and be not rebellious!