Fourth of Advent 2009 - I have come to do your will, O God
December 2009
‘In the scroll of the book it is written of me, I have come to do your will, O God.’
I once heard an annoyed employer address his employee as follows; ‘Hey man, I’m not paying you to think, just do what I tell you to do.’
A relationship with someone who always does what they are told to do, without bothering to know why, is not very fruitful; a bit like a straight line drawn across a blank page.
As we read the Gospels we continually find the Apostles asking Jesus questions about what he had said or done and quizzing him about his and their future.
My relationship with God my Father and Creator, while incorporating total submission to the will of God, must also be bubbling over with questions, objections, doubts, dispute, contention.
If God wanted, unquestioning obedience he would have created a bunch of robots.
This obedience to God’s will is the obedience that comes with the questions, the objections, the doubts, the disputes, and the contention.
My obedience to God’s will is not the result of questions fully answered, objections ironed out, doubts settled, disputes and contention resolved.
The obedience to God’s will we are talking about is based on the gift of total trust in God which comes in the midst of the questions, doubts, objections etc. and does not put an end to the questions, doubts and contentions.
All this sounds terribly contradictory.
But faith in God is terribly contradictory.
Trust in God is terribly contradictory.
Selflessness is terribly contradictory.
Loving and forgiving my enemies is terribly contradictory.
What is the alternative. A universe without God is just a flash of light that instantly disappears into nothingness.