Oh boy, Saul, Saul, you are grounded for your disobedience. I remember growing up and having to do daily chores. Do you have rules in your house? Did you ever break the rules? Do you get in trouble when you break the rules? Do you like to be punished? I didn’t like to be punished, either.
We are called to be holy. Spiritual growth entails overcoming these “bending the rules” tendencies and subduing them.
Obedience is a virtue, an act of faith that requires humility. Today we heard the famous expression, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.”
The word “obey” comes from the Latin obedire, which literally means “listen to,” but is used to indicate “pay attention to.”
In our relationship with God, faith in God means that we trust Him and believe what he says and does. The real test of our faith is seen in our loving obedience to Him. Abraham was called the father of faith because he obeyed God completely.
How is the virtue of obedience in our culture today? Alive or thrown out of the window.
Don’t our culture see obedience and the demand of obedience as a limit to our free will? So, we tend to have problems with any and all authority, including God’s.
This false idea of obedience is not new. Doing things the way we want, how we want, and what we want seems to be human tendencies. King Saul has his own idea of what is obedience.
God’s instructions to Saul were “… attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.”
How did Saul respond? Saul and his army went out against the Amalekites, as God said, and they did defeat them, but Saul allowed the Amalekite king, Agag, to live, as well as some of their animals.
When he was questioned about his actions, Saul said, “Look! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions!” But Samuel said, “If you obeyed God completely, why do I hear the sheep bleating? And why did you allow King Agag to live?” Saul answered, “We kept the best of the livestock to offer as sacrifices to God!”
In his Book the Antiquities of the Jews, Jewish Historian Josephus mentioned that Saul saved king Agag because they were of the kindred of Raguel, Moses’s father-in-law.
No matter how good or plausible Saul’s intention was, it does not override God’s will. Partial obedience is disobedience in God’s eyes.
Saul was punished for his disobedience. Samuel said to Saul: “God would rather you obey Him than sin against Him and offer a sacrifice! God cares more about what is in your heart than about burnt offerings! And now, because you have rejected God by sinning against Him, God has rejected you as king!”
Surely, “..the Lord has cast down the mighty from their thrones….” Today’s responsorial psalm has it “Why do you recite my statutes, and profess my covenant with your mouth, though you hate my discipline and cast my words behind you?”
The gospel reminds us that there is time for everything. There is time for fasting, time to make merry, time to offer sacrifice, and time not to offer sacrifice. Hence, “No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins and both wine and skins are ruined” (Mark 2: 22)
The Lord’s commands are to be obeyed. Psalm 119:4 says: “You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed.”
Today’s message is simple: We are called to witness obedience to God like Jesus was.
Only God sees the heart (1 Samael 16:7).
Seeds of rebellion against God’s Word and Will are in every heart, and we must root them out (Rom. 3, Rom. 8).
Our obedience in faith should be modeled on Jesus’ obedience to the Father “Not my will, but Thine be done.”
Have a wonderful week
Prayer for Obedience:
Dear heavenly Father, please make me an obedient child. Let me listen and obey your instructions. Give me the ability to do whatever you ask me to do. Do not let me provoke your judgment with disobedience. Enable me to always be conscious that “you see all things and you will appropriately judge all things – either with blessings or disciplines.” For in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.
Amen.
