THE IMPLICATION OF DIVINE OBEDIENCE

REFLECTION FOR 3RD SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR C

THEME: THE IMPLICATION OF DIVINE OBEDIENCE

R1: Acts 5:27-32; 40-41, 

R2: Rev 5:11-14, 

Gospel: John 21:1-19

The presence of Jesus and his teachings were offensive to the Jewish leaders. They killed him since they felt that by allowing him and his teachings with the numerous miracles he had done; a lot of people will come to believe in him. Upon his resurrection the apostles continued to preach this truth which they have received from their master. Because the teaching of the apostles challenged the unjust oppression by the Roman authorities, they decided to arrest the apostles, brought them before the Sanhedrin (Jewish tribunal), forbade them from preaching Christ and placed a severe punishment should they continue preaching this gospel. Even with these conditions, the apostles chose to obey God and be punished than to obey the Roman authorities and be set free.  We are living in a world where many laws have been promulgated and where some of the laws made go contrary to God’s will and our faith. As Christians, our faith demands we obey God and his laws first. Meanwhile, doing this has the following implications:

*1. Persecution:*

Deciding to follow Christ as a severe persecution attached to it. There is no one who is faithful to God and finds live easy. It is either you face rejection by friends and family or hatred from the world. Sometimes life may even be challenging itself. In times like this, it is courage that one needs.

 Courage “ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good.”  At baptism we submitted our will to that of Christ. We accept to do the will of God against the will of mankind. Just like the apostles in the first reading, doing the will of Christ, implies that we shall be brought before the court for persecution. We shall be hated; we may be left alone to face our God alone, friends will abandon us and the world will condemn us and put a belt we wouldn’t want to wear round us.  The virtue of courage will enable face and overcome these difficult moments. Courage will make us see our humiliation as a thing of joy like the apostles, for blessed are those who are persecuted for Christ’s sake, there reward is the kingdom of God (Mt 5:10-12).

*2. Worship:*

Obedience to God is not possible without worship. Worship is the act of reverence and adoration to God. It is by the act of worship that we demonstrate spiritually our obedience to God.

In the vision of John in the second reading of today, all those who are subject to God, the angels, the elders, the animals and in fact, all creatures fall prostrate before God with a wonderful song of praise. This challenges us Christians to always make out time worship God who is always present among us in the Eucharist. This worship should come from the heart and not the Pharisaic worship (lips worship). It is sad that most times we see people who say they are Christians yet they don’t give God a little of their time in adoration. How can we show we love God if we do not worship him and if we don’t make out time for him? If you love God, show it by your action.

*3. Uninterrupted Fellowship:*

 One reality we cannot avoid is that there may be many times we may experience dryness in our faith. After the death of Christ, this reality confronted the apostles, hence, Peter on others decided to go back to their old profession of fishing.  When they left, they laboured all night and caught no fish until Jesus came and the story changed.

Obedience as a commandment that looks very dry. It is like a repetition of the same event again and again. Sometimes, like Peter and the other apostles we may decide to go away from God’s side and at least enjoy some freedom. Let us know that a life outside Christ is a fruitless life and an empty life. What we may consider freedom is baseless because it will benefit us nothing the way the apostles caught no fish that night. To show them that it is only in Christ that we have everything we want, they caught many fish immediately they encountered Christ. When Peter realized this, he jumped out from the boat and started moving towards Christ, even, forgetting the huge fish he has gotten. In the same way, our wealth, our position and power means nothing without Christ. Let us remain joined to him and show the example in the way we live with others.

*Rev. Fr. Chukwuemeka Vin. Livinus, SMMM*