Whose Authority Governs Our Lives
Saturday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
My dear encountered couples:
The chief priests, scribes, and elders that came to question Jesus were probably the same bunch that went to the Jordan River to question John the Baptist. They had asked Jesus many questions before, they had heard his words, seen his miracles, and Jesus familiar with their insincerity knew it was a waste of time telling them anything. So, when they asked him, “By what authority are you doing these things,” he didn’t bother to give them an answer. Other than to criticize them for not believing John the Baptist when he preached to them.
How often do we question God? How many times do we show our lack of faith, complain, criticize, and accuse God of permitting in our lives what we think he shouldn’t have? Is it that we doubt his wisdom, his love, his right to run things other than how we think they should be run?
Maybe we don’t doubt the authority of Jesus and his Father, but do we sometimes fight it, ignore it, even try to usurp it by making ourselves our own authority?
God is the one in charge, he created us, he made the rules and set the limits. He sent his Son to make it clear what those rules are, and Jesus did his best to show us that they were loving rules, made only for our good by a God who loves us far beyond our wildest imaginings. But if we prefer to do other than what he has said, he leaves us free to do so. We are free to do what the leaders of the Jews did: Use our freedom to live life without Christ involved, shut our minds to him, and walk away.
But really, how smart would that be? Not very, but isn’t that what we do when we sin?
