Let’s get it straight: Living God’s way in the
world is not for the faint-hearted. Our readings in the next
few weeks challenge our discipleship, calling to its very
foundations. We are invited to face our prejudice, to analyze
our motives for doing good, to reflect on our seemingly
endless capacity for conflict, to observe our desire for
status, as well as our murmuring and moaning against God when
the least thing upsets our way of doing things. And as they
say in the movies, "We’re the good guys!"
Most of us suffer from spiritual blindness. Bartimaeus,
who was blind, called out to Jesus, but before Jesus could
restore his sight he had to find out if that is what
Bartimaeus wanted— "What do you want me to do for
you?" "That I may receive my sight," he
replied. Let’s get it straight: What do you want me to
do for you? is the same question Jesus asks of us.
October 19
God Hits Back
Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35; Job 38:1-7, 34-41; Hebrews
5:1-10; Mark 10:35-45
"Man bites dog," runs a famous newspaper
headline. It is meant to take our notice because it is a
reversal of what we expect. "God hits back" could
well have been the headline of tabloid writers following
Job’s arguments with God. "‘Who is this
obscuring my intentions with his ignorant words?...I am going
to ask the questions, and you are going to inform
me!’" says God (Job 38:2-3). God searchingly
questions Job about the order of creation, the universe, and
everything else, concluding with the knockout punchline:
"Have you grasped the celestial laws? Could you make
their writ run on the Earth?" (Job 38:33). Contemplating
the creation, the psalmist is moved to praise, "How
countless are your works, Lord; all of them made so
wisely!" (Psalm 104:24).
Most of us do not naturally contemplate God. Like the
disciples we tend to offer the kind of prayers that ask God
"to do us a favor" (Mark 10:35). Status and
influence are more to us than spirituality. We find it hard
to hear the question that goes alongside true holiness,
"Can you drink the cup that I shall drink, or be
baptized with the baptism with which I shall be
baptized?" (Mark 10:38). Even if like the disciples we
answer the question by saying "We can," Jesus
reveals that that, in itself, does not guarantee a reward
that we can calculate ahead of its being granted.
Serving God demands the same generosity of spirit with
which God serves us. God provides a creation that never
ceases to amaze because of its fecundity, or the cosmos by
its immensity. The same God provides an exemplar in his Son
coming "not to be served, but to serve, and to give his
life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). The reward even
for Jesus is service: "Christ did not give himself the
glory of becoming a high priest, but the one who said to him,
‘You are my Son; today I have fathered you’"
(Hebrews 5:5).
There is a great paradox here: When we are obedient to
God’s calling we learn, like Jesus, through suffering
(Hebrews 5:8). The reward is service, and to share with Jesus
"the source of eternal salvation" (5:9). The last
word is always with God!
Reflection and Action
When have you been forced out of self-obsession into
contemplating the wonder of God’s universe? Have you
ever sensed God asking you questions? What were they? Can you
look at any experience of suffering from which you have
learned?
