HERE I AM LORD, I COME TO DO YOUR WILL (Hebrews 7:25-8:6/Psalm 40:7-10,17/Mark 3:7-12)

HERE I AM LORD, I COME TO DO YOUR WILL
(Homily for Thursday 24 January, 2019)

The fear of the unknown is one of the things that characterizes the attitude of those who meet themselves for the first time especially when such meeting has to do with entering into a relationship.

In most cases, either of the parties or both play the game of not being open to the other until they know where the relationship is heading to. It is only when this wall of the unknown is broken that fear disappears and then trust and openness set in. It is only after this that the parties in a relationship will no longer see themselves as strangers but as close friends.

The above analogy can as well be seen in our relationship with God. What then should be our attitude in relating with God? Is it that of the fear of the unknown or with openness? Do we still see God as a total stranger in our lives, as somebody we don’t know? Do we see Him like those who are meeting themselves for the first time with lots of reservations, lack of trust, and fear?

There is no way a good relationship can be established between us and God if we see Him as a stranger. The resultant effect of seeing God as a total stranger in our lives will be a lack of faith and trust in Him. Our fear will be: how can we trust somebody we don’t know or place our trust in Him?

Truly, God has manifested Himself to us in different ways just to make us feel relaxed with Him. He has shown us love even to the extent of giving us His only Son just to tell us that He made us in His own image and likeness.

Secondly, Christ coming to assume our human nature is to make us feel at home with God and to remind us that even though He is the Almighty and transcendent God, He is also immanent, very close to us. No wonder then, Christ took the name Emmanuel while coming to live with men which means “God is with us”.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews presented Christ as an ideal High Priest capable of understanding our predicaments and conditions because He Himself knows what it means to be Human. To make us rest assured of His Love, it says “We have a High Priests who always intercedes for us before God, presenting our petitions and problems to the Father Almighty”.

The first reading of today puts it clearly that “The power of Jesus to save is utterly certain since He is living forever to intercede for all who come to God through Him” (Heb 7:25).

Then, what will prevent us from coming closer to God through Christ? As St. Paul in his letter to the Romans asks “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? will affliction or distress, or persecution or hunger, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? Yet in all this, we are conquerors through Him who has granted us His love (Rom 8:35-37)!

In the gospel of today, great crowds were following Christ. why were they following Him? They were following Him because they did not see Him as a total stranger but as a Messiah who has a solution to their various problems. Even the evil spirits whenever they saw Him, would fall down before Him and shout, You are the Son of God! If the evil spirits can recognize Him whenever they see Him, what about us? Do we see Christ as One who is always with us, A Mighty One who is bigger than our problems, our challenges, our difficulties, and all we are facing?

Let us, therefore, brothers and sisters follow the Psalmist and say “Here I am Lord, I come to do your will! Let our delight always be in God because His love for us endures forever and let nothing separate us from coming closer to Christ because He has the message of eternal life.

Let Us Pray: Lord Jesus, give me the grace to always be willing and ready to let your will be done in my life and may I be ready to follow you till the end of my life. Amen.