Christians Are Called To Obey

𝐅𝐄𝐁. 𝟏𝟓, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔: 𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐇 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝐒𝐢𝐫 𝟏𝟓:𝟏𝟓-𝟐𝟎

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬 𝟏𝟏𝟗:𝟏, 𝟐, 𝟓, 𝟒, 𝟏𝟕, 𝟏𝟖, 𝟑𝟑, 𝟑𝟒 "𝐁𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝."

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟐: 𝟏 𝐂𝐨𝐫 𝟐:𝟔-𝟏𝟎

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓 𝟓:𝟏𝟕-𝟑𝟕

𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: “…𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞.” (𝐯.𝟑𝟑) 

        We live in a society that is governed by laws, rules and regulations. Even the corporate workplace has its own set of rules and policies. And so do secular organizations. These laws, rules and regulations are intended to put order in how the government functions as well as in the operations of private entities.

         Homes also have their own rules as parents may at their own behest create certain rules that children and members of the household need to follow. And these laws, rules and policies are put in place for the benefit of everyone – the citizenry, the rank and file, students, pupils, household members and, to certain extent, leaders and members of church councils and secular organizations.   

         No one in this world that we live in can possibly exist without abiding by certain rules and regulations, be it natural or man-made, because such edicts give us the point of reference on how to live.

         We see this in the gospel reading on this Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time with Jesus saying: “𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐬; 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦.” (𝐯.𝟏𝟕) and this would probably leave many of us wondering what is this law that Our Lord was referring to.

         In the Jewish tradition, there are certain types of laws, namely: the “𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐥” law that pertains to Israel’s worship such as those specified in 𝐋𝐞𝐯 𝟏:𝟐-𝟑, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 “𝐜𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥” 𝐥𝐚𝐰, 𝐞.𝐠. 𝐃𝐞𝐮𝐭 𝟐𝟒:𝟏𝟎, 𝟏𝟏 and as in the case of the ceremonial law many of its principles are still being observed by Israel.

         And then there is also what was called the “𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥” law and under this category are the Ten Commandments that Jews are required to follow and obey strictly (𝐄𝐱𝐨 𝟐𝟎:𝟏𝟑). The moral law reveals the nature and will of God and again the principle behind this law still applies today and Jesus obeyed the moral law completely.

        Jesus, however, made it very clear that the essence of God’s law – his commandments and way of life, must be fulfilled. The law of God is truth and when we live according to that truth it produces the fruits of righteousness, holiness, peace, and joy. And Jesus’ attitude towards the law of God can be summed up in the great prayer of 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟏𝟗: “𝐎𝐡, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐰! 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲.”       

         Throughout his earthly ministry Jesus taught reverence for God’s law – reverence for God himself and, reverence or respect for parents, respect for life, for property, for another person’s good name, respect for oneself and for one’s neighbor. What Jesus did was that he reduced these numerous laws of the Scribes into two focal points – love of God and love of neighbor.

         And central to our obedience to God is the need for us to humble ourselves and acknowledge there is someone greater than us – God. Indeed, it is only when we begin to humble ourselves considering others to be greater than us will the Grace of God begin to flow in our lives and there is no way a Christian can live a happy and fulfilled life outside of the Grace of God because it is only by His Grace that we can lifted up, exalted and given the right to become co-heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven.

        As Christian disciples, our primary preoccupation is to evangelize others so that all will become living witnesses to help in the transformation of the world in Christ. A Community without or could not understand this mission to evangelize is dead and at times this is where we get stuck because of the wrong notion that we have of what mission is as we think of mission in terms of programs and projects that people see.

        The primary mission and purpose of the Church and or Community is to evangelize (𝑬𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒊 𝑵𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊) and to tell the world we have a loving God who created us, the Son of Man who redeemed us from our sinfulness and left us with His Holy Spirit who sanctifies our actions that we may deserve to enter into the Kingdom of God.

         To evangelize is also to tell the world of the many sins that separate us from God and deprive us of his friendship. The Church classify sin as either mortal or venial.

         Mortal sins are a direct affront to the majesty of God, and these may include idolatry, heresy, blasphemy, perjury, serious desecration of Sundays and Holy Days of obligations. Venial sins are lighter, but it nevertheless deprives us of that which is good and if left to percolate it will gradually lead to mortal sin and eventually the loss of sanctifying grace.

         On the other hand, why should we risk the judgment of God when we as Christians can resist all occasions of sin through the Holy Spirit whom we have received in Baptism. And the only reason we fall into sin is because we refuse to allow the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives.

         Hence, to be able to spot the circumstance that may lead us to sin we must recognize what these occasions of sins are. By occasions we refer to persons, places, things and such occasions of sin may be voluntary, or involuntary and the most common and most dangerous occasions of sins are night clubs, beer joints, pornographic films and videos, magazines and posters and persons who lead us to these things must be avoided.

        We should put into our lips the watchword that has guided the Saints when they were exposed to occasions of sin: “Safety is in flight” which means we must not only stay away from sin, but we must run away from them.

        And in His goodness, God also provided us with how we can defend ourselves when we are confronted with sin. Prayer provides us with the shield to immediately resist occasions of sin.

        When faced with temptation a “𝐇𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐲” and or uttering the names of Jesus and Mary would be helpful. As St. John Chrysostom says: “𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥.” Prayer is the weapon we can use to ward off the assaults of our spiritual enemy because in prayer we secure the assistance of God and nothing can withstand His might.

         We also should understand that there is another underlying message in today’s gospel in that Jesus is not inviting people who believe that they are already good enough and are not in need of help. Jesus has no need for those who think highly of themselves because the first step in following Jesus is to acknowledge our need for a savior and admit that we don’t have all the answers.

         “𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞.” (𝐯.𝟑𝟐) should serve as a reminder for us that our main preoccupation is to help bring others to repentance which is the key that will unlock the gates of heaven. To follow Christ is difficult and at times we will have to make painful decisions like Matthew who had to leave everything behind.

         The new evangelization to which we are being called should not unnerve our Church and or our Community as what the Pharisees did when Jesus preached old doctrines to the people of his time that sounded like new.

        The new evangelization to which we all are being asked to participate is all about bringing others – our family, neighbor, relatives, friends, co-workers and the ordinary man on the street that we meet – to a personal and profound meeting with Jesus Christ our Savior.

         Not that projects and programs are not good. They are also good. But these should not supplant evangelization per se as the primary function of disciples who want to follow Christ, and evangelization doesn’t begin with techniques and programs but with prayer.

         As renewed Christians, we must not be anxious of going on an adventure especially when we come to think that it is the Spirit of God who is leading us and this was what the Pharisees could not accept. They have become so rigid that new ideas are rejected outright, and they sacrificed the joy of knowing God in a more personal way.

         This is what we as Christians should avoid because Christianity brings a never-ending process of change with new approaches, new traditions, new methodologies. Thus, our programs and techniques we use in our community, ministries and apostolates should not be so structured that we leave no room for the Holy Spirit to move us into finding new things or ideas.

         I have witnessed ministries and even communities that have plateaued or have become stagnant, remaining on an “as-is, where-is” condition and could no longer draw new members. Even if it does, the attrition rate is so high that members leave the moment they got in and the culprit is the tendency of leaders to hang on to their old and outmoded principles.

         The 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 (𝐈𝐂𝐂𝐑𝐒) has always held the view that the Grace of the renewal is to move out and has espoused the idea that charismatics are supposed to be a people on the move.

        As such, we must be careful that we don’t become as rigid as the Pharisees that would prevent us from learning new things from the Gospel of Christ. We need to become pliant so we can always upgrade ourselves to accept the new wine that comes from the new message of Christ for us. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘍𝘦𝘣. 15, 2026)