Obedience to God's Will

 Reflection on Today's Readings, The Solemnity of Annunciation, 5th Week of Lent, Year B, Thursday 25th March, 2021
Texts: Is.7:10-14; 8:10; Ps.40:7-8a.8b-9.10.11; Heb.10:4-10; Luke1:26-38 
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Annunciation; it is the announcement to Virgin Mary God's choice of her to be the mother of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and also about her obedience to God's will.  Hence, the celebration calls to mind the revelation of God's will and man's need to obey God's will. Then, it is no longer a surprise that today's readings speak of obedience to God's will and purpose.
Today's first reading shows us how man could be disobedient to God's will. One may want to say that king Ahaz feared God by saying, “I will not ask (for a sign), and I will not put the Lord to the test.” What his words meant is that he was not going to consider God in the matter. For him there was no point in asking God for a sign in a matter he would not consider Him. This is the case of a hardened heart. He refused to put his trust in God but in human reason and military power; he sought deliverance and victory through politics and diplomacy. We see in his attitude the enthronement of humanism, a belief in human power rather than God. Many a time we behave like king Ahaz; we do things in our own ways rather than in the ways of God.
Though king Ahaz refused to ask for a sign, God Himself gave him a sign. It is said, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." The Solemnity of Annunciation is also about the fulfilment of the prophecy that a virgin would conceive and bear a son. Mary was the virgin; she said, “How will this be, since I know not man?” Today's celebration is about the incarnation of the Son of God. God creates by His word, so by the Annunciation of the birth of His Son the incarnation of His Son took place; the human nature of His Son was created and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
The submission of the virgin Mary to God's will played a role in the event of incarnation. For God to work out our salvation He needed the fiat of virgin Mary. This brings to mind the words of St. Augustine: "God who created you without you, will not save you without you." Our obedience to God's will is needed for our salvation to take place. Virgin Mary gave her consent as she said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”  Today we are reminded to conform our will to God's will, as virgin Mary did. This means we are called to the life of obedience to God's will. Our peace and salvation consist in submitting to the will of God.
Today's second reading sheds more light on obedience to God's will. Jesus Christ was able to secure the remission of our sins because He was obedient to God, He surrendered to the will of God. The reading does not dwell on the difference between human and animal as the reason for the efficacy of Jesus' blood but His obedience to God's will. The reading says, "Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,’ as it is written of me in the roll of the book. When he said above 'You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings (these are offered according to the law), then he added, 'Behold, I have come to do your will.'" The shedding of blood by Jesus is the price of his obedience to God's will. This means the price of one's obedience to God is the sacrifice pleasing to Him; such sacrifice is efficacious. The prices of our obedience to God's will are sacrifices that win us salvation.
Today's celebration calls us to obedience to God's will as Mary and Jesus did. When we obey God, we become a living sacrifice pleasing to Him. It is in obedience to God's will that we win salvation and obtain eternal life.

God our Father, we bless Your holy name and adore You for your will is our good, grant that we may be obedient to Your will. Amen.

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke