The Root of Rebellion

 Reflection on Today's Readings, Thursday, 3rd Week of Lent, Year B, 2021
Texts: Jer. 7:23-28; Ps. 95:1-2.6-9; Luke 11:14-23
God has never stopped calling man to turn to Him. Today's first reading tells us that man's response has largely been negative; we do not pay heed to God's voice. Despite our negative response, He continues to call us. We may ask ourselves: 'What has God called us to do?' God has called us to heed His commands; He has called us to obey His voice; He has called us to walk in the way He has shown us. What God asks us to do, let us do it; let us listen to His prophets, for His voice is heard through His prophets; let us keep His commandments and do them, for the way He shows us is His commandments. When keep the commandments and do them, we walk in His ways.
God has not called us to heed His commands, to obey His voice and to
walk in His ways without a promise. The Lord says, "This command I gave my people, ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’" When we heed His commands and obey His voice, He attends to us as our God. We are identified with God by obying His commands; He becomes our God and we become His people. As God He is the creator; He continues to create and recreate us. As God, He is our redeemer; He continues to redeemer us and save us from the hands of our foes. As God He is the source of blessings and fruitfulness; He continues to bless us and make us fruitful so that we can enjoy the fruits of our labour. We cannot exhaust what He is to us as God; the main thing is that when we have Him as our God, it will be well with us. Hence, He says, "walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you."
The question, today, is: 'why are we so rebellious?' Is it that we do not trust Him? One of the possible answers to this question is: 'we are too earthly minded'. We find it difficult to raise our eyes to heaven. We want to make the earth our eternal home, but we are not made to live forever here on earth. We have to be set free from earth-born passions so as to live for God. This makes this period, the period of Lent, a season of grace, the time of salvation. Lent is a season to raise up our eyes from the earth towards heaven through prayer, fasting and almsgivings.
Today's gospel reading shows that Jesus Christ is the way out of our problem; for with Him, God's kingdom has come upon us. It is through faith in Jesus Christ that the kingdom of God is fulfilled in our world and in our heart. He has come to set us free from our earth-born passions and make us pure within. Today, He drove out a demon that was mute.  And yet we say, "He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons”. Hatred, envy, jealousy, animosity, malice could blindfold anyone from seeing the truth, the reality. Let us take this year Lenten season to purify ourselves of earth-born passions: hatred, envy, jealousy, animosity, malice etc.

Lord our God, grant us the privilege of experiencing your torch during this  year Lent and be healed of earth-born passions. Amen.

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke