Surrender to God's
Will
Prof Rosalind Cherian
Christianity is not a religion.
It is not a system of philosophical principles or regulations. It is a
following. Following the steps of the One walking in front of you. It is
Christ who has to be followed and imitated. Jesus is the Son of God become
Man in order to be a model for man.
Our loving God created the
world. He was delighted that everything he created was good. It was with
great care that he created man, the crown of all creation. He took the
slime of the earth, formed it into human shape and breathed life into him
saying, "Let us now create man to our image and likeness." It was the inauguration
of a definite plan, of the kingdom of heaven-an earthly version of a heavenly
reality. The chief purpose of this heavenly kingdom was the harmony of
relationships. Perfect concord.
God came every day to paradise
for a cordial tete- a-tete. Though naked, the human couple unashamedly
welcomed God. They had the confidence that relationship with God was their
right as his children. When Adam received Eve as his life-partner he said,
"She is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone." Nature abundantly provided
them with whatever they required. Perfect harmony between God and man,
man and man, man and his individuality, man and nature-that was the land
of Paradise!
If this harmony were to
be sustained one thing was inevitable, a central power to control everything.
Jesus made this very clear in the meaningful parable of the vine. "I am
the vine and you are the branches . Those who abide in me and I in them
bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5). The
branches have an identity only in so far as they remain attached to the
vine. St Paul made this still clearer in 1 Cor 12:12,"For just as the body
is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many,
are one body, so it is with Christ."
God told the first man and
woman not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
As the human mind is limited, man is incapable of distinguishing between
good and evil. His memory is weak. The future is unknown to him. Even the
present, beyond what sees with his eyes and hears with his ears, is veiled.
He cannot discern the mental state of the person standing next to him.
That is why God ordained that man should not take decisions by himself.
God, when he created man with freedom, wished that man would use this freedom
and be subject to him. As a warning God informed man that if he ate of
a particular fruit he would die. If man tried to appropriate what belonged
to God alone, it would overturn the entire setup. Man, with his incorrect
decisions, would change the earth into a battlefield. At that moment of
flouting God’s command, he had, therefore, to be banished from the world
of life.
Free man first used his
freedom to choose evil. The repercussions were great . The setup was destroyed
completely. God came as usual in the cool of the evening. But man had lost
confidence in himself; he could not face his nakedness and so hid himself
behind the trees of the wood. His life- partner, presented to him as one
flesh, the woman who led him to sin, now became "the woman you gave me."
Nature brought forth thistles and thorns. The fruit of the tree of life
was denied to him. He lost paradise. It was to restore this loss that God
promised a Saviour. Since man, on his own would not be able to regain what
he forfeited, God ordained a Model to be imitated. Moreover, the Incarnation
was essential to liberate man from the bondage of wounds incurred before
and after birth as a result of the first sin, through an offering of expiation
with the shedding of blood. At the moment the Son of God became incarnate
in the womb of a village maid, Mary became the votary of such a dispensation
and the radiant model and the type of the kingdom of God:"Behold the handmaid
of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to thy word." When she wandered
along the streets of Bethlehem even as the mother of God, with no place
to give birth to her Son, when she fled to Egypt to save him from Herod’s
desire for blood, when she accompanied him carrying the cross to Calvary
and when she stood beneath the cross watching her Son dying, derelict,
abandoned by all, Mary proved to be the model of that pattern which pertains
to the kingdom of God.
St Paul describes the life
style of Jesus in Phil 2:6-8. "Though he was in the form of God, he did
not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied
himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And
being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the
point of death - even death on a cross". We forget the great marvel of
the Creator Master of the whole universe and the Lord of all the angel
choirs descending into the helplessness of an infant, waiting to be suckled
by its mother, Mary. This perfect surrender to God’s will was made clear
by Jesus in Gethsemane. "Father, if it be thy will, take this cup away
from me. Yet not my will but thine be done." Before giving up his life
Jesus said finally, "It is consummated". The satisfaction of having fulfilled
successfully the mandate given by God!
During his public life,
what Jesus often stressed was the fulfillment of God’s will. In the prayer
he taught us, we say, "Your kingdom come; your will be done as it is in
heaven." This surrender is the very essence of the Kingdom of God. A woman
once cried out to Jesus: "Blessed is the womb that bore thee and blessed
the breasts that gave you suck". Jesus corrected her saying, "More blessed
are those that do the will of my Father." On another occasion he said to
those who informed him of his mother and brothers waiting to meet him.
"Who is my mother and who are my brothers?" He continued. "Those who do
the will of my Father - they are my mother, brothers and sisters."
In St. Mathew’s gospel 7:21-23,
Jesus teaches: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord , Lord,’ will enter
the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father
in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, did we not prophesy
in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power
in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away
from me, you evil doers".
The Gospel teaches us that
the essence of Christianity is accomplishing God’s will and that the one
who did that a hundred percent was Jesus. Naturally it is Jesus who reveals
to us God’s will in our regard. The command that the risen Jesus gave his
disciples makes this absolutely clear. "But you will receive power when
the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth"(Act 1:8). When
Jesus, who taught that his disciples’ aim in life is to accomplish God’s
will, declared that it is done by witnessing to him, it is clear that the
will of God is revealed to us through the words of Jesus and the example
of his life. He compares those who listen to his words and obey them to
a house built on rock.
Though Jesus’ advent into
this world was inaugurated in Paradise, the purpose of his coming was to
re-establish the kingdom of God destroyed by the evil spirit. God’s word
is the manifesto of this kingdom of love. Only those who study this word,
accept it and translate it into their lives through the power of the Holy
Spirit, can become witnesses of Jesus. Only such can be called Christians.
Several observances, regulations and liturgical practices distinguish the
Catholic Church from other Christian denominations. At times it seems as
if we are satisfied with these observances. The Holy Mass, Holy Communion,
and the Sacraments are all means of doing God’s will, bearing witness to
Jesus and obtaining God’s blessings and strengthening ourselves. But hey
are not absolute in themselves. A bulb may be connected with an electric
current. But we become aware of its efficacy only when the bulb lights
up. Likewise our participation in the Eucharistic Sacrifice and other devotions
should make us worthy to shine for others.
It is not enough to give
a honoured position to the Holy Bible in our churches and our homes. It
is not enough to quote the word of God in season and out of season. Satan,
who came to tempt Jesus, did the same. The word should become flesh in
us, in such a way that those who see our daily life are able to grasp the
meaning of the word of God. The mother who conceives and rears the child,
the father who works hard for both the mother and the child and gives moral
leadership to the family, do the work of evangelisation and teach the children
a Christian life- style, through their life in the home.
It may be that the Church
in India is not able to express its presence all over the country despite
its tradition of two thousand years, because, in those who claim to be
followers of Jesus, life-witness and surrender to God’s will are not evident.
A jubilee celebration is an occasion for an evaluation. May the study of
the word of God enable us to make a sincere examination of conscience and
to rectify our mistakes before we enter the third millennium!