allowing ourselves to be led - Saturday 4th week Lent

It is very difficult to understand who Jesus is when he does not live up to our expectations.  It is difficult to understand who God is when he reveals himself contrary to what we think he should be.  It is difficult to follow God and accept his will when these are not according to what we want, when these are not according to what we desire.

The Pharisees had a hard time believing and coming to terms with the person of Jesus because they are already close to their idea of who the messiah is and what he should do.  They are no longer open to other probabilities about his person, they were afraid to venture to the other possibilities of the divine will.  Even the prophet Jeremiah in our first reading grappled with his understanding of what God wanted from him.  He became confused for a while.  But in the end he learned to open himself, he allowed himself to be led meekly like a lamb rather than resist.

We go through these situations every now and then in our lives.  We don’t want this and yet it happens, we avoided it and yet we encounter the very thing we were trying to avoid; we asked and prayed fervently for something and yet the opposite happens; we planned for this and that and in an instant those plans were completely changed.

It is in situations like this wake that God allows us to come to terms with what we don’t want, with what we don’t want to undergo or even face.  It is in situations like this that God gently coaxes us to accept a change of plan.  It is in situations like this that God widens our horizon to the possibilities of his will and purpose for each one of us.

Many times many of us get stuck up and could not move on.  This is the problem of the Pharisees.  They end up disbelieving, they end up bitter, they end up resisting even when things became too obvious.  On the other hand we have Jeremiah the prophet.  He learned to finally accept and even embrace things even if there was initial hesitancy and even trepidation on his part. 

When my mother died it was the second vespers of the annunciation, the day we celebrate in a solemnity Mary’s willing embrace of God’s will and purpose for her even if the very same purpose and will would bring her to the foot of the cross.  It was a surrender for Mary then as much as it is for us now – “let it be done to me according to your word.”  These words will be forever recalled and uttered again and again, the words which express openness to God’s will and purpose for each of us.  This is our Amen to God.