Daily Devotional for March 2

 

March 2                                                              John 8:21-32

                 Radical Obedience

I remember the following conversation recurring often when
I was a child and my mother would tell me what to do:

"Why, mom?" I would ask plaintively.

"Just because," she would answer.

"Just because why?" I would persist.

"Just because I say so," she would finally answer, exasperated.

She would eventually explain the real reason, but I still
remember the frustration of being required by my parents, who
were in authority, to do something I didn't want to do.

Many of us, I suspect, react the same way to God because of
such experiences with our parents. But if we take our example
from Jesus, who declared that he did nothing on his own
authority but always did what was pleasing to God, we find
an example of radical obedience worthy of our imitation.

Radical obedience is attempting to align ourselves with the
will of God so completely that we become one with God
through Jesus. It often brings us into conflict with our culture,
even as it did for Jesus with his culture - conflict with what
we have been taught, with the attitudes others may have about
our conduct, and even with temporal authorities. But radical
obedience brings its own reward. As Jesus says in today's
reading, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my
disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make
you free."

     Dear Jesus, help me to know your will for me today,
  and give me the strength to carry it out so that I may be
           one with you as you are one with God. Amen.

​

From The Road to Emmaus - An inclusive devotional Edited by Joseph W. Houle

Emmaus House of Prayer - Washington D.C.