Father Andrew Lenten Reflection – 5
This is the 5th Lenten Reflection from Father Andrew. This Sunday’s readings force us to confront three GIGANTIC absurdities of our faith:
- We believe in a God who obeys. How can He obey, who is All-Knowing and All-Good?
Who needs to obey more, the educated or the ignorant? The good, or the evil one? The one who knows and practices the good, or the one who fools himself into giving in to his own enslaving passions? Why would God want to anything that is not good? Where’s the need for obedience in Christ? In the 2nd reading, St. Paul even intensifies this absurdity saying that Christ “learns” to obey? Why? What is he talking about? - We believe in a God who dies. How can our God who is not only the author of life (mine, yours, every life), completely pro-life, but even Life itself, die? Jesus tells us, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” How can God, the Father Life, will that God, the Son Life, die, and expect God the Son Life, to obey? Is not death anything but the absence of God, Life itself? What kind of Life would ever wish to annihilate Himself?
- (Probably the most absurd of all) How is it that so many Christians profess belief in the above two absurdities without seeking out the answers to or acknowledging the existence of the above two absurdities? In other words, how can you explain the existence of a God who obeys and dies and why do you believe in Him? How do you react when He asks you to obey and die? And why would you want to convince others that He is the answer to their difficulties when He asks them to obey and die? Do you even recognize the centrality of obedience and death in Christ’s teachings?
There are definitely answers to all these questions. Do you know them? If not, are you interested in finding them out? Are you willing to pay the price to find them out, that is to say, are you willing to obey and die? If none of this makes sense to you, why not ask someone who could help you understand?
Watch the recording on YouTube.