After reading today’s Gospel, it is not enough simply to jot down that Jesus spoke and acted with power and authority. We must submit to him. We have a choice to make. God asks for the free surrender of our lives to him. He never forces our will. He invites and encourages us. God is patient and good. His plan for our lives is the best plan, but it is our choice whether to surrender our lives to his plan or to keep our lives in our own hands. This is the power of free will. We can say “no” to God. We can reject his plan and deny his revelation.
Are there any areas in our lives in which we are not fully submitting to him and his teachings? Are there a few aspects of the Ten Commandments that we avoid thinking about? Are there Church teachings that we have not really accepted? Do we show Christ’s authority in our lives by our obedience to him? Are we merely hearers of the word, amazed and astonished at what we hear, without being doers of the word at all? Do we simply listen to Jesus’ words without really letting them enter our hearts and change our lives? Perhaps some of us will admit that if Jesus’ teaching does not make sense to us, we have a hard time accepting it. We are slow to respond.
Let us ask Jesus today to help us to put him first in our lives, for the grace to accept with love all the things he is sending us and permitting our lives. Let us ask him to open our hearts to him and to his plans for us and to carry them out without counting the cost.