Dear brothers and sisters, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).
God’s Commandments
Some people, most times, view God’s commandments in a negative light. For such people, the commandments are sets of rules put together to entrap, cage, micromanage, and deprive people of their freedom. But are God’s commandments given to entrap and limit us? The answer, of course, is a resounding no. In the first reading, Isaiah brings up an aspect of what God’s commandments do for us that we tend to overlook, namely that they teach us what is for our good and lead us on the way that we should go. We would appreciate it when we understood the context in which God gave His commandments.
God, who redeemed the Israelites from the bondage of slavery in Egypt, entered into a bilateral covenant relationship with them. He promised to be their God, and they would be His people. God promised to take them as His own possession and make them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. He manifested Himself to them. In the context of this great theophany on Sinai, God gave the commandments as stipulations for the covenant relationship. Therefore, the commandments show God’s love and filial relationship with His people.
It is essential to note that obeying the commandments would be for the well-being of the people, maintaining order, and peaceful and harmonious living. As Isaiah points out, it would eventually lead to their prosperity, which would flow like a river. Similarly, God has entered into a covenant relationship with us through our baptismal promises, renunciation of Satan, and acceptance of Him as our God. As children of God, we would endeavor to obey God’s commandments and experience His vindication.
Spiritual Blindness
The negativity exhibited by the crowd showed their spiritual blindness. As we read in the Gospel, Jesus compared them to children who were neither satisfied with their peers playing the flute nor singing a dirge. Instead, they kept complaining. Because they were spiritually blind, they could not see in John the Baptist’s asceticism, the act of divine will. Instead, they thought of him as possessed by a demon.
Similarly, the miracles performed by Jesus Christ, His teachings, and His works could not impact the lives of the people in the crowd because their hearts were hardened. St. Paul described them thus: “darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance, because of their hardness of heart, they have become callous” (Eph. 4:18 -19). Thus, they lacked the wisdom (the gift of God) to discern and know the divine will and, as such, became apathetic to Jesus Christ in His works and mission. Spiritual blindness makes us see only negativity most of the time. It impedes our ability to see divine goodness around us, in the world, and in our lives. It blocks our joy and fulfillment as children of God. Unfortunately, some Christians today are spiritually blind, and they lack the wisdom of discernment.
The Advent Season is the time of expectation of the coming of the Savior, the Incarnate Word, Emmanuel. It is the period we re-examine our lives, remove the dark glasses of spiritual blindness that lead to negativity, and open up to the joy of receiving in our hearts Emmanuel, God with us. Advent is when we re-evaluate our journeys and commitments and assess our Christian lives. During this season of Advent, let us open our hearts to God and obey His commandments. Let us also pray for the wisdom of God to have insight into divine will and mysteries and walk on the right path to salvation.
Always remember that Jesus loves you!
