Genesis 22:1-2, 9-13, 15-18 / Romans 8:31-34 / Mark 9:2-10
There is something that we all hold highly valuable in life but it is not something tangible.
Over and above all our belongings, possessions and whatever property we have, we treasure our freedom.
Freedom is our right and we won’t give it up so easily. In fact, we would guard it fiercely, such that it can even be said that our freedom is our life.
And that is where the challenge in life comes in.
To obey someone and to comply to instructions and rules can be challenging and difficult for us because we see it as an infringement to our right of freedom.
But we also cannot deny that there are instructions, or regulations, or rules that are for our good.
In that regard, when we don’t obey or comply, then there will be problems and there can be trouble.
For example, the wearing of face mask is for our good. When we don’t comply then we will get into trouble with the law and even putting our health at risk.
Or the news about wild boars intruding into residential places. One of the reasons was that people were feeding the wild boars, although feeding of wild boars is prohibited. Hence the problem was not created by the wild boars but by humans.
But there are also certain things, both in the secular and religious realms, that seemed so difficult to understand and so difficult to comply or obey.
The story in the 1st reading is one such example, where we heard that God put Abraham to the test and called him to offer his only son, Isaac, as a burnt offering.
In our human understanding and reasoning, we will find it difficult to comprehend what God called Abraham to do.
We would think that if God were to put Abraham to the test, why would God demand such a sacrifice, and it was clearly a human sacrifice.
No doubt, it was God who gave Abraham the gift of a son, and God has the right to take it back, but why take it back in such a way.
And we are surprised, to say the least, about Abraham’s stoic and emotionless obedience to God.
Of course, there are spiritual reasons that will help us to understand the story in the 1st reading.
One is that it is not so much the sacrifice of Isaac, but Abraham’s sacrifice of obedience to God.
For Abraham, and as well as in the biblical understanding, sacrifice is offered so that one can draw nearer to God, who is above all other things.
But the story becomes clearer with the gospel account of the Transfiguration of Jesus and the voice from Heaven that said, “This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.”
God sacrificed His only Son in order to save humanity from their sin and to draw humanity back to Him.
The letter to the Philippians tells us that Jesus did not cling to His equality with God but was obedient, even unto death, and death on the cross.
But God raised Jesus from death and exalted Him such that in heaven and on earth and under the earth, every knee must bend at the name of Jesus.
Jesus, by His obedience, shows us two important aspects of our lives.
That when we obey and comply to God’s ways, God draws nearer to us and it is we who will benefit from our sacrifice of obedience to God.
Obedience is an expression of humility, and only those who are humble will understand the mysterious and yet wonderful ways of God.
Obedience and humility are what Jesus is teaching us if we want to have true freedom in life.
Let us listen to what Jesus is teaching us, and that is obedience and humility.
In obeying God’s will and humbly walking in the ways of God, we will be blessed with the joy of true freedom.