Willfulness and Willingness

First Week of Advent - Monday

Isaiah 2:1-5 OR in Year A Isaiah 4:2-6 / Psalm 122:1-2, 3-4b, 4cd-5, 6-7, 8-9 / Matthew 8:5-1

Willfulness and Willingness

Isaiah’s promise that the weapons of war (spears) will be changed into tools for a harvest of peace (pruning hooks) has great appeal in our war-torn world. Yet today’s readings seem to imply a peace that is established by dominance. 

The sovereign who rules from the top of Mount Zion shall impose terms on the peoples. We are uncomfortable with terms being imposed on us. We would prefer to accept terms we agree to after skillful negotiation of a favorable deal. We don’t do orders well. We resent being subject to commands: “Go.” “Come here.” “Do this.” We want God to agree to our terms. Do we have the courage and faith that true prayer requires? True prayer requires that we submit to God’s will rather than imposing ours on him with abracadabra-like petitions. Do we prefer to tell God what needs to change, and when and how it needs to be done? Or are we willing to let God determine the terms of our relationship?

As we join the psalmist in ascending the mountain of the Lord, are we climbing headstrong rather than going up rejoicing? Faith requires confidence and perseverance not stubbornness and triumphalism. It is an exercise in patience not pushiness. War, the stuff of swords and willfulness, is often born of impatience. The harvest, the stuff of plowshares and willingness, is born of patient planting, nurturing, nourishing and respecting the rhythms God has inscribed in nature.

In the passage from Matthew’s Gospel the faith shown by the centurion surpasses what Jesus has found among his disciples. As disciples ourselves, we so easily self-identify as insiders, as people who already follow Jesus. With this bias we might be inclined to contemplate this gospel passage by seeing ourselves sitting with Jesus when the centurion arrives rather than arriving with him, or as him. Perhaps today would be a good day to learn from an outsider and his hopes and expectations: take the centurion’s perspective. We come to faith not by willfulness, but by willingness.

For your prayerful consideration:

·         With whom do I identify in this Gospel passage?

·         How is my reflection changed when I reflect on this gospel passage imagining myself as a disciple sitting with Jesus in contrast to when I imagine myself as the centurion or one of his companions?

·         Is my approach to prayer one of trying to impose my will on God, or do I use prayer as a way to come to acceptance of his will for me? What difference might each of these perspectives make in my life as a disciple?