{"id":6664,"date":"2020-08-25T19:44:37","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T09:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=6664"},"modified":"2020-08-25T19:50:18","modified_gmt":"2020-08-25T09:50:18","slug":"societys-will-or-gods-wills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/societys-will-or-gods-wills\/","title":{"rendered":"Society’s Will or God’s Will"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Society’s Will or God’s wills<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Daniel Fanous<\/strong><\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Passage Mark 3:22-35 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this Gospel, we read about Christ\u2019s rebuttal against the\nscribes who claimed He was Beelzebub. This was due to Christ making himself\nknown. After all, who is this carpenter who claims to be the Son of God.  We read that even his family felt emotions\nsuch as embarrassment, shame, dishonour. Similarly, are we, being sons and\ndaughters of God, ashamed or embarrassed to call God our Father? Are we\nembarrassed to go out and fast? Are we embarrassed that each Sunday we go out\nto church whereas the rest of the world sleeps in?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Embarrassment may also come in the form of our morals. The\nsecular world says that some things are okay whereas the Church explicitly\ntells us that it is not. Thus, we encounter this tension between the secularly\naccepted views and morals and the morals of the Church. Do I live according to\nsociety\u2019s will or God\u2019s will? Embarrassment may also be found in our\nritualistic worship or that we even believe in a God to begin with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the biggest embarrassment is that we are unable to\nlive according to our own will. We submit to God\u2019s will and thus give up our\nfreedom. Nowadays, freedom and rights are some of the most important values of\nsociety and often we are told that no one should be able to take these away\nfrom us. My family cannot tell me how to live. God cannot tell me how to live. However,\nperhaps it is the other way around. Perhaps, freedom is found in Christ, and\nlost when we reject him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often, we pray to see God or to encounter him, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust reveal yourself once in a dream and I will never commit this sin again.\u201d \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust give me a sign that this is the right path for me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust provide me with this promotion or job and I will serve you every day.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, if we are embarrassed to follow in His path or His\nteachings, how can we see Christ who is a stranger to us. How can we encounter\nHim if even his own family felt ashamed of His teachings? If we are unwilling\nto become the outcasts, to act abnormally to society, to follow His will\ninstead of our own; If we are unable to do all these, then how can we possibly\nencounter Him. Instead, we should find joy and confidence in His word, knowing\nthat He is indeed the Son of God. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Society’s Will or God’s wills Adapted from a sermon by Fr Daniel Fanous Passage Mark 3:22-35 In this Gospel, we read about Christ\u2019s rebuttal against the scribes who claimed He was Beelzebub. This was due to Christ making himself known. After all, who is this carpenter who claims to be the Son of God.  We … Continue reading “Society’s Will or God’s Will”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6666,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[24,227,119,427,429],"class_list":["post-6664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-christ","tag-church","tag-gods-will","tag-society","tag-teacher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6664"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6670,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6664\/revisions\/6670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}