It is often hard coming to terms with expectations in our faith just like the disciples in today’s Gospel. Jesus in his humility was the ultimate glorifier of God, the true embodiment of a living sacrifice. The disciples were keen to glorify God but could not accept that they could be the ones abandoning Jesus and they believed in their own will towards righteousness more than in God’s grace that gives them faith.
Likewise, I held strongly to my notions on what it meant to glorify God and self-righteously believed in my own goodness, often thinking complacently “How could I fall to this sin?“ or “I would never betray God for something as simple as this”. Yet often, I find myself making mistakes I never thought I would and I realized that we always need God’s help, even in every good thing that we do. For God is the source of every goodness and without God we cannot do anything.
Reflection and illustration by Joel Ng