What does it mean to do the will of God? Does it mean that we no longer have to worry about “sacrifices?” The first reading for today talks about how that God no longer wants their burnt offerings or their sacrifices. Does that mean He doesn’t want our tithe? Our time, talent, and treasure? Surely we can say he doesn’t need anything from us. God has no needs that we can fulfill, after all, everything we have comes from him anyway. So then if he doesn’t need or want our sacrifices, what is the author of Hebrew’s talking about? In order to really understand what he is quoting, we have to take a look at what the audience would have been hearing. This is a quote from the Psalms, and it goes like this:
“You delight not in sacrifice and offerings, but in an open ear. You do not ask for holocaust and victim. Then I said, “See, I have come.” In the scroll of the book, it stands written of me: “I delight to do your will, O my God; your instruction lies deep within me.” Psalm 40:7-9
The author of Hebrews is telling us that doing the will of God is what is important. That all of the sacrifices, all of the tithing in the world, cannot make you right with God. Tithing then is an opportunity for you to align yourself with the will of God, and with His Holy Church, the Body of Christ. It’s not that He needs it from you, but rather that He gives you the opportunity to be the hands and feet of God. You are being blessed with a chance to be a channel for God’s grace, a sacrament of sorts, for some person in this world who needs to experience the love of Jesus.
That also sheds light on what seems like a rude moment in the life of Christ. When Jesus’ mother comes to see him and they interrupt his teaching to say “Hey she’s outside!” He says something to the effect of, anyone who does the will of God is my mother, sister, and brother. He is not being rude and putting Mary down, that would be a sin, wouldn’t it? “Honor your mother and father.” Rather he is saying the true disciple of Christ, the true follower of Christ, is the one who does the will of God. Now, look at Mary in scripture. Is she not the perfect example of that? She literally gives birth to Christ and helps nourish his life in the world. We could learn from that example. To be like her, to follow the Will of God, so perfectly that Jesus is “born” into the world through our words and deeds. Then to nourish that life, to keep that flame growing and help the next person to bear Jesus into the world as well.
That is what it means to be the family of God. To live our lives in imitation of Jesus Himself, in the way that the Saints and Mary the Mother of God lived their lives, with God at the center. Are we living up to that calling to be the sibling of God? The brother and sister of Christ? The only way we will ever know is to learn from those before us, to study the Sacred Scriptures, to listen to the teachings of the Church, and to conform our lives to His guidance through the Holy Spirit.