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EPIPHANY 3
An Almighty Stand-off

Matthew 4.19  Jesus said to them, "Come with me, and I will teach you to catch men." At once they left their nets and went with him.

A man I know of has just been arrested for killing his wife. The circumstances were unusual.

He was detained when he confessed to the police that a few hours earlier he had helped his terminally-ill wife commit suicide. His arrest came only days after another man had received a suspended sentence for the same offence. He has since been charged with murder.

The morality of such actions is particularly pressing for Christians. Why, if God loves us as a parent loves a child, should anyone suffer a protracted, undignified and agonising death? And if this is not God's will, doesn't it follow that you or I may one day be called by God to help someone die peacefully?

There may be no certain answer. However, the question conceals a more important one. It is this: How do Christians discover God's will?

Most men and women were once sure of the answer. It is typified in the tale of Samuel hearing God's voice as he slept. No early Christian would have been baffled by God speaking to Joseph in a dream (Matthew 1.18-24). That is, God speaks directly to us. So if you or I don't know what God's will is, it's because we aren't listening properly.

This model of discerning God's will has ruled Christianity from the first.

Unfortunately, it turns out that Christians don't agree about God's will, however hard they listen. "It was God's will that I help my wife die" says a man. "No it wasn't!" comes the response - and a "Yes it was ... no it wasn't" stand-off results. Such stand-offs are greatly magnified when Christian groups claim differing versions of God's will.

It may be unavoidable that Christians differ about "God's will". Or it may indicate that all sides of a disagreement have got the wrong end of the stick.

How did the first disciples discern God's will when Jesus called them? It must have been an agonising business. James and John had to provide for their father. We know that Simon was married. What provision did he make for his wife and children? The author of Matthew's Gospel cuts all this detail out (if he ever knew it). The disciples followed Jesus "immediately" and that was that.

The upshot is that nobody has yet found a sure-fire way of discovering God's will. Perhaps we must settle for equating it with our best guess. That is, we must settle for wrestling with available choices as best we can. If "God's will" is the only good, then there is only one choice and we are by definition no longer free agents. If not free, then never culpable; and if never culpable, there's no point in answering Jesus' call.

Therefore, if we're to take today's gospel reading to heart, one avenue is not open - to avoid responding freely to life's challenges. Whether or not the disciples actually responded to Jesus "immediately", they did respond - and that's the main point of the Gospel account.

"God's will" doesn't apply to specific situations. How we respond to life's specifics is up to us. "God's will" is more all-embracing than how we respond to this or that challenge. It is that we engage life with free choice. We do God's will not by merely conforming to absolute moral laws, or by accepting the rulings of some moral authority, but by experiencing the joy or anguish of freely making decisions.

If choice as such, rather than any particular choice, is God's will, who will cast the first stone at a man who lovingly helps his wife die?

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