# Are You Willing to Surrender to God_ - Bishop Barrons Sermon

An episode of [Daily Sermons With Bishop Robert Barron](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6783446284), 5 Oct 2026, 15 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74728392/are_you_willing_to_surrender_to_god_bishop_barrons_sunday_sermon.mp3



## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Peace be with you. Friends, we come to this fourth
[0:02] Speaker 1: and final Sunday of Advent, this great season of waiting.
[0:07] Speaker 1: I think the readings are all about— I mean, I'll
[0:12] Speaker 1: go so far as to say maybe the central motif
[0:16] Speaker 1: of the spiritual life. And it's a kind of Copernican revolution.
[0:22] Speaker 1: What am I talking about? Well, look, I've said this
[0:24] Speaker 1: many times before, but our culture today, it is so self-oriented.
[0:32] Speaker 1: my choice, being true to myself, I make the decision,
[0:39] Speaker 1: not you. I escape from institutions that would pin me down.
[0:46] Speaker 1: Think of that billboard I saw when I was still
[0:49] Speaker 1: in California. It was during the time when we were
[0:52] Speaker 1: debating the euthanasia bill. Here was the sign. My life,
[1:00] Speaker 1: my death, My choice. I thought, yeah, that's the dominant
[1:06] Speaker 1: motif of our culture. It's all about me. I decide.
[1:12] Speaker 1: My life belongs to me. My death is up to me.
[1:16] Speaker 1: My choice. Or think of that film from several years ago,
[1:20] Speaker 1: won the Academy Award for Best Picture, The Shape of Water.
[1:24] Speaker 1: It's about a woman that falls in love with a
[1:26] Speaker 1: fish guy. Well, what strikes me about that title is,
[1:31] Speaker 1: It's perfect for our age. Water has no shape, except
[1:35] Speaker 1: for the shape that we decide to give it. If
[1:37] Speaker 1: you provide a little receptacle, and you give the water
[1:41] Speaker 1: the shape that you want. My life, my death, my body,
[1:45] Speaker 1: my choice, my decision, it's all about me. That, everybody,
[1:52] Speaker 1: is repugnant to the Bible. Now, we can explore where
[1:58] Speaker 1: that attitude came from. A lot of things contributed to it.
[2:02] Speaker 1: But I can tell you, unequivocally, without fear of contradiction,
[2:08] Speaker 1: it is directly repugnant to the Bible. In fact, the Bible,
[2:13] Speaker 1: you might say, is constantly trying to move us out
[2:17] Speaker 1: of that space into a different space. Namely what? One
[2:24] Speaker 1: of surrender to the higher purpose of God. No, I
[2:31] Speaker 1: won't have time in this homily to develop this, but
[2:34] Speaker 1: this does not mean some heteronymous surrender to some oppressive
[2:38] Speaker 1: will that's trying to dominate me. God doesn't need anything.
[2:42] Speaker 1: God doesn't need us. God's not competing with us. The
[2:46] Speaker 1: surrender to God is what makes me fully alive. And
[2:53] Speaker 1: the Bible is trying to get us, look, out of
[2:55] Speaker 1: this little puny space of the self-centered self, Augustine's curvatus
[3:04] Speaker 1: in se, I'm caved in around myself. It's the pusilla
[3:10] Speaker 1: anima of the spiritual masters. That means the little soul, me, mine,
[3:15] Speaker 1: my projects, my plans, I decide, my body, my life,
[3:19] Speaker 1: my choice. I'm hemmed in by my own selfishness. The
[3:25] Speaker 1: Bible is trying to break us free like Lazarus coming
[3:28] Speaker 1: out of his tomb. Like, untie him from all of
[3:32] Speaker 1: that self-preoccupation and let him go free that he might
[3:37] Speaker 1: establish contact with the good, the true, and the beautiful,
[3:41] Speaker 1: and the source of all those things, which is God, right?
[3:45] Speaker 1: That's the Copernican Revolution. When Jesus talks about metanoia, and
[3:51] Speaker 1: we say repent, repentance, but the word there, nous in Greek,
[3:56] Speaker 1: means mind. Meta means beyond. It means go beyond the
[4:00] Speaker 1: mind you have. You've got a stupid little mind that's
[4:04] Speaker 1: got you caught in this self-preoccupied space. Change that mind.
[4:11] Speaker 1: Go beyond that mind. Enter into the mind of the
[4:15] Speaker 1: kingdom of God. Okay? There's the principle. So I want
[4:20] Speaker 1: to look at it in each of our readings as
[4:22] Speaker 1: if they're trying to ready us for the coming of
[4:24] Speaker 1: the Messiah. So now we're in the prophet Isaiah. Listen now.
[4:30] Speaker 1: The Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask for a sign
[4:34] Speaker 1: from the Lord your God. Let it be deep as
[4:37] Speaker 1: another world or high as the sky. All right, what's
[4:40] Speaker 1: the setting here? Well, I've always kind of felt for
[4:42] Speaker 1: poor Ahaz. Ahaz is a young king of Judah, so
[4:46] Speaker 1: the southern kingdom, right? There's Israel in the north, Judah
[4:49] Speaker 1: in the south. He's a young king. I won't go
[4:52] Speaker 1: into detail, but he's facing a very complex political situation,
[4:56] Speaker 1: the threat of the Assyrians, To what degree will Israel
[4:59] Speaker 1: be allied with Assyria? Various things. I won't go into it.
[5:03] Speaker 1: But he's a young king, inexperienced, facing a really difficult moment.
[5:10] Speaker 1: Think of one of our politicians, and they're up against
[5:12] Speaker 1: the complexities of geopolitics. That's Ahaz. So he turns to
[5:18] Speaker 1: Isaiah the prophet, what do I do? And Isaiah says
[5:22] Speaker 1: to him this, say, ask for a sign. And go crazy, Ahaz.
[5:29] Speaker 1: Let it be as high as the sky, as deep
[5:31] Speaker 1: as the netherworld. In other words, ask for something big.
[5:35] Speaker 1: Dream big. Turn your life over to God. Get out
[5:44] Speaker 1: of the little narrow space of your decisions and your
[5:47] Speaker 1: preoccupations and surrender to God. Well, then Ahaz, hey, hey,
[5:52] Speaker 1: I won't ask. I'm not going to tempt the Lord.
[5:54] Speaker 1: That's a Weasley little answer. That's born of his own pusillanimity,
[6:01] Speaker 1: his own small-souledness, right? So then Isaiah responds, listen, O
[6:05] Speaker 1: house of David. Ahaz is a descendant of David. Is
[6:09] Speaker 1: it not enough for you to weary people? Must you
[6:11] Speaker 1: also weary my God? See, God is tired. He's weary
[6:16] Speaker 1: of our little selfish preoccupations. No, God wants us out
[6:20] Speaker 1: of that and to surrender to his purposes. Therefore the
[6:24] Speaker 1: Lord himself will give you a sign. And then famously,
[6:27] Speaker 1: the virgin shall conceive and bear a son. You shall
[6:29] Speaker 1: name him Immanuel. So now hang on to that. We're
[6:32] Speaker 1: going to get back to it. But God's saying, get
[6:36] Speaker 1: out of your little space. Dream big. And I'm going
[6:39] Speaker 1: to show you something that you didn't even imagine possible. Again,
[6:44] Speaker 1: hang on to that. Now look at reading number two.
[6:48] Speaker 1: Paul to the Romans. This is Paul introducing himself to
[6:52] Speaker 1: the Romans. Listen, Paul, of course, he was Saul, Shaul.
[6:56] Speaker 1: He's got a new name now. Paul, a slave of
[7:02] Speaker 1: Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart
[7:08] Speaker 1: for the gospel of God. Paul, I'm king of the world. Paul,
[7:15] Speaker 1: I'm president of this. Paul, I run this organization. You know,
[7:19] Speaker 1: like when we introduce ourselves, or we write up a resume,
[7:22] Speaker 1: or we're writing a little blurb or something, we usually
[7:24] Speaker 1: kind of brag about our accomplishments. What's the first thing
[7:28] Speaker 1: the apostle Paul says about himself? I'm a slave. And
[7:34] Speaker 1: he knew about slavery. I mean, it was a common
[7:36] Speaker 1: practice in Paul's time. He knew all about slavery, what
[7:38] Speaker 1: that meant. Doulos is the word he uses in Greek.
[7:41] Speaker 1: I'm a slave of Christ Jesus. The first thing he
[7:46] Speaker 1: says about himself, with pride, spiritual correctness, I don't belong
[7:52] Speaker 1: to myself. It's not my life, my body, my death,
[7:57] Speaker 1: my choice. No, no, no. I'm a slave. I'm a
[8:03] Speaker 1: servant of a higher power. Of whom? Well, of this
[8:09] Speaker 1: Mashiach Yeshua, He would have been thinking in his Hebrew mind.
[8:15] Speaker 1: In Greek, he would have Christos Jesus, Christ Jesus. I'm
[8:19] Speaker 1: a slave of somebody else. I belong to somebody else.
[8:24] Speaker 1: That's theirs. Now we're talking. And not my little stupid projects.
[8:31] Speaker 1: I'm a slave of this higher power. There's a power
[8:35] Speaker 1: already at work in you that can do infinitely more
[8:37] Speaker 1: than you can ask or imagine. That's Paul too, isn't it?
[8:41] Speaker 1: Stop playing your little games. Ahaz, come on, dream big.
[8:44] Speaker 1: Ask for a big sign. Come on. Oh, I'm afraid.
[8:51] Speaker 1: God's got something in mind for you that you can't
[8:53] Speaker 1: begin to imagine. Surrender to it. Then listen as he
[8:56] Speaker 1: goes on. Called to be an Apostle. He's a slave,
[9:03] Speaker 1: and then he puts himself in the passive voice. How
[9:06] Speaker 1: we love the active voice. I run this. I'm in
[9:08] Speaker 1: charge of that. I'm the president of this, and watch
[9:10] Speaker 1: me accomplish this, and bop, bop, bop, bop. Who cares?
[9:13] Speaker 1: Bore me to death with that. Paul puts himself in
[9:16] Speaker 1: the passive voice. I've been called by somebody else, and
[9:21] Speaker 1: that's his road to Damascus. This higher power called him.
[9:25] Speaker 1: He was on the wrong road. He's doing exactly the
[9:28] Speaker 1: wrong thing. And then he got called by a higher
[9:31] Speaker 1: power to be what? An apostle, apostellane in Greek, means
[9:36] Speaker 1: to send. He's called, and then he's sent. Again, I
[9:42] Speaker 1: write my resume. I do this, I do that. I'm
[9:44] Speaker 1: in charge of this, in charge of that. Oh, come on.
[9:47] Speaker 1: Grow up. Grow up. What really makes you come alive
[9:51] Speaker 1: is when you're called by Christ and then sent by
[9:56] Speaker 1: him on mission. Oh. to be an apostle, to be
[10:02] Speaker 1: sent for his purposes. Now we're talking. Now your life
[10:07] Speaker 1: will be really interesting. You know, not everyone's called to
[10:12] Speaker 1: the priesthood. I get that. But I go back in
[10:14] Speaker 1: my own life, you know, when as a young man,
[10:17] Speaker 1: I put my hands like this in the hands of
[10:19] Speaker 1: Joseph Bernadette, who ordained me to the priesthood. And I said,
[10:22] Speaker 1: I promise obedience to you and your successors, not knowing
[10:28] Speaker 1: much about him, not knowing nothing about any of his successors.
[10:33] Speaker 1: But I surrendered at that point, surrendered my life, my career,
[10:39] Speaker 1: my aspirations to what they wanted me to do. Called
[10:45] Speaker 1: to the obedience of faith. What a lovely phrase. That's
[10:51] Speaker 1: a few lines now further along. The obedience, obedere means
[10:56] Speaker 1: to listen, of faith. What's faith? Well, I don't see clearly.
[11:04] Speaker 1: I'm not in charge. I'm not managing all this. I see, again, Paul,
[11:09] Speaker 1: through a glass darkly. I'm trusting by an act of
[11:15] Speaker 1: obedience in a power beyond me that that has called
[11:20] Speaker 1: me and sent me. Can you see, everybody? That's the
[11:25] Speaker 1: complete opposite of what our culture always holds up as
[11:29] Speaker 1: the ideal. Me, mine, I'm in charge. My life, my body,
[11:35] Speaker 1: my choice. The opposite is on display. Okay? So there's
[11:41] Speaker 1: the first reading, Ahaz. Second reading, Paul. Now, a glance
[11:45] Speaker 1: at the Gospel, this gorgeous Gospel from Matthew, We always
[11:49] Speaker 1: come to Mary at the end of Advent. She's the
[11:52] Speaker 1: key figure. But the focus in this particular passage is
[11:56] Speaker 1: on Joseph. Joseph finds out Mary's pregnant. He's a mensch.
[12:02] Speaker 1: He's a righteous man, we hear here correctly. And he
[12:05] Speaker 1: doesn't want to expose her to scandal. And so, okay,
[12:08] Speaker 1: I'm going to divorce her quietly and all that. He's
[12:10] Speaker 1: acting like a good, pious Jew who's also being very
[12:14] Speaker 1: compassionate toward this woman who's gotten pregnant. outside of wedlock.
[12:18] Speaker 1: I mean, so that's what we're dealing with here, right?
[12:21] Speaker 1: Then what happens? Well, such was his intention when, behold,
[12:26] Speaker 1: the angel of the Lord appeared and said, Joseph, son
[12:29] Speaker 1: of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as
[12:32] Speaker 1: your wife. It's through the Holy Spirit this child has
[12:36] Speaker 1: been conceived in her. And Joseph obeys. That's the moment.
[12:42] Speaker 1: And Joseph's not a bad man, on the contrary, but
[12:45] Speaker 1: he's in control of it. He knows what he needs
[12:47] Speaker 1: to do, and he's making his decisions. But then, and look,
[12:52] Speaker 1: salvation history depended upon it. At the key moment, Joseph
[12:57] Speaker 1: opened himself to obey a higher voice. The angel appearing
[13:03] Speaker 1: in a dream means a higher realm of reality broke
[13:08] Speaker 1: into his world, and Did he understand it completely? Of
[13:12] Speaker 1: course not. Was he in control of it? Obviously not.
[13:16] Speaker 1: But he obeyed. He had the obedience of faith. He
[13:23] Speaker 1: was sent by this higher power on mission. And then
[13:28] Speaker 1: I'll bring this home. How lovely. All this took place
[13:34] Speaker 1: to fulfill what the Lord had said to the prophet. Behold,
[13:37] Speaker 1: the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they
[13:41] Speaker 1: shall name him Immanuel. That's what God said to Ahaz
[13:47] Speaker 1: long before the time of Mary and Joseph. Ask for
[13:51] Speaker 1: a sign, and the kid won't do it. He won't surrender.
[13:54] Speaker 1: So God goes, I'll give you a sign then myself.
[13:56] Speaker 1: Here's the sign. And Ahaz probably thought, I don't know,
[13:59] Speaker 1: what does that sign mean? But see, people of faith,
[14:03] Speaker 1: who have the obedience of faith, who can surrender to
[14:05] Speaker 1: a higher call, they're willing to wait. And then many
[14:09] Speaker 1: centuries later, It came true. And Ahaz didn't have the
[14:15] Speaker 1: courage or the faith to ask for a sign. Joseph
[14:19] Speaker 1: opened himself to the angel, and then the sign became
[14:23] Speaker 1: apparent to him. All right, everybody. Last Sunday of Advent,
[14:27] Speaker 1: and this is the question. Everything else is a footnote,
[14:31] Speaker 1: in a way. This is the question. Do you live
[14:33] Speaker 1: in that little musty mind? Me, mine, I, my projects,
[14:39] Speaker 1: my choice, my life. Or are you willing to open
[14:43] Speaker 1: your heart, to ask for a sign, to surrender in
[14:48] Speaker 1: the obedience of faith? Everything else in your own life
[14:52] Speaker 1: is a footnote to that decision. And God bless you.

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