But Samuel said: "Does the LORD so delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obedience to the command of the LORD? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission than the fat of rams. For a sin like divination is rebellion, and presumption is the crime of idolatry. Because you have rejected the command of the LORD, he, too, has rejected you as ruler."


Today’s first reading tells of the heavy cost Saul paid for his disobedience to the Lord’s command. By most standards he was acting rationally. Why let valuable sheep and oxen go to waste when your soldiers have fought for them and won them fair and square? Why shouldn’t they be used in a sacrificial meal honoring the Lord (who won the battle for us!), and then eaten during a banquet for all the women and children? The people had suffered enough at the hands of the Amalekites, let them savor the victory with a banquet!
But “my ways are not your ways” and “…it is loyalty that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offering.” Veterans understand this passage well enough: “There’s a right way, a wrong way, and the Army way.”
Who can see the vast scope of the Earth and the plans God has made? Within my own narrow horizon I may have a pretty good idea of what needs to be done, and how to do it. But I can’t see the future or the present beyond a certain point. Not even my understanding of the past is 20/20. Only God can see the unintended consequences that may occur as a result of my reasonable behavior.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola tells us that Satan tempts good people with good things. Obviously they cannot be attracted to anything overtly, disgustingly evil. But a good man might be distracted from going to church to help a neighbor; or from helping a neighbor to go to church. Both are good things but God may prefer one over the other at any particular time. The “good person” eager to do good but not attentive to God’s will may be led away from God with Satan’s suggestion to do this "good thing." As he gains more satisfaction and success from these good things he may get somewhat less patient with the sacrificial way that the Lord demands. He might say, “Don’t I provide well for my wife and children, even if I am never home? Look at all the good I do for them!” as the abyss opens between them.
Eventually he is taking moral, ethical shortcuts to gain more of the “good things;” and his good life is built on a sandy foundation. Finally, one day, the Tempter offers something clearly, criminally wrong and the sinner has no choice but to take it. He has long ago forfeited the grace of owning his own will. In recovery we call that relapse.
Saul grabbed at many good things but he forfeited more blessings when he permitted his soldiers to loot the Amalekites. It was politically expedient but spiritually fatal. The Lord withdrew his favor and gave it to the shepherd boy David, leaving Saul to perish in moody madness and irrational behavior. We can expect the same of any person or nation that discounts fidelity to God.
Jesus speaks of a marvelous new wine in today’s gospel, the wine of the Holy Spirit. When the disciples obediently drink of God’s wisdom, people think they’re intoxicated. They seem to defy common sense; their behavior is sacrilege to the sanctimonious and nonsense to the clever; but to us, it is the wisdom and the power of God.