As I stated last week, when I was asked to go back to school to become Director of the Office for Worship, it was not an easy decision for me. One of the reasons for this struggle was my dad. He was very sick at this point, and the idea of being so far away from him would be very difficult for me to deal with. But I clearly remember the conversation I had with him about the decision I had to make. Dad was very simple in his approach: he said, “You made a promise of obedience to the bishop. If this is what the Church needs you to do, then do it.” He was right, of course.

As Christians we so often forget that obedience is a virtue we must all grow in. But we live in a society that promotes a lifestyle that is in direct contravention to that ideal: it is about the individual determining for self who, and what, one should be in life. That is not how Christ lived his life and it is not the life He calls his followers to live. Our life must be one of obedience to the will of the Father—discerning that will and living it out. When we examine the life of Christ, we can see that doing the Father’s will is exactly how He lived.

It begins with his birth, foretold by the prophets: as Jesus is sent, He is not sent to be born in a great city of powerful parents. Rather, He is born in an insignificant town in a backwater province of a great empire. His parents are poor and yet they have faith—God’s most important gift to them—and their faith is proclaimed by word and deed. Both Mary and Joseph lived lives of obedience to the will of God, and they taught Jesus by their example to do the same.
When He is twelve, He is forgotten at the Temple in Jerusalem, and when Mary and Joseph find Him, He tells them that He is doing the work of his Father. But He returns to Nazareth with them to honor the fourth commandment. When He is thirty years old and is getting ready to begin his ministry, He seeks out John the Baptist to be baptized by him. John tries to prevent this from happening because he recognizes who Jesus is. Jesus essentially tells John that it is the will of the Father.

Jesus goes from there into the desert where He is tempted three times by the devil. If you really examine his three responses, they are all grounded in obedience to the Father. The devil twisted the truth, as he continues to do so in our day and age. Jesus will not give in to the devil’s temptations for they go against God’s will for Him. He is able to see this so clearly since his life is already modeled on following the will of God and living a life of obedience. It is easy to see the devil’s lies when your life is not about doing your own will.

After Jesus begins to proclaim the Kingdom of God, people try to keep him in one place. Jesus refuses because He knows that his message is not merely for one person or people. It must be proclaimed to the world. When He begins to proclaim the truth of his mission—to die on the cross and rise from the dead—Peter tries to stop Him from speaking this truth. Jesus rebukes him for it. And when people get upset with Him for preaching about the Eucharist and walk away, Jesus lets them go for He will not compromise the truth of the message given to Him by the Father. And when the time comes for Him to fully embrace the cross, He turns his face towards Jerusalem and goes there.

This all leads to the moment in the garden. As Jesus contemplates what lies before Him, He asks the Father to take this cup from Him, but He says, “Not my will, but yours be done.” We must be clear that what is about to happen is not easy for Jesus. But why does He do it? Simply put—obedience! And all of the other virtues that He will display as He enters into the Paschal Mystery (his passion, death, resurrection and ascension) are predicated on his willingness to be obedient in all things to the Father. In this, He teaches us that we can only fully embrace our humanity in obedience to God.

Only in and through obedience do we come to know the person we were created to be: not by what one may want to make of oneself, but rather, by discerning the truth of who God calls us to be. Obedience leads to understanding the truth of our gifts and how those gifts are intended to be used. Obedience leads to truly discerning our life’s vocation. God calls each of us to a life of mission and that mission is lived out in a unique way according to God’s will. There is only one path of salvation and that is Christ. But each of us will walk that path in a different and unique way. It is not for us to decide how to do that, but rather, we need to discern God’s will for our life in the same way that Jesus did. As we see in the life of Christ, it is a process that takes time and determination, but ultimately leads us to our salvation. It leads to a life of dying to self and rising to new life.

The road—the life of obedience—leads us to the cross and all that it means. Jesus’ life and ministry finds its culmination in the Paschal Mystery, and what is true for Christ is also true for us. The incarnation makes it possible for us to discover, through Christ, what it means to be truly human. And as we will see next week, it means coming to embrace and live out the Paschal Mystery in our own lives.

If you have any questions about anything, please do not hesitate to ask me directly via email (link above) or phone: (978) 254-0560.

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