The whole of Christ’s passion is obedience. It is obedience out of love – a love for the Father and love for us. Christ put the greatest trust in the Father’s plan for salvation. Abraham and Isaac were the forerunners of this great trust: Abraham in God, God in Abraham, and Isaac in Abraham.
“Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant” (Phil 2:6-7).
Jesus did what the first Adam failed to do in obedience. He through whom everything was made and for whom everything was made came as an example of obedience and love for mankind.
John speaks of Jesus’ love even to the end: “... having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (Jn 13:1).
Yet, this love did not start with Christ’s passion. Jesus’ whole life was an example of love and obedience. Scripture tells us that as a child He obeyed Mary and Joseph. At the young age of 12, Jesus was already astonishing the teachers in the temple, yet He made Himself humble – humble as a child to the obedience of His parents (Lk 2:46-47). This obedience was also mirrored in Mary and Joseph, for each did all God asked of them in His great plan.
Even as Jesus got older and began His ministry, He still walked in the way of obedience. Jesus followed the Holy Spirit’s guidance when tempted by Satan in the wilderness (Lk 4:1-13). He was sinless with no need for baptism, yet allowed Himself to be baptized by John as an example for us to follow, to cleanse our bodies and souls of original sin so that we would be ready for salvation, the salvation He would inaugurate with His passion, death and resurrection (Lk 3:21).
In this obedience we hear the Father’s praise of the Son. “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Lk 3:22).
In the agony of the garden, Jesus asked the Father to take away the cup He was to drink. Though sweating drops of blood, He ended His prayer with the words “not my will, but yours be done” (Mt 26:39).
When speaking to the apostles before His death, He told them, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Lk 9:22). He didn’t plead with them to hide Him from the Father or whine about the trials to come. Jesus remained ever-confident in the Father’s plan.
This obedience is one we must pattern our lives around. Not our will, but His.
When the obedience of Lent and the obligations of Holy Week have passed, we normally breathe a sigh of relief and think to ourselves, “OK, now life can go back to normal.” But can normalcy still mean obedience?
Does normalcy mean that we interpret the doctrine of the Church directed by our own passions? Does normalcy mean rationalizing missing Mass on the weekends and teaching our children to do the same? Does normalcy mean following our own hearts instead of trusting in the Father’s plan for us?
Jesus knew the plan and trusted the Father. Obedience is a much harder calling because it requires deep faith. Jesus embodied this faith in obedience better than any of us ever will.
Thankfully, through the Holy Spirit we can ask for grace to strengthen our obedience.
Christ entered the world as the light, the light we are to follow. St. John Chrysostom said we are all lights, “shining in the midst of the world,” with a greater function than He has given even to the sun (“The Fathers Know Best,” 254).
On earth, we are Christ’s hands, heart and feet. People will look to us to see Christ’s example lived out in our lives. Let our light show obedience to the Father. Let us walk in the love of Christ, thanking Him for the obedience that has brought us salvation.
April Parker is a parishioner and teacher at St. Pius X Parish in Greensboro.