I want us to look at today’s gospel. There is an issue there that often we as Americans can feel uncomfortable. You see, we believe in freedom, at least when we grew up we did.

El Capitan in Yosemite

Freedom in the American way of thinking means doing what you want. It also means making you the standard of what is and is not the definition of freedom. That is what we call individualism. If I use that individualism to skydive or to jump off El Capitan, well that is rugged individualism.

However, in today’s gospel we can see a message that most Americans would normally reject. It is the concept of obedience. Remember, you cannot make a movie about a man obeying his superior. In fact, look at some of the great characters in movies and virtually none of them would be considered paragons in obedience.

However, to understand what obedience is all about, especially to us Catholic Americans, let us look at today’s gospel. We see an act of obedience, blind obedience. Jesus tells these fishermen to put their nets out. Peter says that they had been doing that all day with no results. Yet, because the master, whom they have yet to understand is the messiah, says to do it, they do. Every part of their body tells them that this will be a wasted action however, they listen. They act and they find not only results different from what they expected, they find God Himself.

Obedience is an essential part of the Catholic faith, not for obedience sake. What is at stake here is the truth that God offers us, a wisdom that is beyond what you and I can find on our own. If we ignore God’s wisdom and remain obedient to ourselves, we will find ourselves alone. However, if we remain obedient to God, we are not subjecting ourselves to foolishness, we are humbling ourselves before the greatest of all wisdom and we are finding it.

The Calling of St Peter and St. Andrew-J.J. Tissot

Peter finds Christ when he obeys. Others who would have mocked Jesus, claiming to know more about fishing than he, would go without ever knowing Jesus or his wisdom. Indeed, many reject Christ because they are unable to understand obedience. Then they mock those who follow Christ, but they do not know Christ because they cannot understand Him. Those who know Christ can understand the world through a deeper sense of wisdom than those who don’t. We obey Christ and we learn from Him. Those who don’t know Christ may even mock us, but, that is because although they be extremely well educated, they are unable to comprehend the wisdom that Christ gives to us and unable to understand what we know.

It is when we humble ourselves before Christ in obedience that we begin to learn this truth. Then in time the wisdom leads to a whole new vision that others cannot understand. Let us look at this in relation to the big picture.

Where are we? John teaches us that we are in the world, but not of it. Therefore, we are in the world. The world (not creation but that world of self-centered motivation) is Satan’s kingdom, not God’s. Satan has control of it until it passes away. Remember the 23rd Psalm teaches us that we are in the valley of death, following Christ as he leads us through this dangerous place. We obey Christ, not because we look upon him as like the Phantasmic Wizard of Oz, the tyrannic fire centered phantasmic invention, the one not behind the curtain. It is because we recognize Him as our leader through the valley of death.

Many were taught to look upon God as a harsh evil judge seeking to cast people into Hell for the slightest error. That is wrong. This God sacrificed all He could so that no one would end up in Hell. Therefore, He leads us through the valley of death that is part of the realm of the leader of Hell. When we listen to Jesus in obedience, we do so like we would listen to a hired guide taking us through the jungles of the Amazon. If we don’t obey, we can get hurt or die not because we are punished, but because we walked off the path into the valley of death with no one to protect us. If we do obey, we get a powerful experience that will change our lives as we follow Christ to life.

When we obey Christ, we obey the leader who takes us through the valley of death to the eternal life to which we are invited at Baptism. But we must listen or we will turn from the right path and find ourselves

Though I walk through the Valley of Death

alone in the valley of death in the midst of the wolves who seek to consume us to the bones beneath our flesh. Further our obedience has a fruit in a greater wisdom. Jesus teaches us on the way of why He does what He does, of whom we are and whom He is.

You and I, who are considered fools in the eyes of our detractors, have been given the opportunity to understand the world in ways that are profound. That understanding leads to salvation. The door to that understanding is humility and obedience to the wisdom of God. Not obedience to the wayward ideas of rugged individualists or even bad priests or professors. Rather obedience to the person of Jesus Christ who teaches us great truth. Peter learns one other thing through this obedience: God’s infinite mercy, which is ever present. This presents another lesson. We cannot judge ourselves. We will find ourselves unworthy of God’s mercy. Jesus, will find us the same way, but ignores it and reaches out to us anyway.

Again looking to Peter, he recognizes his sinfulness and asks Jesus to leave him. Instead, throughout his life, from that moment on, his obedience teaches him how merciful Jesus is, despite his failings. Where is the one who is unmerciful. You will find him personified in the Phantasmic Wizard of Oz. He also is best defined as Satan. An unmerciful tyrannical bully who seeks our total destruction. Whereas Jesus is the Loving king who seeks our salvation. Understand Jesus love in this way is powerful and great. Let us celebrate it. In the life of Peter and in our lives. When we are obedient to Christ, we by default will grow in wisdom.

Photo Credit:

All images public domain

top and bottom from www.public-domain-image.com

Middle: www.brooklynmuseum.org