Today, we hear Jesus teach that His death will be a world changing event. Indeed, what we hear is that His death will glorify the Father. The Gospel, of course, was written decades after Jesus died and rose. So now we understand these events, after the fact, and we also know that, indeed, His death and resurrection were world changing events. However, maybe it is time to look at them more closely.

We all know that Jesus died to save us from our sins. In fact, the reality is that God is the god of life. Satan, into whose hands we fell through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, is actually the lord of death. Jesus’ death, is the tool through which our death is conquered. Why did Jesus die on the cross? In obedience to the Father.

In order to conquer death, He had to go through it. It is He who goes through it at the request of the Father. Why is this so important? Jesus highlights one of the key factors of our faith that is rarely addressed. Just as Jesus is obedient to the Father and through His obedience all are saved, so are we also called to be obedient in service to the Father and His mission through His Church and through our obedience, God’s powerful work is done. For Americans, those are difficult words.

It is not that disobedience is a virtue in our country as much as rugged individualism. We are a nation of innovators and our innovation changes the world. So it is the person who sees things differently and acts on that vision who opens up new paths in our world. That is always a good thing. The rugged individualist is literally as American as our Declaration of Independence.

So  for  us, the concept of being obedient to another is not always an inviting prospect. Therefore, we have to understand what this obedience is, for the world was not just saved by Jesus death and resurrection, but more importantly His obedience to the Father. It is not that the Father demanded that Jesus  die in a gruesome manner, it is that the Devil threw everything at Jesus to try to get Our Lord to disobey the Father. Then, we would remain in Satan’s kingdom of death.

Obedience is actually, more importantly, doing the will of that which is the wisdom of God. It is to understand that since God is pure truth, pure wisdom to say nothing of pure love, when we humble ourselves before the Lord and do His will, we follow a path that leads to pure life for ourselves and others. It is to recognize that we are obeying a wisdom that is beyond our ability to fully understand at this time, but that is making us wiser with every obedient step.

Why must we attend mass on Sunday? There are many reasons, but more so, God has demanded it and our obedience to God produces powerful fruits in our lives and in the lives of others. It is our submission to God’s powerful wisdom through which we grow wise ourselves. It is saying yes to God, for we realize that He is God and we are not, therefore, when God demands, He does so in order that we may live life and live it to the full. If we decide to not listen to God, then we do not experience the fruit of His wisdom in our lives.

However, here is the key to obedience. It is done many times when we do not understand why. That is the point. Jesus was baptized by John, despite the Baptist’s protest. Jesus told him to just obey, even though he did not understand and in time he would. Many times our obedience bears fruit, but not immediately and so we are left to question why? That is the point. If we always knew the why, the virtue of obedience would be automatic for we would have the wisdom to do the will of God immediately. However, we do not, so we must act in obedience not necessarily knowing why all the time, but trusting that God is leading us to His pure truth, love and presence. He is also working through us to reach out to others. Remember, our faith is the road through we achieve understanding, but we are achieving this understanding, we have not achieved it fully yet.

Once we understand each element of truth, then obedience to God takes on not the role of submission, but acting in greater level of wisdom. It is like the student who gets all A’s and we find out he did all his homework. When you ask him why he was so attentive to his homework, he explains it was the best path he could find to learning the skill taught in school. He acted obediently to embrace a life skill. So it is with us.

However, obedience is not blind. We do not follow the rule if we feel the rule is wrong or dangerous. I heard on the radio the story of a church where people were contributing, but they were told they needed to dig down deeper to give more for one cause or another. I do not expect you ever to hear that from me but if by chance you did, do not feel you are required in obedience. Disobedience is not blind. It is trusting because a bond of trust has been developed, but it is not blind.

Likewise, beware of the person who rejects obedience because of some progressive cause or another. He runs counter to the wisdom of the Church. He or she may be right, but that is rare. The way you can tell if he is right is that the person makes a case that does not have holes in it. One of the dead give away signs you are listening to false wisdom is that the person cannot justify it in a way the glorifies God. The figure who rejects Church teaching but receives communion anyway is saying, I am smarter than 2000 years of the wisdom of the Church. I  have yet to find that to be an accurate defense.

When we submit to the will of God and acknowledge He is truth, we learn a wisdom that is often times is at odds with the world because the world is not as wise as the wisdom of God.

This  is why, the American virtue of individualism is something that must be used carefully. We should always speak out when we need to, but we need to discern when that time is.

Jesus’ death and resurrection is literally a revolutionary act of cosmological proportions. The act begins with obedience to the father. Can our act of obedience to God be any less revolutionary? As Americans this is the part of obedience that we can fully understand.

God Bless You,

Fr. Robert J Carr