Palm Sunday, March 29, 2015
“Obedient Unto Death” (Phil.2:8)
As Jesus rides
into Jerusalem to the hosannas of the crowd, He knows that their desire to make
Him their King is motivated by expectations of earthly glory. As King, they
expect, He would throw off the yoke of the Romans and restore Israel to the
glory it enjoyed under David and Solomon. And so they shout, “Blessed is he who
comes as king, in the name of the Lord” (Lk.19:38).
Jesus accepts
their hosannas, for He is truly their King, but He must refuse an earthly
crown, for His Kingdom is not of this world (Jn.18:36). Even after the
Resurrection, and just before the Ascension, some of them were still asking,
“Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6b). But
before receiving His Kingdom from the Father, He must go the way of humility
and obedience, that of the Suffering Servant of the Lord.
Christ was always
obedient to the will of the Father. His famous words during His agony in the
garden were, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; yet
not as I will, but as thou willest” (Mt.26:39b). He said to the Jews who
opposed Him: “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I
am he, and that of myself I do nothing: but that I preach only what the Father
has taught me. And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, because
I do always the things that are pleasing to him” (Jn.8:28,29).
Where can we look
to find such evidence of obedience today, even among those who call themselves
Christian? Like the Israelites who apostatized and adored the golden calf in
obscene revelries at the foot of Mt. Sinai, many Christians have abandoned the
true way and taken to themselves the false gods of pleasure, wealth and power.
Their religion is a façade that will soon be torn away by a dose of reality.
God’s judgment is near.
We must turn now
in obedience to Christ, Who considered the keeping of His commandments the test
of true love: “If you love me, keep my commandments…” (Jn.14:15). The Kingdom
of God is not a democracy. The will of God the Father is absolute, and the Son
and the Holy Ghost are of one will with Him. The angels and the saints are in
complete conformity to the holy will of God, and we must be also, especially in
these times of disobedience.
The world in
general takes after its father, the devil. It is characterized by disobedience.
Disobedience is a far worse sin that most people think. Nothing takes us away
from God more quickly. Even lesser sins of disobedience put us on dangerous
ground. What was the sin of Lucifer, into which he was led by his pride?
Disobedience! What was the sin of Adam and Eve? Disobedience! And the human
race has been in disobedience and rebellion ever since.
On the other hand
we have Jesus Christ – whom Isaiah called in prophecy, “the obedient Servant of
God” – obedient to the Father’s will even unto death, death on a cross. Nothing
is more Christlike than obedience.
Practice the
virtue of obedience in imitation of Jesus Himself. The virtues must be practiced
if we are to become His true disciples. This is especially true of obedience.
This is not easy, because obedience is not valued by the world. The importance
of obedience should be carefully explained to the children, with patience and
kindness. They should know that they are expected to be obedient because Jesus
was obedient.
We adults, too,
should do a careful examination of conscience about obedience. It is up to us
to give the example. The Commandments themselves accuse us, and our conscience condemns
us. Unlike Jesus, Who prayed to the Father seeking His will, we make decisions
and all kinds of plans without praying about them. God just might want to be
consulted! And then we expect God to take the responsibility for the unhappy
results. Jesus would never do that. His prayer was always, “Father, not my
will, but yours be done.” If we are not to be hypocrites, we must mean what we
say when we pray, as Jesus taught us, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven.”
“Have this mind in
you which was also in Christ Jesus, who though he was by nature God, did not
consider being equal to God a thing to be clung to, but emptied himself, taking
the nature of a slave and being made like unto men. And appearing in the form
of man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even to death on a
cross. Therefore God also has exalted him and has bestowed upon him the name
that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend
of those in heaven, on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should
confess that the Lord Jesus is in the glory of God the Father” (Phil.2:5-11).
