2313AFC033123 – Obedience Or Humility?
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Matthew 27:46 – 46 And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” [1]
Mark 15:34 – 34 At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (↔ Music Link)
5 The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious,
I did not turn backward.
6 I gave my back to those who struck me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face
from insult and spitting.
7 The Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.
When you make his life an offering for sin,
he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;
through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.
Philippians 2:7b-8 – [he was] born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
8 he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death –
even death on a cross.
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. There is so much I want to share with you today, but if I put it all into one post … well, it wouldn’t be prudent. Nonetheless, I want to pluck some bits of Scripture from this fascinating set of readings and make a few comments – call them reminders – about what we hear every year. We will be hearing about 1] the entry into Jerusalem; 2] the institution of the Eucharist and Priesthood; 3] the agony in the garden; 4] the arrest and trial of Jesus; 5] Peter’s denials of Jesus; 6] Judas’ regret – not repentance – and suicide; 7] the release of Barabbas (whose name means “son of the father’); 8] the cruel scourging of Jesus, the mockery of the soldiers, and the crown of thorns; 9] the demands of the crowd stoked by the Pharisees; 10] the Way of the Cross, and conscription of Simon of Cyrene; 11] the barbaric crucifixion of Jesus and two criminals; 12] and the death of Jesus. Today we’ll pull up some tidbits from the readings, from previous posts, and from whatever sources inspire comment. This will happen in two parts – all done today. Buckle up! We’re gonna do another deep see dive.
Part 1 – Scripture Before the Passion
The first Key Verse for today is from the 7 Last Words series. Here is a quick analysis of it:
Mark 15:34 – At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Greek Text:
᾿Ελωΐ, ᾿Ελωΐ λαμὰ σαβαχθανι
Eloi, Eloi lema sabachthani
(elói, elói) (lema) (sabachthani)
{el-o-ee’, el-o-ee’} {lem-ah’} {sab-akh-than-ee’ or sab-akh-than’-ee}
Matthew 27:46 – And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Greek text:
Ἠλὶ*, Ἠλὶ* λεμὰ σαβαχθάνι*
Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani
(éli) (éli) (lama) (sabachthani)
{ay-lee’, ay-lee’} {lam-ah’} {sab-akh-than-ee’ or sab-akh-than’-ee}
Psalm 22:1 – My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
Hebrew Text (from right to left):
עֲזַבְתָּ֑נִי לָמָ֣ה אֵ֭לִי אֵלִ֣י
‘ă·zaḇ·tā·nî lama ’ê·lî ’ê·lî
a zahb thāh nee lā māh ale-ee ale-ee
Now, why does this old man want to look at this? First, we sometimes wonder what language Jesus was speaking. The final analysis given by most scholars is that it’s Aramaic – sort of. In Mark’s transcription, it’s partially Hebrew. That’s a minor point. The important point is why Jesus said that. Did God the Father really, really, ignore, dismiss, or abandon Jesus? Of course not! Jesus was never abandoned by the Father! Why? Because the Father Loved the Son and the Son Loved the Father. Jesus – as God the Son – could not be abandoned by the Father; but, he could feel in his humanity the agony of death, separation, and aloneness. The humanity of Jesus certainly felt the abandonment of being alone in his death throes while most of his trusted companions for the previous three years were in hiding. God did not abandon Jesus to suffering, but Jesus perhaps felt the same sense of hopelessness that all humans feel in times of great duress: “Where is God in all this suffering? Surely a good God would not allow this?” Remember – he told his Disciples he must suffer greatly and be killed.
Why was it the will of the Lord to crush him with pain? Was it because God enjoyed seeing his Son suffer? Of course not! Was it because God was taking out his vengeance for all of our sins on Jesus? Not really. Remember, Jesus willingly laid down his life. (See John 10:18) this was part of God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan. Whose plan was it? God’s plan. And just to check our understanding of what that means, what should be our understanding of who GOD IS with regard to that plan? Was it God the Father who said, “Son, I’ve got some Good News and some bad news.”? Was it God the Son who said, “Father, I think I have an idea that will clear up this whole mess.”? Was it God the Holy Spirit who said, “How long should we wait before we proceed with our plan?” You have guessed the correct answer! It was ALL of the above! God has always been a community of Love. There wasn’t any “imposition of will.” There was only congruity of will! If, then, “everybody” in the Trinity was in agreement, everything went according to plan.
Every (good) plan has achievable goals and clear objectives. The Goal in this plan was to restore us (every living soul who ever sinned – and that’s plenty of us!) to the Community of Love that existed among God and Earthlings before sin entered into the World. The objectives were 1] God takes on human form (humility) 2] grows up according to human customs, 3] preaches to humans about being humbly obedient, and 4] dying the death he helped plan with his Father and his Holy Spirit for our Salvation. God’s Plan of Salvation was not for his benefit – although as we have seen it pleased him to formulate it and bring it to fruition – but while God was pleased to create this Salvation, he is all the more pleased to bless and approve this plan for our benefit. He is especially delighted, joyous, pleased-as-punch to see that we are redeemed by this plan. “By his stripes we are healed.” What kind of language is that for prophesy? Shouldn’t prophesy be future tense? Yes, you are right again! God has no future tense, no past tense, only present tense all the time everywhere. That pleases God who are always happy to destroy the barriers between God and Man. He who gave himself as a ransom for us all (↔ Music Link), he who paid in full (↔ Learning Link) all the debts of all your, my, and our sins, including death, he who willingly sought to please God so that God might be pleased to welcome us back into fellowship with Him – HE is pleased that WE are once again fully HIS. Is that cool or what!?!?!
That certainly pleases me. It also blesses me because it blesses God. It pleases us because when we say “God Bless YOU,” we mean that blessing to be in present tense in the same way that God is in present tense – all the time and everywhere. We have been given the remarkable Gift of Free Will so that when we finally hear and understand that “he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (See Isaiah 53:12), we will know why Isaiah says, “through him the will of the LORD shall prosper,” (See Isaiah 53:10c).
Part 2 – Scripture during the Passion
We’re going to skip ahead to the trial and then work out some things around that historical point. Here’s an example from the Old Testament –
Isaiah 50:5-7 –
5 The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious,
I did not turn backward.
6 I gave my back to those who struck me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face
from insult and spitting.
7 The Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
During the so-called trial of Jesus, as he was shuffled back and forth between persons of authority, he did not answer questions, did not debate, did not call down fire and brimstone or lightning on those who struck him, stuck him, or tried to trip him up. “Like a lamb to the slaughter … ” he opened not his mouth. In the Garden of Gethsemane his humanity was sorely tested as he contemplated the duress he would suffer as he took up the final objective in God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan. I’d like to come up with some beautiful words to sum that up, but The Apostle Paul said it best here in Philippians 2:7b-8 –
[he was] born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
8 he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death –
even death on a cross.
Now that we have come to this point, we begin to see why the topic for today is “Obedience Or Humility?“. We might ask ourselves, “Did Jesus have to be humble to be obedient, or did Jesus have to be obedient to be humble?” Which is the antecedent disposition – humility or obedience? The best answer seems to be “both,” but I’m going to risk picking one. By asking a few questions.
Q: What was the foundation of the lie the Serpent used in the Garden?
A: God doesn’t want you to be like him, but you can get around that by doing this.
Q: Of the Seven Cardinal Sins, which is most directly connected to this temptation?
A: Pride, because when we choose to determine our own destiny rather than rely on God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan, we throw humility to the winds, and fly away with all its blessings. We know God wants a heart that is contrite and humble. Do we obey him when we try to achieve that? Or do we start with humility and work our way up to obedience by becoming meek and lowly? Are we coming to the conclusion that we need both simultaneously? Can we be obedient without being humble – without submitting to another (or Another) out of Love, respect, or even fear (not reverence -real fear). Can we be humble without being obedient? If that’s what God wants, then we must humbly set aside our own silly little plans and live by the APP. But what about contrition? Is that humility or obedience? Let’s see what Scripture says.
We offer our contrition because it opens our hearts and lives to God’s forgiveness and forgetfulness:
We can begin with a very familiar verse which is often cited when discussing the moral condition of the Nation and the World: 2 Chronicles 7:14 – 14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. To be contrite is to feel sorrow and/or pain when we acknowledge of sins. There are four steps: Humbly acknowledge our sins, seek and accept forgiveness, continual awareness of God’s presence and care in one’s life, and fully repent by avoiding sin and the desire to be tempted – the “near occasion of sin.” Then we can rely on God who says unequivocally, “I will heal you.”
Isaiah 43:25 – 25 I, I am He
who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,
and I will not remember your sins.
The Apostle Paul reminds us that this is God’s plan instituted the day Adam and Eve turned against him. Acts 3:19-21 – 19 Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, 20 so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah appointed for you, that is, Jesus, 21 who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets.
The Apostle Peter adds: Acts 2:38 – 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Why does God even care if we repent? Because of his everlasting intentional Love. He doesn’t want the sinner to die. He wants us to acknowledge our need for repentance, and then do it.
Luke 15:7 – 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Can you imagine that? When we repent, HEAVEN REJOICES?!? Luke 15:10 – 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Jesus know that all of that was possible for only one reason:
Luke 24:46-47 – 46 … and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”
How can this be? How can God forgive me, forgive you, forgive us who have sinned and will doubtless continue to sin? Romans 5:5b-8 – 5b … because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.
By now, the answer is becoming clearer. It is Humility AND Obedience continuously working together in our hearts that bring the Light of Salvation to our souls. There is a “secret” to making these actions work together smoothly. We combine them, support them, and utilize then that arises out of Trust in the perfect integrity, endless mercy, everlasting love, and eternal salvation that is ours only in our El Shaddai-Olam – the Almighty-Everliving God – through the passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus, the Christ of God. That combination is the antecedent of the pain and sorrow we know in our contrition. Check out Psalm 51:17.
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
[1] Jesus was on the cross for about 6 hours. The Earth and all that is in and around it – including the Earthlings – was created in 6 days. The Number of Completion is 6. The day of Christ’s passion began in chaos and ended in completion just like his Creation. God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan is always right.
