Sunday, April 10, 2022

In Obedience

 

            “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” These are the words of a man who could foresee the narrow gate through which he was about to pass, the narrow gate of suffering. But it was the gate through which Jesus could best manifest his love and affection for his disciples as well as his obedience to his Father’s will. On this Palm Sunday, we have come to that narrow gate. Fortified by our 40 days of Lent, let us eagerly follow our Lord in his passage.

            Certainly, the words of Isaiah should give us confidence for our journey. He speaks of the Servant of the Lord, a prefigurement of Jesus. “He gave his back to those who beat him, his cheeks to those who plucked his beard; his face he did not shield from buffets and spitting.” It seems hard to imagine that our heavenly Father would allow such things to happen to his beloved Son. Why? What had he done to deserve such treatment? It is a mystery, but perhaps we could take Isaiah’s words as a commentary on another paradoxical saying in Scripture. The Letter to the Hebrews says: “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered.” But why did Jesus have to learn obedience? He was never disobedient. Why did he have to suffer buffets and spitting? Simple – he did it for us. His obedience allowed the Father to transform our human nature so that it could be fully conformed to the Father’s will. On our own, we could never endure the transforming and painful fire of obedience. Only Jesus could endure it, and by doing so, our human nature was remade in him. In Jesus, we have become capable of the transforming obedience of love.

            The sufferings of the Servant of the Lord can shed light on another passage in Scripture as we pass through Holy Week. Paul says in the letter to the Romans: “Not only that, we boast of our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope…” In our union with Jesus the sufferings we endure ultimately produce hope. That is the great fruit of Holy Week: the gift of hope that in Jesus we will witness the Father’s steadfast love and faithfulness. Brothers, with that hope firmly held in our hearts, we know that we shall never be put to shame. Let us eagerly desire to share this Passover with Jesus and pass through the narrow gate which leads to eternal life.

This morning's homily by Abbot Vincent.