Thursday of the Second Week of Easter
We adopted our dog, Luna, as a puppy while we were still living in Virginia. She is a mixed breed, part Border Collie or Australian Shepherd. She had a lot of energy as a puppy and even for the first few years as an adult dog. I grew up with dogs and had even owned one with Vince prior to Luna, but she was my “wild child.” She acted up and challenged my authority as the “alpha dog,” especially when Vince was away on trips. I eventually took her to an obedience training class to better learn how to train her so that she would listen to me. It worked and helped improve my relationship with her so that we had much more positive interactions and I was much less angry and frustrated with her. I think I’m fairly typical in wanting my dog and my children to be obedient, to listen to me. And yet I sometimes resist the notion that as an adult I am called to be obedient as well.
The word obedience comes from the Latin word obaudire, meaning “to listen, to hear.” This sheds some light on the word especially in regard to our call to obedience to God, which today’s readings speak about. In the first reading (Acts 5: 27-33), Peter and the other disciples have been brought before the Jewish Council for continuing to preach in Jesus’ name after having just escaped prison for the same charges. They had been ordered to stop teaching in Jesus’ name but continued, explaining “we must obey God rather than men.” They had clearly made the choice to disobey the authority of the Sanhedrin and to obey, “to listen to” God.
In the gospel passage (John 3: 31-36), we hear about God the Father’s relationship to the Son and the call to obedience to Jesus for eternal life. “The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.”
We are given a choice. For the early disciples the choice seems to have been very clear and one that came from their love for Jesus and their joy in the resurrection. They were strengthened by the Holy Spirit in their desire to preach the good news despite the human orders to the contrary.
We are called to obedience, which means we are called to prayerful listening to the voice of God, to the call of Jesus in our hearts, through the Word and Sacraments and often through one another. Rather than something to resist or be fearful of, let us ask the Holy Spirit to attune the ears of our heart and mind to influence the choices we make each day, for “He does not ration his gift of the Spirit.” (John 3: 34b)
Let us pray for the kind of loving and joyful obedience that the first disciples modeled for us.
- Eileen Miller