The Obedience of Christ

O

“Jesus humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.  Because of this, God greatly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:8-11

It’s been a few weeks already since Ash Wednesday and we are in the middle of the Holy Season of Lent. Lent will come to a climax during Holy Week, starting on Palm Sunday on March 25^th. This journey of forty days leading up to the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ has hopefully made us more aware of our need and dependence on the love and forgiveness of God.

In St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians we learn that Jesus was humble and obedient to the Will of God, even to the point of death on the Cross. Doing the Will of His heavenly Father was central to all that Jesus was about. He was obedient to God in order to bring mankind into relationship and forgiveness with God.

We are all called, like Jesus, to be humble and obedient to the Will of God. Through the example of Jesus we are called to have love of God and of neighbor. Even during His suffering on the Cross, He was loving and forgiving to those who condemned Him to death. There may be times in our sufferings during our lifetime that we, like Jesus, may say, “MyGod, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34), but like Jesus, we know that God is always present in our sufferings and will help us in all our needs. In just a few days after Jesus was crucified, He rose from the dead, defeating death, and bringing us salvation and forgiveness with God our Father.

As we conclude our Lent, let us turn to God to seek His love and forgiveness in the Sacrament of Confession, and to love and respect those that God has place in our life. Then we can say with the apostle Paul, that “that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:11)