Day 16: Obey

And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

Luke 2:21

It might be easy to overlook this fluid moment of obedience as Joseph and Mary give Jesus his name at his circumcision. While the Christ was but a helpless infant, it was his parents who would carry the burden of obedience. In order to fulfill the law and prophets, he would be dependent on Joseph and Mary to do what the law required until he was of an age to do so himself. Their sacred obedience was a vital link in the chain of all that would come after. How fragile was that thread of their faithfulness! Did they even know the burden they carried? I suspect that they did. The weight of all the sacred duty required by the law sat squarely on their shoulders. 

Obedience is a word with mostly negative connotations in our present cultural moment. It implies a person who does not think independently or rationally gauge their own actions, or one who acquiesces to the will of others. In an age when authority is relentlessly questioned, and perhaps justifiably so, I wonder whether the virtue of obedience has lost its savor.

Obedience in the proper direction is, however, what matters most. Obedience, like worship, is always happening in one direction or another. To eat of the forbidden fruit was not only an act of disobedience toward God, but obedience toward the serpent. 

It was Jesus himself who would take up the mantle of obedience from Joseph and Mary, to His Father in heaven and submit to Him. Our joy has been made complete by Jesus Christ, who obeyed His Father perfectly, and then imputed that righteousness to us, but may we be reminded that His imperfect earthly parents carried a burden for a time in helping Him obey! What a terrifying thought. Let us not miss the beauty in it! Our obedience matters. It is the obedient heart that is bestowed blessed burdens which magnify the beauty of the Father. It is the obedient saint who is entrusted to experience the riches of God’s revelations. We are empowered to be obedient to the Father as was Jesus, and to bring Him pleasure in it.  Lord, make me obedient, that I might see you smile!