Jesus teaches obedience by example
Obedience is a complicated thing. Someone can give you a list of rules and tell you to keep them. And that is one kind of obedience. You don't need to know why a rule exists and you don't need to put much thought into it... you just need to do what it says. This is childlike obedience - trusting that the rule giver has your best interests at heart and following them. This is as far as the Pharisees ever got in their relationship with God.
But there is a whole other kind of obedience... the kind that can't be covered by a list of rules. It is more like following than obeying. It requires a partnership with the rule giver. It comes from knowing the will of the person you are following - knowing their desires, their plans, their character - and then representing that with all that you are. This is the kind of obedience we see in Jesus as he is about to be captured and put to death (and it is the kind of obedience he wants from us too)...
Matthew 26:31-46 37 He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. 38 Then he said to them, "I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me." 39 And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want." 40 Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, "So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? 41 Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." 42 Again he went away for the second time and prayed, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done." 43
Jesus knows the mind and heart and will of the Father. He knows God's plan is for Jesus to be rejected by "God's people", tortured, and to die a horrific death. Naturally, he doesn't want to go through with it. He asks God to come up with some other plan - another plan that will reconcile humanity to a place where they can be in relationship with God. And God says "No!" God says NO to Jesus. Has God ever said no to something you have asked for? to healing? to a need? to changing a situation? Jesus hears God say no. And instead of running from the pain that is to come. Jesus says, "Your will be done."
Most of us really don't know God's will for us. We aren't walking close enough to God to know. Most of us are pretty good at following a list of rules that we think God wants us to follow, but we aren't really walking close enough to God to know God's will for our lives. But Jesus did - and we can too by asking, seeking, knocking. The first step to obedience is knowing the desires, plans, character of God - and then participating in God's mission.
Jesus knows God's plan. He asks God to change it. God says no. Jesus says, "Your will be done."
Do we ignore Jesus' example of obedience? Are we willing to walk close enough to God to know his will for us? Are we willing to do God's will even when we don't like it?
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