The Good News for the Second Sunday of Lent, March 11, 2001
Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 9:28b-36

Obedience has fallen on hard times. People accustomed to freedom don't want to have to obey anyone else. Power beguiles them, because those who have it don't have to obey. Rather, the powerful bend others to do their will. Today's engaged couples often want to check out just what vows they are supposed to say at the wedding. They'll be happy to say they will love and honor. But they sure don't want to obey.

It's a bit disorienting, then, to hear obedience all over the readings next Sunday. The transfigured Jesus is the "chosen Son" who has obeyed the Father. A voice tells the disciples to "listen to him" (Luke 9:28b-36). Abraham receives a command from God to enter into the covenant, and he obediently fulfills the requested sacrifice (Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18). Paul asks the Philippians to imitate him and to model their lives after other people who do so (3:17-4:1). All meet the challenge of obedience: Jesus, the disciples, Abraham, Paul, and the Philippians.

These passages come to us near the beginning of a season when the church asks us to observe days of fast and abstinence and to discipline ourselves in anticipation of an Easter renewal. Next Sunday presents obedience not as an affliction to be avoided, but as a virtue to be pursued.

This obedience is not a trait of slavery. This is not about surrendering our wills because we are powerless. It involves uniting our wills with one who loves us. It's the same kind of obedience couples willingly give each other out of love, whether or not they pronounce obedience as a vow. When we're in love, we happily do our beloved's bidding to bring pleasure to the one we love. Our obedience to a lover makes us feel good. An interior satisfaction rewards us, because our lives have been put to good use. We are transfigured.

Consider, in closer observance, next Sunday's second reading. Paul says Christ has the power to subject all things to himself, and thus Paul idealizes an image of universal obedience. Incidentally, this passage does not flow well from other parts of the same letter, so some scholars believe it originated as another letter that early Christians stitched into the middle of a larger one. Nonetheless, its themes fit well with the other scriptures from our lectionary next week.

Paul reminds the Philippians that they are being transformed. They are true believers whom he contrasts with "enemies of the cross." Paul urges the Philippians to stand firm in their transformation.

The "enemies of the cross" are probably those who did not accept the Gospel, but believed that salvation came the old fashioned way, by strict observance of the law of Moses. Such adversaries believed in obedience, but obedience to an ideal that the cross rendered inferior. Paul says these opponents to Christianity were more interested in what foods they were allowed to eat ("Their God is in their stomach"), in observing the ancient practice of circumcision ("their glory is in their "shame"), and in an unspiritual scrupulosity ("Their minds are occupied with earthly things"). For Paul, this is not the path to salvation, but the path to destruction.

He tells the Corinthians that their citizenship is in heaven, a marvelous phrase that rearranges everything in one's world view. Yes, we are proud of our national heritage, but heavenly citizenship opens our focus to a wider view, beyond nationalist pride. Christ in his transfigured glory gives us an image of the heavenly life for which we long. The baptized have our citizenship in the glory that surrounds Christ.

We will share that glory. Paul, mindful of the disfigurements and pains the aging human body bears, says Christ will change our lowly bodies to conform to his glorified one. With faith in Christ's power to bring all things in subjection to himself, we stand firm. Therein will lie our glory.

Christian obedience at its best, then, is about transformation. It does not concern lessening one's will, but deepening one's commitment, expanding the heart, and transforming our minds to be more like Christ's. That befits us as citizens of heaven.

On the Second Sunday of Lent, when the magnificent vision of the transfiguration takes center stage, we catch a glimpse of the glory that will be ours because we belong to Christ. During these weeks we can either accept our penance with pouts or welcome it in love. Lent will school us in a spiritual discipline that trains our will in the happy art of Christian obedience.

Father Paul Turner is pastor of St. John Francis Regis Parish, Kansas City.