Listening to the Obedience of Jesus

There are two themes which are highlighted in the two stories of Jesus to which I have referred in my previous posts. These are themes which I believe are often overlooked in the pulpit. The first is the idea that Jesus went through stages, and that he perfected each one by his consistent and persistent obedience and submission. The second is that to which I now speak in this blog, and that is his sublimation of even his divine mission in order to be submissive to human authority. Or perhaps we should think of it like this: Jesus sublimated one form of obedience to his Father in order to be fully obedient to the ultimate desire of his Father, that of fully fulfilling the law, in order to fulfill our obedience for us.

Let me explain what I mean. In the childhood account of Jesus, Jesus asks Mary and Joseph, "Did you not understand that I must be about my Father's business?" A quite literal rendering of the Greek puts it this way, "Do you not understood that it is absolutely essential (dei) that I am doing the things of my Father?" But the text indicates that Mary and Joseph apparently did not agree with Jesus that now was the time for him to be doing what he was doing, for he leaves the temple, and he goes home with them; and the text says explicitly that he went home with them and that he was subject to them. And Luke seems to emphasize this when he states immediately after this that Jesus " increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and with people" (Luke 2:52 in the NET Bible).

The next thing we read in Luke concerns the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus. There is an implication here -- and I do not think it is unintentional -- and that is that Jesus' submission continued on into his adulthood. The text does not come right out and say it, but it certainly implies it, especially when read without the chapter breaks which were not a part of the original text.

The second passage to which I referred in my previous post, about the wedding at Cana, has this sentiment in it again. If I might paraphrase the saying of Jesus, "Woman, what are you saying to me? Do you not know that my time has not yet come?" I don't want to humanize the divine too greatly; however, it is almost like Jesus is saying, "Mom, you are pushing me out into the world before I am ready." And we know it is not quite that way, for Jesus has a full and divine sense about his heavenly mission. But it is the learning obedience thing once again, Jesus is learning as a human what he is already fully aware of in his divinity, that there would come a time and a place for the public demonstration of his ministry. And we could read into this exchange between Jesus and Mary and come to the conclusion that in some way Mary, as Jesus' parent, is an agent from God to Jesus, helping him to sort out what is the proper time of the Father in order for Jesus to begin his ministry in the public manner which would ultimately lead to his death.

In both of these cases, Jesus has an internal sense of calling and timing that is overruled by human authority, specifically parental authority -- and I think this understanding is crucial. For what is Jesus' primary commandment when it comes specifically to parents? To honor his father and his mother, which is what was written in the commandments of Moses. The command to honor means to give place to, to give weight to, to place oneself under another, or, in modern parlance, it would mean to give into another, or to prefer another as being greater than you are yourself.

Jesus' honoring of his mother is demonstrated even on the day of his death. One of the seven words from the cross are the words of Jesus looking after his mother. John bears this out. Jesus sees his mother, Mary, and the disciple which he loved, which we believe to be a reference to John, and he says to her, "Woman, behold your son." And to John he says, "Behold, here is your mother." Apparently by this time Joseph is deceased, and Jesus, as the oldest child, is fulfilling his familial responsibility to look out after his mother. And so, as he is dying, he turns responsibility for her care and keeping over to John, a disciple whom he trusted and loved.

In this way, Jesus fulfills the commandment to honor his father and mother. As I have stated previously, by this he passes through and sanctifies this stage of life for us by perfectly fulfilling the commandment. This is one area that we as humans rarely are able to get right. I, at the age of 47, had to recently call up my parents and apologize to them for years of inappropriate treatment. I had never publicly dishonored them; but I had not always held them in a place of honor in my heart. I called them to try to make things right; and I am trying now to restore the years that the locusts have eaten. It is a struggle sometimes, but by the grace of God, I trust that I will continue to honor them up to the time they are dead.

I made this comment one time to a pastor friend of mine, who came right back with a shot that hit me "square 'tween the eyes." She said, "What do you mean up to the time they are dead, what about after they are dead; you still have to honor them then." She explained that her parents had been dead now for years, but that she still evaluates her behavior and trusts that what she is doing now is still bringing honor to her parents. Amazing, I thought. I would have never have considered that the commandment did not end with the life of the parents. But then again, this is the familial bond; we are always the children of our parents, and we will never be able to fully rise above them even after they are dead and gone.

Listening to the Young Adulthood of Jesus

This post has been rewritten, keeping the substance, but deleting some of the extraneous matter.

My previous post addressed Jesus learning obedience in his childhood. This post examines his young adulthood. In our culture, we could just as easily say his adulthood, for the event I will be addressing happens when Jesus is nearing 30.

This incident once again involves his obedience to his mother. I think this incident in the life of Jesus seriously challenges the current societal delusion that something magical takes place on the day one turns 18, that all of a sudden, BOOM, you become an adult, and then nobody can tell you what to do any longer. This ideation can hardly be supported Biblically, though there is no question that one's responsibilities become broader when one reaches adulthood. However, the Western ideal of total autonomy is a delusion, as is the idea that one is ever totally free from any obligation to parents.

The incident in Jesus' life is the wedding feast at Cana as recorded in John 2. The story is familiar: the host of the wedding has miscalculated in the amount of wine which was needed for the party. He has run out of wine, and the family is likely on the edge of a social disgrace and humiliation. Mary finds out about the dilemma, and she calls Jesus in for the rescue.

The interchange between Jesus and his mother is fascinating. "Son, they have no wine." Jesus, "Woman, what to me and to you?" -- a literal rendering of the Greek. Mary, to the servants, "That which he says to you, do it." What is going on here? How do we understand this dialogue and Jesus' enigmatic, cryptic response to his mother?

The various translations differ here. Some follow the KJV to the effect of "Woman, what do I have to do with you?" Others turn this around, following another textual witness, and make this "Woman, what do you have to do with me?" Jesus follows this up with the statement, "My hour is not yet come," implying that he is rebuking his mother for having overstepped her bounds of authority in some manner, perhaps in attempting to command control over those aspects of Jesus' divinity. Others make this more general, "Woman, what has this to do with us?" In other words, ""Woman, this is none of our business," or "Woman, this is no concern of ours, it is the responsibility of others, let them care for it on their own."

A young person from our modern generation may understand Jesus to be rebuking his mother here, saying to her something on the order of, "Woman, what do you have to do with me? I am an adult now, and I need to be able to make my own decisions. You do not have any authority over me any longer, so you really shouldn't be ordering me around!" In fact, I can hear the argument for this interpretation now, and that is that Jesus is simply setting his boundaries; he is engaging in emotionally healthy behavior, and he is gently letting his mother know that she is violating his personal space, and that she is infringing upon his autonomy as a person.

I so not think that this argument can be supported from the text, for it does not fit very well with Jesus' actions. You see, Jesus did what his mother instructed him to do. Mary says to the servants, "Whatever he says to you, do it." Jesus calls for the water pots, and turns the water into the wine. Mission accomplished. Jesus has obeyed his mother's implicit instructions, he has fulfilled them right to the T.

In so doing, Jesus has honored his mother. Whether or not there is an overstepping of personal boundaries is perhaps a valid point of discussion. However, despite any overstepping that there may have been, Jesus has honored his mother. He has not put her to open shame. He has maintained her dignity, demonstrating  his obedience to the command in the law of Moses to honor his father and mother.

I am not certain if Jesus' statement to Mary is intended to be a mild chastisement or not. If it is, I suspect it has far more to do with Mary asking Jesus to demonstrate the power of his divinity than that he is trying to set boundaries concerning any violation of his supposed person. When it comes to allowing people to violate his person, Jesus sets the example; he endured all forms of suffering, yet he never tried to protect himself, neither when it was crucial, did he ever offer any defense. Our Roman Catholic friends refuse to see a rebuke here, and maintain that Jesus was simply addressing according the custom of the day. And that does seem to be the case in Jesus' use of the term "Woman," for that is the way that he also addressed other women in the Gospels.
 
There is more to be said here, but it will require at least one additional post. Stay tuned, and I will get right on it, before I forget what it is that I desire to say.