CATALYST SUGGESTION SHEET #35

"OBEDIENCE IN THE BIBLE"

In the Gospels we read that Jesus was asked, "Which is the first of all the commandments?" In reply, he quotes from a prayer which would have been very familiar to him and his listeners: "Listen Israel, the Lord our God is the one, only Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart …" (see Mark 12:29, also Matthew 22:37 and Luke 10:27). The prayer is known as the Sh^em^a and begins as follows:

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates." (Deuteronomy 6:4-9.)

The word Sh^em^a – the first word of the prayer – may be translated as either hear/listen or obey, depending on the context. Scholars tell us that the Old Testament concept of obedience contains both the sense of intelligent listening and willingness to submit to the will of God that is heard in this way. And the listening and submitting are done with the knowledge that God has intervened in history, set the people free and invited them into a Covenant of love.

In the biblical world, listening and hearing are profoundly significant. The word must be heard and heeded. The phrase "Thus says the Lord" recurs again and again. Moses is a model: Yahweh has a conversation with his servant Moses (see Exodus 3:1-15). Later Moses is referred to as the one with whom "the Lord used to speak face to face" (Exodus 33:11). He listens, hears and goes forth. Because the Covenantal life is a conversation, God too is expected to hear. Thus in Psalm 94:9 we read: "He who planted the ear, shall he not hear?". (See also, for example, Psalm 4:1; 39:12; 69:16; 102:1.) Listen to Isaiah 1:18: "Come let us talk this over …"

What distinguishes Yahweh from the false gods is precisely that Yahweh is willing and able to pursue a conversation with us. The false gods are incapable of conversation. In Psalm 115:6 we read: "(The idols) have mouths but say nothing, have eyes but see nothing, have ears but hear nothing, have noses but smell nothing". (Pope Paul VI’s first encyclical, Ecclesiam Suam (August 1964), might be read against this backdrop. There he speaks of colloquium salutis ("the dialogue of salvation") as the context for the Christian’s ongoing dialogue within the Church and beyond.)

We could say that the notion of obedience in the Old Testament is summed up in the willingness to enter and remain in the conversation God has initiated. This willingness is expressed in constant and attentive listening, hearing and heeding. That is the essence of obedience in the Old Testament.

The Greek words for obey and obedience in the New Testament are grounded in the verb akou, meaning "to hear". The verb hypakou, meaning "to obey", and the noun hypako, meaning "obedience", literally mean "hear beneath". Thus the Old Testament understanding of obedience as intelligent listening, with a view to effective hearing and heeding, is continued in the New Testament.

Jesus is clearly one who seeks to listen and hear that he might "do the will of the one who sent (him) and complete his work" (John 4:34). Each of the synoptics tells of Jesus’ withdrawal to the desert, where he is tested and comes to a deeper conviction concerning the will of the one who sent him (see Matthew 4:1-17, Mark 1:12-13 and Luke 4:1-13). The desert is a particularly good place to listen and hear. Luke suggests something habitual in Jesus’ life: "… he would go off to some deserted place and pray" (5:16). Luke also notes that, on the occasion Jesus asked the disciples, "Who do the crowds say I am?" (see 9:18-21), "he was praying alone". This is a man grounded beyond the social fictions of his culture and its demands. He is attentive, always listening that he might hear what must be heard, and submit to what must be. On this basis he proceeds. St Paul, probably citing an early Christian hymn, says, he proceeded even to death: "He humbled himself and became obedient (hupkoos – literally "attentively listening") unto death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:8).

This is in direct contrast with Adam: "As by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous" (Romans 5:19). (The Greek verb Paul uses here to describe Adam is parakouo and it literally means "to mishear" or "to hear beside". In other words, in Adam’s case there is a failure to listen and hear and therefore a failure in attentiveness and awareness. This is the root of the failure to act rightly and is, in sum, what we call, disobedience. By way of contrast, the verb used of Jesus is hypakouo, which, as we have noted above, literally means "to hear beneath". Jesus’ right action is grounded in his attentiveness to the Father. It is also worth noting here that, for Paul, we participate in the obedience of Jesus and the effects of that obedience, just as we participate in the disobedience of Adam and the effects of that disobedience. Which brings us to our response.

Jesus is the focus of our obedience: "This is my Son the beloved: Listen to him" (Matthew 17:5; see also Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35). John’s Gospel reminds us that Jesus is God’s Word spoken in the flesh (see John’s Prologue). We are set free when we "make our home in" the Word (see John 8:31-32). Through him, with him and in him, we become party to a conversation. This is the conversation of the communion of persons that God is, a conversation that is expressed in and through creation, a conversation made explicit to the people of old through the Covenant and now brought to fulfilment in our world through the Incarnation. This is the conversation Paul VI refers to as colloquium salutis.

Obedience is the natural response to our being drawn into this conversation, both as individuals and as community. Having encountered God in Jesus Christ, we turn and face God and we say: "You see before you the Lord’s servant, let it happen as you have said" (see Luke 1:38). And our obedience is nothing less than our participation in his obedience. Our obedience is not so much an act of will on our part as an act of God in us. We become obedient by allowing ourselves to be swept up in the gracious goodness of God. So what does it mean for the Christian to be obedient? It means to respond, within the limits and possibilities of daily living, and to say from the heart with as much alacrity and joy as possible, "let it happen as you have said!".

1. Reflect on the passage from Deuteronomy 6:4-9. What do you hear there?
2. What do you think it means "to listen" in the sense used above?
3. What do you think it means "to hear" in the sense used above?
4. What do you think it means "to heed/submit" in the sense used above?
5. Compare and contrast your own understanding of obedience with the above.
6. Reflect on the idea of the Christian life as a "conversation". Note Paul VI’s colloquium salutis.
7. Reflect on the suggestion that the desert is a good place to listen and hear.
8. Recall an example of Jesus’ obedience. Reflect on that.
9. In this context, can you suggest why Jesus might have conflicted with the religious authorities?
10. What structures or practices do you have to enhance your ability to be obedient?