Obedience is a Choice

If you have followed this blog for any length of time you probably know my feelings about free will. It is not only a great gift of God, but it just might also be the hardest part of our Christian journey. God allows everyone the free choice to be obedient, and so should we.

We know the teaching of God and the Church that we are called to be obedient. There is a big difference between what we know to be true and what we do in our daily lives. This is the essence of today’s lesson from the Gospel According to Saint Matthew.

The Lord said this parable, “A man had two sons; and he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he repented and went. And he went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the harlots believed him and even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe him.”

Matthew 21.28-32

The sign of obedience in today’s passage isn’t revealed in the promises made by the sons. Obedience is revealed in the actions of the sons. One chose to say one thing and do another. One chose to repent and be obedient even after ‘blowing off’ the request of his father.

Orthodox Christianity isn’t a buffet of ideas from which we can build our own plate of beliefs. There are many who come to the Church because they ‘agree’ with the teachings of the Church. Often this includes choosing ‘which’ elements of Church to accept and which to reject.

This mentality places the Orthodox Church ‘one of many dishes’ on the buffet of faith. Some like Divine Liturgy but reject the teaching of Holy Icons. Others prefer to elevate Holy Icons above their proper place of veneration in exchange for the personal asceticism of prayer and fasting.

Much of this dilemma can be solved through the relationship between a good spiritual father and spiritual child. In the natural sense a good spiritual father doesn’t guide his children through classes. He leads his children to follow God and His Church through obedience.

Obedience begins with choosing to accept that we don’t know everything. Experience teaches us we aren’t always in charge. Maturity reveals to our hearts that when we choose obedience we can learn from others. The son who chose obedience was blessed, not the other.

Preaching from town-to-town Christ never forced anyone to believe Him nor to follow Him. Some stayed a while before walking away. Others stayed away only to be among His most fervent disciples later. This was only possible through free will. Everyone has a choice.

My invitation for you today is to consider to whom you are obedient in your spiritual journey. Though you may want to say you are obedient ‘directly’ to God or the Church, I would encourage you to rethink your perspective.

The history of the Church is a history of believers being obedient to those whom God placed in authority. The Church calls them ‘bishops’ and Christ ordained the first bishops the world knows as Apostles to lead the Church, and they were obedient to each other by choice.

Even Saint Paul, arguably one of the greatest evangelists and teachers of the Church, though he was called to apostleship by Christ, chose to be obedient to the other Apostles. If Saint Paul chose obedience, we can we.

When we choose obedience, our spiritual father also chooses to lead us. Bishops must choose to accept their responsibility, as do priests and deacons. The mutual choice in obedience is blessed by God through the Sacraments of the Church.

Once we have settled in our hearts and choose obedience to our spiritual father, then we can make progress in our journey to God. The alternative is to say we have a spiritual father, or to say we agree with the Church, but then choose to go another way. It is always a choice.