Christ's Sacrifice of Obedience

The first reading of today (1st Sunday of Lent) narrates the sin of disobedience of our first parents. As against this sin of disobedience Christ the New Adam makes the final sacrifice of himself a perfect sacrifice of obedience. Thus his sacrifice brings salvation to the whole humanity. To aid an understanding of what the sacrifice of obedience of Jesus was I would like to share an excerpt from my dissertation on Rene Girard's Mimetic Theory of Violence.

The sacrifice of Jesus is quite extensively pondered in the Epistle to the Hebrews. This Epistle partly devoted to explicate the difference between the old sacrifices under the old covenant and Christ’s one and only new sacrifice on the cross under the new covenant. The one and only sacrifice of Jesus is the ‘sacrifice of obedience.’ His was a sacrifice of total surrender to the will of the Father which is evident in Hebrews 10:3-10. The death of Jesus on the cross is part of this sacrifice of obedience.

The whole life of Jesus is one great act of obedience. This is vindicated by the fact that his earthly life is surrounded by references to obedience. The very first words he says upon coming into this world are: “Here I am, ready to do your will” (Hebrews 10:7). The last words are: It is consummated. “Father into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). At every important moment in Jesus’ life there are references to the Father’s will, beginning from the finding in the temple (“Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” Luke 2:49), while passing through Samaria (“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work” John 4:34), (“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me” John 5:30), in ‘The Bread from Heaven’ discourse (“For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day” John 6:38-40), while at the ‘Festival of Booths (“My teaching is not mine but his who sent me” John 7:16), agony in the garden (“My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done” Mathew 26:42), (“My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done” Luke 22:42), and finally on the cross (“Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last” Luke 23:46).

As we are in this joyous season of lent - joy because of coming back to the Father's house, let us make our own lives a sacrifices of obedience to the loving Father.