(Dis-)Obedience

St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Gainesville FL
The Chapel of the Incarnation, Gainesville FL
March 13, 2011

Year A: The First Sunday in Lent
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Psalm 32
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11

(Dis-)Obedience

Anyone here have a problem with obedience?

If you’re like me, you don’t really like being told what to do.

Americans are often notoriously bad at obedience. Disobedience is sort of in our national DNA. After all, our country was begun by a group of disobedient people who refused to submit to the legal authorities across the ocean in London.

Lately, memories of that first American disobedience have been revived by members of the so-called Tea Party as they have resisted what they view as unwarranted increases in government power.

In yesterday’s New York Times there was a front-page story of people who for a number of reasons are resisting the switch from incandescent light bulbs to compact florescent bulbs. Some are concerned about the cost and others wonder about the environmental impact.

But I think beneath those reasons there’s the very American resistance to the government telling us what kind of light bulb we should use. So some people are stocking up on the old bulbs and others are trying to get Congress to repeal the 2007 law that makes the old incandescent bulb subject to strict efficiency standards.

We have a problem with obedience.

In American history, especially in the second half of the last century, there is, of course, a noble tradition of civil disobedience – people practicing boycotts and sit-ins in peaceful defiance of unjust laws and practices.

So, I’m not sure about light bulbs, but certainly there are occasions when, following the examples of Gandhi and King, we are called to be disobedient in the fight for justice.

Political disobedience is one thing. Spiritual disobedience is something very different.

Disobeying God – the God who is perfect love and perfect justice – leads to disaster.

No matter how many times we hear it, the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden never loses its power. In the beginning humanity is given nearly everything – especially a relationship with God that’s this close – and humanity nearly throws it all away through disobedience.

God commanded Adam, “You may freely eat of every tree in the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

Now, wait a second. Adam and Eve didn’t die after eating the forbidden fruit, did they?

No, Adam and Eve suffered a death worse than what happens when our hearts stop beating.

They suffered the death that maybe some of us have experienced when we realize that we have broken something valuable.

They suffered the death that maybe some of us have experienced when we’ve broken a promise, violated a trust, shattered a relationship.

They suffered the death that maybe some of us have experienced in our sinking stomach when we realize what we’ve done and wonder if what’s been broken can ever be fixed again.

Adam and Eve recognized that their disobedience of God had broken nearly everything. In their nakedness they recognized their total dependence on the God whose trust they had violated. And so they did what we would do. They did what we often do. They hid from God.

The cost of our disobedience of God is very high indeed.

Yet, the greatest news of all, the entire theme of the Bible, and the core of our faith, is the fact that no matter how disobedient we are, God never gives up on us.

In the very next scene of the Genesis story, God comes through the garden, searching for Adam and Eve.

God calls out, “Where are you?”

Where are you?

And God has been searching for us, reaching out to us, calling to us, ever since.

And we Christians believe that God’s ultimate search for us, God’s ultimate reaching out to us, is the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Adam is a model of disobedience and Jesus, the new Adam, is the model of perfect obedience.

Human disobedience nearly breaks our relationship with God.

But, Jesus’ perfect obedience – Jesus’ resistance of temptation - repairs and heals the break between God and humanity. As Paul writes to the church in Rome, “For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”

The many will be made righteous, but, we’re not quite righteous yet. Let’s be honest, we still sin. We’re still disobedient.

I was at a clergy conference on Thursday and Friday led by the Bishop of Peru, Bill Godfrey. He is a very impressive man. He radiated gentleness, wisdom and a deep spirituality.

At one point during the retreat Bishop Godfrey reminded us that the word translated in the Bible as “obedience” is actually the word meaning “to hear.”

God still calls to us, “Where are you?”

Our disobedience is mainly a failure to hear God’s call to us.

And that’s a big reason why we come to this place, isn’t it? We come to church to hear God’s call to us in the old stories and in the prayers.

We come to church to hear God’s call to us in the breaking of the bread.

We come to church to hear God’s call to us through the love and fellowship of one another.

And during the next forty days or so, the Church tries to make it a little easier than usual to hear God’s call to us.

During Lent we’re encouraged to sacrifice in order to hear more clearly God’s call to us.

During Lent we’re encouraged to spend even just a little more time in prayer in order to hear more clearly God’s call to us.

During Lent we’re encouraged to turn down the volume and cut out the distractions.

Here in church, the music is quieter and all the shiny things have been covered or put away.

We change some of the prayers. A little later we’ll say the contemporary version of the Lord’s Prayer.

And we even put away the “A” word which I know for many of you will be a real sacrifice - especially at the dismissal!

Church can become routine and the familiar words can lose their meaning after a while. All of these seasonal changes to the service are made to make it easier for us to hear God calling to us.

We all, especially we Americans, have a problem with obedience. And it’s appropriate to disobey in the struggle for justice in the world.

Political disobedience is one thing. Spiritual disobedience is something very different.

Disobeying God – the God who is perfect love and perfect justice – led to disaster for Adam and Eve and leads to disaster for us today.

The good news is that God has never stopped and will never stop calling to us.

“Where are you?”

During this holy season of Lent may we all take the time to listen for God’s call and to obey God who never stops calling to us.

Amen.