Weddings, like funerals, have changed over the two decades I have been a pastor.  More often now they are untethered from any concept of worship or a Christian and biblical worldview of marriage and death.  Both have become more a recognition of the individual and less cognizant of Christ.  In both, novelty and personal expression have become central. 

At funerals this shows up in eulogy, music selection, and the disposition of a loved one’s remains.  In weddings, it is reflected in the addition of elaborate unity ceremonies and the elimination of anything like a sermon.  And most prominently in the personalization of vows. Vows that focus on what I have to offer my spouse and what I will try to be, rather than what I am obligated, scripturally, to be and do.   In a song about marriage commitment, Alan Jackson, famously sang.

I’ll try, to love only you
And I’ll try, my best to be true
Oh darling, I’ll try.

But I have never asked a bride or groom, “Do you, Mr. Groom/Ms. Bride promise to try…?”  No, the question is always “will you” or “do you.”   Vows used to be pretty standard.  In former days the bride’s vow included, “I, take the to be my wedded Husband have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part.” 

But this idea of obedience as part of marital love seems too oppressive to our modern sensibilities.  So, we have eradicated it from our most intimate earthly commitment.  Yet there is no greater fruit of love than loving obedience.  Obedience to God in what he requires us to be and do as husbands and wives, sons and daughters, followers of Christ is a grateful, loving response to God’s lavish grace.

Next to self-sacrifice, obedience is actually one of the strongest ways we express our love for others.  It demands that we prefer the will of another to our own.  To love another, their concerns, their needs more than we love and value our own.  And nowhere do we see this relationship between love and obedience demonstrated more powerfully than when Jesus exhibited his love for his elect people and his heavenly Father by obeying the will of the Father that Jesus become sin for us on the cross.

Theologians often speak of the obedience of Christ in terms of His active obedience and His passive obedience.  One difficulty in theology, however, is the creation of categories which are too neat and tightly defined.   We must guard against relegating any particular aspect or action in the life of Christ  to one category or the other since His active and passive obedience are often exhibited simultaneously.  The trial and crucifixion of Jesus offer prime examples of this.

Jesus is a sacrificial victim, but not a hapless victim.  He is not victimized in His trial and crucifixion.  He lays His life down of his own accord and takes it up again.  No man takes it from Him.  At every moment during the trial and crucifixion Jesus actively obeys the will of the Father.  With every twist and turn of the action, Satan finds an opportune time to say to Jesus, “if you are the Son of God then….” 

With unbelievable resolve, Jesus exerts His active obedience in the midst of the most intense temptation imaginable.   He, who spoke with authority and whose razor sharp wit had untied all of the Gordian knots thrown at Him on the Tuesday of this passion week, had the power to undo the schemes of Pilate and the Sanhedrin with the powerful and effective Word of God.  He had the power to come off the cross and destroy his taunters. 

He had the power over every creaturely element that held Him there on the cross.  Yet, in the midst of passive obedience as a sacrificial victim, He obeyed actively at every nano-second to triumph over powers and principalities and disarm the powers of hell and death.  What an incredible Savior!

How prophetic were the taunts of his enemies – “He saved others, Himself He cannot save.” Join us as we examine Mark 15:1-32 and meditate upon this great truth that in refusing to save Himself, our Lord saved us. We meet Sundays at 10:30 am on the square in Pottsville, Arkansas right next to historic Potts’ Inn for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join our livestream on YouTube.