TENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
10 JUNE 2018
Being
a disciple of Jesus Christ in the first century was difficult for many
reasons. Opposition to the belief that
Jesus Christ was crucified and raised from the dead came from three sources. The pagan Roman culture regarded that belief
as ridiculous. The Roman authorities
executed Saint Paul. The Jewish
community rejected the followers of Jesus Christ and threw Saint Paul out of
many synagogues for preaching the Gospel.
Saint Paul also suffered rejection from some of the Christian
communities that he founded, because some accused him of not being an authentic
Apostle. Despite all of this opposition,
Saint Paul never let go of his encounter with Jesus Christ on the road to
Damascus and did not lose heart.
To be
honest, it is easy to lose heart and waver in our faith. Sometimes we lose heart, because we are
fooled by false promises, like Adam and Eve, and suffer the consequences of our
bad choices. We blame each other and cause
further division. Sometimes life serves
up disappointments, failing health, career crises, and all kinds of
challenges. In these situations, we
might want to ask Saint Paul: how did
you do it? How did you not lose
heart? He gives us the answers today
from his second letter to the members of the Corinthian community.
First, he
argues that we do not lose heart, because the foundation of our faith does not
come from an idea or a system of beliefs.
Our faith is grounded on an encounter with a real person, Jesus Christ,
who has been raised from the dead. Because he lives, we live.
Second, we
do not lose heart, because we are not alone.
We are part of a community of believers.
Even though the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel might have shocked his
family, who are worried that he is out of his mind, his family is much broader,
and includes us. We can endure hardships, because we are walking together as
members of this parish, supporting one another, praying for one another, and comforting
one another when life becomes difficult.
Third, we
do not lose heart, because God has only begun his work in us. That is what Saint Paul is saying when he points
out that our outer nature is wasting away.
No matter what happens to us in our lives, our inner nature is being
renewed every day. As long as we do the
will of God as members of the Lord’s family, nothing can take away that inner
sharing in the life of Christ. In fact,
Paul argues that these afflictions actually prepare us to share in Christ’s
glory.
Finally, we
do not lose heart, because we trust that even when the earthly tent in which we
live is destroyed, we have a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands,
eternal in heaven. In other words, we
can stare death in the face and trust that death will not have the last word. The last word lies in the resurrection of
Jesus Christ and his promise of eternal life.
Over the
past ten years, I’ve had the privilege of going on pilgrimages with other
people – usually on bicycles. Twice
we’ve travelled the Camino de Santiago in Spain, and I walked the final 100
kilometers on the second pilgrimage with our youth group. Twice I rode my bicycle on the Via
Francigena, once from the Alps to Rome, and the second time from Canterbury to
Rome. These pilgrimages have taught me
the importance of traveling together – enduring the hardships together, sharing
the joys together, and sharing prayer and meals together. Being on the journey has taught me some
valuable lessons about our common pilgrimage through life. We need to make the most of our pilgrimage
together. But, we also need to remember
that we have a final destination, not Santiago or Rome, but the new and Eternal
Jerusalem. Jesus warns us that the only
obstacle to reaching that destination is when we blaspheme against the Holy
Spirit. Saint Paul would argue that this
blasphemy involves losing heart and giving up on God. With Paul’s advice in our minds, we continue
this pilgrimage together.
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