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03
2006
Matt 19:16-26 / Cor 15:1-11
Why are these two texts bound together?
Both texts are bound with respect to the degree of difficulty required to engage and maintain the gospel in daily life.
To the Corinthians, St. Paul expressed concern with the futility of preaching to a society heavily immersed in worldly activity. He writes in hope that the gospel foundation laid there was not in vain.
To show them the effort and blood gone into making this gospel possible, St. Paul retraces the path of Christ’s death, his risky appearance to apostles and even to hundreds beyond. And finally to one as unworthy and pre-born as himself, we see the sheer amount of divine and direct grace that God himself was willing to provide in order to create metanoia in the heart of Saul.
The young man struggles with Christ, finding it difficult to choose between the wealth and riches of the world and a relationship with God that promises so much more in the long-term.
Both passages reflect the difficult path that lay before those who are heavily immersed in cultural burden. Often the things that are expected of us in the civil and social sphere are things that we come to regret when we are face to face with Christ.
We approach junctures in life where we need to make critical decisions about how we are going to utilize the resources we have received from God. Sometimes it is easier to forget that God is there, let alone that He may have already provided an answer to our dilemma. It takes the edge off for awhile, but it makes it very difficult to return and regain focus.
I experienced this myself when leaving seminary – after a time, it becomes very difficult to get back on the horse and go to service every Sunday. On the one hand, it is a material inconvenience. The selfish part of me really wants to stay in bed or read or listen to music. Or even work on things that I consider spiritual – I still want to do things my way.
I’m not saying that is necessarily a bad thing. We do need time to ourselves and for a lot of people Sunday is the only day they have to really live for themselves and not be at the beck and call of someone else. The last thing we need on Sunday is a boss.
However, when push comes to shove and we are dealing with a critical decision, we may find our discernment is out of practice – a little rusty. Or like the young man who had lived according to the law but amassed so much wealth, we may find that the decisions we have made on our own were not necessarily wrong, but their results make it more difficult to commune with the One God. For us, God becomes less of a Lord and more of a factor in our decision making process.
Christ’s response to the man is a bit of a wake-up call. God is not merely a positive factor in life – not just a good thing to have around. The Lord reminds us of how far our own decisions fall from achieving the quality of life that only He can provide for us.
This doesn’t mean that we do not make any decisions and just try to leave everything up to Him to decide for us. It means we actively engage the Lord in the course of our decision making process so that the Lord does not catch us off guard when we believe that all along the way we were doing what seemed right to us at the time.
If we are not able to live this way – if we do not engage the gospel as both a teacher and helpful reminder of what we are created to be and do, then St. Paul’s fears for us may be as valid as they were for the Corinthians… the gospel of Christ will have been delivered in vain if we do not put it to use in our daily lives.
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