Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
In the first reading, Paul admonishes the Corinthian Christians of his time to take more care to demonstrate the social aspects of their allegiance to Jesus. In particular, he seems to be responding to situations where one Christian would sue another Christian in the civil (Roman) courts. The point that he is making is much broader than the example of Christians taking each other to court. Paul uses this example as a teaching moment. His larger point is that when we become Christians, we supposedly have left our old ways behind and have become something new. He points out the many ways of life that people might be called “from.” But he emphasizes that is very important also to focus on what we have been called “to.” In other words, how do we live differently as a result of our baptism into Christ?
In reading this passage, I found myself wondering why Paul would get so upset about Christians suing each other. In fact in our society today that happens all the time. Lawsuits can be the result of legitimate disagreement. And it is sometimes the best or only way to settle disputes and to make sure that justice is done. For Paul, however, lawsuits between believers are a sign of an unhealthy community of Christians. Rather than working out their differences among themselves, these Christians felt that the courts would do much better. Paul sees them as falling back on the authority of the state rather than trusting in the power of the gospel to unite Christians. Christians need to trust that God has and is continuing to bring them together through their faith and their participation in the life of the church, including participating in the sacraments.
I was thinking about these passages in the light of the parish retreat that took place at Immaculate Conception last Saturday, which focused on being church in the home and being home at church. The first reading for today draws our attention to the social aspects of the Christian life. We are being called to personal holiness; however, we are also being asked to live differently in our relationship with neighbors and others in the wider world. This raises the question, how does our relationship with Jesus change the way that we treat others and the way that we interact with our fellow human beings?
The gospel reading continues along the same as the reading from 1 Corinthians. It describes Jesus’ work of healing people of their diseases and casting out unclean spirits. It also talks of the calling of Jesus’ twelve disciples. What leaps out at me in this passage is that each of the twelve disciples was called out of their former life and into a very different life. But they were not called to an insular, isolated community. Rather, they are called to go out into the world and to live as Jesus Christ did in the world.
We have the opportunity today to consider the ways that we can be changed by our encounter with Jesus. Let us pray that God would help us to recognize the ways that our Christian faith and our devotional practices change our relationship with others – both Christians and non-Christians – in the world.