Saturday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
I love St. Paul. He is so honest about his brokenness. His honesty is not dramatic flair to help make a “really good” conversion story. He is honest so that you can sideline him and see God at work. This is what he says in today’s first reading, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost. But for that reason I was mercifully treated, so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example.”
To move away from the spiritual realm, a tangible analogy would be like a blind man telling you the color of a wall or a deaf woman telling you the note being sung. To face their achievement in spite of their inability would give evidence to the fact that there is more at work than meets the eye. Paul’s openness about his sinfulness and weakness is not self-loathing, but is helping us see God at work.
By no means are we to glorify our sin, but being honest about our need reveals God’s grace and mercy. I’m reminded of a verse I read in Micah recently, “Who is a God like you, who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance; who does not persist in anger forever, but instead delights in mercy, and will again have compassion on us, treading underfoot our iniquities?” (7:18-19).
Practically speaking I think this all means that we need to be willing to be vulnerable about our weaknesses and our subsequent encounters with the Lord’s mercy. This does not mean you have to “hit rock bottom.” It might just mean that you recognize God’s grace and mercy in opening your eyes for another day. However we encounter the Lord’s mercy, it takes great humility to express it; but without it our witness to the Lord’s salvation loses credibility.
I think if you asked for St. Paul’s credentials to preach the Gospel he would point to the cross and say, “I’m qualified, because he died. His mercy is all I need”. This is why spreading the Gospel is a fundamental call for every believer!
Can you respond to the call to share the Good News this week? Is there one person in your life for whom you can be an example of the Lord’s generous patience and mercy?
- Spencer Hargadon