Word to the Wise
Sunday, June 20, 2010 - Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
[Zechariah 12:10-11, 13:1; Galatians 3:26-29; Luke 9:18-24]Through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [Galatians]
In his Letter to the Galatians, St. Paul is very anxious to counter the teaching of some folks who were claiming that it was necessary to be circumcised and observe the Law of Moses in order to be Christian! For Paul this would be equivalent to denying the power of faith in Christ and the significance of baptism for salvation. He sees baptism as a way in which a person's fundamental stance before God is altered in such a way that their previous way of believing is completely changed. It is changed, however, in the same way for everyone! Even if we're not physically descended from Abraham, we become children of Abraham by adoption. So, why have Christians been slaughtering one another, let alone other potential Christians, for century after century? It's a sad realization! One could, I suppose, use the image of family life and sibling rivalry, and point to Cain and Abel and say that despite God's best efforts, humanity can't seem to embrace the fundamental notion of equality before God and apply it to one another! Others may simply shrug and say that St. Paul's idea of baptismal equality is a nice idea but not a binding matter of faith. God's "on our side" and all others are wrong! The immensity of the task should not deter us from continuing to pray that all the baptized will realize the importance of God's love for us all and our corresponding obligation to love one another. The task is as big as humanity, and not just a Christian task. At the rate we're going, there will be no need of a Noah and an ark! The Holy Spirit continues to have its work cut out for it. Can we each do our bit to help? AMEN
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