Word to the Wise
Tuesday, September 11, 2012 - Tuesday in the 23th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Cor 6:1-11 and Luke 6:12-19]Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolators nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the Kingdom of God. That is what some of you used to be; but now you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
"That is what some of you used to be!" Oh my! What a community those Corinthians made! Life in the cosmopolitan port city of Corinth was notorious for the "opportunities" available! Looking at the list that St. Paul provides, not much is left to the imagination! (Or maybe too much!) The problem for St. Paul (and the Corinthians) was that they didn't seem to realize that their conversion and baptism meant that they had to change their way of life and not act as they did before! They had to learn that the Corinthian "anything goes" way of life was not the Christian way of life! Faith has consequences for conduct! They couldn't just pasted one of those "I (heart) Jesus!" stickers on and continue as before!
The story is told of a policeman who stopped a car and charged the driver with auto theft! When things finally got sorted out the cop explained that he had seen all kinds of Christian bumper stickers of the "I (heart) Jesus!" and "Honk if you love Jesus!" types on the back. But when he saw how rudely and dangerously the driver behaved, he assumed that the car must have been stolen! Does our conduct match our "stickers?" Once we were baptized, we received a baptismal "character" which "identifies" us as Christian. Can anyone tell? AMEN