Word to the Wise
Thursday, October 14, 2021 - Thursday in the 28th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rom 3:21-30 and Luke 11:47-54]For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Does God belong to Jews alone? Does he not belong to Gentiles, too? Yes, also to Gentiles, for God is one and will justify the circumcised on the basis of faith and the uncircumcised through faith. [Romans]
The gospel scriptures for the past couple of days have featured Jesus' criticism of the scribes and Pharisees for their emphasis on external observance without any consideration of the interior movements of the heart. When St. Paul, an ardent Pharisee, underwent his conversion experience on the road to Damascus, he rejected the traditional position of the Pharisees, i.e. a person is just in God's eyes to the extent that they observed God's law in their conduct. For St. Paul, what justifies is not what one does exteriorly but what one does interiorly, i.e. believes in Jesus Christ. It is this emphasis on faith in contrast to "works" - i.e. sacraments and devotional acts - that drove Luther to challenge the church in 1517, triggering the Protestant Reformation which still divides Christianity.
The gross corruption of Church practice in the 16th century which led to the Reformation does not exist now, but the theological question does remain. Faith and good works are two sides of the same coin. Good works should be the fruit of faith in Jesus. We do not "earn" salvation by sheer physical or monetary effort. But Jesus makes it plain that a disciple by definition should be a missionary and proclaim the gospel by word and deed. One way in which Jesus' ministry is continued is through sacramental practice, but that is still largely limited to official church events. There is a whole realm of human faith and action that awaits us outside the church doors.
Salvation is about the whole human person, inside and outside. Good works are not enough by themselves since a non-believer can be just as good in that way. It is the interior response to God's love that then moves us to faith and to the determination to share that love in word and deed. AMEN