5th Sunday of Lent
April 7, 2019
Phil 3: 8-14Nativity, Washington, D.C.
“I consider everything as a loss because of
the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil 3: 8).
Except for the very, very rich—probably
considerably fewer than today’s proverbial 1%—the 1st century wasn’t a consumer
society. When St. Paul “accepted the
loss of all things” and “considered them so much rubbish” (3:8), he wasn’t
surrendering a vacation home, a BMW, a flat screen TV, tickets to the Kennedy
Center, and opportunities to get his kids into Harvard or Georgetown (even
honestly).
What he lost, instead, was his career, his
prestige and public reputation, friendships from his early life, a reasonably
comfortable life by 1st-century standards, the chance to marry and have a
family, his freedom, and his physical safety.
This letter to the Christians of Philippi in northeastern
Greece, in the region of Macedonia, Paul wrote from one of his several
imprisonments, with his life in danger (1:20-23).
Paul in prison, writing a letter |
No, Paul knew Jesus personally. He’d met him in that famous vision-encounter
on the road to Damascus, and he’s spent years with him in prayer and
meditation. His mind, heart, and soul
were intimate with Jesus. To “gain
Christ and be found in him” was for Paul—and is for us, as well, my sisters and
brothers—all that truly matters. Our
salvation, our ultimate, eternal safety, doesn’t depend upon our possessions,
family connections, or reputation but upon our relationship with the Risen One,
the one who gave up his own life that we might have life, who rose from the
dead that he might raise us up in himself.
To “be found in him” on the Last Day, the day of his 2d coming and the
general resurrection of every human being, is to be safe, to be saved, to
possess the Kingdom of God along with him.
Paul learned from his encounter with Christ
that he “had no righteousness of his own based on the Law” (3:9). As a good, faithful Pharisee, he had thought
that observing the Law of Moses would make him holy—“righteous” or “just” in
God’s eyes; he even persecuted Jesus’ disciples to enforce his belief, acting
as the Taliban do in our time to enforce their version of Islam. The Law of Moses isn’t just the 10
Commandments but an abundance of rules and precepts, and Paul knew, as you and
I do, that no one keeps all those commandments perfectly well—honoring God
always, being truthful, being pure, respecting the property and the person of
everyone at all times, not acting vengefully, caring for the poor, keeping the
Sabbath diligently, etc. On the basis of
the Law, no one is “righteous” before God; all of us are sinners.
Instead, Paul found righteousness, i.e., a
restored relationship with God, “through faith in Christ,” through “knowing him
and the power of his resurrection” (3:9-10).
Thru Christ God freely grants us forgiveness of our sins, offers us
grace. That the Father raised Jesus from
the dead demonstrates the power of what Jesus offers us; his message of divine
mercy wasn’t just talk but truly expressed the Father’s will to erase our sins
and make us just.
To obtain a share in Christ’s righteousness
Paul’s quite willing to “share in his sufferings” here and now, even to “be
conformed to his death” (3:10) if it comes to that—as it eventually did when he
was condemned and executed in the persecution of Nero. The prize for gaining Christ and being found
in him, for knowing him closely and following him, is “the resurrection from
the dead” (3:11), eternal life at his side in heaven.
In April 2008 candidate Barack Obama famously,
or infamously, lamented voters who “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to
people who aren’t like them” rather than clinging to him. Do
you and I cling to something that threatens to distance us or cut us off
completely from Christ Jesus: a grudge,
pornography, a love for gossip, a habit of stealing, indifference for the poor
or for migrants, support for immoral public policies by our votes for public
officials who push those policies?
Brothers and sisters, we’ve passed thru 4
weeks of Lent as a reminder of “the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus our
Lord,” as an opportunity to deepen our relationship with Christ, as a
preparation for Easter, the celebration of the Risen Lord who offers a share in
his life to all persons who, like St. Paul, surrender their entire selves to
Christ Jesus, who will not let anyone or anything come between them and him—no
earthly attachment, no illicit desires, no clinging to the 7 deadly sins.
The psalm response today says, “The Lord has
done great things for us; we are filled with joy” (Ps 126). The joy of salvation comes from forgiveness
and restoration as soon as we turn from our sins and turn toward our Lord Jesus,
like that lost son featured in last Sunday’s gospel (Luke 15:11-32).
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