Tuesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/052912.cfm

It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you…

You have to feel for the volunteer reader who steps up to do this first reading today. That first sentence from Saint Peter’s Epistle is a killer! The editor has broken it into sense lines but how do you get from one line to the next? And what is it saying?

A paraphrase: the ancient Hebrew prophets foresaw the coming of Christ, both his sufferings and his triumph. And, for your sake -- rather than their own or that of their contemporaries -- they made their testimony.

Modern scholarship might quibble with that teaching. We usually try to understand what the biblical author was saying to his contemporaries first; and then we extrapolate from that ancient interpretation, what it means for us. If, for instance, Amos railed against the “cows of Bashan” (Amos 4:1)for their luxurious life, we understand the prophet was not angry about grazing ruminants. He despised the wealthy wives who lived in indolent luxury while others starved. And then we reflect on the persistence of poverty three thousand years later; and, if we’re serious about the matter, income inequality as measured by the metrics of various standards.

But, as important as those reflections might be, they are not Saint Peter’s immediate concern. He wants his readers – and the Church wants us – to understand the extraordinary privilege we have of knowing Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of Saint Luke, for instance, we hear this warning:

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.” (Luke 10:13)

And in the same gospel we hear:

Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more. Luke 12:48

This is not the “gospel of prosperity” that we hear even in many American churches, that teaches “We’re rich because we’re good; and they’re poor because they’re not.”

So the question might be asked, “What difference does my knowing Jesus Christ actually make?”

I like to put it this way, “You have to be different if you’re going to make a difference.” It’s not sufficient to try to change others to a more Christian way of life, whatever that might be. You actually have to be different.

In the Acts of the Apostles we see that the disciples of Jesus lived simply and in poverty so as to speak to the poor “a word that would rouse them.” (Isaiah 50:40) They prayed continually, going where the Holy Spirit sent them and shunning those places where the Holy Spirit prevented them. The leaders of that church insisted upon being “servants of the servants of God.” (Matthew 20:25-27) They never prospered by their ministry and were usually mistreated for their efforts. And, in fact, they welcomed mistreatment because it proved they were actually doing God’s will! Success is taboo! 

Clearly, as the United States becomes more and more secular, driven by misplaced compassion to abort the unborn, legitimize adultery and sanctify suicide, we must be strangers in a strange land (Exodus 2:22) and ambassadors of another government. As our saint will go on to say:

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and sojourners to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against the soul. (I Peter 2:11)