Reflection on Today's Readings, Monday, 29th Week in Ordinary Time Year II, October 19th, 2020
Texts: Eph. 2:1-10; Ps. 100:1-5; Luke 12: 13-21
Today's first reading is a key to understanding the teaching of St. Paul that faith in Jesus Christ makes us righteous and by which he shows that righteousness is by grace in Jesus Christ. Those who are not theologians may not know the problem the teaching has caused; it has divided Christendom till today. While Catholic Church holds that we need both faith and work to be saved, Protestant teaches faith alone. While Catholic Church teaches the cooperation of human effort with God's grace, the Protestant teaches grace alone.
St. Paul reminds us, today, that our redemption in Jesus Christ is a new order of creation. He says, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." In the old oder of creation, we were created without our own contribution; our creation was purely God's work. So also in this new order of creation we are created without our own contribution. Hence, St. Paul says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God - not because of works, lest any man should boast."
Both in the old order and new order of creation, God has not created man without works. In the old order, God created man to care for the earth, while in the new order we are created for good works. St. Paul says, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works". Our creation in Jesus Christ is solely God's intiative and workmanship, but we have to work out our salvation by doing good works. This shows that faith and work are needed for salvation. We cannot claim to be part of the new order of creation when we are not ready to fulfill its purpose.
The new order of creation is a redemption from sins and trespasses. St. Paul says, "You he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience."
The life of the new order of creation in Jesus Christ consists in doing good works. Good works are the evident of the new life in Christ; without them the faith is truly dead.
The good works are not the cause of our new creation in Christ, but faith is. The point that St. Paul tries to make is that good works are the end result of the creation while faith is the cause, just as man is not created in the old order of creation by his caring for the earth. The new creation in Jesus Christ is solely God's workmanship, no human contribution. This divine workmanship is the redemptive action of Jesus Christ: his incarnation, ministry, passion, death and resurrection. St. Paul reminds us that the new creation in Jesus Christ is the work of God who is rich in mercy, out of great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up with him and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Today's gospel reading shows us the kind of life from which Jesus Christ delivered us from: life of attachment to earthly things, a life that does not recognize God, but man. The man in the parable ascribed to himself his achievements and forgetting that God owned him and bestowed the grace to attain his achievements. This reminds us that even the good work too requires cooperation with God's grace.
Dear friends, we are called to appreciate our new life in Christ and the mercy and love of God that won the new life for us. We are also called to be conscious of God's work, grace, in our lives.
Lord our God, we thank you for your mercy and love that won us the new life in Christ, may your grace never leave us. Amen.
Rev. Fr. Andrew Olowomuke
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