What Makes A Better Christian

 Reflection on Today's Readings, Friday of 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Year 1, June 18th, 2021
Texts: 2 Cor. 11: 18.21b-30; Ps. 34:2-7; Mtt. 6:19-23
In Corinth there were some Jewish Christians who came to spread teaching contrary to what Paul had taught the Corinthians. Yesterday Paul made his concerns about the wrong teaching known and his fear that it might lead the Corinthians astray. Today he tells us that he surpasses the false teachers in what they might have claimed for authenticity of their ministry. Today's gospel reading is part of the teaching on the mountain. This teaching begins with the beatitudes in chapter 5. That this teaching was given on mountain elevated it to the status of Mosaic law. The encounter of the crowd with Jesus on the mountain is an encounter with the divine.
One question that we should ask ourselves today is this: What makes a better Christian? For some of us it is wealth. Those who believe that wealth make a better Christian pray everyday for wealth and as pastors they teach prosperity. They believe that poverty is the consequence of not being devoted to Christ or inauthenticity of the Church one attends. The word of Jesus, in today's gospel reading, shows that prosperity or wealth does not make a better Christian. He says, _“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."_ The psalm says, _"In prosperity people lose their good sense, they become no better than dumb animals"_ (49:20). Not everyone can handle wealth and yet still retain the kingdom of God.
Jesus also affirms the fact that wealth blinds reason. Following the warning against obsession with wealth, he says, "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness.” To handle wealth properly one needs wisdom. Wealth does not give wisdom but wisdom gives wealth. We should rather toil for wisdom instead of wealth. The wisdom, here, is God's law, instructions, statutes, ordinances and customs. Some people also think that to be a better Christian is to be famous. Some Christians also seek to be better Christian by being in position of authority, having power and influence. All these belong to the category of prosperity. Some also think that to be a better Christian is to have a spiritual gift such as speaking in tongues, miracle-working, prophecy, teaching, wisdom etc. Having spiritual gifts is good but does not make a better Christian. Paul says,  _"Though I command languages both human and angelic -- if I speak without love, I am no more than a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. And though I have the power of prophecy, to penetrate all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all the faith necessary to move mountains -- if I am without love, I am nothing. Though I should give away to the poor all that I possess, and even give up my body to be burned -- if I am without love, it will do me no good whatever"_ (1Cor. 13:1-3).
Paul, in today's first reading, tells us what makes a better Christian. He says, " _Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one — I am talking like a madman — with far greater labours, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I have received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned. Three times I have been shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brethren; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches."_  All he mentioned was his suffering. His suffering was what made him a better Christian. His sufferings were what he bore for the love of God. He did not boast of what he had accomplished by the grace of God, but what made him weak and open him to the grace of God. We need to ask the question: What have I borne for Christ? What we have to do is to accept the challenges of our lives with love and joy for Christ. What Paul simply did was to endure the challenges of his vocation without complaints.

Lord Jesus Christ, help us to be true Christians that we may face the challenges of our lives with joy for love of You. Amen

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke