Ephesians 2:4-10; Luke 18:18-27
In just about any activity, we can get so caught up in following the
rules that we miss the larger point.
Sometimes we do that due to our own pride, our sense that we simply have
to achieve perfection in order to be worthwhile. Of course, what we are really showing then is
that we think that it is all about us and our ability to be right by our own
standards. But when circumstances arise that
make clear that it is not all about us and that we are not perfect, it can lay
us low. That is exactly what happened to
the rich man who encountered Jesus Christ in today’s gospel lesson.
He was certainly not looking for
someone to burst his bubble, for he had apparently convinced himself that he
had fulfilled all God’s commandments since childhood. So the Lord opened his eyes to his true spiritual
weakness. He told him to sell all his
possessions, give the proceeds to the poor, and follow Him. That made the man very sad because he loved
his money. It had probably never entered
the man’s mind that he had a problem with loving his wealth too much. He had likely never thought that his riches
posed any spiritual problems for him at all, for the conventional wisdom in that
time and place was that riches were a sign of God’s favor. He was not aware that he was more attached to
them than to God. But because of this hard teaching from the Lord, his eyes
were opened a bit to his own imperfection, and he did not like what he saw.
It is unfortunately easy for people
who are familiar with the requirements and practices of any religion to fool themselves
into thinking that they have mastered it.
We avoid the truth about ourselves by thinking that we have done all
that we could possibly do and, therefore, have earned God’s favor and blessing
in ways that others have not. St. Paul opposed Judaizers who wanted to require
Gentile converts to be circumcised and obey the Old Testament law because he
was afraid that doing so would lead Christians to trust in their own ability to
justify themselves, to earn salvation by doing enough good works. In contrast, he knew that the Son of God
died and rose again in order to conquer sin and death, in order save us in a
way that we could not possibly earn or achieve by ourselves. “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.”
We need to hear this message from
St. Paul because we have probably become comfortable and content with our present
level of spiritual devotion and religious activity. Even when our minds are
elsewhere, we may still say the words of our daily prayers, read the
Scriptures, or attend services. We may
fast, give to the Church and the needy, or prepare for Communion and Confession
by simply going through the motions that have become so familiar to us over the
years. We may even pat ourselves on the
back for our piety and look down upon others whom we judge as godless. If we have come to think of our faith as
simply a collection of habits that we repeat over and over in order to earn
something from the Lord, then we have fallen into a spiritual fantasy, an
illusion that has very little to do with God and everything to do with our pride. If that is the case, then we have too much in
common with the man in today’s gospel reading who thought that he had mastered
all the commandments.
And like him, we need to be
brought back to reality by a prophetic word that shocks us out of our
complacency. This time of year, our
wake-up call is the Nativity Fast. For if we are to become holy temples that are
prepared to receive our Savior at His birth, we cannot remain captive to our
illusions that we have achieved righteousness by simply doing this or that or
having our names on the membership roll of our parish. Instead, we must know from the depths of our
souls our complete reliance on the mercy and grace of our Savior, who came to
call not the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. We must know our own sickness and weakness in
order to receive the divine therapy that brings health and strength beyond our
own ability.
During this season of preparation
to welcome our Lord at Christmas, we must embrace spiritual disciplines that
help us know from our hearts why He became one of us for our salvation. Instead of mindlessly mouthing words or
simply trying to make ourselves feel a certain way, we must persistently stand
in the presence of God, with our souls fully open to Him, in daily prayer. We should concentrate our attention on the
words of the prayers as a tool for being more fully present to Him. This will be a struggle, for there is much in
all of us that does not want to be in personal communion with the Lord. And even as those who are not in good
physical condition find it hard to exercise, we who are spiritually weak will
have to struggle mightily in order to turn from our distractions and desires in
order to give ourselves to Him each day in focused prayer.
When we find our minds wandering
or realize that we have forgotten to pray at the usual times, we should turn to
the simple words of the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have
mercy on me, a sinner.” We are all able
to focus our minds on those words as we open our hearts to the Lord in
humility, even if only briefly. Praying
in this way is far better than doing what the rich man did when he realized
that he could not easily obey Christ’s command.
He went away in sorrow; in other words, it appears that he just gave up. In contrast, we must never give up. When our eyes are opened to our own weakness
and imperfection, we must channel our sense of guilt or failure toward true
repentance, for humbly reorienting ourselves to the Savior. To do so, we must have the strength not to
cave in to our prideful inclination to run away from disciplines that reveal
our brokenness, that show us how imperfect we are. No, we must realize that it is not all about
us or our success in doing anything. Remember St. Paul’s words: “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.” Instead of running away due to hurt pride
over our failures, we must learn from them the true nature of our spiritual state and use that
awareness to open our hearts to the Lord as best we can with a humble plea for
mercy.
The same is true about giving
generously of our resources and attention to the needy and lonely in Advent. The Lord gave no general command to sell all
that we have and give it to the poor, but He certainly warned all against the grave
spiritual dangers of loving money, hoarding our resources, and neglecting our hungry,
sick, and poor neighbors. No matter how
much or how little we have in terms of worldly goods, we all struggle with
being as generous with our resources and attention as we should. All of us can find ways to put the needs of others
before our own during this season, even if through very small acts of self-denial. Remember that the point is not to be perfect
by our own prideful standards, but to manifest our Lord’s mercy as best we are
able. And when we recognize how selfish
we are before the unmet needs of others, that is a good time for the Jesus
Prayer also.
Instead of pretending that we are
perfectly holy or turning away from Christ in sadness due to hurt pride, let us
turn to Him in humble repentance, honestly recognizing our brokenness and
imperfection, even as we trust in His grace.
Let us embrace the disciplines of this season with joy, for they will
give us the spiritual clarity to see that the Messiah born at Christmas comes
to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. “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.” Let us use this fast to prepare to receive
our gracious Savior with the fear of God and faith and
love.
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