Homily for 16 August 2015, the 12th Sunday after Pentecost--"By the Grace of God, We Are What We Are"

By the Grace of God, We Are What We Are

Homily for the 12^th Sunday after Pentecost (16 August 2015, 22 August 2004)

1 Corinthians 15:1-11                         Matthew 19:16-26

 

In today’s reading from St Paul’s First Letter to the Christians in Corinth, the Apostle provides a brief overview of the Gospel he has preached and offers a short but clear defense of his apostleship, which leads him to conclude that it wasn’t who preached the Gospel that mattered.  What mattered was that the Gospel was proclaimed and the people believed.

Evidently, there were problems in the Church in Corinth, so that St Paul has to remind them of the faith he preached to them, through which they are being saved.  Then he adds, “unless you have come to believe in vain.”  I think he is warning them to focus on their faith in salvation through Jesus Christ, not to be distracted or led into doubt by questions about his authority.

Because St Paul defends himself, we can guess that some people were attacking his reputation and his authority to preach.  After all, he was not one of the Twelve whom Jesus chose as His disciples.  Paul had not even known Jesus personally.  And he was widely known as a fanatical persecutor of Christians.  No doubt his critics were using all these facts against him.

But Paul says that he only taught what he had been taught—he just passed on what he had received.  This is his first defense.  Then he recaps the appearances of the Lord after the Resurrection—giving himself a sort of apostolic genealogy.  “Last of all,” Paul says, “the Lord appeared to me, as to a person born out of time.”  He means that, since he was meant to be an apostle, he had somehow been born at the wrong time, so that he did not actually meet Jesus in person.

Paul confesses that he is unfit to be called an apostle, because he persecuted the Church of God.  But even though he should have been unqualified because of this, God chose him anyway and provided the grace to compensate for his sinful past and other inadequacies.

He says, “By the grace of God, I am what I am, and God’s grace towards me has not been in vain.”  There is a saying that God draws straight with crooked lines, and this applies to us as well as to St Paul.  By the grace of God, we are what we are.  This means that God has some purpose for each of us.  We should not waste time trying to fit into some role or category that other people decide is right for us.  We have to discover what God wants us to do, and God’s grace will not be in vain towards us.  God’s grace in us will guide us to accomplish the purpose God has in mind for us.

Often we worry that we are not living up to our families’ expectations or our friends’ expectations or society’s expectations.  We hear that we are too lazy, or that we work too hard.  We hear that we are too fat, or that we are too thin.  We hear that we are not smart enough, or that we are too smart.  We hear that we are too shy, or that we show off too much.  We hear all kinds of things that make us feel insecure or not good enough.

Sometimes it takes us a long time to quiet down so that we can hear God calling us to fulfill God’s expectations.  But God is persistent.  God’s love is unfailing.  Eventually we hear God calling us.  It may be to marriage.  It may be to single life.  It may be to ordination.  It may be to business or to public office.  It may be to a quiet life or to a very active one.  It may be something totally unexpected and difficult.

But so long as we stay true to who we are by God’s grace, God’s grace will not be in vain towards us.  For nothing is impossible to God.

So let us give thanks and praise and glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever and unto the ages of ages.  Amen.