Dear Preachers:

If you or I were God, wouldn’t we choose prime candidates, the best we could find, to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to the world? In our second reading from 1 Corinthians Paul takes an honest, even blunt, look at God’s chosen. “Consider your own calling….” Then he reminds those Corinthian Christians of their standing in the eyes of the world. They were not, “wise by human standings, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.” Indeed, he says, God chose the “foolish… the weak… the lowly and despised of the world.”

It might sound like a putdown of the Corinthians, and us moderns Christians as well. It is not a rebuke, but a revelation. In effect, God’s ways of working do not match human expectations. God chooses the weak to reveal where true strength lies. God shows the limits of worldly wisdom by offering us the saving wisdom of Christ.

Our world has its own ways of ranking people’s worth. We are obsessed with what a person earns, possesses, or achieves. We tend to ask about someone’s resume, education, title, visibility and success. Paul contradicts the standards used by the world, showing us that God does not rely on our high ranking in society to save us. By choosing the “foolish,” “weak,” and “lowly,” no one can boast. We do not have to prove our worth to receive God’s gift of Jesus. We do not save ourselves, no matter how much we think we have merited before God.

So, with Paul’s insights we realize that life with God is a given, not earned. Paul lays out the Christian life for us. He shows God has redefined what it means to be wise, powerful and blessed. Wisdom looks like the cross. Power is self-giving and Glory looks like humility.

What then can we possibly boast about? Paul states it quite clearly, “Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.” This is not false humility on our part, but the truth. Our lives, service, our very faith are rooted in God’s initiative. God chooses to work through us by our availability, faithfulness and a willingness to let Christ be everything for us.

God has made the first move towards us, and we are invited to respond. How? First of all, by giving thanks at this offering – our Eucharist.

Paul and Matthew speak with one voice today. God’s kingdom reverses the world’s values. Paul reminds the community that God chose those who are not impressive by the world’s standards: the foolish… the weak… the lowly and despised of the world. Jesus proclaims poetically on the hillside what Paul teaches theologically.

Those Paul identifies are exactly the people Jesus looks out on in his sermon, calling them blessed: the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, those who mourn, those who hunger for righteousness and those who are persecuted. Neither Paul nor Jesus romanticize suffering, or insignificance. Both reveal how God draws near to those who have little to claim for themselves or boast about. They are not the powerful; they don’t have upper status or significance in the world. Instead, they are signs and reminders that God draws close to those who know their need and do not rely on power, status or self-sufficiency.

Jesus’ Beatitudes describe people whose lives are open to God because their focus is not on themselves. These are the exact people Paul says God delights in choosing. First Corinthians and our gospel invite us to re-examine what we admire and pursue in our lives. They portray what is contrary to the world, which blesses the successful, secure and admired. The evangelists remind us: if we are to boast at all, we must boast not in ourselves, but in the God who lifts up the lowly and makes them heirs of the kingdom.

In light of the message today’s Scriptures convey what might daily life in our parish look like? If we truly believe that God works through what the world calls weak, or unimpressive, then our parish must reflect that belief.

So, we should value quiet faithfulness over visibility; service over recognition; collaboration over competition. Those who faithfully visit the sick, staff the food pantry, serve as lectors, prepare the liturgy, teach the young, clean the church etc. may be living the Beatitudes more fully than the one with the loudest voice, or highest profile.

What about ourselves? In light of what Jesus and Paul are teaching we need to let go of the desire for recognition, or affirmation of our contributions. Tensions arise,  even in parish communities! We are invited to respond not with defensiveness or pride, but with meekness, mercy and hunger for justice. Paul reminds us: “Whoever boasts should boast in the Lord.

Click here for a link to this Sunday’s readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/020126.cfm