Paul reminds us as Christians that all our actions should be geared towards love. “Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love” (1 Cor. 16:13-14 RSV). At times, this can be a difficult challenge for us; when times are difficult, when it seems everything we do is just making things worse, we must put our trust in God, believing that even if things do not improve in the immediate future, in the end, God will find a way to make things better. We must, as Paul said, stand firm in our faith, having the courage to live it out, overcoming those fears which get in our way telling us that we are acting like fools. It takes courage and faith to embrace the way of love because the way of the world, that is, the way of the fallen world, seems to give every benefit to those who are selfish, those who seek power and authority for themselves without the concern of others. We must resist the way things appear, living out with faith that the illusion sin creates and uses to dominate the world can be and will be dispelled by God. But until it then, we must stand strong, holding fast to love, trusting that what God promises us will come to fruition. For we must listen to Jesus, believing what he told us will happen depending upon whom we decide to serve, God, our own selves, or the evil desires of others, will truly happen:
Hear another parable. There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. When the season of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants, to get his fruit; and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first; and they did the same to them. Afterward he sent his son to them, saying, `They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, `This is the heir; come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: `The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’ (Matt. 21:33-42 RSV).
Jesus tells us that a new world order, or rather, the restoration of the world as it was before sin contaminated it, will not only be brought into it, but that he will be the basis of its establishment and that those who join in with him will find themselves approved by God, because God has shown to approve Jesus and what Jesus did when Jesus was resurrected from the dead. The new order is, therefore, the same order as the old order, but now changed and made better. Jesus, following the way of love, was killed by wayward humanity, by those under domination of sin, and then tossed aside as if he were nothing. God took him and brought him back to life, making him, the one the rest of humanity, that is, the fallen world, rejected, as the cornerstone of the new, or proper, humanity. Now that we have seen what God has made of Jesus, we know what God will make of us, if and when we fully unite with Jesus: we will share in with his resurrection from the dead, and receive the affirmation God gave Christ, the affirmation which God gives to all humanity and the world in relation to how it is one with Christ.
We must put our trust in God and believe, as Jesus said, that God wants to bring all that the fallen world has rejected, all the good which sin has tried to destroy, and bring it together as one with Jesus. That is, God wants to take all that is good and true and incorporate them into the body of Christ, where they will then share in the uncreated glory of God revealed at Christ’s transfiguration.
Let us, therefore, follow after Christ, trust in God, and stand firm in our adherence to the way of love. That way, even if we find ourselves attacked and destroyed by the world, we know we will be made greater in and with Christ, made into something so much greater than the world and all its hate. Love is the way, and those who embrace that way will find brought into the body of Christ while those who do not love, those who do not love Jesus, especially as Jesus is found in the other, will find themselves cut off from God until they cast aside their hate, as Paul indicated at the end of a letter to the Corinthians:
The churches of Asia send greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. All the brethren send greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. If any one has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen (1 Cor. 16:19-24 RSV).
We want the grace of Christ in us, and to have it, we must embrace love. We are to serve each other and the rest of humanity with love, even if it appears that by doing so, we lose ourselves, for only in and through that love, and the self-sacrifice which it requires of us, do we find our true selves in the body of Christ. We must be willing to be cast aside by the world, in the same manner Christ was, if we want to be one with Christ and experience the eschatological kingdom of God. Of course, that can be and often is difficult because like Jesus, we might have to live on faith, trusting in God that we will come through our trials and tribulations, through our own personal descent into hell, and be brought into glory in the eschatological resurrection of the dead.
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N.B.: While I read comments to moderate them, I rarely respond to them. If I don’t respond to your comment directly, don’t assume I am unthankful for it. I appreciate it. But I want readers to feel free to ask questions, and hopefully, dialogue with each other. I have shared what I wanted to say, though some responses will get a brief reply by me, or, if I find it interesting and something I can engage fully, as the foundation for another post. I have had many posts inspired or improved upon thanks to my readers.
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