Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C): Galatians 6:14-18
May I never boast except in the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. – Galatians 6:14
It is usually very difficult for us to see ourselves clearly. At times, we can be too lenient on ourselves and excuse ourselves of things we should look at. At other times, we can be too critical of ourselves, and make a problem or fault far worse than it truly is. In either case, we find it difficult to acknowledge a fault (either because it would damage our self-image or hurt us too much). In either case, we become all the more ready to notice the fault in someone else.
Saint Paul mentions boasting in our second reading for this Sunday. In several places in his letters, he warns his communities about the dangers of boasting. When we hear or read such words, we might be inclined to think of someone else rather than ourselves. We picture people who are always bragging about their talents or achievements, sometimes exaggerating them, sometimes even making things up to make themselves look better. We picture those who take every chance they get to tell us of their résumés. In other words, we think of people who appear to be more boastful than ourselves, and say that Saint Paul’s warning are meant for them. He couldn’t have meant such words for us, could he?
The people Saint Paul wrote to probably felt the same way. To make his point clearer, he used himself as an example on at least two occasions, listing the things he could boast about if he chose to go that route. He did so, not to actually boast, but to use his story as an example to help people discern whether or not they, too, did any boasting. Then he could speak of the root of the problem of boasting, and how a Christian can address it.
In that spirit, I will use myself as an example and speak like a fool (to use Saint Paul’s words), in the hope that my example might help you discern what the truth may be in your own heart.
Some people boast about their talents or gifts. I started to read when I was two years old. On my own. No one taught me. Imagine what it felt like to start kindergarten when I had already been reading for three years. A few years ago, out of curiosity, I decided to see if I might qualify for admission to Mensa, the high IQ society (as they call themselves). You need to be in the top 2% on the nation to qualify. Though I had not had a formal math class in 35 years, I qualified. With points to spare.
Some boast of their achievements. During the first twenty years of my priesthood, I can point to the following. I was a pastor and then the head of the local vicariate of priests. In Chancery, I was a Vice-Chancellor. In Tribunal, I was an Advocate, Defender of the Bond, and Judge. I was also on the Presbyteral Council and the College of Consultors – a small group of priests chosen by the Bishop as his advisors. I was chosen to be on the committee that came up with the parish clusters. (Yeah, blame me!) At our first meeting, we were told that we were the A-Team.
Some boast of how they dealt with adversity and challenges. Well, I found out I was autistic. Rather than focus on what I could not do, I could boast about how well I actually did, given that I didn’t even know about my autism until seven years ago. I could point to two times in my life where I suffered some psychological damage because I was trying so hard to do ministry – a damage that has not healed fully. Don’t we honor soldiers who are wounded on the line of duty? And if anyone misunderstood me or belittled me because of my autism, I could boast about that! “Look at all I am suffering!” We can turn almost anything into a boast.
Why? Why is boasting so easy to do, no matter what our life is like – and so hard to get rid of? Haven’t we known people – even ourselves? – who boast about how humble they are? Why all this boasting, even among Christians?
It’s simple, really. We do not want to come before God with empty hands. We want to bring something with us that we can negotiate with; something that shows how good or deserving we are; something that will somehow compel God to acknowledge our rights and give us what we feel we have earned. We want to come before God as equals with Him, so that what he gives us can be seen as our right, what we deserve, what should come to us according to the contract.
Faced with this attitude – which was just as present in the first days of the Church as it is now – Paul responds by saying “May I never boast except in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ”.
Boasting in the Cross. We’re so used to the cross that we fail to see how shocking those words were to people of Saint Paul’s time. Imagine someone today saying that they boast in an electric chair or a gas chamber. We forget the absolute scandal of the Cross. In the pagan world, a citizen of Rome could be put to death if convicted of a capital crime in several ways – but not by crucifixion, no matter how serious the offense. Crucifixion was reserved for the dregs of society at that time. In the Jewish world, by the time of Jesus, a line from Deuteronomy – “Cursed be anyone who is hanged on a tree” – came to be associated with crucifixion.
This is why Jesus’ enemies wanted him put to death by crucifixion. two centuries before Jesus’ ministry, many Jews had suffered and died as martyrs for refusing to violate the Law of Moses or their faith in the Lord. Jesus’ enemies didn’t want Him seen as a martyr after His death. By crucifying Him, they could portray Him as cursed by God Himself and therefore totally invalidated. In fact, Saint Paul quotes that line from Deuteronomy in one of his letters, evidence that Jews of the time used it on Christians in an attempt to prove that Jesus could not be the Messiah.
All this shows that when Jesus accepted His death, He came before His Father with empty hands. He had been rejected by the leaders of His people. He had been condemned to a kind of death that was seen as a divine curse. He had been stripped of everything He could have boasted about. All this out of faithful love for His Father and for us. He offered Himself in utter trust. He emptied Himself so that we might be filled through Him.
What does it mean for us to boast in the Cross? It means that we, like Jesus and like Saint Paul, learn to come before the Lord with empty hands. Without boasting of our achievements or of our sufferings. We make no claims on God, as though we had some legal rights over Him. No. We put all that aside, and come before God like children – children who have no achievements or status to boast about, but who trust that their Father will give them every good gift. Indeed, God longs to fill us with His amazing love and to raise us up to Him. But He can only do that when we let go of the need to boast, and make room in our hands and our hearts to receive Him.
Does that mean that we do nothing? Hardly. When we begin to live this life of trusting openness in God, God begins to lead and direct us. We may end up doing things we never thought we would do. God transforms us. He isn’t content to squish a few bugs or make a few tweaks. No, He wants to give each of us a whole new operating system. He wants us to know His love, and to share that love in return. All this will keep us quite active. But it will be God’s grace that will guide and empower us all the way.
Boasting is a habit that can sneak into just about anyone’s life if we are not watchful. There is an antidote – the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. May we glory only in the Cross! We will thus be able to face any challenge or hardship or misunderstanding or even rejection, knowing that the love of God is enough to sustain us and to bring us home!