This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.
In today’s first reading, Paul lays down for all time a precedent for rigorous defense against heresy. He does not say that those who preach a gospel different from the gospel of Jesus should receive an audience and respectful dialogue. He says they are to be accursed. Twice.
Of course, Paul’s intent is not to urge us to treat others who think differently from us with disrespect or disdain (or to burn them at the stake). He himself opens a respectful dialogue with pagans at the Areopagus (cf. Acts 17).
Rather, he calls out what a grave sin it is to mislead the flock of Jesus with false teachings. The history of the Church is full of men who teach falsely, often for one of two reasons: 1) To reduce a profound, mysterious truth to a false image that, however, is more understandable for people (e.g. Arianism), and 2) To circumvent the more difficult and uncomfortable demands of Christianity (e.g. Modernism). The object of both of these distortions appears to be the attraction of more followers through greater ease; ultimately, worldly, human vanity.
We may not be called upon to preach publicly in defense of Christian truth against heresy. But Paul’s message holds a lesson for us. Too often we’d like to “dumb down” the Gospel in our own lives, to make it easier for ourselves. We also would often like to make Christianity more aligned to the views of the many nice people in the world around us, to allow ourselves to feel less like a fish out of water, and to make it easier to get along.
Faithfulness to the difficult ideal of the Gospel does not mean all of us are called out into the desert to live as hermits, and it certainly does not mean that we should shun our neighbors or call down God’s wrath on them.
Rather, all the purity, difficulty, challenge, and exalted excellence of Christ’s message is summed up in the words of the scribe today’s gospel, which Jesus immediately affirms: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” True, humble love of God and our neighbor will incline us away from anything that offers an easy solution, for ourselves or others, down the wrong path.
Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Tell Jesus that you will follow wherever He leads, even if it is to Calvary. Ask for His help never to be separated from Him through your own love of ease, comfort, and the esteem of others. Ask Him to help you persevere in your resolution to follow Him and His message, as challenging as it is, in its fullness.
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