Second Sunday in Lent (Year C)

Philippians 3.17-4.1 (CEB; adapted):[1]

Patrick and the Children

17Brothers and sisters, become imitators of me and watch those who live this way — you can use us as models. 18As I’ve told you many times and now say with deep sadness, many people live as enemies of the cross. 19Their lives end with destruction. Their god is their stomach, and they take pride in their disgrace because their thoughts focus on earthly things. 20Our citizenship is in heaven. We look forward to a savior that comes from there — the Lord Jesus Christ. 21He’ll transform our humble bodies so that they’re like his glorious body, by the power that also makes him able to subject all things to himself.

4.1Therefore, my brothers and sisters whom I love and miss, who are my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord, loved ones.

Other readings: Genesis 15.1-12, 17-18; Psalm 27; Luke 13.31-35

Collect:

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus the Christ your Child; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

                                   

On this second Sunday of Lent, I decided to go with the Lesson from Paul’s letter to the followers of Jesus in Philippi. The reason for this is because today’s also the Feast Day of Saint Patrick, one of the Patron saints of Ireland.[2] As I’ve written about Saint Patrick before, I won’t go over all of that again. Instead, I want to relate a story I read in John Philip Newell’s book, Christ of the Celts —

“There is a wonderful story of Saint Patrick on the Day of Judgment that comes down to us in the oral tradition of ancient Irish legend. Patrick is summoned to the One, in whose presence the sound of all living things can be heard and whose voice is like the flowing waters of every river. When the message is conveyed to Patrick, he responds by saying, ‘I will not come unless all my people may come with me.’ Again Patrick is summoned, and again he responds, ‘I will not come unless all my people may come with me.’ A third time Patrick is summoned, and a third time he declines. So finally the One seated on the throne at the heart of the universe says, ‘Tell Patrick to come, and he may come with all his people, but there is one thing Patrick must do.’ And there the story ends. We are not told what Patrick must do, but we know that whatever it is, he will do it so that all his people may come with him.”[3]

I feel like this story about Patrick echoes that of Paul in our Lesson today. Paul tells the Philippian followers of Jesus to “become imitators of me and watch those who live this way — you can use us as models” (verse 17). This isn’t new for Paul, he stated as much in some of his other letters.[4] But what does he mean by “become imitators of me”? And how would that tie in with Patrick?

In the context of verse 17, the key verses to answering these questions are verses 18-19. Paul wrote —

As I’ve told you many times and now say with deep sadness, many people live as enemies of the cross. Their lives end with destruction. Their god is their stomach, and they take pride in their disgrace because their thoughts focus on earthly things.

Some people will point to Paul’s use of the word “stomach” (κοιλία — which means “stomach” or “womb”) plus the “focus on earthly things” and conclude that Paul’s referring to following the “desires of the flesh.” You know — sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll, baby! And, since κοιλία (koilia) means “stomach,” some include gluttony and drunkenness. But the key to this passage isn’t κοιλία, it’s Paul’s “deep sadness” for the people who live “as enemies of the cross.”

There’s one other place where Paul talks about a deep sadness for people. In Romans 9, he wrote —

I’m speaking the truth in Christ — I’m not lying, as my conscience assures me with the Holy Spirit: 2I have great sadness and constant pain in my heart. 3I wish I could be cursed, cut off from Christ if it helped my brothers and sisters, who are my flesh-and-blood relatives. 4They’re Israelites. The adoption as God’s children, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship, and the promises belong to them. 5The Jewish ancestors are theirs, and the Christ descended from those ancestors. He’s the one who rules over all things, who is God, and who is blessed forever. Amen. (Romans 1.1-5; adapted).

It was Paul’s “flesh-and-blood relatives,” the Jews, who caused him “great sadness.” Some of his fellow Jews embraced Christ but held onto the Law. Those people followed Paul and continually brought him trouble (see Acts 21.18ff) and confused some of the Gentile believers because they said people must obey the Law of Moses or they can’t be saved. Paul even reprimanded Peter for doing the same thing (Galatians 2.11ff). In Acts 15.1-5, the case is stated quite clearly —

Some people came down from Judea teaching the family of believers, “Unless you’re circumcised according to the custom we’ve received from Moses, you can’t be saved.” Paul and Barnabas took sides against these Judeans and argued strongly against their position.

The church at Antioch appointed Paul, Barnabas, and several others from Antioch to go up to Jerusalem to set this question before the apostles and the elders. … When they arrived in Jerusalem, the church, the apostles, and the elders all welcomed them. They gave a full report of what God had accomplished through their activity. Some believers from among the Pharisees stood up and claimed, “The Gentiles must be circumcised. They must be required to keep the Law from Moses” (CEB; adapted).

This became such an issue, in fact, that it was Paul’s primary focus in his letter to the followers of Jesus in Galatia. Right from the jump, Paul states —

I’m amazed that you’re so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ to follow another gospel. It’s not really another gospel, but certain people are confusing you and they want to change the gospel of Christ (1.6-7).

The confusion and change to the gospel of Christ was a mixing of the Law with Grace. Paul asked them, “Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the Law or by believing what you heard? … So does the one providing you with the Spirit and working miracles among you do this by you doing the works of the Law or by you believing what you heard?” (3.2, 5; emphasis added).

Philippians 3 works the same way. In verses 2 and 3 Paul states —

Watch out for those who do evil things, those dogs, those who insist on circumcision, which is really mutilation. It is we, not they, who have received the true circumcision, for we worship God by means of the Spirit and rejoice in our life in union with Christ Jesus. We don’t put any trust in external ceremonies. (GNT; adapted; emphasis added).[5]

This view is further supported with Paul contrasting his Jewishness against theirs in verses 4-6 —

I could, of course, put my trust in such things. If any of you think you can trust in external ceremonies, I have even more reason to feel that way. I was circumcised when I was a week old. I am an Israelite by birth, of the tribe of Benjamin, a pure-blooded Hebrew. As far as keeping the Jewish Law is concerned, I was a Pharisee, and I was so zealous that I persecuted the church. As far as a person can be righteous by obeying the commands of the Law, I was without fault (GNT; emphasis added).

Here Paul ties “circumcision,” “mutilation, and “external ceremony” in verses 2-3 with his own life as a “pure-blooded Hebrew.” “But,” Paul writes, “all those things that I might count as profit (circumcision, being Hebrew, keeping the Law, etc.) I now reckon as loss for Christ’s sake” (verse 7). He goes on to say —

But even beyond that, I consider everything a loss in comparison with the superior value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I’ve lost everything for him, but what I lost I think of as sewer trash, so that I might gain Christ and be found in him. In Christ I have a righteousness that isn’t my own and that doesn’t come from the Law but rather from the faithfulness of Christ. It’s the righteousness of God that’s based on faith (vv. 8-9; emphasis added).

Paul finally admonishes, “All of us who are spiritually mature should have this same attitude” (verse 15; GNT). It’s right after this that Paul states that the people of God in Philippi should “become imitators” of Paul and his companions (verse 17).

So, how should people imitate Paul? What attitude should we have? There are two parts: 1) we should have a “deep sorrow” for those who are currently “cut off” from Christ; and 2) we should “reckon everything as complete loss for the sake … of Christ” and that includes our own salvation.

And it’s that attitude that I see in the story about Saint Patrick. Patrick refused to go to Heaven if “all [his] people” couldn’t go with him. Like Paul, Patrick would rather miss out on being in God’s presence if that meant all of the people of Ireland couldn’t come, too.

Is this our attitude? Would we rather not “go to Heaven” if it meant that “all [our] people” couldn’t go with us? Do we wish ourselves “cursed, cut-off from Christ” if it meant that others could go? Do we have that type of commitment?

In another place in this letter to the followers of Jesus at Philippi, Paul said wrote —

… for me, living serves Christ and dying is even better. If I continue to live in this world, I get results from my work. But I don’t know what I prefer. I’m torn between the two because I want to leave this life and be with Christ, which is far better. However, it’s more important for me to stay in this world for your sake. I’m sure of this: I’ll stay alive and remain with all of you to help your progress and the joy of your faith (1.21-25; emphasis added).

Here again, we have the same type of commitment that Patrick had — Paul would rather stay on in this life if it meant helping others progress in the faith. Again, beloved, how about us? Do we love our people so much that we would pass on being with Christ for them? Do we take our faith and commitment that seriously? Like Paul and Patrick, would we be willing to “give up” being with Christ for the sake of others?

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In the Love of the Three in One,

Br. Jack+, LC

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[1] Scripture quotations marked (CEB) are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible.

[2] Along with Brigid and Columba (Colum Cille). For more information about Irish saints, see Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae, the sister site to Trias Thaumaturga, a site dedicated to the three wonderworking patron saints of Ireland.

[3] Newell, J. P., (2008). Christ of the Celts: The Healing of Creation, pp. 26-27. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

[4] See 1 Corinthians 4.16, 11.1; Philippians 3.17, 4.9; 1 Thessalonians 1.6; 2 Thessalonians 3.7-9.

[5] Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from The Good News Translation (Today’s English Version, Second Edition). Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. All rights preserved.