Saturday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

MSF Picnic 2010

What do you possess that you have not received?


A culture that values possessions as much as ours must be challenged by words like these. Our myth is the self-made man. He believes he has earned and deserves everything he has. He has pulled himself up by his own bootstraps. If he acknowledges receiving any help he is quick to point out how far beyond that help he has gone.
Do you remember from all your reading of Saint Paul’s letters his owning anything? In 2 Timothy, he mentions a “cloak I left with Carpus in Troas” and some documents. He was a tentmaker; perhaps he carried a few tools with him. In any case, he travelled light. Father Raymond Brown, one of America’s greatest scripture scholars, pictures Saint Paul carrying a knapsack.from city to city Travelling on foot, often accosted by strangers and thieves, carrying valuables would be pointless. His only treasure was the gospel he preached. And yet he left an indelible imprint on our world.
But in this passage, Saint Paul is not speaking of material possessions. He is concerned about those immaterial acquisitions people value: status, reputation and distinctions. The Corinthians have been boasting of honors they think they possess, and he rebukes them with sarcasm. If anyone has a claim to fame it is he, their apostle; and yet he has suffered beatings and expulsions and scourgings for his missionary work. Their claims are ludicrous.
Most of us need the credentials we have gathered. We keep them in our resume to show to prospective employers. But these very credentials remind us of Saint Paul’s rebuke, “What do you possess that you have not received?” Our credentials came from schools and employers and other people. Presenting them, we depend upon their credibility.
No matter how high we go or how far we succeed, we depend on others; we are rooted in others. If you doubt it, take a look at your navel and contemplate how it came to be there.