Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 469

A double feast

You, O man, are without excuse, every one of you who passes judgment. For by the standard by which you judge another you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the very same things. We know that the judgment of God on those who do such things is true. Do you suppose, then, you who judge those who engage in such things
and yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?




The Apostle Paul, a Pharisee-in-recovery, had invested his life and energy in a particularly narrow interpretation of the good life. It was all about observing rules, avoiding sin, and keeping one's life blameless. If it was cheerless, grim, boring and suffocating, it was guaranteed and safe. There was little opening for humor in that way of life, and much room for contempt of others.

Paul knows what he is saying in these opening words of the Letter to the Romans, 

...by the standard by which you judge another you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the very same things." 

Even if you do not externally do the same things, your enthusiastic judgement, unalloyed by grief for loved ones or sorrow for their sins, takes pleasure in their evil. Germans call it schadenfreude, taking pleasure in others' misfortunes. The pleasure of being right is not a privilege of the righteous.  

Many regard Saint Paul's Letter to the Romans as the most important of his writings because of his stress on faith, as opposed to observance of the law. Observance of the law is a good thing; it is a healthy discipline like avoiding too much meat and alcohol. But tee-totaling vegeterarians die despite their life-style, and observance of the law cannot save us from condemnation. We must live by faith. 

This is where I find his defiant remark to the Corinthians so important: 

It does not concern me in the least that I be judged by you or any human tribunal; I do not even pass judgment on myself. I am not conscious of anything against me, but I do not thereby stand acquitted; the one who judges me is the Lord.

Just as the wise baker does not continually check the cake in the oven to see if it is done, the wise Christian does not continually turn to the Lord asking, "Am I saved yet?" We act in faith. We don't need to step on the bathroom scale of salvation fifteen times a day to see if we're gaining or losing worth in God's sight. We live by faith. 

The only good we seek is hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Saint Paul finds the foundation of his doctrine in the scandal of the cross. 

Saint Paul stands guard
at Mundelien

Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree,”

If Jesus has so much faith in God and so little regard for his own standing in God's sight that he will allow himself to be "hanged on a tree," his disciple must also abandon all anxieties about righteousness. She must live by faith. 

God is good. God is, as Saint Francis said, good, all good, supreme good. That being the case I will not worry about myself. I will abandon myself to the will and the work of God.