(Please read these Scripture passages first, before the homily.)
From now to the end of November, the gospel reading will usually come from Luke’s account. We spend the first part of Ordinary Time with Mark for a basic outline of the life of Jesus. Then we switch to Matthew’s account. Now, around the first of September we have switched to Luke.
In the first reading, we continue hearing from the first letter to the Corinthians. St Paul started off today’s reading in a forceful way. He emphatically stated, “When I (it was I who) came to you . . . When other people came, they came one way, but I came in an entirely different way.” Note the emphasis on the pronoun I.
When politicians come, they come with splendid speeches and promises in order to win votes. When venders come selling their wares, they brag about all that their products can do. When presidents and other high officials come, they come with their agenda.
But when Paul came, he came like a Dalai Lama. He came in weakness, not in the weakness of sickness or illness, but in the humility of one who preaches a crucified Christ. This would never get Paul elected emperor or governor, but it would appeal to those called by God to believe in Christ. A crucified man is not a source of power in the political world, but in the world where God has power, the crucified Christ shows both the power and the wisdom of God.
In Paul’s day, there may not have had many politicians, but in Corinth there were philosophers, Stoics, Epicureans, Cynics and the like. These would hawk their teachings for a price, like TV evangelists. Not so Paul. He came not with the persuasive words of human philosophers trying to gain popularity, but with the lowliness or weakness of the message that God had sent him to preach. The power, for Paul, came from God who used the weakness of Paul’s words to draw people to the salvation that comes through Christ.
It is the season of elections and campaigning. I cannot tell you for whom you should vote, but I can tell you that none of our candidates for federal, state or local governments, speaks with the weakness of God’s word. In fact, we can say with great certitude, that they all speak their own line, or the party line or any other line, except God’s line. Paul is not a candidate. Christ is not a candidate. God is not a candidate. This is so, no matter what the ads seem to say.
Paul, however, does proclaim the word of God, all salvation comes through Christ, and God is the creator and supreme governor of the world and universe. The mystery of God, which Paul proclaimed, rests on the spirit and power of God so that our faith can rest, not on human wisdom, but on God’s power. God’s foolishness beats human wisdom and God’s weakness beats human power.