I
InThePew
Guest
Salvation isn’t something we think about a lot – at least not as much as we probably should given the apocalyptic themes in this week’s and last week’s gospel. If we’re honest, it’s something we tend to take for granted, content to see ourselves as being on the VIP list for entry into the Kingdom, expecting that when we show up we’ll be ushered in. Sure there might be a queue and even a bit of a wait, but other than that we see ourselves as sorted.
This though is how the people in Jesus’ day saw themselves - as “the chosen people”. What Jesus is telling them and us is that entry into the kingdom isn’t quite so simple and our salvation not as assured as we’d like to think. Believing by itself isn’t enough; God is demanding and expects more of us.
This problem of who’s saved and how has been the subject of intense and at times violent debate in the Church’s history. The basic principle is that we can’t save ourselves – established thanks to Pelagius a 5th Century monk who argued that our good works, enabled but not forced by God, were enough, making us the masters of our own destiny when it comes to controlling our sinfulness. The best response was Augustine’s who said: “I cannot not sin”.
At the other extreme, Martin Luther’s obsession with sin and salvation, and struggle with how we could ever be good enough, led him to a line from St Paul about how we’re saved by faith. While it’s certainly true that we can’t save ourselves, it’s also true that faith without good works is dead.
While Luther and Pelagius are long gone, their legacy still lingers. Being complacent about our salvation, we think that it’s enough to just be a nice person – at best the bare minimum expected of us, achieving only a triumph of mediocrity. While we might say we’re not holy enough, the problem isn’t that we can’t do better but that we’re not all that interested in allowing God to take us beyond what we can do for ourselves. If it’s worth doing at all for God it’s worth doing well and everything’s worth doing well for God. Entry into the Kingdom is something we have to work for, which comes at a great cost.
To love God, to live up to all that’s expected of us is no small ask, but as St Paul says God cooperates with those who love him. In other words, His grace builds on our nature allowing us to bring out things both old and new. So while selling everything to buy a field with hidden treasure may make some sense, doing the same for a pearl makes none at all. Still, we might say the same about God’s will for all people to be saved, expecting Him to be more scrutinous about who gets in, but God’s foolishness is greater than our wisdom and so, like Solomon, we need to ask for a discerning heart and the gift of wisdom.
Faith is a living thing, it needs to be nourished which is why we’re given the Good News, but it’s not news if it’s not proclaimed. We need to be active apostles, not passive spectators; coworkers with Christ allowing his grace to build on our nature, knowing what we seek and proclaim is worth working for, giving everything for so we might come to eternal life with the one who loves us, suffered for our salvation and invites us to share in God’s glory.
This though is how the people in Jesus’ day saw themselves - as “the chosen people”. What Jesus is telling them and us is that entry into the kingdom isn’t quite so simple and our salvation not as assured as we’d like to think. Believing by itself isn’t enough; God is demanding and expects more of us.
This problem of who’s saved and how has been the subject of intense and at times violent debate in the Church’s history. The basic principle is that we can’t save ourselves – established thanks to Pelagius a 5th Century monk who argued that our good works, enabled but not forced by God, were enough, making us the masters of our own destiny when it comes to controlling our sinfulness. The best response was Augustine’s who said: “I cannot not sin”.
At the other extreme, Martin Luther’s obsession with sin and salvation, and struggle with how we could ever be good enough, led him to a line from St Paul about how we’re saved by faith. While it’s certainly true that we can’t save ourselves, it’s also true that faith without good works is dead.
While Luther and Pelagius are long gone, their legacy still lingers. Being complacent about our salvation, we think that it’s enough to just be a nice person – at best the bare minimum expected of us, achieving only a triumph of mediocrity. While we might say we’re not holy enough, the problem isn’t that we can’t do better but that we’re not all that interested in allowing God to take us beyond what we can do for ourselves. If it’s worth doing at all for God it’s worth doing well and everything’s worth doing well for God. Entry into the Kingdom is something we have to work for, which comes at a great cost.
To love God, to live up to all that’s expected of us is no small ask, but as St Paul says God cooperates with those who love him. In other words, His grace builds on our nature allowing us to bring out things both old and new. So while selling everything to buy a field with hidden treasure may make some sense, doing the same for a pearl makes none at all. Still, we might say the same about God’s will for all people to be saved, expecting Him to be more scrutinous about who gets in, but God’s foolishness is greater than our wisdom and so, like Solomon, we need to ask for a discerning heart and the gift of wisdom.
Faith is a living thing, it needs to be nourished which is why we’re given the Good News, but it’s not news if it’s not proclaimed. We need to be active apostles, not passive spectators; coworkers with Christ allowing his grace to build on our nature, knowing what we seek and proclaim is worth working for, giving everything for so we might come to eternal life with the one who loves us, suffered for our salvation and invites us to share in God’s glory.