For the Sake of Christ (Saturday, Week 22, Year 2)

If we can take some time to think of what we have gone through and what we have become on account of our dedication to Christ and to the Church, then we may be able to understand what St Paul is talking about in the first reading (cf. 1 Cor. 4:6b-15). He is still addressing the Corinthians who were torn apart by sectionalism – in previous portions of this letter, some of them said that they belonged to Paul, some to Apollos, some to other teachers, and so on. St Paul calls them to look at him and Apollos and learn. For their sake and for the sake of Christ, they (Paul and Apollos) became fools so that they (the Corinthians) can become wise in Christ. For the sake of Christ and for their sake, they have been held in disrepute, they hunger, they are poorly clothed, buffeted, and homeless; they labored and worked with their own hands. For the sake of Christ, when insulted, they blessed; when persecuted, they endured; when slandered, they tried to conciliate. For the sake of Christ and for their sake, they have now become the refuse of the world and the dregs of all things. For the sake of Christ, they went through all these so that they (the Corinthians) might be wise in Christ and learn to be humble, accommodating and of service to one another.

Before the disciples were called into active ministry and followership, some of them were fully engaged in the world, doing some jobs through which they made ends meet. We have learnt that some were very active in the task of fishing. But for the sake of Christ, I don’t know whether they were as active in their jobs as they were before their calling. If they were not following Jesus, would they have reduced themselves to the level of entering a farm on a Sabbath day to pluck heads of corn and eat? But for the sake of Christ, they became an object of derision, mockery and reproach to the Pharisees and others (on account of what they did). But their experience became an opportunity for the Pharisees to learn from Christ that “the Sabbath was created for human beings; not human beings for the Sabbath”. In other words, as a result of the Pharisees’ skewed and legalistic understanding of what the disciples did, Christ saw an opportunity to teach them (the Pharisees) that “love must supersede and saturate the law”. 

For the sake of Christ, we might have gone through a lot; we might have become the refuse and dregs of the world. But have we ever thought of many other people who might have learnt through our experiences and become wiser in Christ on account of our affiliation and dedication to the good news? For the sake of those people (no matter how negligible their number might be), please keep doing what is right before God. No matter how insignificant you might appear, don’t forget that you are still a powerful influence in the world because of Christ.