Free Of Charge

September 12, 2008

Friday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

When I preach, I offer the gospel free of charge so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible. 1 Corinthians 9:18-19

No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher. Luke 6:40

Piety

My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the LORD. My heart and flesh cry out for the living God. As the sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest to settle her young, My home is by your altars, LORD of hosts, my king and my God! Happy are those who dwell in your house! They never cease to praise you. Psalm 84:3-5

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/091208.shtml

Woe to me if I do not preach it!

Reading today’s scripture and the requirement to spread the Good News reminded me of last Sunday’s first reading from Ezekiel.

You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel; when you hear me say anything, you shall warn them for me. If I tell the wicked man that he shall surely die, and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked man from his way, he (the wicked man) shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death. Ezekiel 33:7-8

That reading injects a “requirement” to speak out about scripture. However, we can’t speak out if we do not know what we are speaking about. So it becomes apparent that the STUDY leg of our tripod must precede our ACTION leg. Once we “know God,” we will then know what God wants us to do. There is nothing voluntary about this. The requirement outlined in Ezekiel comes to us more as an external command.

Today, the requirement takes on a slightly different sense. There is still the sense of obligation or duty outlined in Corinthians. However, the sense of obligation seems to well up internally from our own feelings and emotions rather than being imposed upon us. Today, it is our “right” to speak out, not just a responsibility imposed upon us from outside.

That right is accepted freely, not as some law imposed upon us from an external force. Love compels us to love even if in loving we give up our freedom. Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible. 1 Corinthians 9:19

The psalmist captures that pent up emotion and voluntary outpouring in the sentiments of Psalm 84: “My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the LORD. My heart and flesh cry out for the living God.”

Many of us have seen what happens when people give in to dangerous or damaging compulsions – alcohol, tobacco, food, sex and other desires. Giving up those desires gives us time to give in to the sacred scripture. Then we have room to “cry the Gospel.” We do that not because someone nags us to do so but because such self-denial helps us to purify ourselves and pursue other actions instead. We do it not for our own wants or needs but “for the sake of the Gospel.”

When we act for the sake of the Gospel, we imitate our teacher and master who is the Word and who saved us. Rather than wandering aimlessly through life, our compass will point to the true north of the Good News. Our actions then might at least make us able to save at least one with our warnings – even if we can not save everyone as Jesus did. No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher. Luke 6:40

Action

We have to get over our obstacles – the proverbial wooden beams in our line of sight. To pursue the Gospel freely, we have to “remove the wooden beam.” That beam is the cross of sin we bear. To free us from our cross, Jesus came down and picked up his so we would not have to.

What is your wooden beam? What compulsion do you have from which you need to be freed? When you are freed from that obstacle, you will then be freed to accept the rights afforded to you in the Gospel – your right to save others once you have saved yourself.

As Mary Magdalene walked to the tomb on Easter Sunday 2008 years ago, she worried about the obstacles she would face. “Who would roll away the stone?” Whether you have a stone or a wooden beam in your way, surrender it to Jesus. You can’t expect anyone else to roll away your stone. Once you are freed from this obstacle, Jesus invites you to follow him. You are free to answer either “Yes” or “No.”