Being a Christian Is About Making a Full Gift of Self Through Love
Reflection of the Readings for the 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Year B
By Maximilian Buonocore, OSB
Readings:
Hebrews 4:12-13
Mark 10:17-30
I read a story about the founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley. In this story he had a dream. In this dream, he came to the gates of hell and asked, “What kind of people are here, Catholics?” The answer was, “Yes, many.” “Also, Anglicans?” “Yes, many” was the answer. “Also Lutherans, Baptists and Orthodox?” The answer was always the same, “Yes, many.” And what about the Methodists?” “Also plenty,” was the answer. This made Wesley feel very distressed. So he then went to the gates of heaven. He knocked at the door and asked the same question. “Are there any Catholics here?” “No, not a single one,” was the answer. “And Anglicans?” “No, not one!” “What about Lutherans, Baptists and Orthodox?” “No, none,” was again the answer. Finally he dared to ask, “what about Methodists?” “No, not a single one here.” Wesley was horrified, and, with deep vexation, asked, “Well, what kind of people are there in heaven anyway?” The answer came, “Only Christians.”
What might this mean that there are only Christians in heaven? Does it mean that Jews, Moslems, Buddhists or people adhering to other religious beliefs cannot get into heaven. Well, I believe that the readings today give us clues to the type of person who will be admitted to heaven. The person who qualifies for admission to heaven can indeed be called a Christian, but what, then, is the definition of a Christian? Today’s readings make clear that being a true Christian is about being a true person of God, and being a true person of God is not about perfect adherence to a particular set of doctrines and laws, but about making a total gift of self to God by making a total gift of self to others through love. Solomon does not pray for the ability to adhere to a set of doctrines and laws, but for the living spirit of wisdom - the Spirit of God, which is the Spirit of love - to dwell in his heart, so that he may make a better gift of self in the service of love toward his subjects. The passage from Hebrews speaks, not about the word of God as being conveyed through laws and doctrines and scriptures, but about the word being living and active and penetrating the heart - something that doctrines and laws cannot do. Jesus challenges the rich young man, who is already adhering perfectly to the Law and the doctrines of the faith, to make a total gift of self if he wants to be truly made perfect and inherit eternal life.
I am convinced that being a Christian is more about making a total gift of self through love than it is about adhering to a particular set of doctrines. I don’t know if John Wesley actually had that dream, but if he did, when the Lord says that the only kind of people in heaven are Christians, I would interpret “Christians” to refer precisely to those people who have made a total gift of self through love. This is not to deny that Christians have an obligation to humbly pursue right thinking about the nature of God, his revelations, and his interventions in human history, but this later aspect is secondary to the principal goal of Christianity: that is, to imitate Christ’s total gift of self, who, “. . .emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8) This is the true Christian way because it is the way of love. It is the way that we activate the image and likeness of God in us, and thereby activate in ourselves the vehicle by which the Lord channels his faithful loving mercy into the world through us. This is the Christian way, no matter what particular religious denomination one belongs to. Although Jesus set up the one Church, which has continued under the name Catholic for two millennia, through which he conveys and preserves the truths of the faith, and dispenses the graces sacramentally for a life of redemptive suffering and love, one’s receiving of these graces, and exercising of this redemptive love in imitation of Christ, does not necessarily require an explicit membership in the Roman Catholic Church with an explicit adherence to the doctrines that it puts forth through its Magisterium, but an implicit membership and implicit adherence to its doctrines, which is attained by the activation of the image and likeness of God in oneself through a sincere pursuit of truth and a life of love. To prove that one’s faith and membership in the one Church set up by Christ does not have to be fully explicit, Jesus tells us the parable of the Last Judgment (Matthew 25:31-46). The king invites those on his right to enter their eternal reward because they have given themselves in service to him by feeding him when he was hungry, giving him drink when he was thirsty, clothing him when he was naked, welcoming him as a stranger, caring for him when he was sick, and visiting him when he was confined. These righteous people did not have an awareness of having acted with such explicit faith and knowledge, asking, “. . .when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?” The faith of these righteous people, and their membership in the Church as people of God was implicit as the image and likeness of God in them was activated in the service of the Lord. What is more important than explicit membership in he Catholic Church and explicit adherence to its laws and doctrines is the explicit expression of what that membership and adherence to doctrine is meant to facilitate: namely, the activation of the image and likeness of God in us for the service of love. I may be a devout Catholic and I may be able to adhere to the fullness of doctrine that comes from the Magisterial authority of the Roman Catholic Church; I may (1 Corinthians 13) “. . .have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge” that is made available through the Catholic Church. I may have a Catholic “faith so as to move mountains but [if I] do not have love, I am nothing.” “If I give away everything I own” to be a Catholic, and “if I hand my body over so that I may boast” of being Roman Catholic, “but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
It is true that it is Jesus Christ who bears the Spirit of God into the world, and into human souls, so it is therefore also true that any person in whom the Spirit of God - the Spirit of Christ - dwells actively can, in a proper sense, be called Christian. So, when the Lord tells Wesley in his dream that only Christians are in heaven, it should be taken to mean that only those in whom the Spirit of Christ - the Spirit of God - is active - that is, only those in whom the image and likeness of God is fully activated - are the people who are in heaven.
I want to be in heaven some day, and I am confident that it is the Church that Jesus established, namely, the Catholic Church, which makes it possible for me, and everyone else destined for heaven, to prepare our souls for the heavenly state. To those of us who have an explicit membership in the Catholic Church, St. Paul says (Ephesians 1:8-10), “With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” That is why I am so happy to be a member of the Roman Catholic Church. Being a member of the Catholic Church certainly is a privilege, and I certainly feel privileged to have been baptized into the Roman Catholic Church, to be able to be a member of a monastic religious community, and more recently to be ordained a priest. But none of this should be seen by me as something for me to boast about, but rather to be humble about. I must never see my membership in the Roman Catholic Church as giving me an advantage for salvation over other people who are living a life of mercy and love but may not be members of the Catholic Church. I must rather always consider whether I am being true to my Catholic faith by living a life of mercy and charity - that is, a life in which the image and likeness of God is fully activated in me. I must always remember that, no matter what my religious membership may be, the Spirit that judges me is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12-13); remembering always that I will be principally judged on the state of my heart, and on a living faith from which flows love that is a total gift of self.
All for Jesus,
Fr. Max
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