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On the Epistle ... Philippians 3:4b-14
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There are times when the apostle Paul seems to be bragging just a little too much. And we can hardly blame Paul for doing so. Near the end of Acts, we find Paul on trial before Festus and Agrippa. These two Roman officials are struck immediately by the fact that he is a man of great learning.
In today's Epistle from the apostle's writings to the Church at Philippi, Paul lists the credentials that opened doors for him to become a man of great learning. It is as if Paul is giving his resume and making the cause for why he rightly has been called to be an apostle. Only, in a moment in which we might be tempted to think Paul to have fallen into habitual boasting, suddenly there is a twist. It become clear that in this case Paul has listed all of his credentials and high standing precisely then to humble himself by proclaiming all of these things to be utterly worthless.
So what then is truly worthy of boasting and of value for Paul? What makes all these things that are so commendable in the wisdom of the world to be of no value? The answer that Paul provides us is the knowledge of the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ who has called us out of what is truly our unworthiness and given us grace upon grace by calling us into a life-giving relationship. Everything else apart from our relationship with Jesus is meaninglessness. Paul is willing to sacrifice it all, to throw it all away as trash, as rubbish, if it keeps him from being fully aware and fully attentive to Jesus.
Today, Paul challenges us as once of old he challenged the Philippians. Like Paul, we all have a list of credentials that in the wisdom of the world make us someone of value. Some of these we have worked hard at to attain, as did Paul. Others are merely at matter of chance that come from being born at the right time and in the right place and being raised in ideal circumstances. These are matters in which we have had absolutely no control. Are we willing to place all of these things in the trash? Are we willing to say that what matters more than anything else is that we belong to Jesus Christ? And then are we willing to show not merely in words that nothing else matters apart from our relationship with Jesus?
While we reflect upon that, look at Paul once more. Paul is actually using much stronger language than we might think when he speaks of his credentials as rubbish. Those who translate the apostle in our generation, and in almost every generation, soften his words so as to make them less offensive. Paul is not merely speaking of trash. He is speaking of excrement, of human waste, with a level of crudeness that you will be glad to know I am not about to articulate for risk of bringing offense. For if I offend you by being as strong as Paul is, we can easily focus on that offense and loose sight of the power of the apostle's message that the knowledge of Christ and the living relationship with Jesus is of such value that nothing can compare with the Lord's presence with us.
But it's not enough to simply speak of these worthless things in such strong language. I think Paul has something greater in mind than the profound worthlessness of everything else apart from Jesus. Remember that this apostle is a Pharisee, as he reminds us in this reading. From his youth, Paul has been taught the Scriptures. He is an expert in the Word of God. I cannot help but think then that when Paul speaks in such strong words that he is thinking of the Scriptures. There is one precise moment in them that comes to mind for me and which I could easily believe to be in the mind of the apostle. That moment occurs in the Third Chapter of the Book of the Prophet Zechariah.
In this chapter, we find that Israel, the people of God, have gone their own way, thinking they know better than God. They have missed the mark of righteousness, and their sin has left a mark on them. What is interesting here is to note that the one who accuses them before God, who calls for their punishment because of their sinfulness and rejection of God, is none other than that great accuser, Satan, Lucifier, the fallen angel, the enemy of God, the Devil. This great accuser presents the high priest Joshua, or in Hebrew, Yeshua, as representative of the whole people. This high priest stands in court, accused before God by the Devil, in what the Scriptures refer to as "filthy rags." It's actually much stronger than that. The high priest is clothed in rubbish. He has soiled himself. According to the Law, this makes him abhorant before God. He has no right to stand in that place, and the Accusor who presents him knows this only too well.
And how does God respond to the accusations brought forth against Joshua, against Yeshua? God rebukes the Devil and orders the angel who stands by the high priest to remove his soiled priestly garments. God cleanses the high priest and commands the holy angels to clothe the now clean priest in pure priestly vestments. And when Joshua, or Yeshua, is fully clean and clothed, he is sent in faithfulness to remove the iniquity from the people as it had been removed from him.
You may have noted how time and time again I referred to this high priest by his Hebrew name of Yeshua. Perhaps you wondered why I did so. Remember that in Hebrew, the name given by the archangel Gabriel to Mary and Joseph for the child to be born of Mary and the Holy Spirit is Yeshua.
How often do we miss the mark of righteousness? And how often is it our credentials, things in which we take pride, that cause us to miss the mark? These are not merely rubbish in our lives. These become filthy rags in which we are clothed, rags that are reminders of our unworthiness before God. But the good news of the Gospel that Paul proclaims to us and to the whole world is that Jesus has broken into our midst to take from us our filthy rags, to wash us and make us clean, and to clothe us in his beauty and in his eternal life, to claim us as his own forever. And when we truly remember this saving grace, how can we do anything else than with Paul refer to all else apart from the knowledge of Jesus as rubbish that is of no value for us and for the world?
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Father Timothy Alleman
Rector, The Church of the Holy Cross
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