Today's Readings
A lawsuit proves that there is injustice somewhere. Either one member or the other is choosing injustice over justice, greed over love. If each person was following the command of Jesus to turn the other cheek, to put up with a little unfairness, there would be no disagreement. A lawsuit is proof that one of the two is causing a great deal of injustice. Either the plaintiff is using a lawsuit to rob his brother, or the defendant has so persecuted his brother that he has no choice except to beg for justice. If the lawsuit is just to sort out a misunderstanding about what happened and what responsibility each person has, then why not just have another Christian, someone wise, listen and help clear the situation? The only reason to bring lawyers and judges into the case would be that one of the parties to the suit is not willing to pay their fair share and must be forced to do so. In every lawsuit, someone is trying to steal money from someone else.
How many Christians have given up the Kingdom of God for a pittance? They embraced the Gospel and then abandoned it for a little money. If some king had offered to pay them to abandon the faith, they would have defied him, but when a chance to make a little money appears, they gladly abandon the faith to rob their brother. This is true not only of money, as the examples that St. Paul cites show. Four of the examples concern sex, more than anything else. Three concern money. The other three are idolatry, slander, and alcohol. These are all examples of what Christians sell their salvation for. St. Paul is reminding the Corinthians that they have been washed, sanctified, and justified. It is time to leave all that behind, all of the addictive ways of acting. They have never had the power to make us happy, though they always lie and claim that they will.
It is time to rise above all that. It is not possible to be a follower of Christ while still accepting these addictions. The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ has given us the power to change. It is possible for the dead to rise. Not only the physically dead, but also the spiritually dead. And that resurrection has to come before the physical one. We must not give up following God at any price.
Daily Homilies
