Reflection - Essentials in Focus

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100516.cfm

Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14
Luke 11:1-4

You may remember, or even have played, a common parlor game in which one person is given a sentence which he/she is supposed to repeat to the one sitting next to them. That second person in turn repeats it to a third, the third to the fourth, and so on down the line until it gets to the end where the last person says aloud the statement he has heard. Then the original statement is presented to all. The humor, of course, is in the fairly reliable distortion that is ultimately discovered when the last in line reveals how the original statement ended up.

The game is even workable for two. My wife and I used to play frequently. That's why I was required to get hearing aids.

As I read Paul's letter to the Galatians, it occurred to me that distortions were also the concern of the Apostles and Paul. For fourteen years Paul had been moving from city to city in the region of the Eastern Mediterranean, preaching the gospel to the Jews and Gentiles alike. Among these cities was Galatia, a relatively cosmopolitan municipality at the time, being located as it was at an important intersection of trade routes. The multi-cultural character ultimately resulted in some disturbance when Jewish Christians migrated there from Jerusalem after the stoning of St. Stephen. Some of the new arrivals believed that the Gentile converts to Christianity should be required to observe the entirety of the Jewish law. It was this dispute that was the reason for Paul's return to Jerusalem. 

Upon his arrival, Paul says: "I presented to them [i.e., to the Christians and Christian leadership in Jerusalem] the Gospel that I preach to the Gentiles – but privately to those of repute – so that I might not be running, or have run, in vain."

It's interesting how Paul phrases his statement: "I presented to them the Gospel that I preach to the Gentiles – but privately to those of repute." 

Apparently he presented his teaching to the entire Christian community for discussion and spiritual discernment; but, he also met privately with the Christian leadership, presumably the Apostles and others, for the definitive decision. Paul was teaching that the Jewish laws, customs and rituals were no longer of importance, since salvation came from Jesus alone. He wanted confirmation that his teaching was in accord with that of the Apostles. He did not want to waste his time with an erroneous teaching, or, as he puts it "run in vain." Truth was important to Paul; and for that reason he readily and willingly conferred with those who had actually lived with Jesus during his earthly ministry.

The development of Christian doctrine is something we, today, take for granted even as we are ignorant of how it actually came about. We know that there was no first century Catechism of the Catholic Church, no Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, no established list of the books of Scripture, no definitive commentary on seven sacraments. While believers accepted Jesus as divine, even Paul's letters are ambiguous about what that actually meant. Christians understood Jesus to be the Son of God, but that was an ambiguous title. Questions were hotly debated: Was Jesus equal to the Father? If he came from the Father does that mean he had a beginning? Was he really a man or just God presenting himself as man? And what about the Holy Spirit? How does he fit into the picture?

The most serious questions regarding the person and nature of Jesus were not totally resolved without major disputes throughout the first few centuries; and even then, disagreements would persist. No meaningful understanding of the Trinity was developed until the fourth century. A definitive listing of Biblical books only came in the 16th century with the Council of Trent which also placed its dogmatic stamp of approval on several other issues of dispute.

Through all of this explanation and elaboration it was important to keep the essentials in focus. Moreover, that may be even more true today when we have the accumulation of teaching and ritual, customs and practices that have gathered over the last two thousand years.

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians he reminded them of his message  to them when he first came. He was not interested, he said, in getting into discussions about the relative merits of different religions, nor did he desire to engage in philosophical discussions. Rather, he says "I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." (1 Corinthians 2:2) The core belief of our faith is amazingly simple. And, while subsequent doctrinal teaching has great value in addressing those questions which men will inevitably ask, nothing that has followed from the time of Paul is more important than what Paul summarily states in that one sentence. 'I know Christ Jesus.'

I know him as an historical person, anointed by God and baptized as messiah. I know him as the one through whom God's Old Testament promises have been fulfilled. I know him as a teacher in Galilee, who conducted a beneficent ministry, doing good.   and performing mighty works by the power of God. I know him crucified. I know that his crucifixion served God's purpose and intention to bring salvation to all mankind. I know hm as one raised from the dead. I know that through him God will forgive me all. In short, I know Him. 

"For his sake," says Paul, "I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ and that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death." (Philippians 3:9-10)

He is all I know and all I need to know.