One of the rhetorical devices that St. Paul uses in his writings can best be described as “then” and “now.” First he describes how things used to be. Then he describes how things stand now. The process can be reversed, describing first the way things are now and second how things used to be. Knowledge of this device is crucial to understanding the second reading for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, the B Cycle of the Lectionary for Sunday Mass.
Another detail that we need to understand is the use of the word “Christ.” We have become so used to referring to our Lord and Savior as Jesus Christ that we have come to think of the word as a proper noun or name when it is actually a description of who Jesus is. Jesus is “the Christ.” The word can also be translate as “Messiah” or “anointed one.”
In the reading from 2 Corinthians, St. Paul makes reference to knowing Christ according to the flesh yet not knowing him in that fashion any longer. We might mistakenly think that St. Paul is referring to the fact that Jesus was known as a human being but because he has returned to the Father, we know him that way no longer. In fact, St. Paul did not know Jesus as a human being. His conversion to faith in Jesus came after Jesus had ascended.
What St. Paul is speaking about is the human expectations that the children of Israel had regarding or concerning the Christ, the Messiah. We know from the Gospels and from the Hebrew Scriptures that such expectations were varied. Some thought that the Messiah, the Christ, would be a military or political leader who would throw off the Roman occupation of Israel. Others thought the Messiah would be a great Prophet. There were those who thought the Christ would be a new King in the line of David. Still others thought that the anointed one would be a new high priest. This what St. Paul means when he speaks of knowledge according to the flesh. This is the way it used to be, the way it was “then.”
“Now” St. Paul and the followers of Jesus know that the Christ fulfilled none of those expectations. Instead, the Christ was the one who suffered and died and was raised to save us from the slavery to sin. This is our spiritual knowledge of the Christ, the way we know the Messiah now.
Of course the implications of such knowledge change the way we respond to Jesus, the Christ. Realizing that Jesus did not live for himself, that rather he lived for others, those who follow the Christ must also live for others. This is what St. Paul means by a “new creation.” This is a new way of approaching human life. We are to put aside thoughts of personal aggrandizement and be of service to others. Like Jesus, we are to lay down our lives for others. This is the new thing that comes, the new way to look upon human existence. We are all called to be servants just as Jesus was a servant. We are called to wash the feet of our brothers and sisters as Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. We are called to be obedient to the will of God rather than having our own way, and the will of God is that we who profess faith in the Christ are to lay down our lives for our neighbors. Rather than looking for a reward for our good deeds, we are to regard our deeds as a poor attempt to show our gratitude for the gift we have received through the providential care and overflowing love of God.
It might also be helpful for us to remember the context in which St. Paul is writing this message. He has suffered greatly for the Gospel. We know through the writings of St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles and through his own letters, that St. Paul has been shipwrecked, scourged, stoned, and beaten by his enemies. Yet he has persevered in preaching the Gospel of the Crucified Savior. His enemies have been using his misfortunes and his sufferings to discredit him. They have been telling his followers that if he were an authentic disciple, God would not allow him to be treated this way. However, St. Paul has the example of Jesus to counter this argument. His sets that fact before us today by recalling that “one,” namely Jesus, has died for all. Because he has died for all and has been raised, we are to live for Him. This is how it is to be “NOW.”
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator