The English language likes to pair things up – ham and eggs, warm and sunny, black and blue, sick and tired, open and shut. Whether we are pairing up nouns or adjectives or verbs, choosing two words rather than one is a rhetorical device that finds a secure home in the English language.
Our reading from the Letter to the Philippians today is filled with words that are paired up although it may not be immediately evident in the translation we hear today. However, St. Paul meant for them to be complementary terms. He speaks of whatever is true and honorable, just and pure, lovely and gracious, excellent and worthy of praise.
This passage is taken from the fourth and final chapter of the Letter to the Philippians. At first glance it may seem a little disjointed. As I mentioned last week, the Letter to the Philippians is actually made up of two or three letters that St. Paul sent to that community. Today’s passage is the conclusion of two of those letters joined together. This becomes very evident when we place verse seven next to verse nine. In verse seven we read: Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Verse nine reads: Then the God of peace will be with you. St. Paul usually concludes his letters with a wish for peace. Here we read two such conclusions. The first conclusion offers encouragement in the face of anxiety. The second conclusion exhorts the Philippians follow St. Paul’s example of ethical living.
What is the source of the anxiety? As has happened in many of St. Paul’s communities, Philippi has been visited by missionaries who are contradicting St. Paul’s preaching. This has caused not a little anxiety among the Philippians. You might remember that last week I told you that Philippi was a Roman community made up of retired soldiers from the Roman legions. It was, therefore, a Gentile community. Paul had preached a Gospel that told them that God had sent Jesus for them as well as for the children of Israel. Now others were coming among them telling them that in order to be Christian, they first had to be Jews and that they had to be circumcised and obey the dietary laws of Judaism. This caused no end of anxiety among this community. However, Paul asks them place their worries before God in prayer and petition. Such prayer, he assures them, will bring them the peace they desire.
Then as he frequently does at the end of this letters, St. Paul exhorts them to follow his example of ethical living. By using four sets of pairs, St. Paul gives them the criteria by which they are to judge the preaching of his rivals and the conduct of their neighbors. If they hold that which is true and honorable, just and pure, lovely and gracious, and excellent and worthy of praise in their hearts, they will be able to overcome all who might try to sway them from their allegiance to the Gospel that St. Paul preached. They will realize that the God of peace is with them in the midst of their anxiety.
That which St. Paul tells the Philippians is very worthwhile for us to consider today. Anxiety is just one of the emotions that comes to mind when we consider the state of affairs in which we live. The last few weeks have brought with them natural disasters as well as human terror. If we add to that the various bumps in the road that any family endures, there is much that can cause us to worry, much that can cause us to be anxious. Yet St. Paul greets us today in the same way that God’s messengers have greeted God’s children throughout the Scriptures: Have no anxiety at all! Don’t be afraid. The message is repeated so often in the Scriptures simply because it is easier said than done.
God has never promised that faith in God and in Jesus, God made human, would lead to perfectly serene lives free of anxiety and concern. What God did promise is that God will be with us in the midst of that anxiety. Just as God was with the children of Israel as they were pursued by the Army of Pharoah, and just as God was with them during their long sojourn in the desert, God is still with us as we cross our own desert into the Promised Land of eternal life, life won for us by the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary Hill. With God as our companion in the midst of trying times and stressful situations, we, like St. Paul, can claim the God of peace.
Ethical living is also something of a rare commodity these days. Like the Philippians, we must hold fast to the true and honorable, the just and pure, the lovely and gracious, the excellent and that which is worthy of praise in the face of the deterioration of moral behavior on the part of some and downright hatred and prejudice on the part of others. That is the task that has become ours by virtue of our faith in the Lord Jesus. Jesus has called us the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Like salt, our ethical and moral behavior should act as a preservative in what can be a sometimes rotten world. Like light, our behavior can enlighten others and help them to live the Gospel that Jesus has proclaimed.
Once again, we come before the Lord in need. Ever mindful of our needs, God sustains us with the gift of peace which is found in communion with our Lord, Jesus. How blessed we are to be able to cling to so sure a rock, so bright a light in our darkness, and so beneficent and provident a God. Unlike the tenant farmers in today’s parable from the Gospel, we give God our thanks and our praise for fashioning so beautiful a vineyard in which we will find rest and peace.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator