Philippians 3:8-14
Brothers and sisters:
I consider everything as a loss
because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things
and I consider them so much rubbish,
that I may gain Christ and be found in Him,
not having any righteousness of my own based on the law
but that which comes through faith in Christ,
the righteousness from God,
depending on faith to know him and the power of His resurrection
and the sharing of His sufferings by being conformed to his death,
if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
It is not that I have already taken hold of it
or have already attained perfect maturity,
but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it,
since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, I for my part
do not consider myself to have taken possession.
Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind
but straining forward to what lies ahead,
I continue my pursuit toward the goal,
the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.
The dictionary defines “conversion” as “change, transformation, metamorphosis, transfiguration, sea change”.
Today’s Scriptural reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians perfectly describes what it means to be a convert to and follower of Jesus the Christ:
- A total and complete transformation or sea change of our selves and our lives — “the loss of all things” that we now recognize as just “so much rubbish”.
- That sea change leads to our becoming “righteous,” a word that the dictionary defines as “morally right, virtuous, good, decent“. But it is not a righteousness or morality that is self-serving or conjured up by ourselves (“of my own”), nor even a morality “based on the law” of our particular society and time, but a moral code that is of God, imparted to us by His only Son (“the righteousness from God” “which comes from faith in Christ”).
- And since our society and culture are not in conformance with “the righteousness from God,” that means we will be attacked, marginalized, scorned and persecuted.
- Our path as His followers will be thorny, for we will suffer, as no human life, no matter how golden, is devoid of pain and suffering. But where we differ from others is that we are not alone. Not only is Jesus the ultimate role model to show us how to endure life’s inevitable setbacks, hurts, betrayals, pain and sickness, nothing that befalls us can ever match the unimaginable physical torture He bore for our sake — His scalp pierced with thorns, His back shredded by whips, then nailed to a cross to die. And so, as His followers, we have the solace of knowing that when we suffer, He is with us and intimately and fully knows how much we suffer (“the sharing of His sufferings”).
- And in sharing His sufferings, our own pain and hardship become “redemptive suffering” — suffering that, when accepted and offered up in union with the Passion of Jesus, can remit the just punishment for our sins or for the sins of another, or for our physical or spiritual needs and those of another.
As our Lord succinctly puts it: “Whoever wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)
We do all that because we long for (“strain forward to what lies ahead”) the day (“resurrection from the dead”) when we finally see Him face to face.
We do all that because when we know Him, we love Him — with our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind, and with all our strength.
May the joy and peace and love of Jesus Christ our Lord be with you!
~Eowyn
