Gather with Christ
by Fr. David M. Knight
August 9, 2024
Friday of the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Virgin and Martyr
Lectionary 411
Na 2:1, 3; 3:1-3, 6-7/Mt 16:24-28
Nahum 2:1 to 3:7: Our readings are an expurgated account of the sack of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Sennacherib made it a truly magnificent city (c. 700 BC). Fifteen great gates penetrated its walls. An elaborate system of eighteen canals and a magnificently constructed aqueduct brought water from the hills. The enclosed area had more than 100,000 inhabitants, about twice as many as Babylon at the time, placing it among the largest settlements in the world. But in less than a hundred years. the Babylonians and Medes sacked Nineveh (612 BC) with all the horrors Nahum describes. The Assyrian empire then came to an end. Power is fragile.
In Matthew 16:24-28 Jesus requires, as the price of real security under the reign of God, renunciation of the false security found in power: “The Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory.” Then all things will be “gathered up” in him:
For God has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
There is no greater security, in life or death, than to “gather” with Christ. Those who don’t, “scatter.” And that is a word to think about.
We can be “scattered” interiorly, with no goal or purpose in life capable of unifying all our desires, talents and energies. Or we can be socially “scattered” because our relationships with others are as weak as the strongest value we hold in common, or as temporary as life itself. Ultimately, it is only through common relationship with Christ that our relationships with others can endure on a level that is fully satisfying:
For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible... all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Meaning they don’t “hold together” without him. As ministers, we want to let Christ in us draw everyone into the “unity and peace of his kingdom.”
He came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God...Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone. In him, the whole structure is joined together and grows into a dwelling place for God.
This guides our interaction with others: Speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ... as each part, working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
Initiative: Look at what lasts. Build relationships in Christ.
Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry
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