In today's Daily Mass Gospel from John, Jesus is approached by a crowd of people who ask him "what can we do to accomplish the works of God." Jesus responds with, "this is the work of God: that you believe in the one he sent" (meaning, believing in himself). This sage counsel of Jesus always struck me as a bit strange, after all, how can "belief" be considered "work"? Belief hardly seems like labor: either you believe in something or you don't, there certainly isn't much labor that goes into our beliefs! Unless, of course, belief in Jesus is something not-so-quite-matter-of-fact, which, of course, it isn't!
Belief in Jesus is so much more than parroting the tired, over-used phrase of, "Jesus is my personal Lord and Savior." This is NOT the kind of belief in Jesus that equals "work." Nor is belief looking to Jesus, the Gospels, or the New Testament for some secret formula for living the good life. I recently heard a televangelist preaching on belief in the power of Christ's blood and abstracting from the metaphor of the Lord's Blood (meaning, his sacrifice) four principles for a successful spiritual life and also seemingly a successful life in general. The work of God very definitely does not consist in believing in Jesus (or his blood) so as to gain material reward. The Son of God, the apostles, and all of those faithful disciples profiled in the New Testament very definitely did not lay out a path for reaping material rewards in this life, as a matter of fact, they laid out quite the opposite!
Belief in Jesus equals work when we make the "paschal pattern" or "paschal mystery" of Jesus' life the reason, rationale, and rhythm of our own life. It means being incorporated into the life of Christ ever more deeply and progressively over the whole of our lives. Now THIS is work! The "paschal pattern" or "paschal mystery" that we are invited to be drawn into is very basically a life focused on allowing God to bring redemption from all the circumstances that make up our lives, especially circumstances of struggling, vulnerability, suffering, and striving to be authentically human in a world that would have us do otherwise. Belief in Jesus ultimately has less to do with professing Jesus as Lord as it does making Jesus' presence felt by pouring out our lives so that others might live. However, as much as belief in Jesus is rough sledding and difficult work, the more we do it, the more it becomes a labor of love for the life of others and for the life of the world. Pat, TOR
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