Yesterday was the commemoration of St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226). Born to a rich merchant’s family in Italy, as a young man he was fascinated by adventure and became a knight. The story goes that he encountered a leper and was moved to kiss the man’s face. From that moment he started reimagining his life in light of the gospel. He renounced his selfish ways and his father’s wealth. Francis inspired thousands to walk away from the worldly success and join the Franciscan movement to renew/reform the church of their day.
Paul also, at the beginning of this passage to the letter he wrote to the church at Philippi, gives himself a name of high regard—He was a Hebrew and Pharisee who followed the laws of Torah. Like St. Francis, he leaves his life of security and comfort to follow Jesus Christ. In verse 8 he says “more than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” Every part of his life is focused on following Jesus, even as he writes from a jail cell.
And Paul goes on to say that there is for Christians a heavenly call above all else. He uses an athletic metaphor. Think of the summer Olympics when all the runners line up and they all race for the goal of winning gold. That is what Paul strives to do in his letter and asks all of us Christ followers to do. Christ is our gold metal, our focus. To do that we have to leave the past behind and don’t look back. Why? “Not that I have already obtained this or have the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”(3:12) Paul is the runner: No STATUS, nothing from his past that he did wrong (and remember he was there at the stoning of Stephen and persecuted Christians) holds him back from the goal of the heavenly call from Christ.
Paul makes it clear : “Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own (the goal) BUT this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead” (3:13) We have to think about us, as this Parish works together. As churches, what is the purpose of our lives? A few people I call and visit during the week have talked to me about needing a purpose to live the Christian life.
All of us need to think about what the heavenly call is saying for us to do. It is not to earn the heavenly call of God by doing only right. We are all fallible. It is more important that the purpose of my life refocuses from self to Christ.
When I read the Gospel today the part that stood out is when Jesus quotes from Psalm 118 “the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes.” Though leaders in the time of Jesus reject the cornerstone, for us the goal is to make Jesus the cornerstone of our lives.