Confidence in God through Christ Jesus

In today’s first reading, 2 Cor. 3: 4-11, St. Paul shares the confidence he has through Christ toward God—a confidence each of us has as well.  God has given us the qualities needed to be ministers of a new covenant, the covenant of the spirit.  Moses was qualified by God as a minister of the letter of the law, the old covenant given on Mount Sinai and written in stone.    The “letter brings death,” Paul tells us. The spirit “gives life.”   The law condemns us. The spirit does not.  We have an example of the latter—the law bringing death—in the Pharisees, whom Jesus confronted many times. Paul himself was practicing a law that brought death to people until his conversion on the way to Damascus.

 

Each of us has a choice to be involved in “the ministry of righteousness,”  or of being a minister of the old covenant,  adhering to the  letter of the law, as did the Pharisees, as did Paul until his conversion, using the law to condemn others. In other words, like the Pharisees and like Paul before his conversion, we can choose to stand on a pedestal of self-righteousness, depleting life instead of giving life.   Or, we can acknowledge the Righteous One as our Savior, who alone justifies and glorifies those who walk humbly with their God (cf Micah 6:8) doing what is right in God's eyes, following the law of the Spirit. That is the confidence of which Paul speaks .

What choice are we making?

His Dominion is an Everlasting Dominion

In today’s first reading, Daniel 3: 68-74, Daniel shares his vision of four “immense beasts,” one more frightening than the other, each warring against one another until each one of them lost their power and are slain.  It may seem baffling to us as we read Daniel and/or Revelations. “Such gory detail of violent struggles, “we might say to ourselves; “I can’t stand reading about these things. Why, in fact, are such stories in the bible?  Bloodshed? Violence? Killing? Crushing, trampling, and torturing each other? Ugh!”  The vision Daniel sees is nothing less than what has been happening between the nations of his day, against Israel and Israel against other nations, believers against non-believers.  

As in the past, so now.  Nations, countries, states, tribes, municipalities, churches, governing bodies, families, individuals arrogantly speaking out against each other , like “the horn,” in Daniel’s vision, that “had eyes like a man, and a mouth that spoke arrogantly.”  In this vision, Daniel witnesses the “beast” being “slain and its body thrown into the fire to be burnt up. The other beasts, which also lost their dominion, were granted a prolongation of life for a time and a season.  As the visions during the night continued,” Daniel watched:

“Thrones were set up
And the Ancient One took his throne.
His clothing was snow bright,
and the hair on his head was white as wool;
His throne was flames of fire,
with heels of burning fire.
A surging stream of fire
flowed out from where he sat;
thousands upon thousands were ministering to him,
and myriads upon myriads attended him….

One like a son of man coming,

on the clouds of heaven;
when he reached the Ancient One
and was presented before him,
He received dominion, glory, and kingship;
nations and peoples of every language serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not be taken away,
His kingship shall not be destroyed.”

The son of man presented to the Ancient One is Christ. The Kingdom is the Kingdom of Christ; “His kingship shall not be destroyed,” no matter how hard we try to obliterate God living among us and within us. 

I believe that and am unafraid as we witness horrible things happening in our world, as I hear about “beasts” trampling the innocent. Those “kingdoms” of evil will be slain eventually. Only the Kingdom of Christ is eternal. You and I are part of that kingdom, having died and rose with Christ in baptism, having been sealed for Christ in confirmation and delivered from evil by Christ on the cross. Halleluiah! Praise and thanks to our God forever and ever. Amen!