Paul isn’t asking us to avoid the world. But if the form of the world is passing away, the everyday is becoming a step into promise.
Season after Pentecost | 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
Wisdom of Solomon 1:13-15, 2:23-24 or Lamentations 3:23-33 (Psalm 30); 2 Corinthians 8:7-15; Mark 5:21-43 | Semi-continuous first reading: 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27 (Psalm 130)
As wildfires raged nearby, the lectionary readings spoke to the uncertainty and fear of being displaced.
“For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” When Paul appeals to the self-emptying nature of Christ as one of the central Christian impulses for generosity, he is ringing a familiar chord. Generosity for the Corinthians is grounded in self-emptying in much the same way that joy and worship are grounded in self-emptying for the Philippians.
