Goin’ Home
What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1.12-13)
Personality cult – bane of prophets, spiritual leaders, apostles, even Jesus himself.
Paul, with typical Pauline rhetoric, mocks and scolds the Corinthians. No sooner have they received the Message than they are attaching themselves to the messenger. Paul is exasperated with the quarrels surrounding the personalities of the evangelists. What would he say about the fact there are 40,000 + denominations today?! Anyway, Paul points the way in no uncertain terms back to Christ.
But even Christ does not really point to himself; rather to the relationship he has with the Father and to the Holy Spirit. This is why he came! To reveal this Holy relationship. But he didn’t stop and say, ‘Hey look at me, aren’t I great?’. He came to give us the Gospel truth. And here’s the greatest thing of all. We can have this relationship too. That’s what we are here for. This relationship is the kingdom of God.
Jesus invites us, ‘Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the signs which I am doing’ (Jn 14). John the evangelist calls the supernatural actions of Jesus, not ‘miracles’ but signs. These actions are not displays of divine power in order to point anyone to the greatness of the Son of God but to the Divine relationship between Christ and the Creator God, whom he calls Abba – Daddy. Later he says, ‘On that day you will realize that I am in Abba, and you are in me, and I am in you.’ By his coming among us…being us, taking our sins and breaking their imprisoning power over us on the Cross, and defeating death itself, Jesus Christ declared what is in God’s heart, the yearning of Love Divine, to be in relationship with each individual person.
Another messenger, Fr Henri Neuwen, writes, ‘For you and I to engage this primal encounter is for us to return home’. This is the right direction of the roads we travel. This is the meaning of life. We come from God and we return, if we have ears to hear and eyes to see, through the twists and turns of life, and by the Grace of God, home.
This is the message. It is a message God gives each one of us. He calls each one of us now to receive it and to pass it on. We are God’s messenger now. But remember. It is never about the messenger. It is always about the message. God be with you.
Tonnau Duw ('God's waves') Fr Tim Ardouin 