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Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church
1 Corinthians 3:18–23
In Saint Paul’s time, people often belonged to schools of thought.
Some followed Plato.
Some followed Zeno.
Some followed other teachers who promised wisdom.
Perhaps the Christians in Corinth began to think of the Church in the same way.
Some said:
I belong to Paul.
Others said:
I belong to Apollos.
Others said:
I belong to Cephas.
But Paul refuses this.
Christianity is not a school of human wisdom.
The Church is not built on a personality cult.
We do not belong to Paul, Apollos, Cephas, or any great preacher.
We belong to Christ.
That is why Paul says:
If anyone thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a fool, so as to become wise.
Paul himself became such a fool for Christ.
He gave up his status.
He gave up security.
He traveled across the empire to proclaim the Gospel.
He faced prison, rejection, danger, and suffering.
To the world, this looked foolish.
But Paul had discovered a greater wisdom.
He wrote:
I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
This is the wisdom of the cross.
The world sees the cross as failure.
God reveals it as salvation.
The rulers of this age thought they had defeated Jesus.
They crucified the Lord of glory.
But what looked like the victory of evil became its defeat.
God caught the wise in their own cunning.
This is why Paul says:
The wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.
Human wisdom can be clever.
It can be powerful.
It can be admired.
But without God, it is only breath.
It is vapor.
It rises for a moment and disappears.
Today, on the memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, we remember a pope who called himself the servant of the servants of God.
That is true Christian wisdom.
Not self-promotion, but service.
Not boasting, but humility.
Not belonging to a party, but belonging to Christ.
Paul ends with words that set us free:
All things are yours.
Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life, death, the present, and the future.
All belong to you.
But you belong to Christ.
And Christ belongs to God.
So let us not boast about human beings.
Let us not build our faith on personalities.
Let us not worship the wisdom of the age.
Let us become fools enough to follow the crucified Lord.
For only in Him do we become truly wise.
Biblical Reflections on the Gospel of Matthew
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition,
copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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