Holy Priest-Martyr Methodius, Bishop of Patara (311).
Apostles’ Fast.
Romans 15:17-29. Matthew 12:46-13:3.
Read Romans 15:17-29
St. Paul says that Christ has accomplished things through him, seeing himself as Christ’s instrument. He recognizes that his vocation is to preach the gospel “not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation,” but rather instead to those who have never heard the gospel before (Rom. 15:20). Paul was truly an evangelist who spread the “good news” of salvation in Jesus Christ to all people.
Paul mentions that “if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things” (Rom. 15:27). Since the Jewish Christians brought the gospel to the Gentile Christians, the Gentile Christians have the duty to share their material possessions with them. Paul mentions this in his first letter to the Corinthians as well, saying to the Gentile Christians: “If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ” (1 Cor. 9:11-12). “Sharing” our earthly and spiritual gifts is an important Christian principle. As the Jewish Christians “shared” the richness of the gospel, the Gentile Christians are asked to “share” the richness of their material possessions for the glory of God.
Everything we have comes from God, and so we use what God has given us to glorify Him. Paul served God and the Church by recognizing that Christ was accomplishing things through him; he wasn’t accomplishing things of his own power. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul famously writes: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). It is God Who provides us with the means and the strength to accomplish His will. The gifts we have been given (not only our material gifts but our spiritual gifts and talents as well) are not our own but have been given to us by God for His glory.
In John’s gospel, Jesus heals a blind man after making clay with His saliva, anointing his eyes, and telling him to wash in the pool of Siloam (see John 9). People were questioning why the man was blind to begin with, thinking it may have been a punishment for his sins or his parents’ sins. Jesus answered them: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him” (Jn. 9:3). When we endure hardships, let us endure them for Christ. When we receive gifts, let us give thanks for God and offer them back to Him by using them to love and serve one another. Let us remember that it is Christ who strengthens us and works through us if we allow Him to.