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PAUL'S PASSION FOR THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST
St. Paul, who was specially chosen by the risen Jesus and set apart as an apostle to the gentiles, had only one passion – to live and preach Jesus Christ the Savior of the world. Describing Paul’s call and mission, the Acts of the Apostles, says: “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’.” (Acts 13:1-2)
Writing to Romans he speaks of his own identity and mission: “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised previously through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel about his Son, descended from David according to the flesh, but established as Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness through resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 1:1-3).
For Paul, this mission of being an apostle of Jesus was the core and substance of his life. He had no choice left as far as preaching Christ was concerned. Thus to the Corinthian Christians Paul wrote: “If I preach the gospel, this is no reason for me to boast, for an obligation has been imposed on me; and woe to me if I do not preach it” (1 Cor 9:16).
Thus he traveled far and wide, he wrote letters to the Churches that he founded, and he exhorted and admonished them to live in and for Christ. In fact 13 of the 27 books of the NT are his epistles. And more than half of the Acts of the Apostles is dedicated to Paul’s missionary work.
Through his Letters, Paul gave us important insights into the concepts of the Holy Trinity, Holy Eucharist, Mystical Body of Christ, Christian Unity, Fruits and Gifts of the Holy Spirit, prayer, primacy of love, meaning of suffering, faith, law, freedom, grace, holiness, sin, Christian joy, Christian death and resurrection of the dead, eternal life and a host of other doctrines. In short, we can say that Paul laid a theological foundation for the Church through his preaching and writing.
St. Paul knew the importance of placing Christ as the center of his preaching, and not his own message: To the Corinthians he wrote: “For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servant for Jesus’ sake” (2 Cor 4: 5). Thus he considered himself ‘an earthen vessel in which the ‘treasure’ of the gospel of Jesus was preserved: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcended power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Cor 4:7).
In his preaching the gospel of Jesus, St. Paul had to face many oppositions and severe persecution. Many times he was imprisoned, but even from his prison cells he never ceased to preach. To the Philippians he wrote from the prison cell: “I want you to know, brothers, that my situation has turned out rather to advance the gospel, so that my imprisonment has become well known in Christ throughout the whole praetorium and to all the rest, and so that the majority of the brothers, having taken encouragement in the Lord from my imprisonment, dare more than ever to proclaim the word fearlessly.” (Phil 1:12-14). Thus he preached in season and out of season, faced sickness and shipwrecks, endured imprisonment and death for the sake of the gospel of Jesus.
He was well aware of the struggles and afflictions associated with his ministry of preaching: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For, while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So, death is at work in us, but life in you” (2 Cor 4:7-12). Finally, we know Paul was beheaded for his adherence to and preaching of the gospel of Jesus.
As in the time of Paul, today in many parts of the world Christians face persecutions because of their faith in Jesus and preaching and teaching his values. In some places, as we know, there is a well-planned program to wipe out Christianity. Again, in some other parts of the world, people deny Christ and abandon the precious gift of Christian faith. For them, Christ’s values are inconvenient and incompatible with their modern life style. In this context, Paul shows us how important it is to adhere to our faith in Jesus Christ and be faithful to our baptismal call to proclaim Jesus everywhere and at all circumstances. This is the same Christ and same faith which Paul and other apostles and early Christians defended and upheld with their sweat and blood. Paul understood the infinite worth of his faith in Jesus and the need to share it with others. Paul is very forceful when he speaks in favor of Christ: “who can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness or peril, or sword? (Rom 8:35).
In this Year of Saint Paul every baptized person needs to ask the questions:
Am I as determined and as zealous about spreading the good news of Jesus as Saint Paul was? Is spreading Jesus’ message both by our example and by our words a priority to us?
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