2 Corinthians 6:1-10, Psalm 98:1-4, Matthew 5: 38-42
The issue of time and what it means is at the heart of today’s readings.
What struck me is Paul’s statement “that now is a very acceptable time and behold, now is the day of salvation.” We have traditionally thought of the day of salvation as the time of the second coming, the end of the world, or perhaps more personally as the time of our own death when we hope to be taken into heaven. All of these can be properly labeled as the day of salvation but it isn’t the only time that should be thought of that way. The rest of what Paul says in this letter leads me to believe he is being much more specific, much more immediate. It is important for us to recognize the time he is talking about, otherwise we will, in fact, miss the day of salvation that is being offered to us.
Paul says, now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation. We could say OK like this year, or perhaps this week or could it be today? But the problem is we often are thinking that this salvation is something that is happening to us. Something delivered by God from outside of ourselves. In this sense we tend to wait for it to happen. How could salvation be today, it’s all too normal. Sunny day, regular schedule of activities, the same people I always meet. This doesn’t look like the day of salvation because surely salvation has to be different, a wonderful thing. Salvation will change everything. We sit back and wait for it, for salvation to happen.
I want to suggest that Paul is talking about the big now, right now, this moment in time when whatever happens next is dependent on us. I want to suggest that salvation, the time acceptable to God is every time we decide to do something or not do anything. Salvation is when life responds fully to God’s call. When the earth will no longer be wracked with wars but blossom in peace. I believe Jesus and Paul were trying to tell us that each moment in our life an appropriate time to change the world. Each moment holds the potential for a new life and for peace and love and unbelievable compassion for others. It exists each time we make it so with the decisions we make for ourselves.
My evidence for this outlook is right in today’s letter to the Corinthians. Paul is saying how believers in God act. He does not describe a rosy environment a placid afternoon admiring the flowers. Instead, he talks about afflictions, constraints, beatings and riots. And in these situations, he says we should have patience, kindness, unfeigned love and truthful speech. There isn’t a single word about the outcome of all this. He is merely describing what people need to do in the moment. His concern is the believer’s behavior. Because, I would claim, it is in the believer’s behavior that the day of salvation lies. Those are the acceptable moments that God desires when we are treated as deceivers yet we are truthful, when ought to be sorrowful yet are always rejoicing, when we are treated as poor yet are able to enrich others, when we look like nobodies with nothing to our name but are recognized as possessing the riches of life that others struggle to find.
This is the message of our Gospel today as well. Instead of reacting to hatred and evil with more conflict and aggression. Make the decision to bring salvation by changing the way the world works. Turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, give more than you are asked for. In each moment, salvation, a joyous acceptable time is possible. We do not have to wait for it. The possibility is there if we will do it now.
