My
first day of work as a hospital chaplain was full of people who caught me off
guard. One was Kay, who told me she knew
why she was in the hospital. Expecting a
description of her presenting symptoms, instead I heard: “I’m here to be kind
to everyone who comes into my room, so as you can all go heal people.” Kay knew that kindness is catching.
God’s kindness,
forbearance and patience are what captured Paul and what he writes about in
today’s first reading. He laments the
existence of people who have a limp notion of God’s kindness; who acknowledge
it in their heads, but fail to be moved by it in their hearts and to live it
out in their lives. There’s a sophomoric
misunderstanding of God’s kindness that Paul had clearly encountered and that
we still encounter today: it goes something like this, “God is so kind that
whatever I do, He won’t care, so it doesn’t matter what I do.” God always cares.
It’s a
misunderstanding that arises from merely glancing to God while gazing enraptured
at one’s own desires. “I want to do what
I want, and a quick glance at God confirms He’s kind, so I’ll do what I want.” What if we accepted God’s invitation to gaze
upon Him, to come to rest upon his gracious self-revelation in the person of
Jesus Christ, to see a life lived full of kindness, forbearance and patience, a
life that led to the cross? If we gaze
on that kindness, center our lives around that, we’ll start with the same
premise, but the argument will run totally differently: “God is so kind… God is
so kind that I can do nothing but adore that kindness, to abhor my sin, to
glory in being a loved sinner, to repent on my knees and stand in praise!”
God is
so kind. Kindness is catching. Paul speaks of the “selfish disobedience of
the truth,” the refusal to dwell with God’s kindness but to, instead, dwell
with our surface desires while merely glancing at God… Paul contrasts this with
“seeking glory, honor and immortality through perseverance in good works.” Seeking is the key word. Because to think that we can obtain these
things through our own merits is also to refuse to accept God’s kindness. Seek first the kingdom of God, then you will
encounter God’s kindness, and it will catch.
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