Philippians 2.1-13; Matthew 21.23-32
In today’s second reading, St Paul says something that might strike us as odd. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” What could that possibly mean: “Work out your own salvation”? Does Paul mean that, in one way or another, it’s up to us to get right with God by believing, saying, and doing the right things? Isn’t that the opposite of what he goes to great lengths to explain in other places? In 2nd Timothy he says, “God has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of God’s own purpose and grace.” What are we to make of Paul saying, “Work out your own salvation”?
Some background will help. When Paul writes to the Philippians, things aren’t looking good for him personally. He’s writing from prison, facing a possible death sentence, may never see his friends again. Since he can’t be with them in person to work things out with them and teach them, he trusts that they will be able to work out for themselves what it means to be people of faith. That’s what “work out your own salvation” means. Salvation is God’s gift from beginning to end, as Paul says in another place. What he’s saying today is, ‘Since I’m in prison and can’t be there to help you work out what it means for you to be people of faith, I trust you to work it out.’ He’s calling us all to calculate and put into practice what it means to follow Jesus, applying Jesus’ life to every aspect of our life, and doing it with utter seriousness, with “fear and trembling.” And although that sounds like it could be a daunting task, the good news is that we’re not left to ourselves to work it out. “God is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
Paul then quotes an early Christian hymn that praises what Jesus accomplished for the salvation of the world. Jesus refused to take advantage of his equality with God. He rejected the chance to exploit divine power. Rather, the Son of God who was equal to God and existed in eternity even before becoming human, gave up divine power with its privileges and rights. He came as a servant, was born in human flesh, offered self-giving love all the way to the cross. He didn’t boast about his own reputation but died the death of people who had no reputation. Paul calls this the mind of Christ. This outline and pattern of the life of Christ is meant to be the pattern of our life, too. “Have the same mind in you that was in Christ Jesus.”
Now Paul doesn’t give detailed rules or lay out specific steps in how to do this. He was a 1st century Jew; for us in the 21st century, many of our questions are different than his. But by quoting that hymn about how Jesus, he lays out the melody of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection for us to harmonize with. For example, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.” Now was this a concern and temptation for the first Christians, an inflated sense of self-regard so that they needed to be reminded, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves”? It must’ve been. Is it still true, for us?
Guidance like this shows up regularly in the New Testament to help the Christians live in harmony with Christ. “Let us not become conceited,” Paul says to the Galatians, as if they had started to regard faith as a personal achievement and source of pride; instead, he says, “Carry one another’s burdens.” Or in Romans, “Do not think too highly of yourself.” We all belong together; let us use our gifts to build up one another, he says. Like a coach laying out a game plan, the New Testament constantly encourages us to share the mind of Christ with a humble spirit, to work out the implications of our salvation. “God is at work in you.”
Today Paul echoes in his teaching what Jesus shows us in his life. This is especially true in today’s gospel when Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, the tax-collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.” Perhaps you are as surprised by what Jesus says as the religiously devout people in today’s gospel were surprised to hear Jesus say this. Holding in esteem prostitutes and tax collectors? Talk about thinking of others more highly than yourself; that’s quite a group of ‘others!’ Our Lord has a good word for ancient tax-collectors with extortion as their business method and prostitutes in the world’s oldest profession as their business method. Yet all through the gospels, we see how the disenfranchised and down-and-out know more about how God’s kingdom works than the upright and up-and-coming do. The sick were brought to Jesus, the troubled met by his mercy, people who found themselves pushed to the outer edges of circles of friends, family, and even their faith—people who wondered if they belonged—received in Jesus a welcome that was nothing less than restoration and healing, peace and joy, of life made new and set right: salvation.
The parable that Jesus then tells about two sons—the one who said ‘Yes’ to work in the vineyard but didn’t follow through, and the other who said ‘No’ but later when to work for his father—highlights the truth of grace. The son who talked beautifully but never got around to rolling up his sleeves, stands in stark contrast to the son who seemed belligerent but changed his mind. Here is a caution about professing faith but not working out the implications of faith in a life of faithful obedience. But for people who know their need of God and turn to God? “Truly I tell you, the tax-collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.”
Now does this then mean, asks the late Peter Gomes writing on today’s gospel, that for God’s grace to be active in our lives we are to take up prostitution or work for the government. Of course not. (At least not one of those. Deciding which one is a part of your salvation to work out.) But Jesus today reminds anyone who is comfortably devout and religiously serious that even they need to rethink their way of life around the mind of Christ. We all do. A certain level of comfort and satisfaction can easily become a substitute for God. So Paul, in Philippians, turns us from inward conceit and selfish ambition to the outward-facing life and self-giving grace of God in Jesus Christ. This life is for us, too. Gomes, in his writing, invites us to reflect on this life and the gift of grace in our lives. “Look at what your priorities and anxieties are. You know life has more to offer than you now have of it, no matter how much you own, or how smart you are, or how important you are. There has to be more than this, and there is, and it is already given for you—this place of God in your life.” Today is the time to work it out.
Today Paul wants you to see how faith matters in the world and for your life, how what you do when you roll up your sleeves of your faith is meant to give life and hope to people around you. And as you work out the implications of a life of faith “with fear and trembling”—as you calculate and put into practice with utter seriousness what it means to be a follower of Jesus—“God is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” God is at work in you so that you can show generous self-giving love in a world of self-centered demand, of self-forgetful joy in a world of arrogance and conceit. God is at work in you, filling your mind and heart with peace so that you can offer peace to people living in fear and to swim against the current of anger. God is at work in you.
So if you’ve said ‘Yes,’ it’s time to roll up your sleeves in a life of faithful obedience; and if you’ve said ‘No,’ it’s never too late to turn again and return to the welcome given in Jesus, a welcome that is nothing less than restoration and healing, peace and joy, of life made new and set right: salvation worked out.
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