FROM THE SERVANT GENERAL
OUR THEME FOR 2020
(Part 67)
THE MODERNIST GOSPEL – 3
September 1, 2020
Today’s readings:
1 Corinthians 2:10-16
Psalm 145:8-14
Luke 4:31-37
To be built on the Rock that is Christ, we need to listen to and act on his words. Now here is the assurance: “The Lord is trustworthy in all his words” (Ps 145:13b). We can trust in what God tells us. And we can act on what God tells us, because He is a God of love who works in and through us. He is “loving in all his works.” (Ps 145:13c). Listening and acting. Words and works. This is the essence of being built on Rock.
But here is the problem. How do we discern the authentic words of God so we can properly act on them? Especially in the midst of so many dissonant voices in the world and even within our Church. Today we have the Modernist gospel, which twists, distorts and re-interprets the very words and teachings of God and the Church. “Now the natural person does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it, because it is judged spiritually.” (1 Cor 2:14). Such is the Modernist versus the authentic gospel. The Modernist gospel is a focus on man rather than God. It is a focus on the mundane rather than the divine. It looks to social rather than spiritual well-being.
Unfortunately, this Modernist gospel has come into our Church. It is about the spirit of the age rather than the Spirit of God. How do we deal with it? We look to the encounter of Jesus with the demoniac. “In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon” (Lk 4:33). Note that the man was in the synagogue, inside the Jewish house of worship and place for religious instruction. The devil is indeed able to infiltrate our holy places.
Note further that the spirit in the man knew who Jesus was, as he said, “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” (Lk 4:34). The devil knows very well who Jesus is and how Jesus is sent to destroy demonic influences. The devil knows that Jesus is the Holy One. Today, those who proclaim the Modernist gospel still speak of Christ and of faith, but no longer of holiness and righteousness. The sinful person is just accepted and embraced without addressing the person’s sin. The hard teachings of the authentic gospel are watered down, to suit the social well-being of man.
So what needs to be done? It is as Jesus did. “Jesus rebuked him and said, ‘Be quiet! Come out of him!” (Lk 4:35a). The wrong that is in the lives of people need to be addressed directly. We must desire to destroy what is evil. We must desire for sinners to be made whole and brought out of the influence of the evil one. Thus, whenever the Modernist gospel is proclaimed, we must oppose it and call it out.
But how can we truly know what is right and good and in accordance with the authentic teachings of God? The reality is that “no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God.” (1 Cor 2:11b). It is the Spirit who “scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.” (1 Cor 2:10b). How does all this relate to us? Well, we have received the Spirit of God, through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, and by means of our adult experience of baptism in the Spirit. As such, “we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.” (1 Cor 2:12).
So we need to resist the wisdom of the world and cling to the wisdom of God. We ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten us. We must think not as the world or as man does but as God does. Thus “we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.” (1 Cor 2:13). The Holy Spirit teaches spiritual people a new mode of perception. And we are able to refute erroneous teaching, while being able to describe spiritual realities and truths to others.
So, faced with the Modernist gospel today, we need all the more to listen to God’s words so as to be able to act on them. This way we are built on Rock rather than the shifting sands of the popular gospel of the age. As we listen to Jesus’ words, we are putting on his mind. “For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor 2:16).
