Episode 32: Year A – 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time
In this episode of the Sunday Catholic Word, we focus on three details that are relevant to explaining and defending the Faith. The first comes from the second reading, which is taken from Rom 6:3-4, 8-11, and the relevant topics are the salvific efficacy of Baptism and the nature of justification. The remaining two details come from the Gospel reading, which is taken from Matthew 10:37-42, and the relevant topics are Jesus’ Divinity and the authority of the apostles.
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Hey everyone,
Welcome to The Sunday Catholic Word, a podcast where we reflect on the upcoming Sunday Mass readings and pick out the details that are relevant for explaining and defending our Catholic faith.
I’m Karlo Broussard, staff apologist and speaker for Catholic Answers, and the host for this podcast.
In this episode, we’re going to focus on three details that are relevant to explaining and defending the Faith. The first comes from the second reading, which is taken from Rom 6:3-4, 8-11, and the relevant topics are the salvific efficacy of Baptism and the nature of justification. The remaining two details come from the Gospel reading, which is taken from Matthew 10:37-42, and the relevant topics are Jesus’ Divinity and the authority of the apostles.
Let’s get started with the second reading. Here’s what Paul writes:
Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death?
We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death,
so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
we too might live in newness of life.
If, then, we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him.
We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more;
death no longer has power over him.
As to his death, he died to sin once and for all;
as to his life, he lives for God.
Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as dead to sin
and living for God in Christ Jesus.
The detail that we’re going to focus on is the death to sin that is a consequence of the death that occurs in baptism. Notice Paul says we were “baptized into [Christ’s] death . . . buried with him through baptism into death” and consequently, he says, we must think of ourselves as “dead to sin.”
The first thing to note about this is that baptism is not merely a symbol. Rather, baptism frees us from sin. And the nature of such freedom from sin is not merely an extrinsic declaration where God no longer holds us accountable for sin, but an interior transformation whereby sin no longer has a hold on us.
Notice Paul says that because of the baptismal death in Christ we must consider ourselves “dead to sin.” And such death, according to verse 6, which is not part of the selected reading, is a freedom from the “enslavement to sin.” Paul writes, “We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.” This is language of interior transformation.
Paul continues this line of thought in verses 17-18. He actually uses a form of the Greek word for “free” (eleutheroō) in relation to the freedom from sin that we receive in Christ:
But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free [Greek, eleutherōthentes] from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
Now, this interior freedom from sin is nothing other than salvation or justification. Paul identifies it as such in verse 7, again which is not part of the selected reading. There Paul writes, “For he who has died is freed from sin (v.7). As pointed out in Catholic circles by apologist Jimmy Akin, is that the Greek doesn’t say “freed from sin.” The Greek word translated “freed” is dikaioō, which means “to put into a right relationship (with God); acquit, declare and treat as righteous.”[i] This is the same word Paul uses when he speaks of our justification by faith: “Since we are justified [Greek, dikaiōthentes] by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). So the phrase “freed from sin” in Romans 6:7 can literally be translated “justified from sin.”
For Paul, justification can include sanctification, which is the interior renewal of the soul whereby the objective guilt of sin is removed. And that justification, or salvation, takes place in baptism.
Paul’s teaching here, therefore, reveals the spiritual efficacy of baptism and the nature of justification as an interior transformation in which we are freed from the enslavement to sin.
This has apologetical significance on two counts. First, it refutes the view among some Christians that baptism is merely a symbol and has no salvific efficacy. Second, it refutes the idea that some Christians embrace that our justification is merely an extrinsic declaration by God to be in a right relationship with Him and does not involve our interior sanctification.
Now we turn to the Gospel reading, again, taken from Matthew 10:37-42. Jesus says,
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
and whoever does not take up his cross
and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
“Whoever receives you receives me,
and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet
will receive a prophet’s reward,
and whoever receives a righteous man
because he is a righteous man
will receive a righteous man’s reward.
And whoever gives only a cup of cold water
to one of these little ones to drink
because the little one is a disciple—
The first detail that I want to draw your attention to is Jesus’ teaching that we must love him before and above all else—our family members and even our own lives. Concerning our family members, he states, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Concerning our own lives, he says, “and whoever and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” For the first-century Jews, the idea of “taking up your cross” meant death. Jesus is saying that our love for Him must come before the love that we have for our own lives. He’s claiming the entirety of our heart. He must be our primary love. In other words, He is our life’s ultimate end-goal.
Now, how could Jesus make such a claim unless He thought He was God? Only God has the prerogative to claim our heart in its entirety. and demand that we love Him above before and above all else because only He is our life’s ultimate end-goal. With this claim, the classic trilemma argument takes shape: Jesus is either a mad man, a lunatic, or God in the flesh. Given that it’s not reasonable to think Jesus is a mad man or a lunatic, He must be who He thinks He is: God.
So, Jesus’ teaching about the love we must have for Him reveals His self-understanding: He believes Himself to be God, and it’s reasonable to believe Him.
The second detail worth highlighting is Jesus’ teaching, “whoever receives you receives me.” This reveals the authority of the apostles. They were to speak on behalf of Jesus with Jesus’ authority. They were the voice of our Lord for the Christians of the first century. And notice that their relation to Jesus is parallel to the relation that Jesus has with His Father. Just as Jesus speaks with the Father’s authority, so too the apostles speak with Jesus’ authority.
Now, here’s the question: Why would Jesus intend there to be such ambassadors for him in the first century but not for centuries to come? If Jesus saw it necessary for Christians in the first century to have such an authority to speak on His behalf, then how much more would Christians of later centuries need such an authority? Much more!
Furthermore, there is no evidence in the New Testament that such a paradigm shifted or changed. Nowhere do the New Testament authors speak in a way that there would no longer be an authoritative voice for the Church beyond the 12. In fact, there is evidence that such a paradigm would continue. Take Paul’s instruction to Titus, for example: “Declare these things; exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you” (Titus 2:15). It appears that Paul views Titus to have an authority to teach akin to his as an apostle.
The significance that this line of reasoning has for apologetics is that is provides a positive argument for the continuation of authoritative voice that speaks on behalf of Christ within His Church, which in turn serves as argument against the Protestant doctrine of Sola Scriptura—the idea that after the apostles our only infallible testimony for God’s revelation is Scripture.
Conclusion
So, this upcoming 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time is not wanting when it comes to material for doing apologetics. It provides us opportunity to reflect on four issues:
- The salvific efficacy of baptism
- The nature of justification
- Jesus’ Divinity, and
- The authority of the apostles and the continuation of such authority beyond the apostles.
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I hope you have a blessed 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time. God Bless!
[i] B.M. Newman Jr., A Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament, 46. See also A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 249.