Episode 82: Year B – 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time
In this episode of the Sunday Catholic Word, we focus on three details in all, two of the three coming from the second reading, taken from 2 Corinthians 5:6-10. The relevant apologetical topics are Purgatory and the causal effect that our good works have on receiving eternal life at judgment. The third detail, found in the Gospel reading Mark 4:26-34, relates to the topic of Sacred Tradition.
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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 in all, two of the three coming from the second reading, taken from 2 Corinthians 5:6-10. The relevant apologetical topics are Purgatory and the causal effect that our good works have on receiving eternal life at judgment. The third detail, found in the Gospel reading Mark 4:26-34, relates to the topic of Sacred Tradition.
Let’s start with the second reading, again, taken from 2 Corinthians 5:6-10. Here’s what Paul writes,
We are always courageous,
although we know that while we are at home in the body
we are away from the Lord,
for we walk by faith, not by sight.
Yet we are courageous,
and we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord.
Therefore, we aspire to please him,
whether we are at home or away.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
so that each may receive recompense,
according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.
The first detail worth highlighting is Paul’s statement, “We would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord.” Some Protestants argue that since the Bible says that for a Christian to be “away from the body” is to be “at home with the Lord,” there can’t be any intermediate state in the afterlife. Protestants who appeal to this passage often fail to realize that Paul doesn’t say “to be away from the body is to be at home with the Lord.” Paul simply says, “While we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord” and that “we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”
Protestants may reply that although Paul doesn’t exactly say what the challenge claims, that’s what he means. Are they right? Does the logic follow? Does the statement, “We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” mean the same as “To be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord”?
Suppose I’m at work and I’m wishing I could instead be away from work and at home. Can we conclude from this that if I’m away from work, I must automatically be at home? Doesn’t seem like it. I could be away from work eating lunch at McDonald’s. I could be away from work on my way home but sitting in traffic.
So it’s fallacious to conclude from this verse that once away from the body, a Christian must immediately be present with the Lord.
The second detail that’s relevant for apologetics is Paul’s teaching, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.” Paul teaches here that recompense is given on account of works. The implication is that for works that are good, there will be a good recompense. For works that are bad, there will be bad recompense.
Now, on the surface this seems to be a slam dunk that Paul is teaching our good works have a causal role to play when it comes to receiving our final reward of heaven at judgment. But some Protestants might counter that Paul isn’t talking about heaven here. Rather, he’s simply talking about receiving rewards in heaven. That’s what our good works have a causal relation to.
One problem with this counter is that it fails to consider the juxtaposition with the recompense for bad works. Presumably, our Protestant friend views the recompense for bad works done in the body as hell. The recompense for bad works can’t be anything that has to with heaven, since there’s no punishment in heaven. Surely, most Protestants wouldn’t want to say this negative recompense for bad works refers to purgatory. So, the only alternative is hell.
Now, if the recompense for bad works is hell, then it follows that the recompense for the good works is heaven. And if heaven, then we have revelation that our good works have a causal role to play in receiving final salvation, or heaven.
Another problem with this counter is that it fails to read what Paul says here in light of Romans 2:6-7, where he gives the same teaching but explicitly says eternal life is given as a recompense for the good done in the body. Paul writes, “For [God] will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.”
Then, immediately following this, Paul identifies the recompense for bad that’s done in the body: “but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury.”
When 2 Corinthians 5:6 -8 is read with Romans 2:6-7 in mind, it becomes clear the recompense for doing good in the body that Paul speaks of in 2 Cor. 5:6-8 is eternal life, and the recompense for the bad done in the body is damnation.
Our second reading for this upcoming 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time, therefore, gives us opportunity to reflect on the causal role that our works have in attaining our final salvation.
Let’s now turn to the detail in the Gospel reading, which is taken from Mark 4:26-34. The verses that I want to highlight are 33-34, which reads,
With many such parables
he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.
Without parables he did not speak to them,
but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.
The key detail is Mark’s explanation that Jesus “explained everything in private” to his disciples. The topic that this detail relates to is Sacred Tradition.
It’s often asked, “What makes up Sacred Tradition as distinct from Scripture?” Well, this passage sheds light on the answer: the meaning of Christ’s words. What the Gospel writers give us is an account of what Jesus says in various teachings. Every now and then they give us some brief explanation as to what Jesus meant. But the majority of what they record doesn’t come with such explanations.
For example, John simply records what Jesus says in the Bread of Life Discourse: “eat my flesh . . . drink my blood.” He doesn’t provide us with what Jesus may have taught them concerning the teaching, namely, that he intended his words to be taken with a realistic understanding and not as a figure of speech.
So, how are we to know exactly what Jesus meant?
Well, the words themselves aren’t sufficient, since Christians vary in their interpretations of the words. Sure, Christians give their reasons for their interpretation. But differing interpretations remain.
To settle such disputes, we have to appeal to the Christian tradition, which is the early Church’s lived experience of and reflection on these words. And when we do so, we discover that the meaning embedded in that Christian heritage is a realistic understanding, not a figurative understanding.
The same is true with other teachings of Jesus. Simply appealing to what Christ says, which is what the apostolic writings record, isn’t sufficient. We need to appeal to the lived experience of and reflection on the words of Christ to get the meaning behind Christ’s words. Thus, the need for Sacred Tradition.
Conclusion
Well, my friends, that does it for this episode of the Sunday Catholic Word. There are three apologetical topics that the second reading and Gospel reading for this upcoming 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B give rise to:
- Purgatory,
- The causal role good works have in our final salvation, and
- Sacred Tradition.
These topics are definitely worth reflecting on in preparing for apologetical discussions.
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I hope you have a blessed 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B. Until next time, God Bless!