There has been an influential heresy to mislead
gullible “Christians” and “would-be Christians” to be convinced that
faithfulness is measured by material wealth. And it is called “prosperity
gospel”. This is not only a heterodoxy but a scam to skim off money from them
to fatten those who preach and propagate such a false teaching. Those who
preach the heresy of “prosperity gospel” are subject to these harsh rebuking
words of our Lord:
Woe
to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup
and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind
Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be
clean (Matthew 23:25-26).
The Pharisees were known to be lovers of money (Luke
16:14).
And the Gospel Reading of the Memorial of St. Ignatius
of Antioch (Luke 12:13-21) is fitting to address the problem of the “prosperity
gospel” heresy and the hypocrisy of those who preach and practice this heresy.
In the Gospel Reading, Jesus warns:
Take
care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does
not consist of possessions (Luke 12:15).
Following this, Jesus gives the parable of “rich fool”
whose wealth and life were taken by God for his insatiable greed.
The bottom line of the “prosperity gospel” heresy and
hypocrisy is greed.
Given that he was a passionate defender of the
orthodoxy of the teaching of the catholic apostolic Church as Bishop of
Antioch, Syria, St. Ignatius of Antioch would be shepherding his flock with a
warning not to be tempted by such a heretic teaching but to abide by Christ for
his grace, perhaps, citing words of St. Paul of Tarsus, as found in the First
Reading of the Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch (Ephesians 2:1-10).
Those who are easily duped by a heresy like the
“prosperity gospel” are more likely to live out of their carnal desires. So
they seek wealth and comfort, misunderstanding that such are their “rewards”
for faithfulness to God. They are not seeking the Kingdom of God but building
their own “kingdom on earth” as the rich fool kept building and expanding the
storage of his wealth (Luke 12:16-21).
The truth is that God’s blessings may not necessarily
come to give earthly comfort and pleasure provided by earthly wealth. Rather,
God’s grace of love enables us to persevere hardship in our earthly lives and grow
in genuine Christian eschatological hope, as it is poured out through the Holy
Spirit (i.e. Romans 5:3-5). And this is measured by the growth of faith.
St. Ignatius of Antioch was true to his teaching,
which was faithful to the original teaching of Christ. What was so true of
Ignatius was not only his teaching but also his life itself. As Christ offered
up his body to the hands of the evil of the world as the Good Shepherd who lays
down his life to save his sheep (John 10:15, 18), so did St. Ignatius of
Antioch as to replicate Christ’s victory on the Cross, offering up his bodily
life to the hands of the evil of the Romans. His martyrdom became an object of
sadistic entertainment in the colosseum of Rome, being devoured by lions.
The evil-tainted world laughed with pathetic pleasure witnessing the death of St. Ignatius of Antioch. But those who were true to their faith and the teaching of Christ, as learned from Ignatius the Bishop of Antioch, saw his martyrdom as another victory of Christian faith. To see this way, one must live a life by the Holy Spirit, not fooled by carnal desires.
In his homily to honor St. Ignatius of Antioch, his
friend, St. John Chrysostom eulogizes Ignatius as the right kind of bishop in
light of Titus 1:7-9 for his spotless integrity to Christ and his teaching,
reflected in his character. And in his homily to honor St. Ignatius of Antioch,
St. John Chrysostom further says, calling us to live a life of faith-based
conscience for integrity to Christ and his teaching, like St. Ignatius of
Antioch:
For
coming hither and beholding this saint, he will keep these noble possessions
unmoved, persuading his own soul to be moderate by the recollection of this
man's mighty deeds, and not suffering his conscience by the mighty deeds to be
lifted up to any self-conceit. And it is no slight thing for those in
prosperity not to be puffed up at their good fortune, but to know how to bear
their prosperity with moderation, so that the treasure is serviceable to all,
the resting place is suitable, for the fallen, in order that they may escape
from their temptations, for the fortunate, that their success may remain
secure, for those in weakness indeed, that they may return to health, and for
the healthy, that they may not fall into weakness.
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