I am a sinner

Miserable one that I am! 

It’s easy to think of Paul as some kind of superhero with powers that made him invincible and immune to sin or temptation.   But when he wrote to introduce himself to the community in Rome, Paul sounds surprisingly frank and self-revelatory.   I’m just a wretched sinner.   I try, but I fail.   Thank God for his mercy!   He certainly doesn’t sound like a spiritual champion or a great leader.   Instead of burnishing his image, he focuses on his weakness and failures.

Perhaps Paul had a number of reasons for doing this.   It’s certainly a good strategy for effective evangelization… keep a humble attitude that remembers you are just like everyone else.    You may even stretch things a bit to make your point clear.    But this is not just a strategy or hyperbole or false humility for Paul.   He is being honest.

Paul, fearless evangelist, tireless builder of churches, brilliant scholar, and “blameless” under the Law, was always careful to make sure that God was glorified in his life.   He was aware of what Jesus had done for him and continued to do through him, and he wanted to make sure everyone else knew it too.   Paul was convinced that he had been justified by God’s grace, not his own effort.    He knew that no matter how many “heroic” things he did, it was only by the grace of the Lord that he could stand before God freed from guilt and condemnation.   Only grace could give him the ability to overcome sin.   Only grace could secure his humility.

St. Augustine tells us something very similar.   “Do you wish to be great?” he asks.   “Then begin from the least.   Do you desire to construct a tall and lofty building?    Think first about the foundation of humility.   The higher your structure is to be, the deeper you must dig the foundation” .

Both Augustine and Paul were quick to point out that the real superhero is Jesus.   Both of them assure us that whether we are the most flagrant sinner or the most upright of saints, we owe everything to God’s grace in Jesus Christ.   He is the only One deserving of our praise.

word among us