20260902 IMMATURE CHRISTIANS
02 September 2026, Wednesday, 22nd Week in Ordinary Time
First reading |
1 Corinthians 3:1-9 |
Neither the planter nor the waterer matters, only God, who makes things grow
Brothers, I myself was unable to speak to you as people of the Spirit: I treated you as sensual men, still infants in Christ. What I fed you with was milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it; and indeed, you are still not ready for it since you are still unspiritual. Isn’t that obvious from all the jealousy and wrangling that there is among you, from the way that you go on behaving like ordinary people? What could be more unspiritual than your slogans, ‘I am for Paul’ and ‘I am for Apollos’?
After all, what is Apollos and what is Paul? They are servants who brought the faith to you. Even the different ways in which they brought it were assigned to them by the Lord. I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but God made things grow. Neither the planter nor the waterer matters: only God, who makes things grow. It is all one who does the planting and who does the watering, and each will duly be paid according to his share in the work. We are fellow workers with God; you are God’s farm, God’s building.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 32(33):12-15,20-21 |
Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.
They are happy, whose God is the Lord,
the people he has chosen as his own.
From the heavens the Lord looks forth,
he sees all the children of men.
Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.
From the place where he dwells he gazes
on all the dwellers on the earth;
he who shapes the hearts of them all;
and considers all their deeds.
Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.
Our soul is waiting for the Lord.
The Lord is our help and our shield.
In him do our hearts find joy.
We trust in his holy name.
Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.
Gospel Acclamation | 1P1:25 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The word of the Lord remains for ever:
What is this word?
It is the Good News that has been brought to you.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 4:38-44 |
He would not allow them to speak because they knew he was the Christ
Leaving the synagogue, Jesus went to Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever and they asked him to do something for her. Leaning over her he rebuked the fever and it left her. And she immediately got up and began to wait on them.
At sunset all those who had friends suffering from diseases of one kind or another brought them to him, and laying his hands on each he cured them. Devils too came out of many people, howling, ‘You are the Son of God.’ But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ.
When daylight came he left the house and made his way to a lonely place. The crowds went to look for him, and when they had caught up with him they wanted to prevent him leaving them, but he answered, ‘I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, because that is what I was sent to do.’ And he continued his preaching in the synagogues of Judaea.
IMMATURE CHRISTIANS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 CORINTHIANS 3:1-9; LUKE 4:38-44]
As it is said, there are Christians, and there are Christians. It is true, as the responsorial psalm says, “They are happy, whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen as his own. From the heavens the Lord looks forth, he sees all the children of men. From the place where he dwells he gazes on all the dwellers on the earth; he who shapes the hearts of them all; and considers all their deeds.” Yet, whilst all of us have been chosen and baptised in Christ, some are more Christian than others. In name we are Christians, but in fact, we live like worldly people. This is so true for many Catholics. Their faith and life are not synchronised. They go to church on Sundays, give a token to the church and to charity, and perhaps say a few prayers, but their values align more with the world than with the Gospel. They can even proclaim the name of Jesus, quote Him, and make a public confession of faith, but their very lives and behaviour make such a confession hollow–and even scandalous–because no one would think well of Christianity as a result.
Precisely this was the situation during the time of St. Paul when he wrote to the Corinthians. He was dismayed at the behaviour of the Christians. They were quarrelling among themselves and dividing the community. There were groups of Christians competing with each other, seeking power, position, and recognition. Earlier on, Paul reprimanded the Corinthians for creating divisions in the church. They were quarrelling among themselves; one faction claimed to belong to Paul, another to Apollos. Paul asked, “Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptised in the name of Paul?” (1 Cor 1:10-13). But that is also what is happening in our churches, ministries, and organisations today. We side with this priest or that priest, this leader or that leader–so much so that we bring division to our community.
For this reason, Paul considered such Christians–who are divisive, reactive, ambitious, quarrelsome, competitive, full of jealousy and envy, and working for their self-interests–to be immature Christians. He wrote, “Brothers, I myself was unable to speak to you as people of the Spirit: I treated you as sensual men, still infants in Christ. What I fed you with was milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it; and indeed, you are still not ready for it since you are still unspiritual. Isn’t that obvious from all the jealousy and wrangling that there is among you, from the way that you go on behaving like ordinary people? What could be more unspiritual than your slogans, ‘I am for Paul’ and ‘I am for Apollos’?”
What does it mean to be infants in Christ? I would like to think that most of us should consider ourselves infants in Christ as long as we remain unspiritual in the way we look at life and at others. We are infants in Christ as long as we have not grown in our faith to find maturity in Christ, as St. Paul said to the Ephesians. He wrote that the church must “equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” A Christian is one who has become like Christ and grows into the Spirit and mind of Christ in thinking and living. Growing in maturity means that our lives and conduct are founded on clear doctrines and on the Word of God: “We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.” And finally, we must be mature enough to love the community and build up the community in love: “But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love” (Eph 4:12-16).
In other words, we must look at life not from a worldly and human point of view, but in Christ. St. Paul in an earlier chapter teaches us the difference between a worldly person and a spiritual person: “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual. Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny” (1 Cor 2:12-15). Writing to the Romans, Paul exhorts Christians “by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God–what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom 12:1-2).
Concretely, this means, for example, looking at our leaders from the perspective of Christ. We do not give ultimate glory to human leaders, because we are all servants of Christ. We have been given gifts, like the rest of the Christian community, to serve each other in different ways. Everything comes from the Lord. This is what St. Paul wrote: “After all, what is Apollos and what is Paul? They are servants who brought the faith to you. Even the different ways in which they brought it were assigned to them by the Lord. I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but God made things grow. Neither the planter nor the waterer matters: only God, who makes things grow. We are fellow workers with God; you are God’s farm, God’s building.” We must never divert the glory due to God to man. As leaders of the Christian community, we must do everything for the glory of God and not for our own self-interest, to boost our ego or popularity. When a church leader seeks popularity, he risks compromising the Gospel–as some do–by diluting the Word of God to suit the preferences and worldly fancies of the people. Let us not be like the demons who confessed publicly that Jesus is the Son of God, yet denied Him through their nature and rebellion.
In the Gospel, Jesus shows us what it means to act spiritually. We are told that Jesus had a busy day beforehand: preaching in the synagogue, healing Simon’s mother-in-law of her fever, curing all who were sick with various diseases, and exorcising those who were possessed. Yet we are told that the next day, early in the morning, He left for a lonely place to pray. And “the crowds went to look for him, and when they had caught up with him they wanted to prevent him leaving them, but he answered, ‘I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God to the other towns too.'” It is very telling that we are no better than the people of that time. They saw Jesus as a great preacher and miracle worker; they wanted to keep Him for themselves and later even wanted to make Him king. It was about their own interests. So too in the Church: although we call ourselves one Catholic Church, our parishes can be parochial-minded–it is always about “my parish” and, within the parish, “my organisation.” We fail to concern ourselves with sharing the Good News with those outside our parish, ministry, or organisation. We seek to build ourselves up and to be better than the rest.
This is being unspiritual because we lack the spirit of Christ, who came to proclaim the Gospel to everyone. The Lord made it clear that “this is what I was sent to do.” Jesus was conscious that He was sent by the Father to do what the Father wants, not to do His own thing. We too as Christians must never forget that we are here to serve Christ. We have been sent by those who are in charge of us–not to build our own little kingdom, but to follow Christ in bringing the Gospel to all peoples. Narrow-mindedness and forming cliques are surely signs of Christian immaturity. We are called to embody Christ in words and actions, in attitudes and values, distinguishing the essential from the non-essential, and bringing a spiritual perspective to the world. In other words, the things of this world are merely tools for us to use so that we may bring the love and joy of God into the lives of others. The goods of this world are not meant to be enjoyed only by a wealthy few; they are meant for everyone, because we are stewards of God’s gifts. Our task is to establish the Kingdom of God–the family of God–where all of us care for, love, and serve one another.
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
