Scientists tell us that if you take six molecules of carbon dioxide and combine it with twelve molecules of water, then add light, the result will be one molecule of glucose sugar, six molecules of oxygen, and six molecules of water. This process, known as photosynthesis, makes the world as we know it possible. Carbon dioxide, which is exhaled by all mammals, is converted into oxygen which allows us to breathe. Plants, which use this photosynthesis process, make our world possible. But, photosynthesis without light is not possible. The chemical reaction will not occur without light.
Light is an essential element in our lives. Light brings warmth to our earth and our feelings. We feel more comfortable in the light. Darkness is cold; it brings fear and danger. Light also gives us strength. We feel more confident and strengthened in will when we walk in the light. Light gives us direction as well. We can proceed forward when we walk in the light; we know which way to go. With the aid of the light we can see the path, the road of our daily journey as well as that of our lives.
Photosynthesis, a scientific phenomenon, and the light that makes it possible provides the created world with its formula for life. This process allows the world to function. Thus, it is in every possible way the recipe for life. Follow it and life becomes possible. While the world certainly needs a recipe to sustain its life, we equally need a formula to discover and attain the eternal life which is God's promise to all who believe. The scriptures, capped by our Second Reading from Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, provides the formula and path we need to follow.
God has demonstrated the path to eternal life throughout the period that theologians call salvation history. Like all recipes, God's formula and path require close attention on our part. If we follow the plan then we will find the goal, but if we take another route the result will be much less than we desire. God initiated the plan with Abraham, the first great Jewish patriarch and our father in the faith. In the book of Genesis we read how God spoke to Abraham. The Lord promised the patriarch progeny: "I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sand that is on the seashore" (Genesis 22:17). The recipe, the path that Yahweh gave to Abraham, was rather generic. God asked that Abraham and his people place their faith in God and follow his commands with the promise that he, the Lord, would be with the people every step of the way. There was nothing to fear; there was only the need for trust. Generations later, when the Israelites found themselves in bondage in Egypt and they cried out to the Lord, the agreement was formalized and made more clear. The great stories of the Passover, exodus from Egypt, and giving of the Law are central to Jewish self-understanding. In an annual ritual from the time of Moses, Jews have expressed their commitment to God through Passover. God, in turn, left the people with a more specific path or recipe for being God's people. The Law, decalogue, or Ten Commandments, as it is variously called, provides a list of rules for following the Lord. As we know, some of these commandments are concerned with our relationship with God and others of our relationships with one another. Some of these rules are proscriptions of behavior and others are prescriptions for life. Through the decalogue, God made the path to eternal life much more specific.
The Hebrew Scriptures tell the long story of the up and down relationship between Yahweh and his people. God was ever faithful to the covenant and gave the people all that was necessary to find and follow the path toward life, but often the people, for various reasons, chose other paths. Prophets were sent before, during, and after the infamous Babylonian exile to point out the errors of the people, especially religious leaders, and to direct them along the right path. Still the people failed to heed the unmistakable warning of God. God sent the Prophet Jeremiah (31:31, 33b) to renew the covenant and provide another important part of the recipe to eternal life. This renewal was to be written on the hearts of the people. "The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.... I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
The path to eternal life was made more clear and specific with the ministry and message of Jesus. Christ spoke in generic terms about reconciliation, loving God and neighbor, demonstrating an attitude of peace, and the need for prayer, but he was also very specific in many areas of what the recipe of eternal life required. Jesus often, and in varied ways, spoke of the need for personal conversion and daily renewal. In his conversation with the Pharisee Nicodemus, who came to Jesus at night, we have the essence of the Lord's message. Jesus told him, "You must be born anew" (John 3:7b). Nicodemus did not understand the Lord's words, thinking only of a physical rebirth, not a spiritual one. Some people have seen this call as a one-time conversion to the understanding that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, but many others, such as the scripture scholar, Marcus Borg, see Jesus' words as a call to daily conversion. We must answer the call to follow the recipe that Jesus lays out. In order to do this, however, we must better understand what that recipe is and how to follow it.
Jesus describes the path, the basic recipe, by addressing the idea of renewal in Christ through a greater concentration on the things of God and God's people and less on our own needs and desires. In John's Gospel, Jesus says, "Unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat, but if it dies it produces much fruit." In the synoptics the Lord presents the same message in varied ways. Jesus told his disciples, "Whoever wants to be first must be the last of all and servant of all" (Mark 9:35). In another context, Jesus put it this way, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 18:24-25).
In essence Jesus is saying that the recipe for eternal life is not about me only, but rather our ability to give of ourselves for others. This message is dramatically presented in Matthew's famous vision of the final judgment in chapter 25. Interestingly, here Jesus tells his disciples, and all of us as well, that it is not right belief that gains us the eternal life we seek, but rather how we treat our sisters and brothers. Clearly the recipe has now focused on right action. The Christian life is about our relationships with one another.
Saint Paul, the great evangelist and teacher, realized that Jesus' message for the recipe for eternal life needed to be amplified. Last week he spoke of the unified community that we must seek; now we must see how that community, individually and collectively, attains salvation. Paul begins, in a general way like Jesus, speaking of the need to be renewed in Christ. He wrote, "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see everything has become new!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). Paul was renewed in a very dramatic way, but certainly this was only the beginning of a process of daily conversion that was played out in his lived experience.
Thus, Paul presents to the Christian community at Ephesus a series of very specific ideas that form for him the recipe for right treatment of others and thus the path to eternal life. First, Paul speaks of putting away falsehood and speaking the truth. If we are to treat others with dignity we cannot deal in untruth. As Jesus himself said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (John 8:32). Paul then speaks of the need to rid ourselves of anger, bitterness, and wrath. We must not allow the sun to set on our wrath. In other words, we must let go of the things that keep us apart from one another. We are to live peaceably. The next ingredient in Paul's recipe is the need for honest work. Paul was a tentmaker and thus a laborer who knew and probably experienced the human tendency to work for ourselves alone and thus to short-circuit things and possibly use an unethical practice or two. Thus, he tells the Ephesians to labor with their own hands for the betterment of all. The apostle places charity in his recipe for eternal life. He calls his readers to give to those in need. Our charity to others is not only in material possessions but in time and attitude as well. Charity requires that we realize that all is gift and, therefore, is not ultimately ours. All belongs to God and, thus, all must be shared with God's children.
Saint Paul's recipe continues by an exhortation to right and proper speech. Again, he realized that humans often grow angry at others. Thus, he tells the people that they must say only things that build up and allow the people to be filled with the grace of God. Speech that tears others down, slander of any kind, must be eliminated from our daily lives. He encourages the people to not grieve the Holy Spirit; do not try the patience of God as the Jews had done so frequently in the past. Paul closes by encouraging the Ephesians to be kind to one another and forgiving, as Christ has forgiven them. Paul thus presents to the Christian community at Ephesus a long list of ingredients, but in essence he is telling the people that the formula for eternal life is centered in how we treat one another.
We are all familiar with recipes of various things we enjoy. Experience in the kitchen tells us that if we follow the directions to the letter, add the right ingredients, follow the proper procedure, and bake things at the proper temperature and amount of time, the final result will be what we hope and expect. In similar ways, if we follow the plan, procedure, or recipe for our daily work things will come out as we hope. Whether we are filing reports, preparing presentations, studying for an examination in school, or simply driving home after a hard day at the office, there are generally accepted recipes for success. We all know them, specific as they may be for individuals but common as they are for many or most. We know as well that if we choose not to follow the recipe, the end will not be what we want or intend. The choice is ours!
The challenge to fulfill the recipe for eternal life is twofold. First, we must be willing to follow the path marked out by Christ. Too often, however, we think that we know the path better than Jesus. We place greater trust in our own ability, knowledge, confidence. We value our self-autonomy over following a plan that we did not create. We have a "do it our own way" attitude. We sometimes feel somewhat self-righteous and think that we are better than others. We can, therefore, follow our own plan. Yet, when we think like this, God, sometimes gently and other times more forcefully, reminds us of our need for God. A simple story demonstrates how God can correct such an attitude of self-righteousness. There was a woman who had a reputation for being a very holy person. She came to church every Sunday. In fact, she came to church every day. In fact, she often came to church more than once per day. A good friend asked her, "How many times do you come to church in a year — over 400?" The question intrigued the women, so she decided to start keeping count. She bought a large box with a lid in which she cut a whole and put a lock on it. She hid the key in a safe place that only she knew. Each time she returned from church she placed a stone in the box. She never failed upon returning home from church to place a stone in the box.
As the year drew on, the woman wondered how many stones were in the box. She was certain that the box was very heavy so decided that she needed a strong man in the village to help her lift it outside. When the man arrived to help she said, "Be careful, it is very heavy!" The man lifted the box effortlessly. "This box is very light," he proclaimed. "You don't need me to help you lift it." The woman went to her secret hiding place to obtain the key. She opened the box and when she peered in she was speechless. The box was almost empty; there were only five small pebbles inside.
It took a couple of days for her to recover from the shock of the almost empty box, but when she did, she went to the local pastor and told him the whole story. With kind words he told her, "Your box tells us that when you came to church, God was not central in your mind and your neighbors were not central in your prayers. It is clear that most of the time you were thinking how pious and holy you are and how everyone ought to know how devoted you are to the church. The pebbles are a sign that only five times have you entered church with a heart turned to God." True worship is not the number of times we worship, but our attitude when we worship. Yes, God will show us the correct path, even if we are humiliated in the process.
The other great challenge in following the recipe of eternal life is to help others follow this path. As the light is essential to photosynthesis, so must we provide the light to others to light their path to Christ. This way is certainly the most difficult, but Jesus, understanding the challenge nonetheless, told us directly what was necessary: "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matthew 7:13-14). The basic call of Christianity tells us that we do not live alone; we are a community. Thus, we have a responsibility to assist our brothers and sisters in their efforts to find and live the recipe of eternal life. We might not think it is our job; we may be too preoccupied with ourselves and our immediate family, but Jesus' message of service to our brothers and sisters is crystal clear.
While there are many paths in life, and at times we might feel we are in a maze, there is one and only one path that leads to eternal life. Throughout salvation history we have been shown the path. Paul, taking his lead from Jesus, knew the tradition. He experienced conversion on the road to Damascus and knew with complete certainty that Jesus had the recipe for eternal life. We know from science that the created world can only exist and function through the process of photosynthesis. It provides our world its basic sustenance and gives us life, but Jesus provides the more important recipe for life eternal. Let us, therefore, listen to Saint Paul (1 Corinthians 2:9), follow his lead, and find the gift which he has described so well: "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, not the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him."