Sixteenth Day of Lent: The Work of the Church

The discussion of love which Liberum Arbitrium had begun in Passus XVI he continues in Passus XVII, with a special emphasis on how love should displayed in the work of the church and especially in the lives of pastors.  He begins with the great hermits of the ancient church, such as St. Giles, St. Anthony, and St. Mary of Egypt, who were neither salaried nor begged, but received their sustenance from God alone.  Today, unfortunately, says Liberum Arbitrium, the clergy are so greedy that they will even accept the financial support of those who have earned it unjustly and dishonestly.  No wonder, when the pastors are so corrupt and unholy, that non-Christians remain unconverted to the faith of the Church!

            “And what is Holy Church?” said I.  “Love,” he said,

            “Life in love and truth in one belief and law,

            A love-knot of truth and of true belief,

            All kinds of Christians cleaving to one purpose,

            Giving, selling, lending without guile, without deceit.”

Will’s next question is a particular one:  Do Muslims know of this love?  (Remember that Langland lived in a time where, far more than even in ours, Christian and Muslim nations found themselves at odds with each other).   Liberum Arbitrium responds by relating a medieval legend that Mohammed had been a Christian who aspired to become Pope, but, when his ambitions were frustrated, instead turned his impressive ingenuity to convincing people he was a prophet:  if Christian preachers imitated his ingenuity, but on the side of truth, surely all those who now follow Mohammed would be converted to Christianity!  Unfortunately, bishops and pastors prefer to stay at home and enrich themselves, instead of going forth to “teach all nations” as Christ commanded them (Matthew 28:19).  But Liberum Arbitrium insists if Christian missionaries would practice the same patience and cunning that Mohammed did in the first place, the Muslim world could be brought to Christ.  After all, they already believe in God:  they simply need to be taught about Jesus and the Trinity.

In short, bishops and preachers need to be willing to imitate God’s love for humanity:

            “For when the high King of heaven sent his Son to earth

            He worked many miracles to convert humankind,

            For an example that men should perceive by sober reason

            That they could not be saved but through mercy and grace

            And through penance and suffering and perfect faith.”

In continuing Christ’s mission to bring the message of salvation to all humanity, many bishops and preachers have suffered martyrdom and proved themselves willing to die, like Christ, for their flocks.  Such pastors, full of the true, self-giving love of Jesus, should be the example for all leaders of the church.

Piers Plowman is a challenging book to read if you are a pastor, and no part of it more challenging than the discourse of Liberum Arbitrium in this passus.  Liberum Arbitrium not only places the blame for the church’s failures squarely on the clergy but also lays out a demanding ideal of personal holiness and simplicity, missionary zeal, and self-offering love.  We are to be like Mary of Egypt, who lived on a few loaves of bread for her thirty years as an ascetic in the desert, depending wholly on God’s love.  We are to be as shrewd and driven as his fictional Mohammed and as eager as the first apostles to go wherever the call to preach the gospel takes us.  Most of all, we are to work tirelessly for the conversion of the world as Christ did and be ready even to die for our flocks like him.

Liberum Arbitrium’s vision is certainly demanding, some might even say impossible, but it does have one simple virtue:  it takes both the promises and the commands of the Bible seriously.  This is not something to be overlooked, because most all of us, whether we’re pastors or not, spend a lot of our time finding ways to make God demand less of us.  “Oh, he doesn’t actually mean it would be good to sell all your possessions; that’s just hyperbole!”—we’ve all had conversations like that, and usually, somewhere in our conscience, we’re aware of what we’re doing.  But the thing is, we don’t just demand less of ourselves, we also expect less of God, and it’s because we expect less of God that we demand less of ourselves.  We just look at the commands God gives, and we forget that before God gave us the commands, he had already given us the power to live them out by sending us his Son and his Holy Spirit.  We’re not on our own, and so we don’t have to water them down to just what we’re capable of.

Ask yourself what you actually expect God to do in your life.  Help you make it through the day?  Provide the occasional vaguely comforting presence?  Carry you when you can’t walk beside him?  The Bible tells you and Jesus tells you to expect much more.  They tell you to expect your sinfulness to be forgiven and destroyed.  They tell you to expect to be empowered to love your enemies as you love yourself.  They tell you to expect to be empowered to communicate God’s salvation to others.  They tell you to expect to conquer death.

“Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.  He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money—not even an extra tunic.  Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there.  Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”  They departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.”  (Luke 9:1-6)