Giving and Receiving

A Reflection on the Second Reading for Sunday, October 1st, 2023:
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Philippians
​2.1-5

Brothers and sisters: If there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, then make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

Two themes stand out to me in the second reading for this Sunday. First, the importance of our shared faith community, and second, the importance of putting others’ needs and interests before our own. 

The opening words of this letter vary across biblical translations, but I find the New International Version’s translation especially helpful because it makes the connection between unity in faith and like-mindedness with Christ so clear: “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being in one spirit and of one mind.”

Throughout my life, I have been blessed many times over by the friends and community that I found through church. There’s something incredibly special about being with people who share not just the same beliefs and values but the same core – the same deep trust in a loving God that both roots you in the present but also gives you purpose to keep looking forward, no matter what obstacles and suffering life throws at you. As a child, I used to make lists of my favourite books, movies, and activities (The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, My Fair Lady, and Lego, for reference – yes, I was quite the nerdy young lady!) and ask my classmates and peers what their favourites were, thinking that matching interests were the foundation for a good friendship. As an adult, I’ve learned that while interests make for good conversation, they’re not enough. 

We are also called to put others first – our families, our friends, our neighbours, our communities, and indeed, strangers. This is being Christlike. This is sharing in the Spirit. This is experiencing God’s love and desiring that everyone else encounter and experience it too. Now, personally benefitting from this altruistic service to others is easy. But living it, giving it, offering it – that is the hard part. I’m an only child (which might explain some of my nerdiness…) and have lived most of my adult life on my own, away from family and without roommates. I have a tendency to put my own needs and interests first. I don’t always recognize when my independence is actually selfishness, or I push for my own preferences rather than honour and lift up what others want and need. 

This letter calls me to be humble. To have a mind and a heart that are as much like Jesus as I can manage in my broken humanity – to put others before me and to love deeply, with compassion and sympathy. My friends and church community have shared their love and kindness so willingly and unstintingly from their deep wells of faith. In the longer form of this reading, Paul reminds us that Christ, though the Son of God, “emptied himself [...] he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a Cross” (Philippians 2.7-8).

Lord, help me to be humble and share back the love with which I have been blessed. Let your love for me be a gift that I give back readily to everyone around me. Help me to look to the interests of others and put them first – because in doing so, what I’ll really be doing is putting You above all things. 




Kim Tan

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