Wasabi Gospel Meets First World Problems

"Remember Jesus Christ," Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:8. Last week, we looked at how Paul is urging Timothy to remember who he is and Whose he is by remembering to keep the true gospel central. This week, we looked at that same text from a different angle. "Remember Jesus Christ," Paul urges. Remember what he lived for and what he died for. Remember what he taught, and remember how he died.

Paul talks to Timothy about suffering. It comes with the territory. Don't be afraid of it. Christ suffered and died for us, and living according to the gospel isn't going to be easy. If you are going to follow in the footsteps of Christ, you, too, can expect to suffer.

These are hard words for us to understand in our social context. I don't really know much about suffering - really suffering - for the gospel. It makes me think about how much I'm really willing to sacrifice for my faith.

I recently read a book by Shawn Wood called Wasabi Gospel. Wood talks about some of those "hard sayings" of Jesus that pack the kind of punch you get from a healthy dose of wasabi. (Never tried wasabi? It's a fiery condiment meant to be taken in very small doses. To get an idea of its potency, watch this clip):

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The "wasabi" part of the gospel includes sayings about giving away our possessions, putting others first, sacrificing ourselves to help others, and being a servant who expects nothing in return. I think, overall, we find living up to these standards to be pretty difficult. And sometimes, even when we choose to do things for others, we find that our actions resulted in personal gain, after all. (And, if we're honest, we might even find that we were seeking some form of personal gain in our actions.)

And so we ponder the age-old question: Is there such a thing as a selfless act? Can we really give ourselves to others, gaining nothing in return?

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Sometimes our attempts to act selflessly look more like pistachio ice cream than wasabi. Rarely do we find ourselves truly suffering for the gospel.

I suggest we should pray about this more - ask God to show us what sacrifices we are called to make. And maybe we will see this more clearly if we work to eliminate the clutter of what are known as "First World Problems." We have a whole host of things that we perceive as issues in our lives - everything from not having the right shoes to go with a new outfit to having the satellite signal go down - that aren't issues at all in the great global scale of human suffering.

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We may find it hard to let go of all of our "First World Problems," but prayerful consideration might help us see them for what they really are. And maybe this will leave room for us to consider what it truly does look like for us to suffer for Jesus Christ.

The Monday Connection: 

• What "First World Problems" are you experiencing? Pray that God will reveal these to you and help you to not give them more importance than they deserve.
• Read some of the "wasabi gospel" passages, i.e. Matthew 19:16-30 (sell your possessions and give the money to the poor), Mark 9:33-35 (those who will be first must be least of all and servant of all), Matthew 5:38-48 (loving your enemy). How do these words of Jesus speak to your life?

The Prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Teach us, good Lord,

to serve you as you deserve, 

to give and not to count the cost,

to fight and not to heed the wounds,

to toil and not to seek for rest,

to labour and not to ask for any reward,

save that of knowing that we do your will.

Amen.