Chris Campbell
Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.
Beloved in the body of Christ,
Today is the feast of Saint Marina the Monk, an amazing person who, with his father, gave away all their wealth to live as monks. As such, the Gospel paired with his feast is Luke 18:18-30.
What I find remarkable about Marina is that not only did he live as Jesus asks us to, he did so while also being a transgender man in the 5th century.
Marina, born Mariam, joined his father in giving up their possessions and becoming a monk.
After his father died, an unmarried woman accused Marinos (Marina) of being the father of her child. With this the abbott chastised him.
"When Marina realized what was happening he fell to his knees and wept, confessing his sinfulness (without explicitly stating how he had sinned) and asking forgiveness. The fact that there was no attempt to deny the fault made the abbot so furious that he told Marina to leave the monastery. He left at once and remained outside the gates as a beggar. When the pregnant woman gave birth, Marina raised the child. After ten years the monks convinced the abbot to allow Marina to return to the monastery.
At the age of forty, Marina became ill and died. While cleaning the body, the monks discovered that he was in fact, born a woman. This made them very distressed. During the funeral prayers, one of the monks, who was blind in one eye, received full sight again after he touched the body."
What I see here is the truth of Christian love, proved by a miracle of God. It is not about judgment, or persecution of the "other". It is purely about following Christ!
Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not get back very much more in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.
Throughout history we have seen scripture used to justify atrocities, but this is not Christianity, this is the sinfulness of humanity corrupting the word of God. This was the same type of perversion of scripture which Christ himself argued against in his time!
As such we must remember what it is Christ asks of us: it is not to judge, it is not to hate, it is not to hurt or kill those who we might disagree with or dislike. No, Christ asks us to love, to love all our neighbors as we love ourselves!
Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.
May you live in Truth, Peace, and Love,
—Chris Campbell