NOTES for Co1 9:11-12

The question of compensating those who carry out ministries in the Church has never been simple. It might seem that, if this is truly a calling, one could naturally expect a person not to demand money for something that is an inseparable part of their life. Indeed, genuine Christian ministry is never merely external activity, an occupation, or a job. Some ministries, of course, require careful thought and even planning; inwardly, however, for the person performing it, every ministry—even one that has been carefully considered and planned—derives from their spiritual life and is one of its outward expressions, as natural and free as that life itself. It would seem strange to pay someone simply for living, especially when they live in accordance with their true nature, without forcing themselves to do anything but, on the contrary, unfolding in all their fullness.

And yet Paul says that even such ministry deserves, if not payment, then at least material support. This is understandable: Christianity has never been marked by a spiritualism that denies the world to the point of utterly disregarding it. The Kingdom is not of this world, of course, but it enters this world and transfigures it, and this entry takes very concrete forms in the lives and work of very concrete people. The fact that the Kingdom is not of this world does not mean that it is immaterial or that its inhabitants have no concern for material things. Insofar as the world is material, God cares both about matter and about material needs. Speaking of the Kingdom, Jesus calls His followers to seek first the Kingdom and its righteousness, saying that everything else “will be added.” It is precisely these other things that pagans seek; Christians differ from them not by denying these “other things,” but by the order of priorities that shapes their lives.

The material dimension clearly cannot take first place for a Christian, but it would be strange to expect Christians to reject it completely and deliberately. Some people, of course, consciously choose the path of total poverty, renouncing every possession, even those minimally necessary for life in society. They deliberately withdraw to the margins of life and become outsiders within it. But this is not the only possible choice for a Christian. This world is unlikely to allow Christians to succeed in the conventional worldly sense, and an ordinary Christian generally has no need of that. Christians who remain faithful to themselves and to Christ most often find themselves playing secondary or even tertiary roles in this world. But this does not mean renouncing property completely, and therefore money as well. The apostle understands perfectly well that ministers of the Church need material support and an income just like anyone else. To those around them, their activity is indeed work, and the worker deserves sustenance.