God was pleased to reveal his son to me, so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles. Following his assertion that the message of the Gospel is revealed from Christ himself (with the implication that no one can pretend to be the sole holder of the Gospel message), Paul in today’s First Reading presents his “credentials” in order to show those who were doubting him why he too is a preacher of the Good News. He says that if preaching the Good News was of human origin, if it were given to those considered “worthy,” then he would never have dreamt of preaching the Gospel. In the eyes of men, no one was more undeserving of being sent to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ than him (Paul). Paul says that he was more zealous than his contemporaries in defending his Jewish faith, going as far as persecuting the very message that he was now preaching (cf. Galatians 1:14). If this was not reason enough to credit preaching of the Good News to revelation and a special election (divine intervention), then Paul did not know what else to say to defend the authenticity of his preaching.
Paul, as are preachers of the Good News, had been set apart for the ministry by God himself, not because of his qualities or skills, but because of God’s grace. Preachers of the Good News need this grace because the message they are sent to preach is not theirs but rather that of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this very grace is the content of the message he preaches, nothing else. May we, who are both recipients and preachers of the Gospel message be aware of our own unworthiness so that we can open ourselves to the graces that God makes available to us. May we, like St. Paul, credit God for using us as vehicles of God’s grace.