Epiphany 5, yr b, 2024

We continue today with Paul and his letter to that challenging church in Corinth.  A church that was divided between social and economic classes and in which those with influence and power seemed to lord it over the more…shall we say humble…members of the church.   The church of Corinth was in a busy, cosmopolitan city.  It was a city full of traders, sailors and more temples and cults then you could count, so even something as ordinary as going to the market became rife with potential theological and ethical issues.  Even obligations around hospitality, so important both in ancient times and now, seemed to be a cause of great controversy.

If you recall last week, I mentioned how it would be helpful to have copies of the letters that Paul was responding to…the 1st letter of the Corinthians to Paul, as it were, because we only have Paul’s side of the story.  Also that we only get section of the letter in our lectionary, so today, where Paul speaks of his ground for boasting, his obligations and his reward, we are missing the context of the 16 verses that were between last weeks reading and this.

Those verse are a rather frustrated sounding passage that seems to imply that the church in Corinth was less than generous in their hospitality towards Paul and Barnabas.

“Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?... This is my defence to those who would examine me. Do we not have the right to our food and drink? … Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living…Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is sacrificed on the altar? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing this so that they may be applied in my case. Indeed, I would rather die than that—no one will deprive me of my ground for boasting!”

That is where we pick up today.  That Paul and Barnabas will proclaim the gospel in Corinth not because they are being paid for it, not even food and board…but because their experience, their knowledge of Christ lays on them an obligation of service.  A responsibility to preach the gospel, to spread the good news with or without reward.

This is the example that Paul is putting to the church in Corinth, that our faith, our understanding, our experience of Christ is not a matter for pride, or superiority, rather it is an opportunity to serve others.  Paul teaches that he provides the gospel ‘free of charge’ as he puts it…not insisting on his rights, though certainly pointing them out! Rather in spite of their absence.  If Paul, who was a man of authority in the Jewish church, a citizen of Rome (a major a status marker), an apostle with the experience of a personal encounter with Christ, will put aside all those rights and privileges in order to serve the church than should we not do the same?  What puffs up and what builds up?

Last week, Paul told us that we need to be on guard that we don’t grow arrogant in our faith distaining others who are still young in their faith journey.  Knowledge puffs up, Paul said; love builds up.

That is what Paul is focusing on throughout this letter, creating a community that builds one another up in love.  Apparently, something that the church in Corinth struggled with understanding.  They were far too interested in exercising their rights and freedoms under Christ than seeing how their actions might influence others.

With all this status and privilege Paul had, he could exercise a great deal of authority and impose a great deal upon those he visits.  He could wield his faith like a club, insisting that his status to be respected and his position be privilege that must be paid for.   This appears to be more like what the Church in Corinth was used to doing themselves.  The privileged and rich feasting and drinking at table, while the poor and the workers sat on the floor, denied the scraps of the feast.

 Paul, insists however on living by example.

“For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I might by any means save some.”

 

It’s funny because I used to think that all this talk about being ‘under the law’ and ‘outside the law’ meant our municipal and federal laws.  As if Paul was saying that in order to win the criminals he became a criminal, and to save the adulterers he became an adulterer.  Yeah….nope, not what that means.

When Paul talks about the ‘law’ he is speaking in reference to his background as a Jew and the laws of Moses, Deuteronomy and Leviticus.  The religious and cultural laws that Jewish communities in his time were obligated to follow.  Such as not eating food sacrificed to idols, not mixing fibers, crops or dairy and meat.  These are the laws that Jewish people are under and had to obey if they wish to remain pure and faithful to God. 

So Paul says; to the Jews and those under Mosaic law, I became a Jew, that is followed their laws, in order ‘to win the Jews’  that is to build relationship in humility and respect so they are open to receiving Christ’s teaching. 

To those outside the law, Greeks, gentiles, people who had never been Jewish and were not under Mosaic law, Paul lived and respected their boundaries so as to build relationship and community in order that they may be open to receiving Christ.

To those who are weak…harkening back to those who lived meat free in order that they would not inadvertently eat meat sacrificed to idols … Paul tells us he’ll forgo any meats if eating them might lead astray those who are new to Christ’s teachings.

I do it all, says Paul, for the sake of the gospel.  Free in respect to all the laws, but voluntarily enslaved to all these restrictions for the sake of the gospel…that all people may have an opportunity to know Christ.

That is Paul’s primary goal and motivation, his purpose statement as it were.  To serve all people and build up communities in order to proclaim the gospel of Christ.   It is his prime motivation and the ministry to which he dedicated his life, his imprisonment and ultimately his death.  It is through his focus on evangelism through loving service that we are able to be here today.

            Thanks be to God who has inspired such faith and passion in Saint Paul and may we in turn, be inspired to live our lives in loving service to others that Christ may be known though all the world. amen