Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 1 (NRSV)
This letter was written by Paul possibly around 54 AD from Ephesus. Corinth was a center of trade and had a substantial Jewish population. It had a wide variety of religious practices as it had ports on the east and the west being situated on an isthmus.
We are seeing division plaguing the early church community there. Could there have been as many as four factions already springing up as one could infer from verse twelve? People will often major in the minors in my experience. We may tend to focus on the miniscule because this is often easier to deal with than the larger issues.
That mole hill will take all day to climb!
Paul reminds them that even Baptism is subservient to the message of the cross.
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| Christians try to live their lives in the shadow of the cross and all that brings. |
Baptism should be a reminder of dying with Christ. In immersion, the symbolism of being put in the ground and rising again is clear. This proclamation of death would seem foolish to many of the day. The wisdom of the Greeks would be present in any number of Corinthian teachers. Paul seems to be saying that the cross is standing against this wisdom.
The cross is a stumbling block to Jewish Corinthians because it seems to be the antithesis of who the Messiah was thought to be. It is foolishness to Gentiles because it counters the lofty nature of the present rulers of the day. Power and riches held our imagination more easily than suffering and death. As we fast forward to the 21st century, has anything changed?
To lift up a suffering servant seems foolish. And yet, in Christ, we seem to proclaim that the real foolishness revolves around the fantasy that power and riches create life. Is power lasting? If your wealth is tied into the stock market, it can also be fleeting and seemingly random. But death comes to all of us.
And in Christ, we find that resurrection overcomes death - the good news! It is a proclamation of life even to those that are suffering. We find that in Christ, our suffering is temporary.
In the midst of these larger truths, is it any wonder that Paul sees their divisions as getting side-tracked? For if we loved one another as Christ loves us, we would see the larger ministry of life.
Am I willing to die to the self? Can I lift up my neighbor - especially those who are suffering? Can I offer them life in Christ? What would this do to divisions that seem to loom so large?
It may be that I need a little perspective. I think this is what Paul is trying to give us.
Prayer for the Day:
God of us all, how do you see us? Do you relish in our differences? Do you find them silly? When we contemplate the mystery of death... when we grieve one we love... our differences don't seem so large. Help us to place the things we debate in the shadow of the cross. May this remind us of the life available to all people. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Photo by Jay Hsu via Flickr.com. Used under the Creative Commons license.
All scripture quoted is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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