10th Sunday After Pentecost The Very Rev. Steven J. Belonick 2016

Transcription

1 10th Sunday After Pentecost 2016 The Very Rev. Steven J. Belonick 2016 I. Today s epistle reading was taken from St Paul s 1 st Letter to the Corinthians. We have been reading from this letter for the past few weeks. Paul had established the church in Corinth around 50 or 51 AD. The Corinthian Church was different from the other churches that Paul had established in that it was relatively free from outside persecution. But the absence of persecution from the outside did not protect it from the enemies inside. The Christians there didn t easily shed the values of their Corinthian upbringing once they had been baptized. What do I mean? II. The City of Corinth was notorious. In fact, there was a well-known idiom used to describe someone who lived an immoral life. It was said that they lived like a Corinthian. Corinthians were noted for caring 1

2 more about the intellectual life rather than the moral life; more interested in the living the present life unfettered than the future life. This was the culture of Corinth. Besides this culture, Paul encountered other specific problems in the Church, like: rival factions, believers suing believers, greed, false beliefs, and immorality including sexual lust, incest, and drunkenness. II. So, we can understand Paul s anger and he expressed his anger by using irony and sarcasm in his letter. Let me paraphrase for you what we heard today. He wrote: Look at you. You are already full (you think you know everything). You are already rich. (You think you have nothing more to gain.) We, the apostles of Christ, are fools for Christ s sake, but you think yourself wise. We are weak, but you are strong. YOU are distinguished, but we are dishonored. We are considered the least among men, and we ve been made a spectacle. We hunger and thirst, and are poorly clothed, and 2

3 beaten, and homeless.. Paul s words are like a sharp instrument meant to puncture the pride and arrogance of the Corinthian Church. Simply, Paul warned them about succumbing to the values and standards of the fallen world, a world that they had embraced. They had become comfortable with their place in the world. They had succeeded in fitting in with society. We can t fail to hear IN Paul s words the words of Jesus to His followers: you are in the world, but not of the world. So, Paul, the loving pastor, called them out. He questioned their basic understanding of WHAT IT MEANS TO BE THE CHURCH. III. The question is pertinent today as much as it was back then because it is so easy for us to fit in. How do WE understand Church? What is its purpose in the world? There are many answers, for sure. The church is at the same time a hospital for those who suffer from sin, guilt, remorse, isolation; it is an oasis for those who are 3

4 weary in spiritual warfare; it is a place of inspiration for those who have become discouraged; it is a school for those who thirst for true knowledge; it is a banquet table where God feeds us with Himself. We could go on, but for our purposes today, and in light of Paul s warning to the Christians in Corinth who had become worldly, it is important to describe the Church as the conscience of the world. Its purpose is to point to another reality, to another ultimate value who is Christ. When Christians stand for that, then they never feel as if they fit in. And martyrdom is not to far behind. Remember Paul s words: We are the least among men. IV. For the early Christians, martyrdom meant being thrown to the lions, or slain by the sword, or crucifixion. At other times in history, martyrdom meant that Christian businesses were boycotted, keeping believers in poverty. In our day, certain governments have made it impossible for Christians to get 4

5 building permits to build churches. And to this day in some portions of the world, Christians are still being martyred by the old methods. Martyrdom exists and will always exist because the world refuses to accept the message that Christ is the ultimate value. It wishes us to dilute that message so we can fit in. V. If Paul began today s message with irony and sarcasm, he ends it with gentleness. Because he founded the Church, he reminds them that he has a special fatherly role to play in their life. They have had many tutors and teachers, but only he is their father in Christ. And so Paul ends this section of his letter by saying: Show yourselves to be imitators of me. In other words, follow my example in life as I have imitated the example of Christ. St Paul is also our father in Christ. May we take the time to learn from his example. 5