Namaste I Corinthians 12:4-7 William F. Schnell January 17, 2016

Transcription

1 Namaste I Corinthians 12:4-7 William F. Schnell January 17, 2016 Early in our marriage Nancy and I were in a discussion with someone about self-esteem and Nancy made a stab at humor saying: Bill loves himself more than God does. Of course I had to respond. First off, it is impossible to love ourselves more than God does because God loves his children with a perfect love. Second, because God loves us, we ought to love ourselves. Third, there is a world of difference between loving ourselves and thinking we are better than others, the latter being something we should not do. Fourth, just because we love ourselves does not mean we are perfect. We all have our share of failings and faults, and we out to love ourselves enough to master them before they master us. Finally, just as we are all imperfect, we are not perfectly imperfect. We all have some redeeming value. Indeed, the Bible teaches us that God s Holy Spirit dwells within us. On Christmas Eve I quoted St. Paul saying: Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? (I Corinthians 6:19). To the extent that God s spirit dwells within us, God surely loves that about us, and we ought to love that about us too. But it is clear from Pau s bewilderment (Do you not know ) that we need to be reminded of this fundamental spiritual fact. We are being reminded of it in our text for today, and in our message entitled: Namaste. That is a common Hindu greeting which is rendered in the quote at the top of our bulletin: The divine in me acknowledges the divine in you. It may either be spoken, Namaste, or it may be communicated with a gesture the folding of hands in front of the chest and a bow of the head. Namas literally means to bow and te means you --bowing to you. But both the implied subject and object of that statement is the divinity within each of us. You may recall a blockbuster movie of a few years ago entitled Avatar. That is also a Hindu term which conveys the descent of a deity to earth, as Christians believe God descended to earth in Jesus. You might remember how the characters in that move had a statement they made to each other: I see you. I see the real you the fundamental you. I do not see your skin color or your social class or your religion or nationality or gender. I see and acknowledge the divine in you. Namaste.

2 A resident attended the surgeon who recently removed my appendix. He was a little Indian fellow looked like he was still in high school. I folded my hands and bowed at him and said, Namaste, and I swear it endeared me to the little guy. When the surgeon said we should just take the appendix out, and I was not entirely convinced, I looked at the resident and he nodded his head yes, and I knew he wouldn t steer me wrong. I had acknowledged the divine in him and he had a spiritual obligation you could say. But can it be said that Hindus and Christians worship the same divine spirit? Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday we celebrate tomorrow, thought so. Mahatma Gandhi was a spiritual mentor for him. He once said the Gandhi s teachings were the guiding light of our technique of nonviolent social change. During one visit to India he said, To other countries, I may go as a tourist, but to India I come as a pilgrim. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist pastor who went to India and the Hindus in search of spiritual truth which resulted in a significant and lasting impact upon all of us in America. Whether we worship the same God as those who are different seems to be a big question these days, especially when it comes to Christians and Muslims. What s the answer? I don t know. Do any of us really worship the same God? Do Jews and Christians worship the same God? How about Jews and Samaritans? Most Jews didn t think so, but Jesus held open the possibility. How about Catholics and Protestants? Do they worship the same God? How about Mormons and Seventh Day Adventists, or Jehovah Witnesses and the Amish? How about you and your siblings? How about you now and you back when as a teenager? Do any of us worship the same God? Or do we all worship the same God who created us all and the world and universe in which we live? It s an interesting question and, while our text may not answer it for every person and situation, it does seem to encourage us to hold open the possibility. Yes there are idols and false gods in the Bible, but they are often metaphors for worldly influences that compete with God for our devotion. One such god in New Testament times was named Mammon, which means money. In the Middle Ages Mammon/money was personified as a deity indeed, one of the seven princes of Hell. There is certainly a little bit of that devil in all of us. But there is also a divine presence in each of us. Maybe, as one caricature puts it, it is the angel on one shoulder trying to convince us not to pay any attention to the devil whispering in our other ear. Our text seems to be saying there is that divine spirit in each of us. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all people. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good (Verses 4-7). This is one of the few texts of scripture that refer to the same Spirit, the same Lord and the same God in other words, the Trinity in a slightly uncharacteristic order. Other than these few oblique references, there is no mention of the Trinity as a doctrine in the Bible. That came along later as a construct of 2

3 Church Tradition one that has been contested by the way. Unitarians are decidedly not Trinitarians. Do they believe in the same God? Interesting to speculate. There certainly is a tendency in us to say no when it comes to those who are different from us. Paul addresses this tendency just beyond our text in the same chapter when referring to the body of believers. The eye cannot say to the hand, I don t need you! And the head cannot say to the feet, I don t need you! On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. Why is that? God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other (12:21-25). Sometimes that attitude of exclusion goes on within a congregation. Somebody has an idea that somebody else doesn t like. It can get personal. It is as if one part, the eye, says to the hand, I don t need you. You can go away. This is clearly not cool as far as our text is concerned. God has allowed for diversity in the body. The health and wholeness of the body depends upon it. As Paul says: If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts of the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be (12:17-18). And if God has provided for diversity within individual congregations, who is to say he hasn t provided for it within individual denominations and the Church-at-large? Who is to say that he hasn t beyond that? Well, there are always people who will say he hasn t, but if I were to err, I would rather err on the side of charity rather than the side of fear. So it doesn t cost me anything to show a little respect to a Hindu surgeon-in-the-making (especially if he is going to be wielding sharp things near my unconscious body) to treat him with special honor because he is different from me toward the end that there may be the blessing of diversity without the bane of divisiveness. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all people. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. The common good depends upon each one using one s Godgiven gifts. If, on the one hand, we are challenged to acknowledge the divine gifts in others; we are, on the other hand, challenged to acknowledge the divine gifts in us. Paul also employs his body metaphor to say: If the foot should say, Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? (12:15-17). 3

4 I don t care much for discussion style Bible studies that include a pastor. A text is read and a question is posed and every head turns toward the pastor for the answer. Pastors usually have an answer for everything. They can pontificate on and on and on, ad infinitum. Blah, blah, blah. Yada, yada, yada. Ho hum. I once started a small group discussion style Bible study where everybody was forced to be the leader in rotation. Everybody got a chance to launch the questions. And everybody got a chance to answer the questions except the pastor. Those were the ground rules. You wouldn t believe what a chore it was to get everybody to follow the rules at first. Why should I lead the Bible Study? I m no expert on the Bible. Surely someone else is more qualified than me. But "rules is rules" and I made each one lead. And even when they discovered they could, indeed, launch questions and wait for responses, all heads continued to turn to me. For example, a question from our text might be: Why isn t it healthy for the whole body to be an eye? And everybody would look at me. So I would look at my Bible. And I would continue to look at my Bible until they would all look at their Bibles. And finally someone would meekly say, If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? Before long, you could see a light coming on among the Bible study members. First, members each discovered that they could, indeed, lead a Bible study. All they had to do was launch the pre-printed questions and wait for somebody to answer. If nobody answered, they could repeat the question. Second, the other members discovered that many of the answers were right in front of them right in the text under consideration. And as they warmed to the fact that they could actually give a correct answer, more probing personal questions evoked some pretty insightful responses as the text intersected with their lives. And that is how I created some monsters. Pretty soon some of the increasingly experienced leaders wanted to be leaders all the time. And when I forgot my place and tried to answer a question, you could see an annoyed look on some faces. There goes Mr. Blah, Blah, Blah. The fact is, and I kid you not, they were better at this than I was. Beyond providing some refreshments, I wasn t really needed. They were perfectly capable of leading and participating in a Bible study on their own. They just had to be reminded that they had it in them. They had the divine spirit in them. Now there are lots and lots of reasons to think that we don t really belong to the body of believers. We have some personal baggage, some secret sins and skeletons in the closet that, if they were known, would surely preclude our role in the church. Perhaps we don t know much about the Bible. Or maybe we are not all that extroverted. Why, we are downright shy. Who is to say that deep introspection isn t a spiritual gift that the body needs? Look, nobody has all the gifts. Indeed, sometimes having one gift precludes having others. What makes a basketball player a good center, his or her height, is precisely what doesn t make him or her a good forward, also known as a small forward. 4

5 There are lots of reasons to think that we don t really belong to the body of believers and not a one of them is a good one. Why, because to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. We only further the common good in the body of believers when we fulfill our God-given part with our God-given gifts. Or, to put it more bluntly, we diminish the common good in the body of believers when we neglect to fulfill our God-given part with our God-given gifts. Namaste. That which is divine in me acknowledges that which is divine in you. I acknowledge the divine gift in me that is given for the common good. And I acknowledge that you, too, are a temple of the Holy Spirit within you. And the more different you are from me, the more I will honor you lest I fail to recognize God in the mysterious, transcendent ways he comes to us. I certainly don t want to err like the socalled religious authorities who failed to recognize God in Jesus Christ. Our God has made us, who are many and varied, one--one body of believers with one indwelling spirit and one calling to serve the common good. Our God has made us one. Let s keep it that way. 5