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Corinthians 3:1-9 And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as
spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in
Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for
solid food. Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the
flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not
of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? For when one
says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not
merely human?
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you
came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered,
but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who
waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants
and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages
according to the labor of each. For we are God’s servants, working
together; you are God’s field, God’s building.
Matthew 5:21-37 “You have heard that it was
said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders
shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are
angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you
insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say,
‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. So
when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother
or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the
altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and
offer your gift. Come
to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him,
or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and
you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get
out until you have paid the last penny.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit
adultery.’ But
I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed
adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin,
tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members
than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And
if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is
better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into
hell. It was also said, ‘Whoever
divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But
I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of
unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman
commits adultery.
“Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient
times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to
the Lord.’ But
I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of
God, or
by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of
the great King. And
do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let
your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the
evil one.
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I used to know a woman who
was brutally honest. Mari was a member
of the church where I worked as a Christian Education Director. She walked around the place scowling at
everyone and everything. She was the
most feared woman in the church – and detested, to our shame. Because we knew how unchristian it was to
hate her, and yet we sometimes did.
She could occasionally be
very sweet, but you had to be careful not to let your guard down, because she
could throw a sharp barb and catch you unaware.
She probably didn’t hurt people intentionally. Well, maybe it wasn’t intentional. I really don’t know.
One day she attended an
adult Sunday school class I taught, and after class she asked me to stay and
talk to her for a few minutes. I sat
down next to her and she proceeded to tell me in a most remarkable way what a
poor teacher I was. She kept me there,
by the power of her will, for nearly an hour.
On one side, I could hear the organ in the sanctuary, where I should
have been for worship, and on the other side Mari’s sharp words, relentlessly
critiquing me and my work.
When she finally released
me, I felt like I had been brutalized.
The old saying, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will
never hurt me,” is not true. Words hurt,
don’t they? I told a friend about this later,
and she tried to repair my ego. Mari is
a nut, a cruel nut. Pay no attention to
her. That may have been absolutely true,
that she was a cruel nut, but I found that I couldn’t not pay attention to
her. She was actually right, as hard as
it was for me to admit it. And it was really hard for me to admit it.
We wondered at the
roundtable this week if Paul’s words to the Corinthians were a little too
insulting, and if the tone of his words might have prevented them from being
able to hear him. It’s a delicate thing
to offer criticism to people you care for.
We don’t want to hurt their feelings, and yet we want the best for
them.
If you have to choose
between telling a friend the truth and sparing their feelings, which will you
choose? You might say it would depend on
the particular situation. How much is at
stake? How important does it seem? We might have to determine at what point we
are willing to risk the friendship for the sake of the truth. Everyone decides for themselves where to draw
the line. As people of faith, I hope
that the rule of love is always the primary consideration in these decisions.
Paul was a master with
words, and he certainly knew how to manipulate and persuade his listeners. And so I think that his words in chapter
three work pretty well, by and large, because he has carefully laid the
groundwork up to this point.
He began, earlier in the
letter, with the notion that his listeners needed to be united, in mind and
spirit, united in Christ. All kinds of things had been dividing them, doing
harm to the body of Christ and their witness on earth. We mentioned these briefly. One area of dispute seemed to be resulting
from old ideas about class and worthiness.
Those who had more status and wealth, were they worth more somehow? Did they have more rights than others?
Another area of dispute
seemed to arise from the way they latched onto teachers and apostles, allowing
differences to separate them. We know
too well that disputes among the people of the church do great harm to our
ability to spread the gospel.
Paul then goes on to
challenge their understanding of wisdom, and reminds them that the power and
wisdom of God – not their own wits – are
the source of their salvation. Indeed,
we are completely reliant on the Spirit of God in all things. These are humbling thoughts, but the intent
is not to bring his listeners down. Rather, the hope is that they will be both
humbled and inspired to seek the greater spirituality – because you cannot do
it yourself.
In other words, these words
might hurt, but they are for your own good.
Jesus’ words seem to have
the same effect, if we listen. Last week
we heard from him that he came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. This week we get a clearer sense of just how
that works.
You have heard it said …
but I say to you. Here he begins a
series of challenges to the conventional understanding of the commandments of
God, beginning with the 6th commandment. Sure, don’t kill anyone. But have you thought about how much harm just
your angry thoughts can do? And yes,
don’t commit adultery, but have you considered the danger of your envious and
lustful thoughts?
The large problem Jesus was
addressing was something that we often call legalism. Legalism is something that begins with good
intentions but gradually becomes harmful.
It is an excessive tendency to rely on the word of law, to take it as
literally as possible for the purpose of making it very clear who is on the
right side and who is on the wrong side of the law. Pretty soon it becomes tempting, to create
legal loopholes, finding exceptions for our own behaviors when we choose
to. Tweaking and fine-tuning the line
that divides right and wrong.
Essentially, he is saying
this: You have heard it said that this is the point where you draw the line
between right and wrong. But I say to
you, what if the line were way over here in this territory where you live? What if the law against murder also applied
to just having murderous thoughts of one kind or another? What if your lustful eye is just as bad as
actually committing adultery. There’s
only one thing to do. Pluck out your
eye!
Pluck out your eye? Cut off your hand?
You see what he’s
doing? It becomes very hard to treat his
words literally, legalistically, at this point.
The point is you have heard it said the law is very clear on this! But I say to you it is not so crystal clear as
that. The purpose of Jesus’ condemnation
of legalism is not to encourage a different kind of legalism. It is to help us avoid such legalism.
The intent of his words is
to get us thinking a little more about how we live and speak and act in the
world. The point is to be honest with
one another and even more importantly to be honest with ourselves.
I said Mari was a brutally
honest person – with others. But I do
not know how honest she was with herself.
That is a lot harder. But if we cannot be honest with ourselves, our
relationships with each other and with God will suffer.
When it comes down to brass
tacks, this conversation between Paul and Jesus and all of us is less about
being on the right side of the law than it is about relationships. The people of Corinth separated themselves
because each side thought that they were on the right side and others were on
the wrong side. Paul says, we are all on
the same side, working for the Lord.
When we insist that for us
to be right others must be wrong. When
we focus on the rule at the expense of the people who are affected by it. When we just can’t bear to admit that we made
a mistake, or truly forgive another for the mistake they made. These are the moments when a little bit of
speaking truth in love – to ourselves – might be just the fix we need.
May you be blessed by God’s
unconditional love and the knowledge of it.
May you bless others with
the grace and forgiveness that comes to us through Christ.
And may you seek truth with
compassion and with courage.
