Foretaste of the Sermon to Come

A little nibble of the Revised Common Lectionary

This week’s sermon will focus on 1 Corinthians 12:12-27

Let’s focus a minute on the place and time this scripture takes us to.  It’s a global community, a crossroads of cultures and trade.  Many cultures and religions are mingled here, and some have found their way into politics and government.  People are divided into factions and there is a lot of snobbery and superiority about whose beliefs are correct.  Even within Christianity there are brutal factions and people can’t even agree on what it means to be a Christian.  This arrogance, infighting and self-centeredness have distracted Christians from focusing on being Christ to the world – they aren’t taking care of the poor and marginalized because they are focused on these ideas that have become as good as idols!  Remember what Luther said of the First Commandment in his Large Catechism, “That now, I say, upon which you set your heart and put your trust is properly your god.”  What gods are these people worshiping?  Status?  Wealth?  Power?  Being Right? 

Just like the political and social climate between the centuries seems spot on, so is the Apostle Paul’s word to the Corinthians spot on for us readers today.  There seems to be a theme of scarcity today as there was back then, a zero sum game of winners and losers.  I’m right, you’re wrong.  I have an abundance of something that you don’t have so you focus on your lack and I don’t want to share because then I’ll have less.  Sharing problems as well as abundance and compromising is what is scarce.   

But God’s world is an abundant world where every one of God’s children is cherished and important.  In last month’s cold spell, a furnace repair technician became more important than the CEO of Trane or Lennox.  If you rip a fingernail to the quick or have an inflamed taste bud, the tip of your finger or your tongue are all you can focus on!  Omit just a teaspoon of salt from a recipe and the dish turns flat.  

Paul reminds us all through the centuries that everyone is indispensable, and everyone’s uniqueness is a gift.  The Church on Earth is fearfully and wonderfully made of each and every member, each one who is also fearfully and wonderfully made.  We are made disciples the moment we are baptized, and become part of this fearfully and wonderfully made body of Christ. Our disagreements are opportunities for understanding and growth.  Our leaders are shepherds and cheerleaders for those less sure of their abilities.  Those who quietly do their job in the background without fanfare are our backbone.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16-17) This is God’s gift of abundance that outdoes anything we can ever think of doing to get ahead and that names superiority and inferiority the lies of scarcity that they are. “Now, you are all the body of Christ and individually members of it.”  (1Cor 12:27). Go in peace and serve the Lord! Thanks be to God!