Today’s Scripture Reading (January 16, 2018): 1 Corinthians 16
Film producer Nicholas Klein commented that “First
they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to
burn you. And then they build monuments to you.” We are most definitely fickle
in our handling of other people. And some of the most successful people in the
world had had their moments when they
were declared to be failures. All of us experience pain in this life. The secret
to success is found in the actions that
we take when we are in the midst of that pain.
Paul has written this letter because of the
conflict and pain that existed in the Corinthian Church. And part of that conflict was because
the people had chosen different leaders as the champions of their cause. Some
claimed to be followers of Paul, others followers of Apollos, and still others declared their allegiance to the
apostle Peter. Of course, the “holier
than thou” crowd claimed to be followers of Jesus, but there is no indication
that they meant this is a genuine way. And the reality was that there were significant differences between each of the men
that the people had chosen as their ultimate leader.
Peter was the historical
choice. He was the one who had walked with Jesus, who Jesus had chosen to be
one of the twelve. But the downside of Peter was that he seemed to struggle with the Jew/Gentile division throughout most
of his ministry. Intellectually he understood that God accepted the Jews and
Gentiles equally, he was a signatory to the resolution of the Jewish Council in
45 C.E. (Acts 15), and yet it was tough
for him to move past the requirements of the Jewish Law. Those who wanted to keep
aspects of Jewishness front and center in the Christian Faith, possibly even in
upholding Saturday as the day of Worship instead of Sunday which was at this
time growing in appeal to Gentile Christians, probably chose Peter because of
his allegiance to the Jewish Law.
Apollos was the great orator. He spoke well
and could quickly engage his audience,
grabbing their attention so that he could
tell them the Gospel story. For those who maybe wanted to be entertained, and please do not read that as
a negative, there is nothing wrong with enjoying a good, entertaining speaker,
then Apollos was the obvious choice.
Paul was the great teacher. He was an
intellectual giant. He may not have been a great speaker like Apollos, and he
wasn’t present with Jesus during his ministry like Peter, but he seemed to have
been uniquely chosen by God to advance Christian message of grace, forgiveness,
and love, and to put the Christian
message into words that everyone could understand.
As Paul closes his letter to the Corinthian
Church, he seems to understand that there has to be a meeting between the
church and the leaders to heal the wounds. Paul says that he plans to come
soon. He has some other obligations he has to take care of, but the Corinthian
Church should expect to see him in the coming months.
Some have argued that Paul was the great
general of the early church, but this passage would seem to argue against at least the hierarchical aspect
of that image. Paul desires that Apollos would come. (Interestingly, he makes
no mention of Peter who he calls Cephas.) Paul has urged Apollos to make
arrangements to go to Corinth, but he has no authority to compel him to go. And
at this moment, Apollos has no interest in going to Corinth at present. He most likely is acutely aware of
the way that his ministry has affected the Corinthian Church and did not want to get back into the conflict. But
Paul insists that Apollos will come at a time that is convenient for him.
But for now, the time has come to heal wounds
of the church and genuinely chase after Christ. Peter, Apollos, and Paul have been ignored, ridiculed and
attacked. But if the church was to be truly Christian, it was now time to get
beyond these very human leaders and to start building metaphorical monuments to
the real leader of the church, Jesus
Christ.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Galatians 1
No comments:
Post a Comment