Sermon preached by the Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
We have heard a reading today from 1st Corinthians that is pretty far removed from our experience in the 21st century. Scripture can often be very relevant and transparent in its meaning. It’s kind of hard to misunderstand something like, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind, … and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Those words are clearly relevant in our day and age as they were when Jesus first uttered them.
But really, what is the relevance of today’s Epistle? Wouldn’t it be more edifying to hear something other than what we heard? If I had been able to choose the scripture readings myself, I would not have chosen that reading. What relevance does a teaching from St. Paul concerning the eating of meat offered to idols have for the 21st century Christian living in the United States of America? When you went to Publix the other day, did you notice any signs that said, “This fried chicken was offered to Athena?” or “These hot dogs have arrived fresh from the altar of Zeus?” No, when I have my hamburger tonight I won’t be tempted in any way to think that I’m eating any sacrificial meat. Of course, the cow certainly made a sacrifice, but I’m not talking about that!
Two thousand years ago, in the city of Corinth in Greece, people had dinner parties just like we do today. There was a community of Christians, newly converted from polytheism. At these dinner parties the main course sometimes was a rib roast that had been offered to a Greek god or goddess. Some of the Corinthians had the attitude that since these gods or goddesses didn’t really exist, eating the meat wasn’t a problem. Paul agreed with this group of Christians in principle. There were Christians, however, who were scandalized by the Christians who would eat that meat. Some who had problems with it went ahead and ate it anyway, and felt that by doing so they had fallen back into worshipping the old gods. The Anchor Bible Commentary on this passage of scripture states that “For some, their long-practiced pagan custom has produced a built-in reaction to sacred objects that they are not strong enough in faith to eradicate. Then if they eat food offered to idols, it still has an aura of taboo. So on the positive side it may give the participant a false sense of power or good fortune, and on the negative side it may produce a guilt feeling for one who assumed that willingness to eat offered food implied belief in the sacred reality of the idol.” St. Paul’s advice was that no Christians in Corinth should eat such meat because in doing so the truly wise Christians might be leading the less sophisticated ones into problems of conscience. He said, “Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. Only take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.”
While we no longer have the same situation to deal with in our own day, the attitudes that gave rise to this problem in the Corinthian Church still plague us today. Wasn’t the problem in that church a problem of self-centeredness? Wasn’t there an extreme lack of disrespect for the scruples of others in those who ate the sacrificial meat with abandon? Looking from the outside in, Paul saw it clearly, and he saw the solution clearly as well. So you want that delicious osso buco? Isn’t it better not to eat it if it’s going to trouble the conscience of your Corinthian brother or sister?
We Americans take our individual liberty very seriously. We want to do what we want when we want to do it. We want to say whatever we want to say. It’s a free country. And sometimes it just doesn’t matter to us if what we are doing or saying presents a problem for someone else. “That’s that person’s problem,” we say. St. Paul is saying that way of thinking is not a Christian way of thinking. We are now part of a Body, the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ. While Christ has made me free, and while I live in a country that protects my freedom, I need to be concerned about how my words and deeds will affect the entire Body. So while I am indeed free, I must put restrictions on myself.
I wonder how many family squabbles would fizzle out if we really lived according to this principle? In fact, I wonder how many of the squabbles that we have as a Church would fizzle out if we made decisions out of that context? “I want to do such and such a thing, but I won’t do it because if I did it it would trouble your conscience, and if I don’t do it it’s not going to hurt me.” “I really want to express some anger at this situation, but if I really say what I feel, it might present a serious problem for someone here, so I will figure out a way to say it more diplomatically, for the common good.” Christ has made us free, but we are part of a Body, his Body, and that means that we need to restrict ourselves at times for the good of the whole.
I am reminded of something that John Donne wrote. “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” Donne takes the same idea that Paul has stated in his letter to the Corinthians and applied it to all of humanity. As Christians, we need to be aware of how our words and deeds affect others, not only in our Christian community, but also in the human community.
Come to think about it, I’ve changed my mind. If I had the responsibility to choose what we read on Sunday in church, I think I might choose that reading about eating meat that has been offered to idols, because it really is relevant even to Christians in the 21st century living in the United States of America.