1
Corinthians 8:1-13
What do you do
when you spill salt on the table? Have
you ever thrown a pinch of that salt over your shoulder? If you have, you are carrying on a
superstition created, at least in part, from Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of
the Last Supper. The next time you see
that piece of art notice that Judas has knocked the salt container with his
forearm. Legend has it that that image
reinforced the popular notion that spilled salt was associated with evil. The thinking was that to combat such dark
forces throwing salt over one’s shoulder would cast the evil away and bring
good luck instead. So how superstitious
are you? Most of us can’t help but take
note when Friday the 13th comes along (it’s April of this year, by the
way). And I know more than a few sports fans
who swear that wearing certain articles of clothes really does help their team
win. How about when two bad things
happen? It’s not uncommon to hear
someone say that they are waiting for the next thing to occur because, you
know, bad things come in threes. And
I’ve lost count how many times someone tells me about something in their life
that is going well - they haven’t gotten the flu or their child is on the
straight and narrow or things have settled down at work - and then catch
themselves and say, “knock on wood.”
Superstitions may
or may not have much of a hold on us these days, but our reading from 1
Corinthians offers us a glimpse of a time when everyday life seemed to be under
the influence of countless unseen and half-known forces. Gods were everywhere and each one demanded
attention. One of the ways these gods
were worshiped and appeased was by sacrificing food to them. However, these pagan gods must have had very
small stomachs because there were always plenty of leftovers from these rituals.
And these leftovers were often sold in the markets or served in homes which
caused Christians to wonder what they were to do. Was it okay for them to eat food that had
been sacrificed to idols?
Being that this
was a very serious matter of the day, naturally sides were taken. One group, the eaters, argued that it was
fine to eat idol food while the other group, the non-eaters, feared that in
doing so they were somehow aligning themselves with pagan gods and that
unacceptable. The apostle Paul was asked
to weigh in on the matter and, to cut to the chase, Paul said that the eaters
were correct. And they must have been
thrilled - because who doesn’t like to be on the winning side of things?
But before there
could be much celebrating and high-fiving, Paul explains being right is really
what matters here. For, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds
up,” writes the apostle. Knowledge taken
all by itself often creates a dynamic of winners and losers, who’s right and
who’s wrong, who’s in the know and who’s not.
But love, love is completely different.
When love is present then it’s not about competition, but connection and
no one is the loser. Love builds up by
seeking what is genuinely good for the other.
The well-being of people always takes precedence over policy. So when it came to this particular case 1
Corinthians, Paul points out that even if technically eating food sacrificed to
idols does no physical harm to the non-eaters, nonetheless, for them it somehow
causes damage to their souls. And love
in no way wants that for the other. So,
Paul concludes, if food can cause such injury then he will gladly use his
freedom, his liberty, to restrain from eating the food in question and counsels
the other eaters to do likewise. For
knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
But does this
mean that love does not to do anything that might offend? Are we to back down from every fight and hide
behind the gospel of niceness for the sake of not rocking the boat? Absolutely not - not for those who seek to follow
the way of Jesus. The one who never let
the threat of conflict stop him from loving and seeking the well-being of the
other - which meant that exorcisms and healings would take place on the
Sabbath, the bloody and unclean would be touched, and the prostitutes and tax
collectors would be forgiven, come what may.
And that’s all
fine and well when we’re dealing with other people’s issues from another
time. But what about our issues in our
time? Like how do we love the people of
God who today are in this country with or without documentation? What does love look like when we seek the
good of the other, in this case immigrants in our land? Or how do we respond when people of color
look at us and tell us about their experience of race? Do we think we know better and insist on
being right or do we respond with a love that builds up the other? In all the complexities of life we are called
through our baptism, with God’s help, to seek to serve Christ in all persons,
to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of
every human being.
This is the love
of God that builds up all of us and no one is the loser. Unlike any pinch of salt or a piece of wood
that’s been knocked, this love has the power to cast away any dark forces that
seek to divide and separate. Jesus is
always about expanding the circle of compassion. The circle of compassion in which we live and
move and have our being. The circle of
compassion that we get to be a part of expanding so that no one is left standing
on the outside of the Kingdom of God.
This knowledge coupled with love builds up everyone and brings the good
news of life, abundant life, to us all.
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