2022.01.16 | As the Spirit Chooses
“As the Spirit Chooses”
Rev. Pepper Swanson
Eden United Church of Christ
Hayward, California
January 16, 2022
The ancient city of Corinth where the Apostle Paul founded his third Church was rather unusual.
As a result, our Scripture reading today is also rather unusual.
Corinth was located on a narrow isthmus between two seas, the Mediterranean and the Aegean. So narrow in fact, being only 4 miles wide, that many ancient sailors opted to just port or drag their boats across the isthmus from one sea to the other rather than sail 185 nautical miles around the isthmus.
As a result of this rather unusual portage, which was replaced in the late 1800s by a narrow canal, Corinth became a stopping point for sailors and their crews from many nations.
It appears from discovered ruins of a wide variety of worship places and religious idols that Egyptian, Greek, and Roman religions coexisted in Corinth and that the Christian church founded by Paul sometime around 50 CE added to this diversity and was itself quite culturally diverse having members who were Roman, Greek, and Jewish.
Corinth was also quite economically diverse. As a shipping hub and as a recently re-built colony of Rome, Corinth attracted or was sent many entrepreneurial types who accumulated wealth from the labor of artisans and slaves. Some historians claim that Corinth was all about wealth without sophistication and that the wealthy abused the poor. The resulting culture was one of strife and conflict, or as one ancient writer phrased it: “Corinth… was without grace or charm and not convivial at all.” (1)
Paul’s Church start was not immune from this surrounding culture. They too were religiously diverse and economically disparate — being wealthy, poor, freed, and enslaved. In his letters to them, Paul counseled them like a father on a number of economically-driven issues, like how the rich treated the poor and how the Lord’s Supper was being abused by the wealthy, but the issue in today’s passage appears to address “spiritual gifts,” — which Paul lists as wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues.
The root cause of their contentiousness appears to be the perception among them that some spiritual gifts were more important than others. We don’t know if this is a perception held by all or only by some. As these things go, it’s a possibility that some held the belief that others thought less of them and vice-versa so by the end everyone felt unfairly accused and judged. It is also possible that there was tangible mistreatment of those with some gifts that others devalued.
To really understand what Paul is saying in today’s passage, you need to read all of Chapter 12 but today’s verses 1-11 are so filled with good advice to any organization whose members are stuck in a contentious mode or suffering from the sense that not all are being treated equally, we’ll do fine focusing on what he has said in today’s passage.
So Paul says: Look, you all have different spiritual gifts — gifts that are unique to each individual. After stressing that each person has different gifts, Paul emphasizes that these gifts have the same source and the same purpose.
The “same source” is alternatively described as from the same God, the same Lord, and the same Spirit. Clearly, Paul wants the Church members to understand that though their gifts differ dramatically, they have the same source, which is from God. And being from the same divine source, these gifts are equal — all are acceptable and one is not more important than the other.
As for their purpose, Paul explains that these individual gifts have the same purpose, which is for the common good. In the second half of the chapter, which we didn’t hear today but may be familiar to you from early readings, Paul draws the analogy that the common good we foster is like a body and that we with our unique gifts are the individual body parts. If one part, one gift, is missing or injured, the body suffers. And, more importantly, one part cannot decide that it will proceed or do without the other parts. All are necessary and equal for the wellbeing of the body.
I think that Paul’s message is clear: he stresses that each person has the same holy source and the same mutual purpose because he wants to bring together a people torn apart by their disapproval and resentment of one another.
To a certain extent, modern psychologists agree with Paul. Out of curiosity, I compared Paul’s message to our modern-day psychological approaches to envy, jealousy and resentment. One article from Healthline suggested twelve different techniques for combating these emotions, the closest of which to Paul’s were the recommendation when you struggle with resentment and jealousy toward others that you: 1) remember your own value, meaning what you do well and what you enjoy and 2) consider the full picture, including the value and lives of others.
But as Americans living today, we know that strife and its consequences aren’t all in our heads. We have only to read the headlines to realize that experts in every field are wondering how to address the strife around us. Historians liken our current levels of discord and animosity to the worst times in our history such as the the Depression, McCarthyism, and the Civil Rights Movement and suggest some external event — like, God forbid, a war — is needed to heal our union. Trauma experts trace the growing discord to fear: fear of each other, fear of poverty, fear of the illness and death, and fear of the collapse of democracy, our economy, and the loss of freedom. Those who monitor racism point to real and blatant mistreatment of racial minorities that must be addressed. And economists show us that there is real and growing gaps between the uber wealthy and the middle class and to a lesser extent between the middle class and the impoverished that must be closed.
Can Paul’s unusual message about spiritual gifts and the common good aid in the healing of our own strife? Perhaps. There is some pithy advice floating around about whether we should speak up and say something critical of others. It goes like this: Before you speak, ask yourself 1) Does it need to be said? 2) Does it need to be said now? 3) Does it need to be said by me?
I think Paul’s message can aid in our healing as a people if we put it in this type of framework: Before you speak or act or vote, ask yourself: 1) Do my words or actions express the belief that all people, regardless of their gifts, come from the same source and are equal before God? 2) Do my words or actions promote the idea that we have a common good worth saving? And 3) Do my words or actions tangibly serve the common good and promote healing, rather than create inequity and damage?
On Monday, we celebrate the 92nd birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr who is known across this globe for peaceful but outspoken advocacy of civil rights. Being a Baptist, the Rev. King had a firm grasp on the Apostle Paul and knew that strife between people can be healed with mutual respect and love. He once wrote: “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”
If love is the goal, let us begin by recognizing each other as equal and joining the good fight for our restoration and healing.
My friends, I pray every day that you and your spiritual gifts will be seen and appreciated and that all of our spiritual gifts will come together for the common good, which is — in the name of the one Christ — the love of one another and the love of our neighbors, both near and far. Amen.
1. Sampley, J. Paul, “The First Letter to the Corinthians: Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections” in The New Interpreter’s Bible, (Nashville, Abingdon Press, 2002, vol. X, p. 775
2. Raypole, Crystal, 12 Ways to Let Go of Jealousy, Healthline.Com, Oct 31, 2019, accessed on Jan 17, 2022, https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-not-be-jealous