BEpiphany I Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111; I Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28 February 1, 2015

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1 BEpiphany I Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111; I Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28 February 1, 2015 The mission trip to the Dominican Republic is now only three weeks away. Thanks to you who are donating school supplies and first aid items and monetary gifts for us to deliver. We ve received directions about what to take and how to behave while we are there. We women are reminded that the women and girls in the Dominican Republic do not wear shorts or sleeveless tops. And, they wear skirts or dresses to church. Out of respect for them, we are encouraged to do the same. I remember when I took a youth group to a worship service at a mosque. We took our shoes off right inside the doors. We females had knees and elbows covered And, of course, scarves covering our hair. We did not go into the main worship space,but joined the Muslim women upstairs where we could hear the service but could not be seen. One of our more spirited teenage girls really balked at this. I m an American and I should be able to wear what I want in my own country! I shouldn t have to cover my head! I don t have to cover my head on Sunday mornings in the Episcopal Church. (She had no idea that just one generation ago, women and girls did cover their heads on Sunday mornings in the Episcopal Church!) Men and women are equal. I shouldn t have to sit upstairs. I feel like a second class citizen! She was asserting her knowledge about herself and her culture. And she was correct. This is the same thing some members of the church in Corinth had done in a letter to Paul. You can see their protests in quotes within the reading. Our reading this morning is his response to them. The three statements made by these complaining Corinthians who were stronger and more knowledgeable in their faith are correct statements: All of us possess knowledge Everyone in our church should be capable of understanding the issue at hand.

2 An idol has no real existence Once you ve encountered the authentic holiness of Christ, as the demons did in our gospel when they said, You are the holy one of God why would you ever be superstitious about other gods? There is no God but one If there is no other power greater than God, we should have no fear of the pagan gods having any power over us. Let s get into the context of this setting in Corinth. There were certain pagan sanctuaries that housed both an area for the ritual sacrifice of animals and dining rooms that opened onto a pleasant public courtyard. The wealthier Corinthians would have been invited to meals in these dining rooms as a regular part of their social life. They may have celebrated birthdays, weddings, and other important occasions in these eating establishments that were attached to temples. Meat that had been sacrificed in back was cooked and brought around and served in the dining rooms. Now this seems odd to us because we would never take leftover bread and wine that had been blessed at Holy Communion, that had become the sacramental and spiritual food of our faith and then serve it at a birthday party! But this was the custom of the pagan temples in ancient Corinth. Those troubled by this meat may have been Jewish Christians who had been used to sacrifices in the temple in Jerusalem And would never have consumed meat offered to an idol? Not even close to Kosher! Or Greeks, for whom the pagan temples and sanctuaries held old loyalties that they had left to follow the way of Jesus. By eating this meat they felt as if they had backslid into their old religion. Those who were debating with Paul were irritated by other members of their church, who were not comfortable eating meat which had been sacrificed in the pagan temples all around Corinth. Those knowledgeable folks knew good and well that the meat was fine to eat. It had no significance to them

3 because it had been sacrificed to gods that didn t exist. They were intolerant of those who believed they should abstain from it. Let s look at Paul s response to these Corinthians who know they are right. First Paul addresses their knowledge. The kind of knowledge meant here is an internal strength, an inner authority, a higher functioning that does not give way to meaningless rules or superstitions. When we assert our own knowledge we may enlarge our world, heighten our experiences in life, have fulfillment and a sense of freedom. But Paul reminds us of a higher priority in our life in Christ. While knowledge may puff up, love is what builds up. Knowledge may give a person the intellectual edge in a debate, but love builds up everyone involved. Sure, all kinds of wonderful learning and growing can take place in community. But, for Paul, if those in a community of faith are not first loving each other and helping each other to grow in faith then knowledge is nothing. He urges the complainers to be sensitive to those whose faith is weak, whose conscience they may harm if they eat this particular meat in front of them. "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." (A quote by Teddy Roosevelt) We hear Paul in the familiar words of I Corinthians 13, a few chapters later: If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, And if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. Paul then sums it up: Anyone who claims to know something does not have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him. Meaning, I may think I know all about something. I may think I know all about you. But when I realize that God has full knowledge of you and God loves you anyway, Well, then, I need to just back off! And when I learn to love God, I ll love what God loves. Then, low and behold, I ll find myself loving you and building you up rather than allowing my knowledge to puff me up.

4 Paul reminds us that it is not our standard of excellence that we have committed to seek. For Paul, the Christian exists for God and through Christ and no longer just for the self. Paul responds to those who are complaining as says, Christ died for this person. The least you can do is not eat this meat in front of them. Here is an opportunity for the strong to exercise real concrete freedom. To give up one s freedom for the sake of the other is to imitate Christ. The freedom Jesus taught and lived was not a matter of everyone seeking his or her own good, but a matter of seeking the well-being of each other. The love Jesus exhibited on the cross was certainly not to puff himself up, but he acted on behalf of and for the well-being of the world, that all can experience being known and loved by God. How difficult it is to refrain from asserting our knowledge or our rights even when it might disregard someone, or worse, insult or wound them. The only way is to first love others and truly seek to understand them and respect them. After attending the worship service at the Mosque, A group of Muslim young people welcomed us and gathered with us in a circle to answer our questions. We learned from the girls that when they choose to cover their heads it is for them a sign of dignity and self-respect. Our young people learned a lot from them about their religious customs and what it is like to be true to their faith these days in America. The knowledge that puffed up turned into a greater appreciative knowledge and hopefully will mature into a love that builds up.

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