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Scripture reading for the week – 1 Corinthians 8.12-13 (NRSV)

“But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall.”

Reflection

            One of the readings for next Sunday comes from 1 Corinthians 8.1-13. In this passage, the Apostle Paul shares with his readers what he thinks about the food sacrificed to the idols and whether it is right for a follower of Christ to eat this food in front of other members of their congregations. After some theological argumentation, Paul comes to the conclusion that it is best for anyone to abstain from doing so in public lest the conscience of those who are still “weak” in their faith feel defiled.

            There are certainly many theological issues with Paul’s arguments. We can dig deep into his theology and whether it applies to us or not; and even whether his argument is sound or weak. However, I always approach Scripture with an open mind, trying to find the meaning of these stories for my life. Today, I want to share with you my reading of this Pauline teaching.

            I read Paul’s suggestion as a call to the church to become “the other.” Our lives are never totally private – more so now with so much social media controlling our lives! Those around us see, notice, and are always aware of our actions. What if we preach and preach and never act according to our words? Moreover, how can we understand why others who are different than us do the things they do if we do not take the time to look at the world through their eyes?

            In recent weeks our faith community has done exactly this. We have begun a process of looking at how our individual and corporate actions affect how others who are not like us perceive us. This is never an easy task. On the contrary, engaging in this is a really hard thing. We must discard things that at times are close to our hearts. We must also be open to welcome things and experiences that, since they are unknown to us, are intimidating. To be honest, I think that some fear is always good; it actually tells us that we must be prepared to act on whatever is coming our way. Hopefully, we have the maturity to discern what is healthy and what is not.

            When Paul shares his suggestions about how to handle the food sacrificed to idols, he is making a call to the churches to walk a mile in other people’s shoes in order to be better servants. This is an attitude that we all – whether we believe in a higher power or not – would do well in living by. I believe that we become better servants when we are willing to put our personal desires and wishes aside for a time and try to look through the needs and experiences of others. This, I believe, is the message that Paul wants to share with us…

With you in the journey,

Pastor Manny