March 15, 2009
1 Corinthians 1
John 1: 1-5, 10-
"To Boast In the Lord"
If I had the courage I would read 1 Corinthians 1 again, and again, and then ask all of us to read it together out loud and then sit down and pray like mad for these words to sink deeply into our hearts.
In these words Paul lays Christianity on the line for all of us. Against the petty bickering and the "whose better" talk of the people in Corinth, Paul sets the image of "Christ and him crucified". Against the pride and arrogance of the wise, the strength and cunning of the powerful, Paul places the wisdom and power of God as finally revealed in the one hanging on a cross.
For centuries people have found ways to evade, avoid, patronize and rationalize into nothingness Paul's opening salvo in 1 Corinthians. People, people who want to be known as Christians, have found ways to say that Paul is indeed crazy; that these words carry no weight in the real world; that we need our strength, our pride, our competitiveness and achievements or we will be crushed. After all, if we do not boast in ourselves the world will simply fail to notice all the good we do, fail to notice us at all.
Paul's words: They are so powerful, these words of powerlessness. They are so wise, these words of foolishness. And yet through the generations, both in and out of the church, they have been a stumbling block, an insurmountable obstacle, and a monument to madness.
But to some they are a path to freedom, the road to fulfillment, the way of living without fear. To some they have been a bright light shining light on the way to life lived in the shadow of the cross, in the shadow of the One we claim to follow. To some these words make clear the One who came into the world but the world did not know him at all.
In short, I Corinthians 1 can mean nothing. 1 Corinthians 1 can mean everything. Rather than explain, let me offer a story as old as the New Testament. "Quo vadis, Domine?" is Latin for "Where are you going, Lord?"
The story is this: Peter, now an old man, is in the midst of Nero's Rome when the terrible persecutions begin. He is encouraged by his fellow Christians to flee the burning City and Nero's madness in order to save himself. He, the rock on which the Church is founded, is too important to be lost. He must flee.
Peter resists and then relents. As fast as his ancient legs can carry him, the old Fisherman flees along the Appian Way away from Rome to safety. Suddenly, up ahead Peter sees coming towards him in the opposite direction the figure of the Risen Christ. Stunned, Peter asks, "Quo vadis, Domine?" Where are you going Lord? Without hesitation, Christ says, "Into Rome, to be with those who suffer, to be crucified once again."
Peter, humbled by truth, his Rock-like image in pieces, turns and follows Christ into the hell that is Rome. His own fate, his own pride of place no longer matter. Peter does not go into Rome to suffer, though suffer he will. He goes to be with Christ who is always to be found with those in the real world who suffer.
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We are fortunate to have a city, a city of great needs. We can flee from its needs; we can seek the shelter of feeling good about ourselves here in this place. Or, we can encounter Christ in this place and follow him beyond these walls.
We do not have to move beyond these walls by ourselves. We do not have to go it alone. The church is about all of us seeking Christ, seeing the direction in which he is going, and all of us turning to following him.
This house of worship is not about you or me; it is not about Central or St. Matthew. It is about the church of the Crucified One. In such a place, a place where the Crucified One is sought and encountered, there is no place for going it alone, for boasting, for pride of place or history or rank. All such points of division seem oddly, awkwardly and embarrassingly out of place in the presence of the crucified One.
If you happen to stand at the foot of the cross, where is there room to boast about what you have done or who you are? When is the proper time to tell how wonderful you are, how important you are, how good you are while standing at the cross?
Catching a glimpse of the Risen Crucified One heading in the opposite direction, when is it appropriate to complain about the difficulty of your life, of the smallness of our numbers or the lack of cash in the church coffers? When is the time right to exclaim, "I must go my own way! So sorry, but I am far too important to lose myself on account of you."
In the presence of the Crucified One when is the time right to complain about our weakness or boast of our wisdom? Perhaps you all know, but I do not.
The power and wisdom of God revealed in the cross and him crucified: These are the markers of our faith and the measurement of our life together. We can avoid, evade, rationalize and patronize them as millions have done and will do, but they do not go away. We can flee with Peter, we can join the race away from the real world, or we can be humbled by truth coming at us, turn around and go with Christ.
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