January 27, 2008

JW McNeill

St. Paul wrote letters. Travelled and started churches. He kept in touch.

Paul tells the folks in the Corinthian church that there is to be agreement. No divisions. Be united in the same mind and purpose.

He has heard reports about quarrels and divisions among the people in the Corinthian church.

The people in the Corinthian church have allied themselves against one another into parties that are linked to particular persons, some at least linked to who had baptized them.

Cephas, Apollos, one party even took to calling themselves the party of Christ!

Paul is glad that he did not baptize very many (he turns out to be a little vague on just who – he backtracks as he dictates the letter.)

This talk of rivalries quickly brings Paul to the issue of the cross.

Significant topic to Paul – especially for Paul in Corinth. Paul says in the next chapter that as he came to Corinth for the first time he had determined to know nothing among them except Christ crucified. The power of that paradoxical wisdom was to be what Paul relied on.

We allude to this paradox quite often but this morning I want to elaborate on it in relation to rivalry. In many ways it turns out to be the critical centerpiece of the Gospel: our message, proclamation. What we have to say to the world.

The cross is God’s answer to rivalry.

I wonder about our reaction to this text’s description of rivalry. There is a danger of minimizing it. Seeing it as kind of quaint. They had church troubles back then, just like we do now. I guess we will not get over it. Imagine, bragging about who baptized us. Though I somehow think that if I were baptized by Billy Graham or the Pope I might find a way to bring that into the conversation. The important thing is that we are baptized into Christ. Who does it is not important at all.

But the fact that we understand that it might become important to someone means that we have some idea about the power of rivalry.

Rivalry is actually the basis of sin as the Bible sees it. As the Bible tells the story, the serpent approaches Eve and tempts her in the words of rivalry with God:

The serpent cues rivalry with God and promises wisdom for the humans: you will be like God.

Moreover, as the next generation takes is place in the Biblical story, it is rivalry between Cain and his brother Abel that leads Cain to murder his brother.

There are all sorts of rivalries. Rivalry over attention. Rivalry over honor or status or position. Rivalry of power and influence. Rivalry over possessions, property. Rivalry over love. Rivalry over righteousness. Rivalry over humility. Rivalry over who is least rivalrous. Rivalry of quietness. Rivalry over who works hardest. Rivalry over who suffers the most, so who should be cared for or compensated most.

Comparisons that divide us, separate us. Rivalries are based on a felt need to be more special, important, more loved, more feared, more deferred to, more deserving of sympathy, more respected.

Rivalries are inherently divisive. They put us in competition with each other for the goods that we feel that we want or need. They undermine our common cause. They often escalate.

One of the reasons that they escalate is that folks sometimes attempt to enlist others in their cause to gain advantage. Or they will speak maliciously about another person to tear them down so that they seem to build themselves up by comparison. The fact that rivalries are ordinary and common does not mean that they are okay.

While small-scale rivalries are annoying and hurtful and undermine a group’s ability to work together effectively, larger scale, violent rivalries can easily turn deadly and do great harm to the social fabric. Kenya today is in the grips of such a terrible rivalry following a disputed election.

One of the classic ways that groups are able to get through a time of destructive rivalry is by finding a scapegoat. Either an individual or a group that becomes the focus of all the rival factions and a kind of peace is restored among those who were previously at odds.

The sacrificial victim becomes a peacemaker. The scapegoat may be innocent, or may really be guilty of some offense, but either way, the sacrifice of the scapegoat as an enemy is effective in setting aside the rivalry.

This is what happened to Jesus. He became the scapegoat. Caught between the rivalry of Rome and the Jewish leaders, he was crucified to maintain the peace in Jerusalem. The innocent was sacrificed.

It is not difficult for us to understand how the scapegoat mechanism works. We see it at work in various contexts in our life together. You can try it for yourself. The next time you are at odds with your friend or spouse or someone else you want to be on good terms with. Do an experiment: Observe how easy it is to get over the tense feeling by poking fun at someone you both dislike. It works like a charm.

But keep this in mind:

The scapegoating mechanism depends on not being observed. It must remain hidden to be effective. Once we call someone a scapegoat, we understand that our abuse of him or her is unjust. Only if we maintain a sense that we are right in our condemnation, can we have the unifying effect that we are seeking. It distracts us from the reality of the rivalry.

The good thing about sacrificing the scapegoat is that it allows a community to keep rivalries under some control. The bad thing is that it is wrong. When there is no central power or strong force to keep rivalries from getting out of control, there is a way forward for parties to unite against a common enemy.

The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus exposes the mechanism of scapegoating and claims that it is wrong.

So when Paul counters the reports of rivalries in Corinth with the statement that the cross is the power of God, he is getting right to the heart of the matter.

The reality of life in Christ is not to relieve us from our rivalries by continuing to fight it out seeking advantage over our rivals, or finding some common enemy that will temporarily put aside our divisions,

Paul reminds the Corinthians that the goal of our life in Christ is to set aside our rivalries in the Spirit of Christ, who showed us that God is not about exercising power over one another, but in forgiveness, reconciliation, mutual service, and graceful cooperation.

The Corinthians have returned to the life of rivalry in which they try to compete with one another. They marshal their strength to show up their rivals.

This is the power-wisdom of the world.

The wisdom of God is the wisdom of the cross, which seems like foolishness and weakness.

Almighty God, who has all the power of the universe invites us to become one by living out the reconciling wisdom of love that Jesus preached. The way of the cross that maintains in the face the rival:

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'

But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also;

and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well;

and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.

Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

When God invites us to salvation, God does not act to set aside our rivalries with a scapegoat. Turning our attention on a victim that we set ourselves against in self-righteous indignation.

When God invites us to salvation, God does not simply overwhelm us with coercive, punishing power to force us toward reconciliation.

If God did that, there would be only unjust accusation or isolating fear.

There would be no true unity. There would be no true community.

In Jesus Christ, God was all about restoring community without rivalry. A community of love.

A community in which harmony of goals in which we look out for one another as well as ourselves.

The community in which we hold each other as beloved as God holds each one of us.

St. Paul came to Corinth preaching the love of God as revealed in Jesus Christ who revealed our sin as we tried to cover up rivalries not with love but with scapegoating, false unity.

It breaks Paul’s heart to find what was to be the beloved community of new life, that was to be an example, a beacon of hope in a world full of rivalries and mistrust to have gone back into the divisions they were to leave behind.

Paul goes on to instruct those in Corinth that they are to focus on their oneness in the Spirit of Christ and not to dwell on their differences. He points out to them that as far as their position in regard to their status in the world, they are not very impressive. What is impressive about them is how Christ can shine through them despite their worldly limitations.

Paul later reminds the church in Corinth that each of them is like a part of the body, whose role is to function with the other members of the body so that all work together. Each part is necessary. Each is a gift of God.

What allows each of those parts of the body to function together is the gift of love that draws us into the heart of God.

Church: practice that and think through Scripture and worship life together. How do we set aside rivalry?

Find a scapegoat? No. Find a way to invite others into the harmony Jesus preached and lived out and signaled in his willingness to go the distance in love. All the way to the end.

Taking that into our families, groups, workplaces. How do we creatively embody the power of God’s foolish love that is the core wisdom of creation and God’s destiny for each one of us?

Let that question be the center of your prayer and reflection this week. How can I live the foolishness of God’s love in the midst of the rivalries around me?

How can I live out the wisdom and power of God’s love in my life?