Jan. 16, 2022
1 Cor. 12:1-11
John 2:1-11
Over the years people have told me that they have a hard time understanding the bible. And, this is especially true when reading the letters of Paul. Maybe it’s a bit easier these days with all of the various translations that are intended to put the Greek into modern English. But, given the fact that Paul’s letters are very contextual – meaning that he’s responding to stuff that’s going on in those churches – stuff that’s not entirely spelled out for us – and given the fact that the language and cultures are 2,000 years removed from our own it seems reasonable that reading a piece of one of these letters from somewhere in its middle on any given Sunday might not be conducive to meaning-making. However, we’re going to give it a try.
Here’s how one commentary frames our passage:
“As a whole, Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth is an impassioned plea for unity. The church is fraying at the seams, unable to handle — much less celebrate — its rich diversity. In the section of the letter that our lectionary offers us this week, Paul confronts one of the problems dividing the community: the problem of spiritual elitism. Which is to say, the problem of specialness.
Paul notices that the church assumes an implicit hierarchy when it comes to gifts. Congregants with flashier, louder, more “ecstatic” abilities (ie, the ability to speak in tongues) consider themselves superior to those whose gifts are quieter, less visible, or more mundane. These self-described spiritual “superheroes” believe that their gifts are a sign of God’s special favor. A sign that they deserve more authority, status, and power in the church than those who don’t speak in tongues, perform miracles, or utter prophecies.”[1]
Paul tells the church that all of the various gifts that they are arguing about are rooted in the same source: they are rooted in God. Admire the source more than the gift, he says. Furthermore, every gift is special, not for the sake of making elite members, but rather for the sake of building up the community. And finally, there are lots of gifts – an infinite amount really – because God is infinite with unreachable boundaries and unlimited qualities.
The list of gifts that Paul mentions isn’t meant to be exhaustive, and though we may not relate to all of them, there’s one that stands out to me. I’ll start at verse 8: “To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.”
The particular gift on my mind is the gift of faith. The others seem reasonably unique to me; not everyone can prophecy; some people are especially gifted at healing ministries; and what good is speaking in tongues of there aren’t people specially equipped to interpret? But, the “gift” we’re all supposed to have, the one we’re supposed to cultivate and put into action, is faith. Right? In that sense, faith doesn’t seem to fit with the others. Faith is something we generate; it is something we do. At least, those were my initial thoughts.
But, what about the idea of faith as a gift? What about the idea that it is rooted in the movement of God, rooted in God’s outward reach, touching down where and when it is needed, where and when God plants it? As I thought about it I think I like it better this way. It takes the pressure off just a bit. We’re not failures if we cannot muster the faith we see in others. You aren’t meant to have perfect faith all the time or to generate it at will as if it were some kind of innate talent. Maybe sometimes others are meant to have faith for you. Maybe their faith is meant to carry you when you are carrying other things. Maybe you’ll be equally gifted with it when others need it from you. Maybe faith is more of a fluid thing, not a progression so much as a manifestation of its living, breathing, and acting source.
Personally, I tend to feel it and find it most often when leading funeral services. In fact, somebody ran up to me after a funeral one time and said, “I think I know your superpower. I think it’s funerals.” It’s a funny kind of superpower, but I’ll take it because when else is the community more in need of upbuilding than when one of our members is no longer with us?
I think that part of what makes Paul’s “gift” language a bit confusing has to do with cultural differences in how we understand personhood. Personal identity in biblical times was couched much more firmly in the context of communal identity. Certainly, this was true for Paul who saw church members not like autonomous, independent individuals, but like members of a body that when put together made up a whole. Individuals on their own were incomplete. Their capacity to experience of fullness of God’s wish for them was tied to their participation in the network of parts that made up the Church. I’m sure that spectators were welcome at Sunday morning services, but the notion of a private faith that drove people to come, get what they need, and leave would have been a foreign one. Faith, like all of the other gifts, was meant for the building up of others, and I imagine that it was true back then just as it is now, that when we exercise it that way we find ourselves built up too.
The truth of the matter is that we just can’t all have faith the same way, but when our various gifts are combined something special happens. I thought I would share a letter with you all from Lisa Matson, who coordinates the ESL program at Nourish Bridgeport. She and Maria Schaab came up with our Giving Tree plan at Christmas for an ESL family of 9. She writes,
Dear Rev. Tim, Maria, and all the members of the TCC Community,
Words cannot express the gratitude that I feel for the Christmas “miracle” you created for Amina and her family.
It was the highlight of my Christmas to hear the “wow!”, see the smiles, and know that [her] family experienced a little Jesus this season.
A month earlier, Amina was afraid, frantic really with worry. She had no idea how she would survive let alone make a Christmas.
I know God showed up – like Rev. Sara says, just in the nick of time.
Thank you-
Lisa Matson, ESL
We need people with the gifts to say, “Let’s do a Giving Tree.” We need people with the gifts to organize it. We need people with the gifts to shop and fund the effort.
The church needs people like Lisa whose heart is with ESL, just as the church needs people whose heart is with worship, and whose heart is with welcome and hospitality, and whose heart is with music, and whose heart is with education and learning, and whose heart is with children, and whose heart is with fellowship, and whose heart is with administration, or visitation, or social action, or community, or prayer, or any other number of pieces that make up the whole.
The church needs people who will step out in faith, or in the promise of faith, to apply their gifts wherever they can, and in so doing make the body of Christ a living breathing reality for the people around them. One way or another we’re all invited to be those kinds of people.
[1] https://www.journeywithjesus.net/lectionary-essays/current-essay?id=3292