A homily by Fr. Gene
Tucker, given at Trinity Church ,
Mt.
VernonIllinois
“MUTUALLY SUPPORTIVE GIFTS”
(Homily text: I Corinthians 12: 12 – 31)
Let’s
engage in an exercise together this morning…..
Think of
three people you know. Can you identify
at least one gift that they have? It
might be a special talent or ability. It
could be a useful skill that’s especially suited to spectacular or noticeable
tasks, or it might be a skill that’s best seen in everyday circumstances.
Now, think
of three people who have a skill, gift or talent that you don’t have. (These three people might be the same three
as in the first part of our exercise, or they might be one, two or even three
different people.) As part of this part
of the exercise, try to imagine yourself trying to duplicate those other
people’s skill or gift or talent. Does
that prospect cause just a little bit of discomfort?
For
example, it gives me shudders to think of trying to be a chef in a
restaurant. I can certainly enjoy
well-prepared food, but my culinary skills stop somewhere just beyond being
able to open a can.
Obviously,
the point of this exercise is to:
1. Get us to notice and appreciate the gifts, skills and talents that others have;
2. To allow us to see that others have gifts that we don’t have; and
3. To demonstrate that we need each other’s gifts, talents and abilities. (This is especially true for the Church, which is the body of Christ.)
These three
points bring us to a consideration of St. Paul ’s
First Letter to the Church in Corinth
If ever
there was a “problem Church” for Paul, Corinth
Located in
a free-wheeling city which was on a major trade route between two seaports, Corinth was awash in travelers who were coming and going
from all parts of the Roman Empire . Consequently, it was a place where people of
all sorts of cultures and backgrounds mingled with one another. Ideas and customs stemming from these various
cultures and backgrounds also mingled one with another.
Various
types of immorality abounded. Scholars
estimate that no less than a thousand cult prostitutes (male and female) served
the pagan temples in the city. Meat
which was offered to the idols in these places was also available in the
markets afterward. This was a matter of concern for the Corinthian Christians,
whether or not to buy and eat such meat.
But the
culture had invaded the Corinthian congregation…..
- The sexual immorality of the Corinthian
community had shown itself in the Christian congregation….in chapter five of
his letter, Paul upbraids the congregation for thinking that a man who was
sleeping with his mother-in-law is doing nothing wrong by his actions. Paul reminds this lax group of Christians
that even the pagans don’t countenance such behavior as they seem willing to
do.
- A “me-first” mindset had invaded the
congregation, and had threatened its unity (and therefore, its witness to the
outside world). A clear indication of
this may be seen in:
- The devolution of the Corinthian Eucharistic celebrations: wealthier families came, got drunk, and stuffed themselves with the food they’d brought to the occasion, while poorer members of the Church sat with nothing to eat or drink. Paul chastises them for this behavior and for their attitudes, and reminds them of the solemn nature of receiving the Lord’s Body and Blood (see chapter eleven).
- A “party spirit”, as various members claimed allegiances to various leaders in the Church: Paul, Apollos, Peter (Cephas), and Christ. (See chapter one.)
- Church members were taking each other to civil court to settle disputes. (See chapter six.)
- Some claimed a spiritual superiority, based on their ability to speak in tongues. (Paul has to engage in a “put-down” of these persons, reminding them that he speaks in tongues more than all of them do, and that the gift of tongues is but one of many gifts of the Spirit.) (See chapter 12: 1 – 11, read last week.)
Why did
Paul spend so much time and energy trying to get the Corinthian Church on track
(after all, scholars think that Paul may have written as many as perhaps four
letter to Corinth, of which we have only two)?
If I may
venture and answer, I think it would be this:
The unity of the Church and the love shown by each of its members for
the Lord and for others in the Church guarantees that its witness to the
outside world will be a clear, bright and shining light to the darkened world
in which it finds itself.
Paul is
deeply concerned for the internal
health and wellbeing of the Church.
Notice how he enumerates the various gifts that God has ordained, and in
the order of importance, for the care, feeding and nurturing of Christians
within the body. Here is his list:
First: Apostles. Their function is to carry forth the deposit of faith that has been received from the Lord. (Today, we would assign that responsibility to our Bishops, who are the successors to the original Apostles.)
Second: Prophets.
They are the ones will speak the truth of God (which is the basic
meaning of the word “prophecy”).
Third: Teachers.
These members of the body of Christ explain and clarify what has been
received from the Lord and what has been transmitted through the Apostles. They will also give meaning to the words
spoken by the prophets.
Fourth: Workers of miracles. Following in the Lord’s footsteps, these
gifted members of the community will make use of God’s power to create and
recreate.
Fifth: Healers.
Very much in the same category as the workers of miracles, those who make
use of the Holy Spirit’s gift of healing not only serve to heal the sick, but
to show by concrete actions that God is truly present within the community of
faith.
Sixth: Helpers. Here, we reach a category that serves those within the community, and those who are outside of it.
Seventh: Administrators. Doing things well and in order is the task of
those who administrate. A well-run
Church is testimony to the care and concern that the body of Christ ought to
have for everything that God has enabled it to have in order to carry out its
ministries and mission.
Eighth: Speakers in tongues. Notice that Paul assigns this gift last
place, Perhaps he is trying to get the
Corinthians to see just what part in terms of importance this gift plays in
building up the Church…perhaps Paul is trying to tell the Corinthians that
speaking in tongues isn’t very important, in comparison to the other gifts of
the Spirit, after all.
We remarked
a moment ago that Paul seems to be concerned with the internal welfare of the Church.
I think that conclusion is inescapable, given the gifts that he
enumerates. Paul’s concern seems to be
grounded in the idea that a unified Church,
whose members owe allegiance to Christ above all (in contrast to the
party-spirit we noticed earlier), cannot help but show the love that Christ has
shown us in their relationships and interactions with one another. As a result, the outside world will notice,
and will be attracted to this divine love in its human expression.
And, of
course, that’s exactly what happened as time went along, and as Christians
increasingly became a persecuted minority within the Roman
Empire . More and more
pagans noticed God’s love made known among these early Christians and said,
“See how these Christians love one another.”
Then as
now, the world was and is a very cold and unloving place. It was and is a place of darkness, of
cruelty, of loss, deprivation and hardship.
It was and is a place without a moral anchor, a place whose motto
seemed/seems to be “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow is uncertain.”
But the
Good News of Jesus Christ counters all of these values and claims on human
affections.
It is the
gift which has been entrusted to the Church to proclaim that:
- God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ (John 3: 16),
- This divine love completely changes everyone who comes to faith, allowing them to exercise the gifts God has given them, and to appreciate the differing gifts God has given to others,
- This relationship between God and those He has redeemed enables true value, worth and purpose in life. It provides the anchor human beings need to be truly alive.
AMEN.
