Above: A Gavel
Image Source = Jonathunder
To Build Up, Not to Tear Down
SEPTEMBER 6 and 7, 2022
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Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada. I invite you to follow it with me.
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FIRST READING FOR TUESDAY:
1 Corinthians 6:1-11 (The Jerusalem Bible):
How dare one of your members take up complaint against another in the lawcourts of the unjust instead of before the saints? As you know, it is the saints who are to ‘judge the world’; and if the world is to be judged by you, how can you be unfit to judge trifling cases? Since we are also to judge angels, it follows that we can judge matters of everyday life; but when you have had cases of that kind, the people you appointed to try them were not even respected in the Church. You should be ashamed; is there really not one reliable man among you to settle differences between brothers and so one brother brings a court case against another in front of unbelievers? It is bad enough for you to have lawsuits at all against one another: oughtn’t you to let yourselves be wronged, and let yourselves be cheated? But you are doing the wronging and the cheating, and to your own brothers.
You know perfectly well that people who do wrong will not inherit the kingdom of God: people of immoral lives, idolaters, adulterers, catamites, sodomites, thieves, usurers, drunkards, slanderers and swindlers will never inherit the kingdom of God. These are the sort of people some of you were once, but you have been washed clean, and sanctified, and justified through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and through the Spirit of our God.
FIRST READING FOR WEDNESDAY
1 Corinthians 7:25-31 (The Jerusalem Bible):
About remaining celibate, I have no directions from the Lord but give my own opinion as one who, by the Lord’s mercy, has stayed faithful. Well then, I believe that in these present times of stress this is right: that it is good for a man to stay as he is. If you are tied to a wife, do not look for freedom; if you are free of a wife, then do not look for one. But if you marry, it is no sin, and it is not a sin for a young girl to get married. They will have their troubles, though, in their married life, and I should like to spare you that.
RESPONSE FOR TUESDAY
Psalm 149:1-5 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 Hallelujah!
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing his praise in the congregation of the faithful.
2 Let Israel rejoice in his Maker;
let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
3 Let them praise his Name in the dance;
let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.
4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people
and adorns the poor with victory.
5 Let the faithful rejoice in triumph;
let them be joyful on their beds.
RESPONSE FOR WEDNESDAY
Psalm 47 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 Clap your hands, all you peoples;
shout to God with a cry of joy.
2 For the LORD Most High is to be feared;
he is the great King over all the earth.
3 He subdues the peoples under us,
and the nations under out feet.
4 He chooses our inheritance for us,
the pride of Jacob whom he loves.
5 God has gone up with a shout,
the LORD with the shout of the ram’s-horn.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7 For God is King of all the earth;
sing praises with all your skill.
8 God reigns over the nations;
God sits enthroned upon his holy throne.
9 The nobles of the peoples have gathered together
with the people of the God of Abraham.
10 The rulers of the earth belong to God,
and he is highly exalted.
GOSPEL READING FOR TUESDAY
Luke 6:12-19 (The Jerusalem Bible):
Now it was about this time that he [Jesus] went out into the hills to pray; and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. When day came he summoned his disciples and picked out twelve of them; the called them “apostles”: Simon, whom he called Peter, and his brother, Andrew; James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon called the Zealon, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot who became a traitor.
He then came down with them and stopped at a piece of level ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples with a great crowd of people from all parts of Judaea and from Jerusalem and from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon who had come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. People tormented by unclean spirits were also cured, and everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all.
GOSPEL READING FOR WEDNESDAY
Luke 6:20-26 (The Jerusalem Bible):
Then fixing his eyes on his disciples he [Jesus] said:
How happy are you who are poor; yours is the kingdom of God.
Happy are you who are hungry now; you shall be satisfied.
Happy are you who weep now; you shall laugh.
Happy are you when people hate you, drive you out, abuse you, denounce your name as criminal, on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice when that day comes and dance for joy, for then your reward will be great in heaven. This was the way their ancestors treated the prophets.
But alas for you who are rich; you are having your consolation now.
Alas for you who have your fill now; you shall go hungry.
Alas for you who laugh now; you shall mourn and weep.
Alas for you when the world speaks well of you! This was the way their ancestors treated the false prophets.
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The Collect:
Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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Some Related Posts:
Feasts of Apostles:
http://neatnik2009.wordpress.com/2010/06/13/feast-of-st-bartholomew-apostle-and-martyr-august-24/
http://neatnik2009.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/feast-of-st-thomas-apostle-and-martyr-december-21/
http://neatnik2009.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/feast-of-st-andrew-apostle-and-martyr-november-30/
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The main idea of the reading from 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 is simple: Live according to a standard higher than those of the litigious, dishonest, and sexually exploitative society of ancient Corinth. The same principle, minus the geographical and temporal qualification, applies to today’s North America, my location.
Certain behaviors build up, but others tear down. It is better to resolve one’s disputes outside a court, not to mention less expensive and less time-consuming. And pedophilia is always destructive, adultery wrecks relationships, slander ruins reputations, thieves and swindlers damage lives, usurers exploit people for their selfish gain, and drunkards affect the lives of many others negatively. Idolatry is a frequently-mentioned sin in the Bible, and some authors in that sacred anthology blame the demise of two Israelite kingdoms. The Greek word usually translated as “homosexuals” or “sodomites” has several meanings, including sexual perverts broadly. Let us remember also that Paul preferred celibacy, if at all possible, giving marriage between a man and a woman the faint praise that it (A) is not sinful and (B) is better than fornication. He favored what he understood as spiritual pursuits, especially given the fact that he expected Jesus to return within his lifetime. So sensual matters were, according to Paul, distractions from more urgent business. Even heterosexual marriage was fraught with problems, Paul wrote, and he wished to spare people such difficulties.
And there is, of course, the matter of the obligation of the Corinthian Christians to care for each other and treat each other respectfully, not sue each other and exploit each other economically and/or sexually or victimize one’s family members and/or friends with one’s drinking problem and its related vices. Such behaviors are wrong in any context.
My North American society is overly litigious, as pointless dislaimers and warnings attest. Such excessive litigiousness also increases the costs of consumer goods. Anther economic sin is usury, upon which many financial institutions rely for their profit margins. Theft, whether on a small scale or a grand one, such as massive corporate fraud, also continues.
Beyond those matters, drunkenness and its accompanying offenses, including domestic violence, persist. Slander has never gone away. Idolatry assumes many forms, not just outwardly religious ones. (Consider how many people regard sports, for example.) Pedophilia is in the news quite a bit, as are sex scandals involving adultery and/or prostitution.
Human nature is a constant. We have appetites, such as those for gratification via food, alcohol, money, and sex. But we need to manage them, not they us. Jesus did not return when Paul thought he would, but the Apostle was correct: We have work to do, and we need to be spiritually minded. We need to build each other up, not tear each other down. We need to love and care for each other, not exploit, abuse, and victimize each other.
Speaking of caring for each other…
The sequence in the Gospel of Luke takes us into the Sermon on the Plain, the Lukan counterpart to the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. First, however, Jesus cured many people who had sought him out. The crowds dis tire and harry Jesus sometimes; Gospel writers tell us this. Our Lord was fully divine, but he was also fully human. He knew stress and fatigue. And frequent giving of oneself does deplete one’s emotional and spiritual resources if one does not replenish them sufficiently. Fortunately, Jesus prayed and sought out quite time.
There is a basic lesson here: We must not neglect ourselves while supporting each other. There is nothing selfish about filling our own cups, to speak. If we are to fill the proverbial cups of others, we need to have something to give. And we are also important. This is a question of perspective: I am important, and so are you, O reader. We are both children of God and bearers of the divine image. So my importance does not grant me the right to exploit or otherwise harm you. And your needs ought not prevent me from tending to my necessities. So, as we navigate our lives in our social contexts, may we take care of ourselves and each other properly as we continue on our respective pilgrimages.
KRT
http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/to-build-up-not-to-tear-down/
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