This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to reflect on 1 Corinthians 1:18-24. The English Standard Version supplies verses 18-31 with the heading, “Christ the Wisdom and Power of God.”
The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to churches in the city of Corinth, in Greece. He wrote to them because he wanted them to stop being quarrelsome. Why? Because their quarrelling offended God. Paul begins by noting that they responded positively to testimony about Jesus. Positively because their speech changed, and they began living in daily expectation of the coming day of the end of the world. The day of judgment and punishment. The day when suffering, disorder and disagreements will be replaced by joy, order, and harmony.
Paul designed the letter to be read out aloud. He said those positive things in the first minute, in verses 1-9. But in the second minute, in verses 10-17, he switched to negative things. He spoke about divisions, factions, among them. About those who said they followed him, and those who said they followed Peter[1] or followed Apollos. We see from verse 18 – where our reading begins – that he was mainly concerned about those who “followed Apollos.” Why? Because he wrote of wisdom in a way which suggests he meant not only logic, but also rhetoric, using speech powerfully. And we know from other sources that Apollos[2] spoke magnetically. He used powerful words, tones, and expressions; people listened to him and stuck to him, changed their ways.
Over 20 centuries, Paul has been praised mostly for his logic, not rhetoric. For Christians, the prince of rhetoricians is, of course, Jesus. He’s probably the most quoted person in history. Over the last century, lists of masters of rhetoric include Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama, Martin Luther King Jr, James Baldwin, Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill. During World War II, the American broadcaster, David Murrow, famously said that Churchill mobilized the English language and sent it into battle. I’m sure it could be argued that singers and bands – like Madonna and Michael Jackson and the Beatles and U2 – are the most powerful rhetoricians. Many kids grow up on songs like Taylor Swift’s “I Knew it, I Knew You,” in Toy Story 5, which speak about love through attachment, separation, and restoration.[3]
Like Paul, I speak about rhetoricians because that’s who we’re up against. As Christians, we believe we have the Word of Truth nailed on a cross in Calvary, a body which bled to death and was raised to life according to prophecy, to prompt a faith which changes destiny. Our calling is to listen to God and to be his salt, light, change agents, in the world. Not to bicker over doctrines, directions, and destinations. We must think of ourselves as the people God mobilizes and the world opposes. We need constant reminders. This is why we practice disciplines. This is why we pray, fast, read our Bibles, sing, listen to sermons, obey church leaders.
In the third minute of his letter, in today’s passage, Paul speaks of competing schools of beliefs, demands, and actions. He speaks of people, schools, who “read” goings-on in our world differently from the way we, guided by God’s Spirit of Truth, read them. Using insights from rhetoric, he keeps things simple. He limits himself to three schools. He speaks of Greeks, Jews, and Christians. He generalizes. He says Jews demand signs. Greeks demand words of wisdom. Christians offer foolishness.
What goings-on do people read in the world? Three pairs of words come into my mind: success-failure, calmness-storminess, health-sickness. Perhaps Buddhists have best stated the most pressing question: why is there suffering and how should we respond to it? I say this partly because many writers[4] and actors[5] whom I admire say they’ve adopted Buddhism.
Why is there suffering and how should we respond to it?[6] There’s the personal element. For example, I have to endure pains related to diabetes, high blood pressure, and sciatica. There’s the corporate responsibility element. For example, my car isn’t as reliable as I was led to believe. There’s the national element. For example, Malaysians are suffering because of smoke from forest fires in Indonesia. There’s the global element. For example, many are grieving due to a glacier which broke off in Nepal-China and volcanoes which erupted in Indonesia. There’s the justice element. For example, many people are routinely abused and even die while in the custody of immigration officers, police officers, and prisons officers. There’s the political element: corruption is rife, judicial and royal mercy favour the rich, and so on.
What counsel do Christians give in the face of such challenges? We point them to a suffering God, a criminal messiah[7]; criminal because that was the verdict the rulers of Jerusalem passed on him. We say looking at him through the lens of the Bible gives us a life-changing insight; persuades us that we can have peace in the midst of strife; can have shalom, calm, within the storm. We see a coming day of judgment; we hear a call to become co-workers of a suffering God and a criminal messiah; we accept a summons to wear the badge of rejection and bear the burden of suffering in lockstep with God. This is the wisdom of God. This is what Paul tells us in today’s reading. Do we dare to say we walk with God?
Peace be with you.
[1] Paul uses the name Cephas, the Aramaic version of the Greek Petros, English Peter.
[3] In How did Luther design the first protestant church building? I discuss how appreciation of the value of songs influenced Luther’s design of the first purpose-built Protestant church building.
[4] I think especially of George Saunders and Alice Walker.
[5] I think especially of Richard Gere and Sharon Stone.
[6] What’s the Buddhist view of suffering? This is a summary by a Japanese writer: “The Buddha observed the suffering (dukkha) of man. ‘Birth is suffering; decay is suffering; illness is suffering; death is suffering. Presence of objects we hate is suffering; separation from objects we love is suffering; not obtaining what we desire is suffering.’ This is the first of the Four Noble Truths of the Enlightened One.”
[7] I owe these two phrases to Craig L Blomberg. Last week, I explained “messiah.”
To learn more about Rama, click here.