Epiphany 6 / OT 6
Devotional
Water From the Well
Lectionary Devotional For Cycle A
Object:
And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food.
-- 1 Corinthians 3:1-2
It would be interesting for a church to try to decide whether they were still infants in the faith and so should be fed milk, or whether they had matured enough to be fed solid food. The milk of the gospel is the basic nutrient by which our lives are sustained. Just as milk is the first food a baby receives and consumes nothing solid until the digestive tract matures, so it is for the infant Christian. The first nutrient, the first essential food of the faith, is the belief that Jesus Christ died for us and took our sins upon him. It is only as the body matures that we are able to chew on more solid food, the more complex and challenging issues of our faith. Paul suggested the flesh factor as a measure of the church's maturity. A leading barometer of the flesh factor was whether there was jealousy, quarreling, and factionalism within the church. "For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?" It is very easy for any of us, using such a criteria, to pronounce judgment on a current church or denomination from the outside. Certainly there is sufficient evidence of quarreling to give rise to a question about the maturity of many churches and denominations. It is more difficult for a church community to discuss their level of maturity among themselves and whether they were ready to tackle more solid food. That might be a good foundation to lay as the church proceeds to tackle some of the difficult issues before it. Paul reminded the quarreling Corinthian church, "For we are God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's building." During times of heated debate, it is difficult to remember that we are all God's servants, working together. Being people of the flesh, we are often primarily concerned with our individual egos and desires. To be spiritual people is to engage in the issues confronting us with an openness that anticipates that through the Spirit, God has new things to reveal to us (John 16:13). We need not be afraid of solid food even though, at times, it is hard to digest.
-- 1 Corinthians 3:1-2
It would be interesting for a church to try to decide whether they were still infants in the faith and so should be fed milk, or whether they had matured enough to be fed solid food. The milk of the gospel is the basic nutrient by which our lives are sustained. Just as milk is the first food a baby receives and consumes nothing solid until the digestive tract matures, so it is for the infant Christian. The first nutrient, the first essential food of the faith, is the belief that Jesus Christ died for us and took our sins upon him. It is only as the body matures that we are able to chew on more solid food, the more complex and challenging issues of our faith. Paul suggested the flesh factor as a measure of the church's maturity. A leading barometer of the flesh factor was whether there was jealousy, quarreling, and factionalism within the church. "For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?" It is very easy for any of us, using such a criteria, to pronounce judgment on a current church or denomination from the outside. Certainly there is sufficient evidence of quarreling to give rise to a question about the maturity of many churches and denominations. It is more difficult for a church community to discuss their level of maturity among themselves and whether they were ready to tackle more solid food. That might be a good foundation to lay as the church proceeds to tackle some of the difficult issues before it. Paul reminded the quarreling Corinthian church, "For we are God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's building." During times of heated debate, it is difficult to remember that we are all God's servants, working together. Being people of the flesh, we are often primarily concerned with our individual egos and desires. To be spiritual people is to engage in the issues confronting us with an openness that anticipates that through the Spirit, God has new things to reveal to us (John 16:13). We need not be afraid of solid food even though, at times, it is hard to digest.
