Fifth Sunday: Building a canal and a church

Paul’s testimony to the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the cornerstone of his letter to the Corinthians. Probably, the letter was written when Claudius was emperor of Rome in 51 A.D. He had expelled Jews from Rome who believed in “ Chrestus[i].” Among the expelled Jews were Priscilla (Prisca) and Aquila [ii] who had arrived in Corinth about the same time that Paul got there, perhaps 49 A.D. Paul had made previous stops in Phillipi, Thessaloniki and Athens, not all so successful. Prisca, Aquila and Paul were all tentmakers and may have met each other through work. We know that they became friends because Paul was lodged in their Corinthian home. Corinth was that kind of town. Business people, traders, sailors and soldiers were constantly passing through town. [iii]
 
In any event, Paul moved on to Ephesus with Prisca and Aquila to work, once again, in Asia Minor. About 54 A.D., Paul was alerted by “Chloe’s people” that the Corinthians were fighting with each other about who to follow and so wrote this letter. 1 Cor. 1:11. Paul knew all the combatants. What were they fighting about? Some claimed that they belonged to Paul, some to Apollos and some to Peter; some were conservatives and some were liberals.  Chloe’s people asked Paul to help resolve the divisions that were breaking up the church in Corinth.
 
Paul’ letter first addressed the disunity of the community. He wrote that nobody belonged to Paul, Apollos or Peter. All Christians belong to Christ. He then addressed the sins of the community. One man was living with his father’s wife. Others were eating sacrificial meals offered to pagan gods. They were suing each other in Roman courts; Paul advised them to resolve their issues within the community. Some were unhappy in their marriage to pagans. After Paul addressed a variety of moral issues, he began to draw the Corinthians back to the reason they were Christians.
 
In Chapter 11 Paul wrote about the Lord’s Supper, the earliest written account of the Eucharist. It wasn’t right, Paul instructed, that one person ate their fill while the person next to them went hungry. In Chapter 12, he addressed the question of unity in the community and the way in which the spirit gave each member of “the Messiah’s body” different gifts to be used for the benefit of all.  In chapter 13, Paul wrote about love, (agape). Here too he was not just teaching them “ethics”; he taught them to think about where the Christian life was directed. Love isn’t just something we do; it is our destiny. In Chapter 14 he wrote about the worship of the church and the gifts of tongues. Some claimed greater gifts and, therefore, leadership in the community. Paul cautioned another way; everyone had their own gifts and we, though many, are one body bound together in love.  
 
All of this is to set up the powerful conclusion of 1 Corinthians; the meaning of the Resurrection. The reading today is not just the most important part of the letter, but it is the reason why Paul left his life as a Pharisee to preach the crucified and risen Jesus.

“For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scripture s, that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelv e.  After that, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.   After that he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.   Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me .  For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God .  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God [that is] with me . Therefore, whether it be I or they, so we preach and so you believed.” 1 Cor. 15:3-11.

 The Resurrection means that Caesar isn’t the ruler of the world; the economy isn’t either. Our appetites and personal schemes are not the center of Creation. Everything for now and forever is under the power and kingship of Christ.  “He has to go on ruling, you see, until ‘he has put all his enemies under his feet.’” 1. Cor. 15:25.
 
 Paul proclaimed that victory has already been won over the dark powers of sin and death by King Christ. This life passes away and Christ’s final victory will be completed when death itself is destroyed. For Paul, learning to be a Christian —learning to live within the biblical story—was all about having our mind, heart, imagination and understanding transformed so that we don’t live for the momentary advantage that sin seems to present.  Christian living has nothing to do with social prestige, political allegiances or clever rhetoric. The important thing Paul told the Corinthians as he wrote this letter from Ephesus is the Resurrection and our common destiny for union in the love of God reigns now and that we should choose to live like that. In Rome, the emperor watched his armies and slaves at work while Paul watched the gospel work in homes and shops, confronting the powers of the world.