Vicar Brett Wilson – Epiphany +5A – CELC Lancaster – 2/6/11 – 1 Cor 2:1-16
In today's day of technology and computers, many people are meeting their spouses not in the grocery store, school, or a bar, but sitting at their desk at home, through the internet. Some of my friends have met their significant others this way, and more and more people sign up or meet up every day. These sites, like eHarmony, match.com, okcupid, and so on, offer users a page to write about themselves – a profile – with a whole series of questions. Age, gender, what the person is looking for, are basic questions. But then there's everything from life goals, five things you cannot live without, your zodiac sign, and how you like cats and dogs. Each person's profile can provide as much or as little detail as they choose. But I bet in general people who provide more detail get more attention than someone who only fills in one answer.
Perhaps that's why the apostle Paul was never married. He writes in his letter to the Corinthian congregation - “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” Well, nice to meet you too. He wouldn't be too good at conversation on a first date, would he, mr. I decided to know nothing...
Because we love details, we love information. It's like how I comparison shop – I'm a bargain shopper, and I want to have every piece of information before making a purchase. Details help us feel smart, in control. This is the information age, after all. You could have at your fingertips, on your television, computer, or even phone all the statistics for tonight's game, in an instant. News, even bad news, from across the county and across the world can hit the cable news circuit and the internet in minutes. Overall, there's nothing wrong with our desire for details. It helps us be wiser, make good decisions, and have safe, fruitful choices and relationships that God wants for us. But desire for information, for the perfect fact, answer, or match can become an obsession. It can overtake matters of faith, like finding a partner, yourself, or God, because of questions and a desire to find the perfect match or answer.
Paul keeps it simple. I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Probably not the best first date, friend, or candidate for pastor of the Corinthian congregation – I really don't want to know any details about you people. I wonder what the Corinthian church thought when they read those words – I can imagine someone thinking – well what's with this long, confusing letter then?
But there is something striking about Paul's blunt singularity. For all the details we have today, we are still looking for the most basic of answers. I can google, call information, can have things shipped across the world, and have medical treatments unimaginable for previous generations. We can find lots of answers and human wisdom through all of these methods. But we are still asking – Who am I? Who is God? Am I loved?
The world offers many answers for this. But in his own way, Paul explains here why human wisdom doesn't answer these questions our souls hunger after. These are questions of faith. Faith, after all, is not about facts, or having every last detail. Paul writes, faith ought not rest on human wisdom, but on the power of God. Continuing on, Paul seems to set up two camps – spiritual v. unspiritual; God's wisdom v. human wisdom; receiving God's gifts v. not receiving them. We worry about which camp we are in and how to get onto the right side. But it's not a decision or a measure of wisdom, gathered knowledge, or intelligence that brings you to God in faith. It's the Holy Spirit, from inside of you, which creates faith in our God. Faith is hope, trust, it's falling in love, and it's not about details or wisdom. Like falling in love, online, or in person, faith in God happens to you – it's not something you can choose or direct.
“Spiritual” can mean a lot of things in our world today – people say they're “spiritual but not religious,” or seek spiritual healing methods, spiritual cleansing, or talk about all different kinds of spirits. But here spiritual only means one thing – the Holy Spirit and its work inside you. We worry about details, how spiritual we are, what it all means, but this is God's work in us.
It is from these verses Paul writes from which we get also Luther's explanation of the third article of the creed. Some of you may have memorized it for confirmation years ago. Luther wrote: I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.
Yes, at the outset Paul's words sound odd to us – I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. But therein we have a key to all the answers which Google cannot answer. Jesus and his cross are the answer. Who are you? You are known through Jesus, who came for all people, and still comes to us through the word, through the table, and through each other. Who are you? You are loved. Because Jesus. Because God so loved YOU and ALL that God sent the only son, so that all who believe in him may not perish, but have eternal life. Who is God? The one God, who is love. The whole story of the Bible, of our faith, is summarized in this one, Jesus Christ, and him crucified. In Jesus dying and rising we are forgiven, and given the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For human matters, like shopping or picking a sports team to root for, details are nice. But Paul witnesses to the perspective of faith, that the Holy Spirit is in you now. You, yes, you, have the mind of Christ. Because when you view people with these lenses – needing to know nothing more at first about them than Jesus Christ and him crucified, it means seeing the world in love and forgiveness. This is how God sees you, and how the Spirit witnesses from inside of you to love and forgive others. It's God's love, not logic that claims you saved by God.
I know that among you, you are Christ to others. When you offer food to the hungry, you show that you see Christ in the other. At the community meal, we don't ask for details. We just know that everywhere, we see Jesus and ways to spread his love. The Holy Spirit has moved your hearts, to see people and situations not as details, but reflecting Christ's love and forgiveness. God moves this way when you pray for someone who asks, when you forgive a friend, when you reach out in love. Relationships will always have their challenges, and you learn details about people as you go, but our faith views people in this singular way – knowing nothing about them except Jesus Christ crucified. Faith views your neighbor in love and forgiveness.
The bible has abundant detail, mystery to study and draw you in your whole life, endless ways to tell you God's love and how God moves among us in our world. But Paul's bluntness reminds us that it is also as simple as Jesus and the cross. God's message of Jesus is love, and the cross is forgiveness, and this is how God sees you. You are the salt of the Earth. You are the light of the world, the city upon the hill. You are filled with the Holy Spirit. God's love and forgiveness has moved you, and moves others through you. You are forgiven. You are loved. Amen.
