For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.
1 Corinthians 1:17
This verse from the readings for this past weekend is the one that grabbed my attention. It did so because it left me with questions.
What does Paul have to say to me with the words “Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel” (1 Cor. 1:17)?
He did baptize people, didn’t he? Verses 14 through 16 say he did. So why does he say Christ didn’t send him to baptize? It seems to me that he provides the answer in verse 13. One question in that verse reminds the flock in Corinth it isn’t in his name that they come together. It isn’t in his name that they share what they have with those who have less. It isn’t in his name that they forgive one another and love and pray for those who persecute them. It isn’t in his name that they share their spiritual gifts. Rather, it’s in Christ’s name that they do all these things, as it was in Christ’s name that they were baptized, not in Paul’s. Christ worked through earthly leaders of the Church in Corinth to baptize people. None of those leaders were acting on their own behalf.
This first part of the verse also reminds me that while different members of Christ serve different functions within his mystical body, (for example, some regularly baptize new members, while others normally don’t) all members are called to preach the gospel — and not just with words. Conveying the limitations of language seems part of the message of the verse’s second half: “and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning”[italics mine] (1 Cor.1:17).
Even Christ’s words, by themselves, didn’t keep sin and the suffering that resulted from having the final say. The words themselves didn’t unite to himself and to one another anyone who wanted to be united. His death on the cross and the resurrection that followed made that possible. He carried our wounds and our weaknesses to the fullest extent he could — to the point of death. He was victorious after he offered his life on the cross. But in the final hours of that pre-resurrection life, when he spoke at all, he didn’t tell parables or give sermons as he once had. He spoke in short phrases.
Jesus’ words prepared hearers to receive the union with the Divine that he would offer through his body on the cross and through His Spirit on Pentecost.
The words themselves didn’t complete the adoption, yet they paved the way for the proceedings. Nevertheless, despite the important role words sometimes play in bringing us closer together as members of Christ’s family, and of the human family Paul writes that “human eloquence” can empty the cross “of its meaning (1 Cor. 1:17).
How can this happen?
One answer is that words themselves are a means of dividing the people, ideas, and objects they represent into categories that separate one thing from another. Language distinguishes between an apple and an orange, between people from one tribe or place and another. Language defines an “us” and a “them.” It names God and the elements of God’s creation. Such differentiation has its place because recognizing our differences can help us learn from each other and grow in humility. Certainly recognizing that we are not God can help with the latter.
But problems arise when we let ourselves believe that the ways we are different from other people make us better than them. This belief won’t let us celebrate others as the unique reflections of God that they are. Problems also arise when we get so focused on the challenges that our differences present that we don’t recognize what we have in common. Third, problems arise when we focus so much on our separateness from God that we don’t grow in our relationship with God. These problems are some forms sin can take.
The effects of sin are the opposite of the effect of the cross of Christ, which has the power to close the painful gaps we create between ourselves and others and between ourselves and God. Is this closure complete? No, because each of us has to receive healing (the reception of which sometimes means carrying crosses of our own) so that we can share it again and again. Also, this healing is not complete because we haven’t yet reached the end of time as we know it.
And there’s another reason besides the frequent divisiveness of “human eloquence” that can empty the cross “of its meaning” (1 Cor. 17). Human eloquence can have this effect when it isn’t supported by action — which is not to say that words cannot be actions in and of themselves. Sometimes words can help us comprehend the full meaning of actions. Yet they can also be attractive but devoid of meaning. Presenting an eloquent argument in favor of one solution to a problem doesn’t, in fact, solve the problem. For that to happen, someone has to put the solution into action. Talking about giving someone a meal or a drink of clean water is not the same as actually providing it. Eloquent prayers and reflections by themselves are empty unless they are accompanied by actions. And yet, it can feel so much easier to talk about doing something and to tell someone else to do something than to participate in doing it myself
Lord, help me to recognize how I can be an answer to prayers today. Amen.
The Bible.The New American Bible Revised Edition, Kindle edition, Fairbrother, 2011.
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. “Sunday July, 2 2023: Readings at Mass.” The New American Bible, 2001. Universalis for Windows, Version 2.179, Universalis Publishing Ltd., 26 Feb. 2023, https://universalis.com/n-app-windows.htm
Click this link to read, to listen to, and/or to watch Lisa Frey’s reflection on this week’s readings. God willing, I’ll be back to posting my own reflections next week. Thanks for visiting Sitting with the Sacred. I hope you’ll come again soon.
What looked like an unusual planetary alignment started me and my two brothers on a journey west. Our traditions had taught us that such an alignment signaled the birth of a new ruler. It would be our duty to inform the influential people we served if they should shift their alliances. We we did our part to encourage prudent alliances by acquainting ourselves with as many leaders in as many places and areas of life as we could. Because many leaders in the region consulted us before making business, personal, and political decisions, we set off to follow the movement of the disturbance in the heavens.
We took with us gifts for the leader to whom we felt certain the disturbance would lead us. Along with supplies for our own sustenance, we took gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We knew all leaders needed gold for their coffers. We also knew that all leaders needed Someone greater than themselves to turn to when strategies and alliances failed to bears much fruit as they hoped. Therefore, they sought incense to accompany their supplications to this Higher Power. Finally we knew that all leaders faced much loss as a consequence of their responsibilities. Indeed all leaders themselves will one day die and are well-served by being reminded of their mortality, and so we carried with us the myrrh — a perfume for anointing a body after its soul is no longer bound by this world.
Ours was a jarring journey, and not just because of the swaying and lurching of the camels on which we rode. The disturbance exuded a light that overpowered nights to an extent we had never before seen — and we had been studying the skies since before we could remember. It made the night almost as bright as day so that anyone who wanted the cover of darkness to hide their unsavory activities put a moratorium on doing business. Dusty, rocky roads were empty. No whispering escaped from alleyways to reach my ears. The clop of the camels hooves did not seem to send silhouettes scurrying.
Yet as we passed the opposite limits of our city, we saw sheep in the fields awakened from their nightly rest by the brightness. Some fled toward it as if toward an unseen shepherd while others fled from it, wild-eyed as if desperate to escape a growing conflagration.
To our surprise, when we reached the gates of the palace in Jerusalem, the planetary alignment was still moving. We’d agreed to stop at the palace in order request an audience with the current occupant, despite the continued advancement of our guiding light. The palace guards that would need to be consulted first in order to request an audience could provide valuable background information about any power shifts that were underway.
“Have there been murmurs of rebellion? Is someone challenging Herod’s rule?” I asked a guard.
“We would not tolerate so much as a thought of treason if we know about it. Why? What have you heard? And from whom? You will be rewarded handsomely for your information.”
“I have heard nothing out of the ordinary, except that the villages towns and cities have sounded like their outskirts. I have heard only the braying and bleating of animals unsettled by the bright heavenly body that has become visible.” I told him what its appearance meant to my brothers and me.
To my surprise, the man led the three of us straight to Herod, to whom I repeated what I’d told his guard.
“Many of my people do not put much faith in such signs. He gave a gesture of dismissal, and I thought this would be the end of our audience, but he continued. They’ve hardly left their villages and have not traveled beyond Jerusalem. I, however, am privileged to have enjoyed the delights of Rome on many occasions, to have dined with Caesar. I do not dismiss ideas such as yours so easily. Still, I am concerned only if the people have reason to believe the Chosen One of God has been born. Guard! Call the priests and scholars of the law.
As far as I could tell, every priest and scholar in the kingdom arrived, though they must have been called out of sleep.
“Where is the anointed one to be born?” The king asked them.
One of the summoned subjects answered for the rest. “In Bethlehem of Judea, for it has been written through the prophet:
‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel. ‘”
(Mat. 2:5-6).
The king scratched his chin. “I see.” He waved both arms. You are dismissed, priests and scholars.”
They rushed to remove themselves from the palace.
The king turned to me and my brothers. “Where does this heavenly convergence seem to be positioned.”
“It does seem to be moving toward Bethlehem of Judea,” I said.
“Follow it. Then return here, and I will see and reward you immediately. I must know what you find. As the leader of my people, I must maintain peace. I need to know if a coup is afoot in Bethlehem. Or if you find the Anointed One, as the leader of my people, I must be the first to do him homage — in order to keep the peace — by letting the people know I still honor the One True God.”
To my eyes and ears, Herod had made it clear that he hadn’t wanted his priests and scholars to know how we interpreted the developments in the heavens. He didn’t want to plant a seed of the idea that the prophecy was being fulfilled. He perceived even such a seed would be a threat to his power. I had been consulted by enough leaders like Herod to know what their fears and ways of dealing with them often were. Despite his pious words, Herod lived as a friend of Caesar, not as a son of Abraham.
I had a dream that night that confirmed what I had suspected — and more. The dream told me that the brilliant convergence in the heavens would lead me to a simple craftsman, his wife, and their child. The child would put our gifts to use because he would lead in three ways — as a priest, a prophet, and a king. He would lead through wisdom and service, not by instilling fear and using it to exert control. My brothers and I had always endeavored to exercise our influence in this way. What better way to continue on this path than for me and my brothers to submit ourselves to the Source of these virtues and to heed the warnings of the sacred messenger that had come to me in the dream?
We did not go back the way we had come.
The Bible.The New American Bible Revised Edition, Kindle edition, Fairbrother, 2011.
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. “Sunday July, 2 2023: Readings at Mass.” The New American Bible, 2001. Universalis for Windows, Version 2.179, Universalis Publishing Ltd., 26 Feb. 2023, https://universalis.com/n-app-windows.htm
The LORD bless you and keep you! The LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!
Numbers 23-25, New American Bible
I’m beginning this post with the verses from Numbers because I can’t think of a better New Year’s blessing.
The psalm expands the message of the Old Testament blessing. It might be helpful to make a note of these verses for those times when you need a pick-me-up throughout the year. If you look up the psalm verses listed above, it might also be helpful to remember that when we read or hear that we should fear God, it’s a reminder to guard against arrogance, to maintain openness to God’s desires and to recognize our dependence on God. God’s nature isn’t to harm us. For evidence of this statement, Jeremiah 29:11.
The epistle (the third reading) refers to the New Testament events we’ve been and will be revisiting. It also brings to mind the words of the Lord’s Prayer and the events of Pentecost.
The New Testament reading offers the blessing from Numbers using more than words. The shepherds find exactly what the angel promised they would. God’s glory has shined on them not only through the presence of the angels but through the little face of the baby Jesus.
Looking at the Old Testament reading and the New Testament reading together made me wonder why it seems so much easier for the shepherds to see the fulfillment of God’s promises than it does for me? Then I remembered some things:
The shepherds play important supporting roles in a unique event. It’s understandable that they might need more clarity to play the parts God was inviting them to play. On the other hand, for me to grow spiritually it might be necessary to look for God’s presence without the help of the clear signage the angel gives the shepherds. I say the signage was clear, but as I write this, it strikes me that the angel doesn’t say where in Bethlehem the manger cradling Jesus; therefore,
The shepherds probably had to take more time and effort to get from the fields to the manger than I realize.
The shepherds had been waiting for the Messiah their whole lives, however long that had been, and their ancestors had been waiting their whole lives, as had the people who came before that generation. This was true going back thousands of years.
In short, I find it helpful to remember that the characters in the Bible didn’t get to fast-forward to the parts of their stories that I know. There was undoubtedly a lot of waiting, and struggling, and struggling to wait in those segments of their lives that haven’t been handed down to us.
The New Testament passage gives some hints about what I can do while I wait to better understand what’s unfolding in my life. Luke 2:19 says “Mary kept all these things, [the unique events she’s playing a central role in] reflecting on them in her heart (New American Bible Revised Edition). Perhaps “reflecting on [these events] in her heart” describes a process of taking note of what she’s experienced, considering what the experiences have taught her, and of reminding herself of those lessons frequently over time (Luke 2:19). Perhaps this process results in the lessons becoming part of her so that she can then reflect them, and in doing so, him can bless the lives that intersect with her own. She and the shepherds can live their lives “glorifying and praising God for all they [have] seen and heard, just as it [has] been told to them” (Luke 2:20).
Will their praise always look and sound glorious to those around them? Will their praise look and sound as extraordinary as God coming into the world as a baby boy? Not necessarily. Right after Luke tells us how the shepherds responded to finding Jesus, the book tells us that Mary and Joseph did what other Jewish parents of a newborn son did. They circumcised Jesus and announced his name, the name Gabriel had given him (Luke 2:21). These ordinary acts of faith and of honoring those who came before are as much fulfillment of what had been foretold as our the angelic appearances and the miraculous conception.
Maybe these readings invite me to take note of and to reflect in my own heart on God’s promises and presence so that I can reflect both. Lord, help me to accept this invitation and challenge. Help me to trust in Your promises and to discern and to surrender to Your will more often. Amen.
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. “Sunday July, 2 2023: Readings at Mass.” The New American Bible, 2001. Universalis for Windows, Version 2.179, Universalis Publishing Ltd., 26 Feb. 2023, https://universalis.com/n-app-windows.htm
The Bible.The New American Bible Revised Edition, Kindle edition, Fairbrother, 2011.
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. “Sunday July, 2 2023: Readings at Mass.” The New American Bible, 2001. Universalis for Windows, Version 2.179, Universalis Publishing Ltd., 26 Feb. 2023, https://universalis.com/n-app-windows.htm
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