by The Rev. Dr. Max Lynn
SCRIPTURE READINGS 1 Corinthians 8: 1-13, Mark 1: 21-28
Transcribed from the sermon preached on JANUARY 28, 2024
1 Corinthians 8: 1-13
8 Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; 3but anyone who loves God is known by him.
4Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— 6yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
7It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8“Food will not bring us close to God.” We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? 11So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. 12But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall.
Mark 1:21-28
21They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 25But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
I find this teaching from I Corinthians to be very helpful in determining how we should conduct ourselves as Christians. It seems there are several differing opinions among the Corinthian Christians about whether or not it is permitted for Christians to eat meat sacrificed to idols. This is an issue in part because while there were some butchers who were not priests, many priests were butchers, which meant that much meat for sale in the market may have been sacrificed or butchered at a pagan temple.
One among the opinions among Christians would be orthodox Jewish Christians who consider eating meat sacrificed to an idol as idolatry.
Now Jesus said that the point of the law was to do good and not harm. He also said, the whole law is summed up in this, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. The law is a helpful guide, but the law doesn’t save, since you can follow the laws and still be sinful, or not loving, and anyway, the law doesn’t cover everything in every situation, and since nobody is perfect, we must be saved by grace. So, there is another group who thinks that since we are saved by grace, the law is no longer important. And since they do not believe that idols have real power, it is no big deal to eat the meat sacrificed in a pagan temple. In fact, they want to show their freedom from all the common fears and superstitions. This group could have been made up of both Jewish and Gentile Christians.
Now there is another group of Gentile Christians who are converts from Roman religions, from worshipping Roman gods. And since they had learned in their conversion that we should worship only One God, meat used in and sacrificed at Pagan temples had pagan god energy.
So, the question comes to Paul, is it ok to eat meat that may have been sacrificed to idols? Paul’s response is quite interesting. For Paul the issue is not the meat but the intention of the one eating, and how will this act impact your fellow Christian neighbor?
The idols have no power, and we are free from the law in Christ; this is true. Therefore, it is fine to eat meat sacrificed to idols. But if you are in the presence of a Jewish Christian who thinks it is a sin or a Gentile Christian who thinks it is a sin, and or thinks the meat has energy from the god it was sacrificed to, then it may be best not to eat the meat.
It sounds as if some of those eating the meat may be doing it to show off, to demonstrate their freedom, knowledge, and lack of fear, or to shock the others. The sin is not in the eating of the meat, but the intention of the meat eater.
Our moral guide as Christians is doing good and loving our neighbor, and intention counts.
Paul’s thinking is applicable in many situations.
Things have changed in Guatemala, but back when we went through Peace Corps Volunteer training, we were told that the cultural norm was that women not to wear pants or shorts. Now this was a bit annoying to American female volunteers who felt they were free to wear whatever they wanted. But since the purpose of their being there was to gain the trust of the people in their neighborhood in order to successfully work to decrease poverty, the good work was more important than the freedom. If you want to influence and help people, gain their trust. Most female volunteers learned they could wear different clothes at different times and still be effective in their jobs.
There was a time when many churches in the United States considered it a sin to dance. Now since we are free from the law in Christ, and there is dancing in the Bible, they might have been wrong on this issue. So, you might be free to have fun dancing at a certain time and place, but it wouldn’t have been wise or the loving thing back then to do to break out the boom box and get down on the Church steps on Sunday.
We know that it was the cultural norm of the Christians of Europe to not show a lot of skin. So, they were shocked when they immigrated to the tropics or islands and saw people running around half naked. I suspect that part of the reasoning behind the covered cultural norm was as much the cold climate of Europe as anything. Even though Berkeley thinks of itself as liberal and free, and has parades where people run around naked, in general people are not accustomed to showing a lot of skin. So, in Berkeley, even on a hot day, if you take your shirt off, people look at you like you are weird or showing off, as if they were Puritans. In some place like San Diego or Hawaii, people don’t think twice. In fact, it is the opposite because hot clothes in a hot place are uncomfortable. So, James Bond, the ultimate cool Englishman, even he looks like a dork in a suit in the tropics. So even though I come from a culture where everyone, pretty and not so pretty, young, and old is used to going around shirtless or in little clothes, it is rare that I would take my shirt off in Berkeley: it makes liberal intellectuals uncomfortable. You wouldn’t go to hell for wearing a Euro skibby at a Church retreat, but what is your intention. Best to save that for your vacation on a tropical beach or a skinny dip in a Sierra Nevada waterfall.
The same rule applies for explicit signs of affection, no matter your gender or orientation. In general, we want to show love and affection for our significant other. It is ok for them and others to know you are together. That is fine. But soon after your sophomore year in high school, not everyone needs to see all your shades of grey. For some showing off is a sign of protest against moral uptightness, of having to hide in the closet, so they want to show and demonstrate their freedom. There is a time and place for protest, and we are free from the law in Christ, but we also want to bring people along easy. I once saw a young person get angry because a person for whom English was a second language didn’t use the right pronoun. Progressive puritanism: Maybe the whole world isn’t about us. Not everyone who speaks or thinks differently from us is our enemy. Especially grandparents and people from other cultures. Sometimes the best way to demonstrate your freedom from the looks and opinions of others is to go away from them.
This is a common adolescent tactic; do something that will upset their parents to show they are free from them, but it also serves the purpose of locking in the stuck togetherness of emotional reaction. We want to be free, but we are afraid to grow up and lose our connection too. We want to keep the emotional connection, but we don’t want to admit it, so we shock and fight.
I had a moment when I had to face up to this emotional “stuckness” to my parents. My parents were heading out of town for the weekend. The last thing my father said to me was, “Don’t drive your sister’s Mustang.” It made me mad that that was the last thing my father said. He was treating me like a kid. It made me mad that he didn’t think he could trust me to drive safely, even though I definitely would have loved to jump in it and put the peddle to the metal. I think I was driving a hand me down pinto wagon at the time, perhaps the crapiest slowest car known to man, and that was just fine for my parents. Well, I didn’t drive that car all weekend long, then just before my parents were supposed to get home, I took it for a spin. After all, we are free from the law in Christ. Of course, my dad flipped out: “the last thing I said was don’t drive that car.” I had a therapy session after that in which I grew up a bit. If I really wanted to be free, free from my old-fashioned uncool parents saying obnoxious and ignorant things and treating me like a child, if I wanted to be free to drive a mustang peddle to the metal, maybe it would be best to get a good paying job, move out of the house, and buy my own car.
Remember that there is freedom to and freedom from. I’m free to play my music loud, but are others free to not hear loud music? Again, there are times and places. It is contextual. One Sunday morning a neighbor came over to the church to complain of loud music. Ahh, it is Easter, and you moved in next to a Church! If it is New Year’s Eve, or the Big Game, or graduation, or the Pride Parade, or 4th of July, we dogs and old geezers need to suck it up and suffer the ruckus. We like our freedom to have peace and quiet, but let the kids have some fun for God’s sake. You can make a good argument that we should outlaw beef to save the environment. But it might not be the best strategy to drop in on a backyard barbeque on Cinco de Mayo and lecture all the Mexicans that carne asada is a sin.
Knowledge puffs up, love builds up.
We are free to have a glass of wine or beer, and maybe at the Octoberfest or on a beach in a hammock in Mexico, or at a wedding in Cana, we might get a little sauced. But what if we are going out with our alcoholic friend who has just quit? What is more important, our freedom or our friend?
It has become common to say happy holidays in December to acknowledge that not everyone is Christian, and we are happy to live in a nation that is made of a diversity of people. Merry Christmas is a beautiful thing to say. I love to hear it. And we are free to say it. But when we say merry Christmas, shouldn’t we really mean it, and not be saying it to arrogantly show off that we are Christian and free? Now as soon as it becomes illegal to say Merry Christmas and we start being strung up and gutted like William Wallis in Braveheart, then I hope I would be the first one to say before I die: Merry Christmas!!!!! But for now, perhaps we ought to treat others as we would like to be treated and stick to Merry Christmas for our Christian friends and family.
We are free from the law in Christ. Knowledge puffs up, love builds up.