0114 Reflection -- 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

                         Sunday 14 January 2018
The Second Sunday after the Epiphany

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1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (NRSV)
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food,” and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, “The two shall be one flesh.” But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

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There are a handful of possible preaching paths in this.

All things are lawful, but...
This is a reminder that we are bound to one another. The greatest lesson that I learned from my 10th Grade English teacher had nothing to do with English literature or grammar. He told us again and again: What I do touches you and what you do touches me." As Christians, we need to remember that our freedom in Christ meets limits when it places a stumbling block in the path of someone else, anyone else.

Do you not know that your body is a temple...
We are a dwelling place for God. I'm always struck by the fact that there are things we think we cannot say or do within a sacred space such as a Church. Do you realize what we are saying is that in these places God is somehow more attentive and aware? Only we don't meet God only here. God is present everywhere, and fully aware of our words, deeds and thoughts at all times and places. God is with us always. The purpose of that eternal presence is not our judgment but rather our salvation, driven not by the desire to condemn but rather to love. So if there is anything we shouldn't say, do or think in Church, this should be true everywhere else. Likewise, if there is something we should do here, we should do so everywhere.

Do you not know ... you are members of Christ?
Christ has claimed us for himself, to be his beloved. As a wife is faithful to her husband, and a husband to his wife, so also we are called to be faithful at all times to Christ.

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                                          Fr. Timothy Alleman