1 Corinthians 1:18-31—The People God Blesses; Blessed are
the low and despised people of God.
Blessed are the lowly and despised. Paul reminds the church
at Corinth that God chose them when they were of no account in the sight of the
world: slaves, women, and children.
They had no education (wisdom), no political power, and no
blue blood. This harmonizes with Jesus’ example as friend of publicans and
sinners. He did not choose wealthy, high class or scholarly men for disciples,
but peasants and publicans. Why is God interested only in “down-and-outers” and not in the “up-and-outers?” How can this truth be applied to today’s church
members who are generally from the middle to top class, have comfortable
incomes, are college graduates and among the socially elite? It may be because
the educated are educated out of their need for God. The wealthy need nothing
that money cannot buy. The powerful are too self-sufficient and sophisticated
to humble themselves before God as suppliants and miserable sinners.
“Christ crucified,”
is the “stumbling block” of Jesus,
who could not accept a suffering and dying God as the Messiah and “foolishness” to the Greeks, whose love
for philosophy saw little value in accentuating a criminal’s crucifixion. By
contrast, the Christians based their entire faith on such “nonsense” and no doubt appeared a bit “weak in the head” to those around them, What is more, many of the
early Christians came from the ranks of the poor (and slaves) and were also
considered physically and socially “weak.” Paul speaks a word of contrast and comfort,
highlighted also by the exhortation to humility in the Old Testament reading
(Micah 6:1-8) and by the beatitudes in the Gospel. (Matthew 5:1-12)
From a human perspective, God operates in a very strange
fashion. He does not prize or value those qualities men and women cherish.
Boasting of one’s wisdom, power, and status counts for nothing in the sight of
God. In the Old Testament, when He called His people to Himself, He chose a
most unlikely and undeserving band of slaves. He molded these “nobodies” into
His own nation (Deuteronomy 7:6-8) God’s strategy has not changed in the New
Testament. What the human eye vales (v.26) is of no consequence to God.
(Vv.27-29) Only in Jesus (V.30) doe we learn of how God perceives the issues of
wisdom and power and status. Once we share His world view, we quickly learn
that the only cause for boasting is in the Lord Himself. (V. 31)
A Collect for Epiphany: Lord God, on this day you revealed your
Son to the nations by the leading of a star. Lead us now by faith to know your
presence in our lives and bring us at last to the full vision of your glory .[2]
[1]
Image of the cross © Ed Riojas, Higher Things
[2] An
Epiphany Collect, Lutheran Service Book © 2006, Concordia Publishing House, St.
Louis
[3]
Collect for Thursday of the week of Epiphany 3,
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