Standing Under the Scriptures
June 1, 2008

Dear Fellow Voyagers,

The readings we are considering this Sunday are the following:

Deuteronomy 11.18-28: Moses sets before Israel the blessing of heeding God’s word and obeying his commandments and the curse of disobeying and not heeding.

Matthew 7 21-27: Jesus not dissimilarly sets forth the insufficiency of merely calling on him and of building on sand rather than rock.

Our readings last Sunday were a passage from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (4.1-13), and a section of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6.24-34). In the former we discerned the themes of, first, dependence of all on God and, secondly, the Corinthian self-vaunting. In the latter we saw Jesus’ categorical “you cannot serve God and wealth” followed by his admonitions against concern over material things (“consider the lilies of the field”). But we fell short, I fear, of considering how the two Corinthian themes related to each other and, even more, how the Corinthians passage related to the Gospel. As designated navigator this was chiefly my doing (although a dog’s sharp exception to my cycling the previous afternoon, along with my failure to remember the Lord’s hand in it, may have had something to do with this). Last week, however, I spoke of these notices as inter alia a vehicle for thoughts that came to me only after our class was over. Perhaps I may avail myself of it in that way now.

As for the first Corinthians theme, Paul speaks of the requirement for faithfulness in stewards, particularly stewards of the mysteries of God. This is of course a supreme responsibility. Nevertheless in his fulfilment of it he does not feel that he is to be judged by human standards or even by himself. Instead God is his judge---which makes the judgment the more weighty. This is of a piece with his regarding whatever talents he may possess as not his own but as from the Lord. And he sees this dependence as applying to his Corinthians too: whatever they have, they have only because God has given it to them.

But they have failed to realize this (or perhaps forgotten it). Instead they regard their endowments as their own possession. This has led to the inflation of their opinions of themselves, the only possible outcome of presuming to be self-sufficient rather than dependent on God (except perhaps despair when one’s presumed self-sufficiency turns out to be empty). Their presumption has a further effect, namely the inversion of their relationship with Paul and the other apostle(s)---whether he intends more than just Apollos is not clear); And this is to bring the structure of their community, the proper order of things, into disorder. To bring home this further effect and its destructiveness, he employs irony and even sarcasm (verses 9-11, passim): “Without us you have become kings. And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you…. We are fools for Christ’s sake but you are wise in Christ. We are weak but you are strong. You are held in honor but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and buffeted and homeless.” In this is Paul not being judgmental, which we have been cautioned against? Yes he is, but he is not on that account to be dismissed. For he may be taken as calling on the Corinthians to live up to their true natures, that is, the natures which they have in Christ. And this is clearly to affirm them. Verse 14, which follows our passage but which we did not look at, comports with this view: “I do not write this to make you ashamed but to admonish you as my beloved children.” And to refrain from judgment may be only a mark of indifference, which can be more destructive than any judgment.

Two points are still to be noted. When Paul contrast the lofty self-characterization of the Corinthians with his own lowly circumstances (“I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all… as the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things”), he has a message also for us. This is that when we are tempted to bemoan our own misfortunes: we can reflect on why things should be less difficult for us than for the apostles. Further, in verses 12 and 13 Paul speaks of taking whatever opprobrium is directed against him and transforming it in return (“When reviled we bless, when persecuted we endure, when slandered we try to conciliate.”) A class member remarked that this was reminiscent of St. Francis. And indeed it is the pattern that is appropriate for us.

Overall, in this passage Paul not so much lays injunctions on the Corinthians as declares to them the way things are. Jesus does much the same in our Gospel, from the Sermon on the Mount; herein we may see the connection between our two passages. He begins with a categorical statement, “No one can serve two masters.” He continues with a particular instance: “You cannot serve God and wealth/mammon.” For the rest he enjoins against anxiety about material things: “Do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on” (verse 25). As for why not, he cites first the birds of heaven: “They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” He cites also the lilies of the field: “They neither toil not spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all hi glory was not arrayed like one of these... Will God not much more clothe you, O men of little faith?”

We may wonder about these assurances. Are they not an incentive to passivity, to sloth even? In fact they are not. For what they really do is call on us to trust God, to put our whole reliance on him. And this could be the hardest thing of all, even beyond our human capacity. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit may it be possible (but God grants his Spirit to those who put their trust in him).

We may wonder also whether there is a connection between these assurances and “You cannot serve God and Mammon.” I believe there is and that it lies in the following. The only alternative to serving mammon is to trust God for our material needs. And whatever the hazards of so trusting him, serving mammon, or wealth slavery, is far more hazardous. For it never leads to any resting place; it can end only in spiritual death. Jesus here is indeed declaring the way things are.

May I conclude with a couple of personal notes? Firstly, on Wednesday afternoon I was in the All Saints’ library reading Barth’s Church Dogmatics that you so generously presented on my behalf. And on page 470 (out of 840) of volume IV, part 2, I came upon the following:

“If we ever take the risk (and it is a risk) of preaching on Matthew 6.25-34…“

This is the passage I have here written about. And in fact I had just preached on it, at the Wednesday midday Eucharist. May my rashness be rebuked not too severely.

Secondly, in my Class Notice for Easter VII, May 4, I spoke your gift of the Church Dogmatics and its significance, for me and for the library. And I shared this notice with my friend Stanley Hauerwas (Time Magazine’s “best American theologian”). He has now replied with the following.

“Thanks so much for the letter you wrote to your fellow Voyagers. What a lovely gift they gave you and one well deserved. I thought your letter was beautiful.”

Stanley recently lost most of the sight in one eye. For a theologian (he a real one), who must read enormously to keep up with the literature, this is no small difficulty. Over the years he has been exceedingly generous with his time and conversation to me, who have no claim on him. And for me this has been of vital importance. I am sure that you will join me in praying for him, that the Lord will see him through his current affliction.

Faithfully, Fr. Ted