1 Corinthians 9:16-23

 2nd Reading for
 Sunday, February 5, 
 2012

16If I proclaim the
 gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!  17For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission.  18What then is my reward?  Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.  19For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them.  20To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews.  To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law.  21To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law.  22To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak.  I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.  23I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings. 

   The old adage, “Never judge a person until you have walked a mile in their moccasins” came to mind as I read this week’s passage from 1 Corinthians.
    It is a daunting thing to consider becoming, as Paul claimed to have done, “all things to all people, that I might by all means save some” (v. 22). Paul felt compelled by God not only to proclaim the Gospel by example but to engage in a deep identification with each person with whom he dealt.  Last week we read that Paul would never eat meat again if by eating it he was making it more difficult for someone to find God.  In this passage, Paul displayed his com+passion: his willingness to “suffer with” another in order that each might find God as he had.   
    I spent my youth in the Baptist fold (many different stripes of Baptist as the years went along) and the pinnacle of service in that tradition was to be called to a foreign mission field.  Being the rebel that I was (am?) when it came to actual sacrifice, my prayer was that I NOT be called to that particular form of service.  The thought of raising my own salary and returning to congregations after five years abroad to show slides of living in the jungle was almost more than my young mind and heart could bear. Clearly, I was not called in that way.
    But Paul said here that we are all called to proclaim the Gospel.  Not just the evangelicals and not just our clergy!  Our baptism and confirmation constitute our “ordination” into ministry and the proclamation of our faith. It was St. John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople in the last years of the fourth century who is quoted as saying, “Nothing is more useless than a Christian who does not try to save others…I cannot believe in the salvation of anyone who does not work for his neighbor’s salvation.”  No, really.  That is not a televangelist rant.  That is an early Father of the Church speaking.
    So, Paul wrote in Colossians 3:2-3, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”  I find that a fascinating statement.  When I was younger, I used to say to God (tongue very much in cheek), “Yes, my life is really hidden…I cannot figure out what You want me to do with it!”  Now, when I read those verses, several decades closer to actual death, I think that being thus “dead” is actually an advantage when seeking to follow God.  
    Dead people do not have egoistic goals and are not self-serving.  They actually have a shot at “being all things to all people” in a way that those of us clinging to our earthly, self-filled lives do not. Perhaps this is another way to understand “he who loses his life will save it” (Matthew 16:25 and elsewhere).
    As a new creation in Christ, we have the power to freely interact with people where they are, not where we might prefer they be, and to be with them in their struggles to be re-born.  We can identify with all people in their brokenness, even as we are broken, and with the heart of our loving Savior, we can walk with them toward their salvation.  Being “dead”, we are free from our old fears of “talking religion,” of appearing foolish, of being mistaken for a fundamentalist….  We are also free of the prideful desire to impose our formula for salvation on someone else; instead we can be fully present to share the Joy we have found with those who seek what only we can offer. And that is Good News, indeed!

e-Devotion text by Nance Wabshaw.
If you are interested in becoming an e-Devotion author, please contact Carole Becker at cbecker@allsaintsphoenix.org or 602 866 9191 ext.105.

 Heavenly Father, help us to work for our neighbor's salvation by proclaiming the Gospel when-ever and where-ever we can. Amen

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February 5
5th Sunday after Epiphany
Click HERE to read
Isaiah 4-:21-31
Psalm 147:1-11, 20c (3)
1 Corinthians 9:16-23 *
Mark 1:29-39

Februry 12
6th Sunday after Epiphany
Click HERE to read
2 Kings 5:1-14
Psalm 30 (2)
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Mark 1:40-45

* e-Devotion Bible text(s)

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