Readings for today: 1 Corinthians 9-10, Psalms 145
Human beings are deeply complex creatures. We are an inscrutable mix of desires, passions, thoughts, life experiences, and core beliefs. We cannot be flattened into two-dimensional caricatures. We resist broad categorization. We refuse to conform to general stereotypes. Each person is unique. Each person fearfully and wonderfully made. I love how sociologist Christian Smith defines “personhood” in his book, What is a Person?
“By person I mean a conscious, reflexive, embodied, self-transcending center of subjective experience, durable identity, moral commitment, and social communication who - as the efficient cause of his or her own responsible actions and interactions - exercises complex capacities for agency and intersubjectivity in order to develop and sustain his or her own incommunicable self in loving relationships with other personal selves and with the non-personal world.”
If you are like me, you had to read and re-read that statement several times to really understand it and that makes perfect sense. After all, we are made in the image of God. We are finite creatures created to reflect the infinite. We are temporal creatures created to reflect the eternal. We are mortal creatures created to reflect the immortal. As such, we should expect complexity. We should expect intricacy. We should expect enigma and inscrutability. This is normal when one speaks of the human creature. It’s also why we have to meet each person where they are. We cannot make assumptions. We have to lay aside any expectations. We have to approach each person individually with a heart to listen and learn.
This is the genius of Paul. He treats each person as a unique creature worthy of God’s unconditional love. He believes with all his heart that no one is beyond the reach of God’s amazing grace. Listen to how he describes it from our reading today, “Although I am free from all and not anyone’s slave, I have made myself a slave to everyone, in order to win more people. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews; to those under the law, like one under the law — though I myself am not under the law — to win those under the law. To those who are without the law, like one without the law — though I am not without God’s law but under the law of Christ — to win those without the law. To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some. Now I do all this because of the gospel, so that I may share in the blessings.” (1 Corinthians 9:19-23 CSB) If Paul were using today’s categories, he might say, “To the Republicans, I joined their convention in order to win Republicans. To the Democrats, I joined their administration in order to win Democrats. I invited both conservatives and progressives into my life, listened and loved them well, in order to win them with the gospel. I spent time with those who saw the world differently, refusing to use shame or fear to coerce or change their behavior, instead choosing to embrace both grace and truth in order to win them to Christ. I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some.” This is the way of the Kingdom. This is the way of Jesus.
As we near the end of yet another challenging election cycle, my heart is broken by the divisions that fracture our families, churches, communities, and nation. Rather than walk in the way of grace, we walk in the way of the world. We judge our neighbors. We exclude and divide. We isolate and separate. We rarely, if ever, look in the mirror. We rarely, if ever, acknowledge our own contributions to the toxicity of our social environment. We shift blame. We externalize responsibility. Our problems are always someone else’s fault. Even more tragically, we treat those who think differently than us as not just wrong but evil. We treat them as if they are beyond the reach of God’s forgiveness and grace. Unworthy of our time or attention. This is not the way of Jesus. Friends, Jesus came to us. He met us in the depths of our broken condition. He came to us while we were still sinners. While we were still dead in our trespasses. While we were still at war with Him. He became our peace by tearing down every wall that separated us from Him. How can we - who call ourselves Christians - not do the same for others?
Readings for tomorrow: 1 Corinthians 11-12, Psalms 146