1 Corinthians 7:25-31
Psalms 45:10-15
Luke 6:20-26
In his first letter to the Corinthians, St Paul sounds like a bit of a fun-killer. More than that; he seems like he is contradicting a twice-given commandment from God.
The commandment to “be fruitful and multiply” is given directly from God to humanity on two occasions: first, at our creation, to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden; and secondly, to Noah and his family, at the moment of re-creation at the subsiding of the Great Flood. To marry and be married, and to have children, to come together as families and multiply is the original blessing. And yet the apostle is telling us: no, don’t bother about that one. So what gives?
Perhaps we can think of who he was writing to. The church in Corinth was running the very great risk of turning into a swinger’s club. When reading both of his letters to them one after another, we get a sense that these Christians were very concerned about parties, and not so much about holy love. And so I think St Paul is trying to get them to snap out of it: for the way of Christ is not in the flesh, or the material, but in the spiritual and eternal. St Paul’s instruction to them can be relevant to us if we look at his reason why: that this world is passing away.
And that is our point of consistency between St Paul and the Lord Jesus. This world is passing away. For all its great wonders and delights, and all its terrible tragedies and losses, God has appointed a time when the final whistle will be blown and it will be full time. Our concern, as Christians, is to be less worried about what will be swept away, and more focused on what will remain afterwards.
The Lord Jesus teaches us much the same thing in our Gospel reading. He points to one group of people: those without. Those who are poor, who are hungry, who weep, who are scorned for being Christian. Keep your eyes up, he says: all this pain is temporary, and you are blessed. Then he points to a second group: those with. If this world has given you wealth, food, laughter and praise from others, then beware: for that will be swept away, too.
If we, today, keep our eyes looking to that which is permanent, then we have great perspective, and, I think, will be better settled in our spirits. We can rejoice when God gives us material wealth, food, times of laughter, and respect from our peers, as long as we don’t think that that is the main goal. For it is only temporary. And on the flip side, when we find ourselves poor, hungry, sorrowful and scorned, we can rejoice through it all, because that too is only temporary.
So much for what will pass. But what will remain? What should we be looking to gather to ourselves, and seeking for others, knowing that it won’t be a waste of time? Let’s flick towards the end of St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, to chapter 13. It is his great manifesto on love. You have probably heard it a million times, and still not felt like it is enough. But he continues the theme of what is permanent and what is temporary even here. After going through several things that are only worthwhile if they are done lovingly, he concludes triumphantly with these words:
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
The partial will pass away. The desires of the flesh, the allure of the material, the sorrow and trials of this world, will all pass away. But some things will remain, and amongst them faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these, that which we should keep our main focus on, and that which helps us keep our perspective on all other things, is love: specifically, the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.