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| “Paul and Apollos” by Sir Edward Poynter, 1872. |
Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: 1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Commentary on 1 Cor 3:1-9
St. Paul addresses divisions in the Church of Corinth. He speaks to them as “fleshly people” (sarkinos), as a people immature in the faith. In Romans 7:14 the apostle defines “sarkinos” as “sold into the slavery of sin.” Because of their worldly nature, they evaluate preachers motivated by vanity and prejudice, not the spirit.
Apollos is a leader of that congregation who came after St. Paul had left. Both come from the same master as servants (diakonoi). Paul is sent to establish the church, Apollos to develop it. It is obvious from this reading that divisions and rivalries had occurred, as some favored St. Paul, and others Apollos. St. Paul refutes this division saying he and Apollos are one and the same, being sent by the same God. He calls for unity, because it is God who brings salvation. He states that each of them will receive wages for the hard work of the apostolic mission (see also 1 Thessalonians 3:5; Galatians 4:11; Romans 16:12).
CCC: 1 Cor 3:9 307, 755, 756
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 33:12-13, 14-15, 20-21
R. (12) Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Commentary on Ps 33:12-13, 14-15, 20-21
Psalm 33 is a hymn of praise in which God, as the creator, is celebrated. In this selection, the just are invited to share the Lord’s salvation, and are promised his protection. The psalm rejoices in the active help God gives to his chosen people.
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Gospel: Luke 4:38-44
Commentary on Lk 4:38-44
This Gospel passage continues the healing mission of Christ in Capernaum. He first heals Simon’s mother-in-law (at this point in St. Luke’s Gospel Simon has not yet been called). He then proceeds to heal all who are brought to him. The demons he cast out were aware of Jesus’ identity as the Son of God (as was the demon in Luke 4:31-37).
When Jesus tries to leave the people try to keep him with them. Contrast this response with the people of Nazareth, his home town, earlier. The Lord then proceeds to teach throughout the region, proclaiming the Kingdom of God.
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Reflection:
Today we begin with more of Paul’s distance learning program for the church at Corinth. Notice he has moved away from his discourse on “Christian Wisdom,” and now focuses the problems facing the church itself. Apparently there is some division among them because, while Paul and his entourage came and started the church, a person named Apollos carried the work forward. Somehow there was a rift with part of the community claiming orthodoxy based upon Paul’s teachings (“I belong to Paul”), and others supporting Apollos.
Paul points out in his letter that by behaving in this rather childish (but true to human nature) way, they were not behaving as a community of faith, but more like the unconverted community at large. (“While there is jealousy and rivalry among you, are you not of the flesh, and walking according to the manner of man?”) Even in Paul’s time, there were forces of human nature doing their level best to divide the church. Does this sound familiar?
If we were to bring the time forward about a thousand years we see that same ugly situation appear, this time in Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade, when members of the Roman Church despoiled the city and churches of the Eastern Church causing a rift that exists to this day. The fracture exists in spite of numerous attempts on both sides to reconcile the differences. Some hurts, when allowed to go untreated for too long, may never heal entirely.
Fast forward about six hundred years. We hear cries from within the ranks of the Church: “I am for Leo X,” and others, “I am for Luther.” This time there was no St. Paul to remind the community that they were behaving childishly, and they should remember the Lord’s teaching. Once more, the Church was divided and, because of the reactions on both sides, no reconciliation was possible. That wound also exists today in the separation of the Lutheran denomination along with all of the Bible-based subdivisions that have occurred subsequent to the initial schism.
Less than one hundred years after the Reformation schism, the most recent of the major divisions of the church occurred. When King Henry VIII of England could not win the Church’s blessing for a divorce, he broke away from the Church of Rome and established the Church of England. The Anglican Church also exists to this day as a separate band of Christians, looking to a leader outside of Rome.
Looking back at the history of these schismatic times, what lesson is there for us today? How do we approach the whole idea of Christian unity when so many different ideologies have evolved, and there are so many varying interpretations of the will of God in Christ? The Roman Catholic Church has long maintained, based upon apostolic succession and the teaching magisterium handed down through it, that ours is the authentic path to salvation, and that our spawned brothers and sisters, separated dogmatically from us for good reasons or bad, need to follow our lead.
The problem is once more, as it was in the time of Paul, a human one. There are so many people in positions of authority in those denominations who would rather be in those prestigious leadership roles, rather than being seen as having caved in to the Roman Church, or reconciling years of rejection of papal primacy with a call to unity. I believe the path must continue to be walked. As a friend of mine likes to point out, we are all sailing to the same destination. Some of us are on the “big boat” and some are on small boats following as best they can. We pray for those who travel with us that the truth of Paul’s words come to them and they come at last to know: “… we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.”
Pax
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