Epiphany
3-A
27 January AD 2008
Text:
1 Corinthians 1:10-19
Vanity, foolishness!
Daniel 3 relates the story of a Babylonian king who set up a golden
image, an idol of himself, and ordered his people to worship it.
As you might expect not everyone did. Three young men refused
and they were thrown into a fiery furnace to be burned. They are
the inspiration for hundreds, if not thou-sands of martyrs who
died during the Roman persecutions of the Church.
Today "emperor
worship" is gone, but idolatry is far from gone-reinvented
as the cult of personality. Sins against the first commandment
abound. We see it in the way we chase Hollywood and sports celebrities
around the country. We saw it at the death of Princess Diana,
and in this week's public outpouring of grief for Heath Ledger,
an actor whom we do not know personally. Reality TV invites you
to call in and vote for your favorite singer, dancer or model,
as if you had a personal stake in it. And as much as we follow
these people, cheer for them and track their every move, we are
involved in a silly and vain form of idolatry.
This silliness
transfers to the world of politics too. It plays a far larger
role than it ought. Politics should be about ideas. Who has the
most expertise to run the country? Who can assemble the best team
of people and put the plan to work? But ideas rarely get a decent
hearing. Who really knows what the change is that our presidential
candidates are calling for? It's all about image, isn't it? We're
concerned as much about the clothes they wear as we are about
what comes out of their mouth. The election is about popularity,
not capability. Campaigns appeal to your emotions, not your intellect.
We vote from our gut not our heads. Then we invest them with great
power and are so disappointed when they fail.
In spite
of what God's Word teach about following the truth, your neighbors
and friends choose the place where they worship also from their
gut. People are groupies when it comes to religion. Today's church-goer
seldom attends the denomination of his/ her youth. The grass is
always greener someplace else. TV has heightened our expectations
and fanned the flames of our vanity. It brings us to vast auditoriums
filled with people robustly singing the praises of God, led by
slickly dressed leaders with packaged programs.
Ask people
why they're there, they'll tell you about how it makes them feel.
But carefully listen to them, listen for the language of the cross,
keep your ear open for the saving Gospel that is promised to you
through Jesus Christ.
Seldom will you hear someone say they joined a congregation because
the teaching accords with scripture and the sacred traditions
handed down from apostolic times (2 Thes. 2:15), or that this
congregation is what I was taught a church should be. We wonder
why Jonestowns happen, or Wacco-like disasters. In the marketplace
of affections people are drawn by their unstable emotions and
latch on to personalities. St. Paul was correct;
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Cor. 1:18
God's Word
doesn't need mighty or eloquent preachers, the Word doesn't depend
on personality. Truth is truth, whether it is eloquently spoken
or not. The Gospel needs only a plain and simple hearing. It needs
to be put into practice. Jumping ahead in 1 Corinthians Paul says:
...not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not
many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ... God chose
what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what
is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low
and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring
to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast
in the presence of God. 1 Cor. 1:26-29)
Paul tackles
the cult of personality head on. He appeals for unity based in
Jesus Christ alone. He literally asks the Church to "say
the same thing," speak the same doctrine. Divided as they
are into personality groups, they are betraying the unity that
Christ gives. They made it appear as if who baptized them mattered
more than faith in Christ. In ignorance they claimed to be followers
of pastors whom they held up as celebrities. Accordingly, some
claimed to better, holier, wiser.
Can you imagine
if Cephas catechized and baptized you? (Cephas is Peter's Hebrew
name.) Others claimed to have been baptized by Appolos, and still
others claimed to follow Christ or even Paul. It was so bad that
Paul thanks God that he baptized so very few of them! Their divisions
seem foolish now. Being drawn to a personality rather than to
the truth scripture presents to us about Christ, that is idolatry.
The Catechism teaches us: "We should fear and love God above
all things."
The cult of personality is alive in 21st century Christianity.
Your TV is loaded with preachers who make the most outrageous
claims; pushing false and misleading gospels. The most pernicious
these days are those that preach the good news of wealth and prosperity;
confusing in your mind God's law with joyous gospel of our risen
savior. Seeking after health, wealth and happiness, people do
follow them! Just last week Althea shared me a silly solicitation
she received in the mail; it promised her the moon, if only she
would use the enclosed paper prayer mat...and of course send money.
The sad part
is that people do, and such ministries with their mass mailing
gimmicks make money at the expense of local congregations. These
programs are offered on TV because they are profitable, and they
succeed at the expense of people's souls, separating them not
only from their money, but from a real and intimate church experience
with their neighbors and frieinds.
Our life
in Christ is lived week by week as we receive the Word of God
with thanks and praise, and to our spiritual strengthening eat
the blessed Sacrament which is "offered for you and for the
forgiveness of your sins." We pray for one another. And when
possible we help each other. We laugh together, we rejoice together
and we weep together. Such is our fellowship in the Holy Spirit.
Presidents,
celebrities, pastors; they all come and go. What is sure is the
never changing Word which unites us in Christ, and in God's Church
endures forever.
Amen
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
Hamburg, NJ 07419
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