“… these things happened to [ancient Israelites] as an example, and they were written for our instruction …” – 1 Corinthians 10:11

I have almost always been invisible. It is my super-power. I have gone through life and cannot, for the life of me, recall a time when anyone ever pointed at me and said (to anyone else): You should be more like him, or try not to ever be like him. I have never been bad enough to be made a bad example; I’ve never been great enough to be made a good example. I have just gone through life trying as best I can to do what needs doing with as little fuss or muss as possible. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’ve done plenty of things for which I’m ashamed, but I have been simultaneously lucky enough not to have been seen or caught. Invisibility truly is my super-power.

One of the things I have always appreciated about the Hebrew people, though, is that they don’t seem to have tried hiding things for which they should be ashamed. They whined in the wilderness, they engaged in idolatry, they wanted to be like their neighbors, and then complained when getting what they wanted did not give them what they’d hoped to gain or achieve. They are so human. Even the things they did well, such as overcoming adversity through luck, deceit, or trickery (and occasionally brute force) more often than not led them to, ultimately, acknowledge their dependence on God. They may not have wanted to be made examples to the world, but they kept their writings honest enough to be of value. Their visibility was their super-power, and I need to embrace that more in my own life if I ever want things to be truly well with my soul.

God, things happen. Ranchers know it. I know it. You know it. To hide the events of our lives under a bushel does not allow our light to shine, that others may see and learn from our example. The best news of all is that there is nothing we can do or have done that will separate us from the love you have for us. Help me expose your grace so that others may come to have confidence in you and your love. Amen.
-Fr. Keith Axberg

“God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” – 1 Corinthians 10:13b

This entire text is difficult to hear. I’m willing to wager that most preachers are like me, reluctant to take on a text like this for comment before a captive Sunday congregation, as it draws on an ancient text of the Hebrew Scriptures portraying God dealing out death and sickness as punishments for misbehavior. Episcopalians are not known for threatening congregations with a god of vengeance, and for that I thank God.

I have four hundred words available to me here, and so I’ll dispense with the harder stuff and get to my point, which is that Paul is here exhorting the believers in Corinth to a life of sacrificial love.

This text in a larger context shows us Paul teaching the Corinthian congregation that participation in the Eucharist obligates them to imitate the self-giving of Christ toward them, giving themselves to others in love and service. This letter to them begins with Paul pointing out how badly their practice falls short of this standard and calls them to this high standard. And let’s take his point. Who really wants to live in a world without sacrificial love?
Comedian Stephen Colbert recently summarized this essential Christian teaching. Having put his guest Dua Lipa on the spot to reverse roles with him, she responded brilliantly with a question to him:

Dua Lipa: Does your faith and your comedy ever overlap? And does one ever win out?

Colbert’s response included this statement:

Stephen Colbert: I’m a Christian and a Catholic and that’s always connected to the idea of love and sacrifice being always related, and giving yourselves to other people, and that death is not defeat if you can see where I’m getting at there.

Here is the interview if anyone wants to see it:

The essential truth of Christian faith is that God in Christ gives God’s own self to us in love and sacrifice. This gift of God is for the greatest sinner as well as the greatest saint. God always approaches us in mercy, evoking our response of love and gratitude and our willingness to give ourselves to others.

Christian life is a life of spiritual and moral challenge therefore, since sacrificing for others and loving others is hard. It will put us to the test. So I find comfort in Paul’s reminder that God is faithful to us, and will patiently assist our growth along this path.

Holy One, in Christ you have made it clear that there is no one beyond the reach of your love, and you ask me to walk in the way of his sacrificial love. That’s hard, O God, on some days more than others. Sometimes other folks irritate me, and there are times when I’ve been hurt. Help me to acknowledge that others may feel the same way about me. Help me on those days when it’s the hardest, and help me to trust that you’re always giving me the chance to try again. Amen.
-Fr. Jonathan Weldon

“So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” – 1 Corinthians 10:12-13

So writes a man who suffered beatings, imprisonment, stoning, and who finally, the tradition has it, was beheaded in Rome. And to think that I sometimes imagine that I’ve got problems! Thank you, St. Paul. You’re giving us a good reality warning. It’s helpful to hear that the testing that overtakes me – well, there’s really nothing new here, it’s common to everyone. The truth is that, like St. Paul, the person reading this and I are among the beloved of God, yes, sure, but that doesn’t mean we’re living in our childhood happy-ending stories. Paul tells us that God “will not let us be tested beyond our strength.” How is that accomplished? Not by making the problems go away, but by providing us “the way out…so that you may be able to endure it.” “Endure it?” Not fix it? That’s it? That’s our happy outcome?

No, that’s not all there is to it. We’re human, and all the range of sorrows and joys and pains and glories of life are common to us, and to everyone we know. Thank God that, as we people are the way we are, it’s a very good thing that God is the way God is.

Good Lord, bless us with the awareness of your presence with us, through all the vicissitudes of the life with which you have gifted us. Amen.
-Tom Worrell

“We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did…” – 1 Corinthians 10:9

“We must not put Christ to the test…”. As if we could. The Devil sure didn’t get very far with Jesus out in the wilderness — and it feels like we’re all out in the wilderness these days. Nevertheless, I always find Paul’s message to the Christians of Corinth to be especially calming and hopeful: “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing, he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.”

Lord, we ask that you save us from the time of trial, but we know that you will give us what we need to endure when that time comes — and it comes for us all. We have no need to test your faithfulness. Amen.
-Michael Boss