Scripture Text (NRSV)
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
10:1 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all
under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,
10:2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
10:3 and all ate the same spiritual food,
10:4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock
that followed them, and the rock was Christ.
10:5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in
the wilderness.
10:6 Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as
they did.
10:7 Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, "The people
sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play."
10:8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three
thousand fell in a single day.
10:9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by
serpents.
10:10 And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
10:11 These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down
to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come.
10:12 So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.
10:13 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.
Comments:
Paul uses images from Hebrew story and prophecy to speak the truth of Jesus Christ: He is our rock, our water, our food, and our drink. Christ is the living sign of God's faithfulness.
Paul draws two analogies. One is between Christian baptism and Israel's passing "through the sea" (1 Cor 10.1); the other is between the Eucharist, or Lord's Supper, and Israel's eating and drinking in the wilderness. Paul says that although the Corinthians may endure much hardship, as Israel did, they rely on the nourishment God provides. But it is not a stoical endurance test Paul commends. No, the point is that God will not let them be tested beyond their strength and will offer an exodus, or a way out (1 Cor 10.13).
Two important points to keep in mind for this text - The people were under God's immediate protection and care - "under the cloud."
Second, in spite of this constant reminder of God's vigilant presence, the people sinned and doubted. We have no indication that the cloud ever was absent from them, even when Moses climbed the mountain to receive the Law from God. Yet the people felt the lure of false gods and made themselves a 'god!' In waiting for God to speak to us, do we often forget the 'cloud' of faith that reminds us that God, even when silent, is present. Does that great pillar of power begin to look like all the other 'clouds' in our lives? Oh yes! Be careful when you think you're standing - you may be on the brink! Ken in WV
Clarification: The people made their false idol even while they could see the very Cloud of the Presence! Ken in WV
Philip YAncey points out that when the Israelites had extremely close contact with God, they were more prone to disobey. And look at the creation story-God was in the garden with them- remember what happened there.
In this, Yancey sees hope for us who seem so removed from those experiences of God's constant closeness. Maybe a little distance is a good thing
revgilmer in texarkana
Passages like this are troublesome to me. Oh, how much I wanted God to be the Benelovence Grandfather figure to accept us all and save us all. Universal salvation theory has its pastoral appeals. Unfortunately, this and other passages like it revealed the somber reality which we can not escape: That there is judgement! However, we must keep in mind that the judgement here is not final and ultimate. The text said that they "were struck down in the wilderness" and not they "were burn in hell forever".
This is the flip-side of the same coin in this week lectionary theme. In Luke 13:1-9, Jesus re-directed the attention on the victims of Pilate and the tower of Siloam and impored his hearers to examine themselves for repentance. Here, Paul re-focusing the Corinthians back to examine themselves too, using the opposite technique of linking sins to judgement as the pattern observed from history.
Two opposite methods from Jesus and Paul, but essentially the same aim of bringing people to examine their lives. This is a wonderful richness demonstration of pastoral movements guided by the Holy Spirit. Many times, we are so quick to judge our brothers and sisters just from observing their methodologies without understand their aims and their contexts.
But the above thoughts were besides the point of the text relevancy. Here is what Paul was addressing:
- Just because we passed a few "events" in our life, it doesn't mean that we've gotten there. What pleased God is not those "milestones" (v.1-5), but the "desire" of "evil" (v.6).
- These things happened to be "examples" (Gk. "typos") or "patterns", "models", for us to avoid (v.6) and learn from (v.11) - The right balance is not seeing everything as cause/effect as Jesus in Luke, AND also taking in to account the general observed principle of cause/effect as Paul here. Perhaps, we can cut people some slack if it comes to them, but we would absolutely harsh when it comes to ourselves.
- There are four main things Paul specifically mentioned: 1) Worship idols: something else in place of God, 2) Sexual immorality, 3) Testing Christ (Gk. "press" Christ, the idea in Num.21:4-9 is going *against* God), and 4) Complaining (among themselves?) - Each of the one above could be a sermon on its own, but the one that toughest for me to expand on would #3, after all if life is turning too tough for us to bear, we all griped, right? Not really, v.13 clarified the whole matter here: "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."
Oh God, help us to see what you have provided, and how can we endure it!
Coho, Midway City
in death the survivors inevitably choose how to remember the deceased. What a gift it would be for me leave sufficient evidence of God incarnate so that the stories move away from the accident or the disease or the stupid mistake that ends my life...and ontoward the goodness of Christ's advocate working even in a fool like me!
Perry in Kitchener/Waterloo
I’m leaning toward using examples from marriage to illustrate this passage. So much of our culture is geared toward finding the one true love of our life, and being with him/her the rest of our lives, and assuming that we will live happily ever after, as if it was all so natural and real. The truth is that falling in love is the easiest part of a relationship, the act of marriage a little more demanding, and staying happily married the hardest thing of all!
Once one is married, the sweetness and consideration of courtship begins to be overshadowed by negotiations of emotional turf. There are constant temptations to forego fidelity, to take the relationship for granted, to withdraw into one’s own world of addictions (porn, work, TV, video games, computers, fishing, exercise, spending more time with friends, etc.) when the relationship gets strained instead of working on building intimacy. Byproducts of unresolved issues include anger, resentment, or even worse, apathy and a loveless marriage where neither party leaves because it would be “worse” that staying married.
It’s no different for those who consider themselves Christians, but who don’t want to deal with issues surrounding our intimate relationship with God. It’s easy becoming a Christian, but it is so difficult continuing in the faith as a Christian. The temptations to stray away from God are always there. Paul’s example of the wilderness wanderings of the children of Israel show how people blessed by God with every blessing can still turn away. Unresolved conflict between our wayward souls and the Spirit of God can result in fervent faith turning into a shallow but comfortable orthodoxy, or a search for another church “that offers something more”, or a surrender to addictive patterns of behavior, or an outright rejection of the faith.
Can anyone still consider themselves a Christian when they “have lost their first love (Rev. 2:4)”, that their heart is no longer in it, and that their faith and service to God has become stagnant? Can such persons assume that they will be warmly welcomed into God’s presence after they draw their last breath? How many of us have “lost our first love”, and what are we doing to reclaim it?
AO in PO
