February 16, 2020
The lectionary scriptures for today make me grateful to live under the ‘New Testament’ way of faith — sort of. There is much focus on rule-following, life-and-death, and not-messing-up from the Old Testament passages, along with some compelling symbolism and imagery around land, fire, and water.
The gospel message this week is a tough one for me, where Jesus sets the bar even higher for how we should behave and the lengths we should be willing to go to keep ourselves in line — like getting rid of body parts that cause us to stumble and really harsh rules around marriage and divorce — so I’m not going there this morning…
The epistle in 1 Corinthians is the most relatable passage for me, as it talks about our frailty and limited abilities as humans — but our crucial choices and ability to participate in the life process God is bringing forth. I can also relate more to the metaphors Paul uses of gardening and infants.
So, I’m going to focus mostly on the 1st Corinthians passage, weaving in some themes from the other passages as well. In his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul starts out by stating things as they are — calling them people of the flesh rather than spiritual people; as infants in Christ. Hmm, this makes me look at myself — am I a person of the flesh or a spiritual person? Which one are you? Probably we’re all a mix of both — just leaning more towards one or the other at different moments. But we are all human after all, right?!
But Paul is trying to inspire them to live differently in the world. He refers to himself and the church community as servants. “For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.” He also says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” Paul is quick to put us (and himself) in our place. He says sure, I may have planted the church and some of you may call yourself my followers, but I don’t get the credit. Apollos did a lot too — but none of us made the growth inside, or transformation, actually happen. None of us can take credit for the life!
Being seven-months pregnant now, this is a realistic metaphor for me! ;) I know that my body is doing a whole lot to make this baby, and you could even say that I am growing a baby; or it is definitely growing inside me. However, did I give it life? Did I create it? No, that is the mystery that we can’t explain — ‘the mystery of life’, ‘the miracle of birth’ — we call them. I can’t take credit for it, any more than anyone else can. But I am trying to do my part to feed it, take my prenatal vitamins, be healthy, get lots of sleep, not be stressed, while preparing for the birth and to care for it afterwards. Feels like a little more work than watering a plant… But even then, my work isn’t really important, except that it encourages life, and allows me to participate in the growth that God is working on.
Have you ever planted something from seeds? You water it and at first it looks like nothing is happening. You wonder, is it really going to grow? Will it become the carrot, or potato, or cucumber that it said it would on the little seed packet? And then one day, you check on it, and there’s a little sprout and you can see that it’s growing! Or maybe that’s just a weed, you’re not sure, so you keep checking and eventually you can see that it is indeed the seed that you planted and watered. But you still feel like how it actually grew is a mystery, right? I think that is what Paul is talking about when he says “So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God gives the growth.”
He goes on to say, “The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.”
We are supposed to be doing this work of planting, watering, tending to the growth — it is our shared purpose. God delights in our participation in this process, and we get to delight in it too. We get to experience life, by being a part of the growth that God is bringing about. We get to harvest the vegetables! Raise the baby! Or maybe it’s other things… I wonder what growth God is doing in our lives, what are we currently watering, or tending to? Can we have a time of open sharing about what growth we see around us, and what growth we’re tending to?
What are you watering now?
Where do you see God providing the growth?
And as you share please come up and help me water this plant by sprinkling some water on it.
We are God’s servants, his gardeners. He doesn’t really need us, but he wants us to be a part of the life too! He designed it to work best that way. Because then he can create growth in us too. I recently found this beautiful and brief poem titled “The Result of Prayer” by St Francis of Assisi:
The Result of Prayer
The result of prayer is life.
Prayer irrigates the
earth and
heart.
(by St Francis of Assisi):