Last weekend we celebrated the civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. and I think about how his work changed the world in which we live. His sermons and other writing have left a lasting impact on our nation’s values and, even when it seems like we are moving backwards, we have his words to steer us toward a vision for a more just and loving world.
He wrote one of his most impactful works while he sat in a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama, arrested for taking part in nonviolent protests. The story is often told that he wrote it on toilet paper because that was all he had available. But as good as that sounds, it isn’t true. He began writing on scraps of paper and, eventually someone gave him a writing pad.
He wrote in response to a letter printed in the local paper. It was written jointly by eight white clergymen. They expressed their concern that Dr. King’s efforts were unwise and untimely.
Reverend King wrote an inspired response from his jail cell, words that are among his most often quoted. He wrote that in the history of oppressed people the word “wait” has most often meant “never.” That time alone does not cure ills, but it requires the tireless efforts of dedicated people of good will. And, perhaps most pointedly, that the white church must take a principled stand or risk being dismissed as an irrelevant social club.
Over time, his words have been quoted, his letter has been reprinted again and again, because they speak timeless truths. They speak to us today as much as they did to the church in 1963.
Sometimes a letter can change the world.
This is true of the letters that are included in the New Testament. Written by the apostles of Christ, who took the gospel to new places, helped establish churches there, and then moved on to carry the gospel ever farther. Even from a distance they cared for and guided these young congregations. Even when they couldn’t be with them, their letters shined a light for them, to show them the way.
The Apostle Paul wrote many of these letters and one was this letter to the Corinthians. Paul built the church in Corinth. He traveled there from Athens bearing the good news of the gospel, and according to the book of Acts, Paul remained in Corinth for a year and a half before moving on to Ephesus.
Corinth was a fruitful place for Paul’s evangelism. It was a bustling commercial hub, well-situated for trade – a seaport city, full of diversity. People flocked there from other parts of the empire, all looking for upward mobility – all seeking to lift themselves up to a better life.
One interesting fact about Corinth is that many of these who came there were former slaves. Corinth was somewhat unusual in the opportunities it offered to freed men and women. They all became a part of the migration to Corinth, all seeking to lift themselves up.
It is not hard to imagine there were places and times when all these diverse groups of people clashed with one another. These clashes found their way into the life of the church. I would imagine that a good deal of Paul’s time there was spent in helping them work through their conflicts. And after he moved on, reports would come to him now and then of their ongoing struggles. There was some correspondence back and forth between Paul and the church. Unfortunately, we have only one side of the conversation, but in these letters we hear Paul’s instruction, reprimands, and encouragement to a struggling church.
In this passage of the letter, we see Paul’s concerns about behaviors that are harming them. Some of the people were, in their newfound sense of freedom, behaving in ways that exploited others. In this letter, Paul sought to help them understand the true meaning of Christian freedom.
The message of freedom in Christ that Paul brought to them had become distorted. They seemed to interpret this notion of freedom in a very individualistic sense, as in, I can do whatever I want to do. But Paul writes that this freedom in Christ is a gift to the community. If we are using our freedom in a way that harms others, we are misusing it. Behavior such as these Corinthians were engaging in was causing harm to the community, the body of Christ.
In this letter, Paul develops a beautiful theology of the body of Christ, helping us to understand our very real connection to one another – both body and spirit. The body matters, Paul teaches; what we do with our bodies has very real consequences.
A friend of mine told me that when he was a boy and his father sat him down for the talk about the birds and the bees, he read to him this passage from Paul. Looking back on it, he feels very grateful for the parenting he received. His father wanted to offer more than threats of all the terrible things that might happen to him should he behave in a promiscuous way. His father gave him something better, he gave him a worthy reason to treat his body with honor, with care.
“Glorify God with your body,” Paul writes to the church. In this particular case, that seemed to apply to the matter of visiting prostitutes. But it is not hard to see the many and varied applications it may have. We can give our bodies to something that will destroy our spirit. Anyone who has struggled to be free from addiction knows this all too well.
But your bodies are members of Christ and, therefore, glorify God with your bodies.
We may glorify God with our bodies, individually, when we take care of them, providing for them what they need, so our bodies will then be useful to God’s world. We may glorify God with our bodies when we refrain from using them for toxic purposes. We may glorify God with our bodies when we see our bodies as being joined with our spirits. We glorify God with our bodies when we see ourselves as being joined, through Christ, with one another.
It was something that needed to be said then and needs to be said now. Our bodies are not junk. No one’s body is disposable. They belong to God, as much as our spirits belong to God. We belong, body and spirit, to God – and by this, we belong to one another, in Christ.
Together we are one with Christ.
May we glorify God with our bodies as we seek to lift up one another as Christ lifted us.
Photo by Wayne Lee-Sing on Unsplash
