August 19 / I Cor. 5:1-13

I Corinthians 5:1-13

For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival… (vv. 7b-8a) As many times as I’ve read this epistle, I never saw this connection, from our Sunday service: “Alleluia! Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed, once for all upon the cross. Therefore let us keep the feast. Alleluia!” Right after the Our Father and just before The Prayer of Humble Access our celebrant says these words along with our response. And these words come from one of the strangest chapters in all of Paul’s letters! Our predecessors, making something really good out of a really bad situation…!

…the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters… (v. 10b) Paul mentions this group of “sinners” twice, then adds sexual immorality, revilers, and drunkards in his second mention (v. 11b). I tend to take notice any time I see something said twice in Scripture. So Paul is particularly troubled by these money issues: greed, cheating, and idolatry. Which takes me to the world in which we live today… Greed is rampant – have you seen a list of what corporate CEOs make? Cheating is common – do whatever you can in business so long as you can get away with it. And idolatry – our “worship” of money…! Paul is particularly troubled by these money issues! What would he say about our world today?

See also: April 23 / I Cor. 5:1-13