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The Rev. Frank
Logue Accommodation vs. Love
In the late 200s and early 300s, a few men and women drifted away to the deserts of Egypt to pursue Christianity alone, living as hermits in caves. By the mid-300s, there was such a surge toward this starkly disciplined form of Christianity that the caves began to fill up. One of the many stories which survives from this period illustrates this rush to the desert: Abbot Arsenius lived in a cell thirty-two miles away from his nearest neighbor, and he seldom went out of it. The things he needed were brought there by disciples. But when the desert of Scete where he lived became peopled with hermits, he went away from there weeping and saying: Worldy men have ruined Rome and monks have ruined Scete. The situation which caused the rush to the desert was when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. For many, this was confirmation of the rightness of the Christian faith. The crucified and risen Jesus had conquered the Rome. Yet, others were more deeply convinced that Christianity and politics could not mix and if mixed would never create a perfect Christian society. Those who fled to become hermits were often convinced that the only kind of Christian one could be in a Christian country was a complacent one. We learn of the hermits of the desert through their sayings and stories, preserved through an oral tradition and written down as early as the 4th century by persons interested in capturing their distilled wisdom. Here are a few saying which give a feel for the odd characters from a very stately time in Church history: One of the monks called Serapion, sold his book of the Gospels and gave the money to those who were hungry, saying I have sold the book which told me to sell all that I had and give to the poor. One of the brethren had sinned, and the priest told him to leave the community. So then Abbot Bessarion got up and walked out with him, saying: I too am a sinner. An elder said: Do not judge a fornicator if you are chaste, for if you do, you too are violating the law as much as he is. For He who said thou shalt not fornicate also said thou shalt not judge. Abbot Pastor said: If you have a chest full of clothing, and leave it for a long time, the clothing will rot inside it. It is the same with the thoughts in our heart. If we do not carry them out by physical action, after a long while they will spoil and turn bad. The men and women of the desert were also quite clear that while they avoided distractions to better hear the still, small voice of God, they were not earning their way into heaven with the disciplines. This story illustrates that point: Yet another elder said: If you see a young monk by his own will climbing up to heaven, take him by the foot and throw him to the ground, because what he is doing is not good for him. Finally, the desert fathers and mothers are remembered less for what they said and more for who they were—examples of Christians trying to live the life Jesus taught in a most extreme way. But it was the way of experience more than knowledge. Some elders once came to Abbot Anthony, and there was with them also Abbot Joseph. Wishing to test them, Abbot Anthony brought the conversation around to Holy Scriptures. And he began from the youngest to ask them the meaning of this or that text. Each one replied as best he could, but Abbot Anthony said to them: You have not got it yet. After them all he asked Abbot Joseph: What about you? What do you say this text means? Abbot Joseph replied: I know not! Then Abbot Anthony said: Truly Abbot Joseph has found the way, for he replies that he knows not. The one who said he didn’t know what the scripture meant was judged most wise. This sentiment is like that of Paul in this morning’s reading from his first letter to the Christians in Corinth. Paul found love to be more important than knowledge. He wrote, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him” (I Corinthians 8:1-2). Paul was teaching on a very practical matter for his day, and while that concern no longer exists, his teaching remains quite relevant. The issue concerned eating meat sacrificed to idols. It was a problem that presented itself quite frequently in Corinth as gatherings were quite often held in the social halls of pagan temples and the meat served there had first been sacrificed to the pagan god to whom the temple was dedicated. What had come to happen was this. The Corinthian Christians who had some wealth, status, and power continued to be invited to these social functions. Caught in deciding whether to dishonor another person of importance or dishonor their faith, they accommodated. It was a rationalization that went like this: If the pagan gods are not real gods, then it doesn’t matter whether I eat the meat sacrificed to them or not. They reasoned that their knowledge of the situation was superior, for they perceived rightly that the pagan gods were not real and so there was no real threat to their faith in eating in the temples. So their social lives could continue unchanged after their conversion to Christianity. This left the poorer Christians, who were never invited to the temples to start with, shaking their heads. The church then wanted Paul to clear up the matter. Was it right to continue to go to the pagan temples or not? Paul concedes the point that there is only one God. But he says that not everyone knows this. Many members of their community would have no reason to understand the rationalization that as the gods are not real, I am not really honoring them by going to these social gatherings. Paul argues that as another weaker Christian might be led astray by this action. He writes, “by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed.” Paul cuts through the rationalization to say that Christ was willing to suffer and die for a person, yet you are not willing to pass on a party for their sakes. He ends this section quite strongly in the Greek in a way missed in English translations. Up until now, Paul has used a term meaning the meat sacrificed to idols and he ends with the term for all meat. So he says that if food would cause another to fall into idol worship, he would stoop eating not just meat sacrificed to idols, but all meat. Today, we can still rationalize ways to accommodate our faith to the culture. But Christians were called in scripture “a peculiar people.” We are to be “in the world not of it.” Jesus sent his disciples out “like lambs among the wolves.” From elementary school to the nursing home, each of us encounters times when we are tempted to just go along. Your underage and friends are just splitting a few beers and smoking cigarettes. Why make a big deal out of it? Later on, you’re the best man at the wedding, how can you skip the bachelor’s party? What’s the big deal about going to a strip club anyway, you’re only looking? Perhaps your husband is out on a boat and you find yourself lonely. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, right? Or you sit in a meeting where decisions are made that will offer lower wages or cut benefits to boost the company’s profits while leaving workers below the poverty line. And on it goes. You can see why some Christians were tempted to avoid dealing with other people all together. Why not head out to the desert? There will be no chance to accommodate to the culture there. The guiding principle behind this passage in Corinthians and the entire Bible in fact, is love. Paul felt that love would provided the key. This was not a wishy-washy declaration, but a heart rending decision made out of self-giving love for those around you. Paul knew that we could twist what we know until the equation added up to justify whatever it was we wanted to do. So he said if we claim to know something, we don’t really have the necessary knowledge. But, those who love God are known by him and can then be guided to right action. Perhaps you have drawn a blank and this sermon has not brought anything to mind. Good. But maybe as I have preached you have been reminded of some little accommodation you’ve been making. Some little sin no one knows about, but that you have been justifying, knowing it’s wrong but trying to figure out how it’s actually OK. Forget what you know. Consider love. Is the love you have for Jesus honored in this situation? Does what you have done or are doing honor the love you are to have for God? For your neighbors? As well as for yourself? Paul would say if it doesn’t measure up to this standard of godly love, whatever you have rationalized is not of God. Amen.
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