In the Epistle, Paul begins to address issues in the Church in Corinth. The Psalm enumerates Divine attributes. (Its literary form of a Hebrew acrostic is completely lost in translation.) In the Gospel, Jesus and his disciples feed themselves on the Sabbath as they pass through a wheatfield.  

When I read today’s passage from Paul’s letter, I felt that it had an earie familiarity. I have always felt a special connection to the Epistle from Bernstein’s theatrical piece “Mass”. It was not until today that I realized that a portion of the lyrics to this musical movement was taken (paraphrasing but with the same word choices) from the description of what it means to be an Apostle that is found in this Epistle from Paul.

Paul’s concern with the factions developing in the early Church continues to have relevance today. Corinth is a port city. I lived in Hamburg, Germany for 4 years. Life in a port city has a greater influence from the outside world. The culture is impacted by an awareness of different ways of thinking and different value systems. My experience suggested that there was a greater acceptance of diversity, but there was also a more stratified society as the result of how the wealth from trade and commerce was distributed. Such cities also develop districts that cater to men who have been away at sea for some time. I see Paul striking out at the cliquishness of elites and licentiousness that develops in this environment.

I had never really taken the time to consider today’s New Testament narrative in spite of it also appearing in Matthew’s and Mark’s Gospel. I must admit my first thought was the idea of taking grain from the wheatfield on the Sabbath did not seem congruent with the Christ who would fast for 40 days in the desert. (I was also wondering if the person who planted the field had any issues.) I can understand how one could categorize picking grain as reaping and classify reaping as work. (This already starts to sound like the type of bureaucratic analysis that might have delighted a Pharisee.) Instead of responding to such an analysis, my sense is that Jesus is choosing to address a larger issue: does the Sabbath exist for people or do people exist for the Sabbath? Here again, if you are a Pharisee, you might believe that people do exist for the Sabbath. (I can recall discussions in the Catechism classes of my youth as to what constituted “servile” work on Sunday.) I believe that Jesus may be making the point, that the care of people is an integral Sabbath activity. I find myself reminded of the scene in the movie “Romero” where Oscar Romero, after confronting guerillas to rescue the Eucharist in a church, is struck by the importance of confronting guerillas in the name of the terrorized people of the village.

In looking for connections, I discovered that “pharisees” translates to “separated ones”. I find myself thinking of the elites of Corinth and I am reminded of a “black-tie event” for charity that I attended. I ask myself “How am I being called to use my gifts as a source of empowerment for those in need?”  As my prayer today, I am excerpting (with the political overtones removed) another portion of the lyrics from the Epistle of a contemporary presentation of Bernstein’s Mass.

Dearly beloved,
As a person in a position of privilege and opportunity, I now realize that we have the power – and more importantly – the responsibility to act as both a sword and a shield for those persons facing oppression.