Justice or Benevolence in Paul’s New Creation?
Sermon VI in the “New Paul” series
November 16, 2008
Tim Schmucker
Texts: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, 8:1-24
Ephesians 6:10-20
I’ve got to be honest with you this morning. This sermon’s about money; how we use money, how we accumulate money, how we share it, and how we don’t. It’s about money, and I’m nervous. You see, no matter if I’m preaching on Paul or Jesus or the prophets or Jubilee law in Deuteronomy, me and money, well, we got issues. And those issues frankly boil down to the fact that it’s really challenging to live ethically, to live out the Biblical vision of economic justice, in our materialistic society, at least for me. I’m fully aware that I could be more fully living up to that vision which forms my ethics. Yet while I’m nervous, I’m excited also; perhaps this sermon will be a stimulus to greater faithfulness — for me, for us.
Paul and money. That was my assignment from the preaching team for our series on the New Paul. The Apostle Paul. You know, missionary par excellence. And early church theologian; during this series we been exploring some significant nuances in his theology: that we are not saved by our “faith in Jesus,” but by the “faith of Jesus” demonstrated in his life and teachings; that Paul used Jewish law for the inclusion of all; that Paul did not discard his Jewish faith in favour of Christianity; and more. Now today, Paul and money. We’ve often labeled the Apostle Paul as a social conservative. He taught submission, and he didn’t seem to condemn slavery, inequity, or injustice.
Or did he?? Was Paul really that social “don’t rock the boat” guy we’ve made him out to be? I’m going to suggest that it’s very possible that Paul knew of, was even influenced by, the economic justice teachings of Jesus in Luke’s gospel and by those from the early church’s life together in Acts. Paul had a view of the church as an alternative community where economic justice and equality was part of the gospel, the good news, of Jesus. So before we turn to Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth (our texts for today), let’s look at Paul’s larger context. This will be paramount for our new reading of Second Corinthians.
First we need some chronology. The fact that we memorize the books of the Bible in song – “Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, First and Second Corinthians” — gives us a skewed perspective because Paul’s letters to the churches were written years before the gospels and Acts were compiled. Think about that for a minute. The first written witness we have of Jesus is in Paul’s letters. The Gospels came years later. So chronology. It is generally agreed, give or take a few years, that:
· Jesus’ public life and death happened around AD 30.
· About 25 years later Paul wrote his second letter to the church at Corinth. This would be about AD 55.
· And then around 20 years later, AD 75, the Gospel of Luke and its companion volume “Acts of the Apostles” were written.
So we have Jesus, then 25 years later 2 Corinthians, then another 20 years or so later the book Luke/Acts. Now let’s work backwards, and look at Luke/Acts, written around AD 75. Since all the gospels emerged out of a specific community of followers or church, each with its specific needs, flavour, and focus, we can see in Luke/Acts that specific community’s understanding of Jesus’ life and teachings.
And what was that understanding? In Luke/Acts we see a marked emphasis on the poor and economic justice. A couple of examples: In Jesus’ inaugural address in Nazareth, he proclaims the year of Jubilee (the centrepiece for economic justice for the community in Jewish law): “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor…. to let the oppressed go free.” And the Lord’s prayer in Luke doesn’t talk about trespasses or sins like the version we commonly pray together, but rather “forgive us … as we forgive those indebted to us.” And in chapter 19, Jesus declares that salvation has come to the house of Zacchaeus because he gave half his possessions to the poor and righted the economic wrongs he had committed.
Then in Acts, the second volume of this community’s written gospel, we are given a portrait of early church life. Chapter 4: “Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common…. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.” The Luke/Acts community believed that the early church held all things in common, that those who had, shared with those who needed, and that purpose and result was that “there was not a needy person among them”.
Let’s stop a minute and get our bearings. This is a sermon on Paul. Why this focus on Luke and Acts? Well, we’re exploring the context in which Paul wrote letters to the churches, specifically the church at Corinth. While the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke/Acts, and John – weren’t written yet when Paul was writing to churches, certainly oral memories of Jesus and his teachings were being lived out in communities of followers, and also passed on and around. In this context of memory and community life they were later written down. They weren’t written in a vacuum. Each gospel em
erged from a specific community’s life together.
So it’s quite possible that the Luke/Acts community of believers existed in some form 20 years before the compilation of their two-volume Gospel. This takes us back to the time that Paul wrote his second letter to the Corinthian church. Perhaps Paul was aware of and even influenced by the economic justice focus of the Luke/Acts community of followers. And it’s not inconceivable to imagine that the church at Corinth knew of the Luke/Acts community. This can’t be proven historically of course, but it’s not wild dreaming.
Paul thus could have known the oral Jesus stories and traditions that shaped the Luke/Acts community, their memory of Jesus’ teachings on the poor and economic justice that later would be compiled as the Gospel of Luke. Paul also then may have known something of the Luke/Acts community’s witness and life together that would later be documented (or idealised) in Acts: those who had an abundance sold their possessions and the proceeds were distributed to each as any had need, thus there was not a needy person among them.
So with this possible influence on Paul in place, with these new “lenses” on for reading glasses, let’s now turn to Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. Remember that it was a congregation of both Jews and Gentiles, and of very mixed economic status. The context is that the Jerusalem church is suffering greatly economically, and Paul refers to the sharing of financial resources that is going on.
Our first text that _______ read is from chapter 5, where Paul makes a mega-statement about life in Christ, a verse that for centuries has been sorely mistranslated and thus misunderstood as referring to individual regeneration and change. Paul actually referred to a changed world view and new lived reality.
The King James version of my grandparents’ time translated it: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” The New International version – the version of my youth – has it as follows: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation!”
New life for the individual in Christ. Yet, Paul meant something very different. The Greek here refers to “creation”, not individuals, plus there’s no pronoun. So, a more accurate translation would be: “if anyone is in Christ, new creation!” What’s more, the context of the passage – that of social and economic reconciliation – suggests that what Paul has in mind here is a new socio-economic order. The old ethnic and class identities and divisions are no longer important; what IS important is the new social reality, the new creation of a people together in Christ.
So, an even closer translation is: “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation, the old order has lost its power, a new order has been created.” Or as John Howard Yoder preferred: “if anyone is in Christ, there is a whole new world!” Paul is talking about the community of Jesus followers; he’s talking about the church at Corinth. And very possibly he had in mind the life and witness of the Luke/Acts community regarding economic justice and equality; this was part of the Gospel of Jesus. This is part of what Paul meant when he wrote: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” Paul’s description of the church is a community where money no longer divides, where poor and rich are reconciled, and fairness and equality are practiced.
A few chapters later in the letter, Paul turns to practical matters. He appeals for, and subtly insists on, economic equality in the community of believers. Let’s look again at the excerpts from chapter 8 that ______ read. Remember, Paul is talking about money here:
“We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry…. Now I am testing the genuineness of your love… It is appropriate for you who began last year— to now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means…. I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. As it is written, ‘The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.’”
Wow! What a difference lenses make in reading scripture. Paul, writing about financial need and abundance, says that out of severe affliction comes abundant joy, and out of extreme poverty grows a wealth of generosity. He contrasts differing types of need and abundance, even the wealthy have great need and those who are poor and needy are full of abundance and generosity. And then he challenges the church in Corinth with the example of other churches who gave even beyond their means. The whole purpose and goal is “a fair balance”, that is, economic equality or justice.
The Jewish scripture cited at the end of this passage also sheds some light on Paul’s thought. “As it is written, ‘The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.’” This is from the story of God providing manna for the children of Israel as they wandered in the desert on their way from Egypt to the Promised Land. Imagine the Jewish followers in the church at Corinth. They would have understood immediately what Paul was inferring. And their Gentile sisters and brothers would have immediately asked “What? Written where? What’s that about?”
It’s from Exodus 16: “Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: “Gather as much of it as each of you needs….” ’ The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less. But when they measured it, those who gathered much had nothing extra, and those who gathered little had no shortage.”
With this story, Paul is reminding the Corinthians that God provides for those who rely on God for their daily bread. Hoarding is both unnecessary and shows lack of trust in God who will provide abundantly for those who trust. Paul suggests to the Corinthians that their present abundance must be shared or it will become foul and rotten like manna did for those who kept more than they needed.
Paul goes on in chapter 9 to equate
deeply generous financial sharing with others in need as integral to “our obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ”. The gospel of Jesus Christ, that’s Paul’s baseline. And that baseline is chocked-full with money implications.
Okay, so Paul was not the esoteric theologian and social status quo thinker we’ve made him out to be. This new reading of 2 Corinthians results in a Paul who knows and teaches the memory of Jesus’ declaration of Jubilee, and its implications for a new creation of economic justice and equality starting in the church.
So now what? Shall we start by confessing that hoarding money is virtually part of human nature? Of course, we don’t call it “hoarding”; rather we euphemise it as “RRSPs for retirement” or “emergency fund”, or we put it all into our homes, and say “I’m house-poor”. Not all of us have these, but if not, we want it. In any case, over the centuries, those who have it, work hard to keep it and increase it. Those who don’t, scheme to get it, or resign themselves to their fate as the poor.
This is universal. An example from the southern USA: black former slave dock workers in Georgia and South Carolina ports knew all about being cheated out of money due them. Unscrupulous ship captains would often insist that their ships be loaded or unloaded upon arrival, then try to pay the workers the next day. That night, they’d slip out of the harbour, stiffing the dock workers. The dock workers sang this daily experience in a rousing sea chantey, a working rhythm song sung in call and response form. Pete Seeger and the Weavers first popularized it in 1955. Most recently Bruce Springsteen has brought it back to life in his Seeger Sessions CD and concerts. It’s titled, “Pay me my money down” and it’s a cry for economic justice.
I thought I heard the captain say / Pay me my money down
Tomorrow is our sailing day / Pay me my money down
Pay me, pay me / Pay me my money down
Pay me or go to jail / Pay me my money down
Then there’s Pink Floyd, from my teen years, who expressed it more starkly:
Money it’s a crime
Share it fairly but don’t take a slice of my pie
Money so they say / Is the root of all evil today
But if you ask for a raise / it’s no surprise that they’re giving none away.
I began this sermon with both nervousness and excitement, recognising the challenge of living out the Biblical ethic of economic justice and equality in our materialistic society. In the last couple of years Jacqui and I, after years of having a very tight budget, have been able to share more generously, but I confess to you that it’s been out of our “surplus”; it hasn’t cramped our comfortable lifestyle. We haven’t given the widow’s mite. Whatever happened to the mantra of my young adult days “live simply so others may simply live”?
Let’s recognize that disparity in economic capacity divide us into haves and have-nots, both in the world community – north/south – and in our congregation. While north-south economic injustice and disparity has been a passion of mine for years, I personally became acutely aware of this recently as I’ve had the opportunity almost yearly to visit my dear friend José Antonio, a lay leader in the Colombian Mennonite Church. We became close friends almost 20 years ago, both in the same financial situation: well educated, but broke. Together we dated the women who became our life partners, our wives. Then, separated by the distance between Canada and Colombia, we got jobs together, had kids together, bought houses together, started businesses together. And due to the hugely disparate levels of public security and of the effects of globalisation in our respective lands along with the resulting difference in opportunities, we are now at very different places financially. Jacqui and my monthly surplus is more than he and his wife’s total income. At times, they have to skip a mortgage payment due to not having the money. We pay extra every month. They have to think twice about splurging with pizza occasionally. We sometimes have to think twice about whether we’ll have Thai or Greek or French cuisine. So what does it mean to be in relationship, to be close intimate friends, to be brothers in Christ, with such disparity? José and I have struggled with that.
Closer to home, what does Paul’s call for equality rather than benevolence mean for our local community of Jesus followers here at TUMC?
Let’s begin by stating straight away that those of us who are home owners are not suddenly going to sell all our properties and lay the proceeds at the feet of the TUMC “all things in common” committee. Can you imagine that committee? Filling it would be the gift discernment committee’s dream. They wouldn’t have to call anyone; there’d be a waiting list of us offering to serve. Seriously now, that specific detail of the early church’s life together is, I’ll suggest, not normative for us today. But the result is: “there was not a needy person among them”. So what small steps might we take to move closer to being Paul’s new creation? I offer just a few beginning possibilities:
1. How about a congregational statement recognising that economic inequality and injustice is not part of Christ’s good news? This would be both in north/south terms and within our community.
2. Perhaps we need to recognise that concept of “desert” – I deserve this – is well entrenched in our subconscious. “I worked hard to get to where I am.” We shed blood, sweat, and tears to develop our business, or my professional status. This way of thinking ignores the reality of the privilege of the socio-economic context some of us were born into.
3. Here’s a practical idea: Could we greatly enhance our caring fund, and promote it so vigorously as integral to our life together, that it would be widely used? It could grow into being more th
an an emergency fund; we could call it, to use Paul’s terms, “the fairness fund” or the “fair balance fund.”
4. What about a personal luxury tax? Our family currently gives 10% of all restaurant meals, all entertainment, and all holidays involving air travel to Lazarus Rising. That’s just a modest start.
5. Now with the economic recession, sooner or later some in our community will be affected, maybe one of us will lose their job. What will our response be? And what about the not-fully employed among us? Or those who work for minimum wage or on social assistance, neither enough to live with dignity?
In closing, I suggest that at the very least, we need significant conversation, in small groups, during coffee time, at the Board table of how we will move toward being the New Creation of Christ in economic terms. How we answer these questions and then respond will determine the level of, in Paul’s words, “our obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ”. Amen.