No Trial Has Come to You But What Is Human, 1 Corinthians: 10-13

Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians is written to the Christian community in the big, cosmopolitan city of Corinth in Greece. Corinth was a major Mediterranean seaport city. It was a raucous place filled with the buzz of trade and the hum and clamor of diverse cultures, customs, where ideas of every kind were traded daily, for better or for worse. Does that sound familiar? Paul’s mission was to bring moral order to them by bringing them the Good News of the incarnate Word of God, Jesus Christ, and the hope of eternal life. He knew, too, that this had to be done amid the teeming, real world environment of Corinth.

Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians addresses perennial issues that affect human beings in every age and in every place; things like division, the roles of men and women, young and old, religion, scandals, sex, and love. Paul is seeking to address and understand these things in light of Jesus Christ, his resurrection from the dead, and the building of his kingdom. He is attempting to bring the people of Corinth into a deeper communion to help them to recognize the idols of the day for what they are, and to confront their weaknesses with the life of Jesus. Jesus is the center of his focus, not politics. He is challenging them to see that there is a way to get past all of these human divisions and all of our dependence on worldly power. It is a way that is lit by the light of Christ. And it is a way that is not without difficulties.

Paul had spent some 18 months in Corinth and after he left he maintained correspondence with them through his letters. They knew him. They knew the constancy, the depth, and the integrity of his faith in Jesus Christ. They had witnessed it in him by the way he conducted himself when he was among them. He was one of whom it could be said, “He practices what he preaches.” In this First Letter he appeals to them to imitate his example, imploring them saying, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). He uses their own experiences of greed, idolatry, slander, drunkenness, theft, and the various kinds of sexual immorality, recognizing that, as Bruce Springsteen sings, “It’s hard to be a saint in the city.” Paul names these sins specifically because they were very recognizable, real threats to the Corinthian community then, just as they are to us in our times.

Paul keeps Jesus at the center of all of his teaching. It is Jesus, risen from the dead, that he focuses on. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, there would be no reason for him to write this letter. Jesus, who suffered and died for us on the cross, and rose again, showed us that life is about more than me, my life, my rights, my perspective, my feelings, and my choice. Jesus shows us that God’s will is wiser, more loving, more merciful, more forgiving, and more life giving than our own. Paul is also showing us that if we imitate him, as he imitates Jesus, we, too, will meet challenges and suffer the misunderstandings, the ridicule, the anger and the hatred of those who make an idol of the self, or of the things of the world, just as he, Paul, and his mentor, Jesus, did.

Paul is reminding the Corinthians, and us today, that the temptations to turn all manner of things in this life into idols is ever present. “These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the end of the ages has come. So if you think you are standing (pure and strong against these temptations), watch out that you do not fall” (vs. 11-12). Then he writes to encourage them to remain strong in the face of all of these challenges saying, “No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength: but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it” (v. 13). In the end, we can put our trust in his unconditional love and mercy.

Jesus is our example. Paul is his imitator and calls on all of us to do as he did. If we do so with humility and faith, we can trust that when trials come our way for being imitators of Jesus in this ever more self-obsessed world, He, through His Holy Spirit, will give us the faith, the wisdom, and the courage to bear all of our trials. If Jesus is our all, we will be able to bear all things with confidence and, yes, even joy. Thanks be to God.