"Food for the Body...Food for the Soul" -Rev. Dr. Dale Skinner
2
8111 Corinthinas 8:1-13
Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that ‘all of us possess knowledge.’ Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; 3but anyone who loves God is known by him.
4 Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that ‘no idol in the world really exists’, and that ‘there is no God but one.’ 5Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— 6yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
7 It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8‘Food will not bring us close to God.’* We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling-block to the weak. 10For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? 11So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed.* 12But when you thus sin against members of your family,* and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling,* I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them* to fall.”
Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that ‘all of us possess knowledge.’ Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; 3but anyone who loves God is known by him.
4 Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that ‘no idol in the world really exists’, and that ‘there is no God but one.’ 5Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— 6yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
7 It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8‘Food will not bring us close to God.’* We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling-block to the weak. 10For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? 11So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed.* 12But when you thus sin against members of your family,* and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling,* I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them* to fall.”
Last November the House of Representatives in the US Congress had a debate that was one for the ages. In case you missed it, the debate had to do with whether or not pizza is a vegetable. You see, in the United States there is a large federally funded school lunch program that measures in the billions of dollars. The food program feeds tens of thousands of children every day across the country and there has been a push to get the school lunch program to serve healthier food. As a result, things like French fries and pizza were on the chopping block. Yet because of the skilled work of the lobbyists from the frozen food industry and a convincing argument that the tomato sauce on a pizza is of substantial nutritional value. The members of Congress decided by majority vote that pizza is indeed a vegetable.
In this text from 1 Corinthians there is also a debate about the categorization food going on, except in this case the debate is not about pizza, it’s about whether or not members of the Christian church should be eating meat that had been offered to idols. This might sound kind of strange to us at first, even bizarre that people would be eating meat offered to idols. It’s not something we do in any sort of conscious way in our 21st century world. And if we were to imagine first century Corinth we might think that meat offered to idols was something left at the altar. Except this wasn’t the case. The city of Corinth was full of temples to any number of the Greco-Roman gods and live animals were often sacrificed and then left for the priests. The priests might keep some of the meat for themselves but would often sell most of it to vendors in the marketplace as a source of income. For many people this meat sold in the temples could be bought for less money and was readily available. But it was also the case that when this meat was being sold, that it could get mixed up with the meat that hadn’t been offered to the idols, so when one was buying meat you wouldn’t necessarily know if it had been offered to idols or not. (The food labelling system of the first century left a lot to be desired!)
This is where the problem presented itself for those new Christians in Corinth. It was one of the challenges that the apostle Paul had to deal with as he attempted to spread the gospel of Jesus and the message of the one God amongst the Gentile world of Greeks and Romans. These individuals who were professing a belief in one God, were men and women who had previously given their allegiance to any number of idols at whose altars meat had been sacrificed. This posed a challenge for them, how could they who now believe in one God eat the meat offered to idols? It would be as if they were participating in idol worship.
It was a troubling situation for Paul. Paul recognized that these idols were false. Paul’s faith proclaimed there was no power within that idol food. He declared, “We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.” Paul knows there is no difference between angel food cake and devil’s food cake, between “Heavenly Hash” or “Rocky Road.” In classic terms, “Food will not bring us close to God.” (Although we may have certain favourites we think are divine). Yet, the power these idols still wielded in the lives of some of the Corinthians was very real. The food people ate was becoming a source of division. You can imagine how aghast some of the members of the community would be as they watched brother Andros or brother Nicolas throw a steak on the grill and then continue to eat it. They would have been mortified thinking that somehow members of the community were profaning themselves by eating this meat. Even though they had come to accept Jesus and enter the family of God, they were weak in faith to the point that they were still giving those idols power over their lives. For the ones eating the meat they felt as if they weren’t doing anything wrong. If the idols weren’t real, then eating the meat shouldn’t be any big deal. Besides, it was cheap! But to some buying meat on sale wasn’t such a good idea and it was a big deal.
It used to be said that if you wanted to avoid controversy in a conversation than you shouldn’t talk about religion or politics. But these days can you find a topic that is any more controversial than food? Food is a topic that touches both religion and politics because food is powerful thing. The food industry keeps people employed, food is a source of pleasure, it’s something we need to survive. Food can cause trade wars and diplomatic struggles. Why it was only just this past week that some countries started to import Canadian beef again how many years after the mad cow scare? Or try taking fresh produce with you if you ever cross the border into the U.S. and see how successful you are. This reading from 1 Corinthians is there to remind us that food and how we treat food can say a lot about our spiritual health and wellbeing because food impact our relationships with others. Food can be a source of division.
We can give food a lot of power and food can wield a lot of power over us. Food can direct our behaviour, our budgets, our bodies and our lifestyles. Just think of the food choices that are available to us these days. There are opportunities to go local, or buy organic, we can buy in bulk. We can cook at home, or eat out. There are slow cookers and fast foods. There is free range and grass fed. There are nut free and diabetic options. And when we walk through supermarkets it is not uncommon to see kosher and halal sections. All of these preferences and needs can produce all sorts of awkward moments and differences of opinion.
Not long ago I was having dinner with a group of individuals where one couple at the table was talking about how they always tried to eat organically farmed, pesticide free food, locally grown if possible. During the course of our conversation I suggested that this is a lot easier to do if you don’t have children to feed since buying organic food can be significantly more expensive. When I said this, another member at our table echoed her agreement with me. She is a single mom with three children, including two teenage boys, and she said that as much as she would love to be able to buy the best quality food for her children, the reality is that she just cannot afford it. Was she less of a person because she could feed her children organic food? No! -But it does go to show you how what we eat can make us feel better about ourselves or worse about ourselves. I’m sure this mom was trying to do the best she could with what she had for her kids. And I believe the couple who were buying the locally grown organic food were doing what they thought was best. To me it’s just a good example of the deeper impact of the choices we make when it comes to food.
Consider that in 2008 (I don’t have the numbers for Canada) but in the United States 40 billion dollars was spent on the dieting industry. Compare that with the 3 billion dollars that was the total budget of the World Food Program, which is the United Nation’s food aid branch and the largest humanitarian organization in the world. I know that people contribute to other agencies and food banks. But isn’t it amazing that in one country 13 times the amount of money can be spent on dieting as is spent by the world’s largest body dedicated to fighting global hunger? You see, there is more than one way to measure the spiritual impact of food in our lives, and the way it can influence our thoughts and behaviour in any number of ways. Like Paul, we may say that there are no idols, yet when we start to take a closer look at how food can effect our lives and our relationships with others we are talking about something with a lot of power.
That is why Paul’s admonishments to the Christians at Corinth in today’s epistle reading are actually good news. Paul takes a small, seemingly inconsequential slight — the matter of whether to eat or not eat food that had been offered to idols and uses it as a sign of genuine Christian faith. Paul’s concern is not whether any Corinthian Christians are consuming food that, having been purchased in the marketplace, might have been previously used in an offering ritual to some lesser deity. Paul does not care about the food. Paul cares about people. Paul cares about people’s faith. Food is not there to be a source of division.
Paul was asking for empathy. Paul implores the “strong,” those who are confident in their knowledge that idols do not exist, that there is only one God, to consider the fragile faith of others. The apostle Paul was asking Christians to be attuned to different kinds of actions and attitudes that might put spiritual well-being in jeopardy; a kind of attitude that might even endanger the very salvation of a brother or sister in Christ. You see, for Paul, at the heart of the matter is the relationship between the men and women of the church. Paul uses himself as a model and says, “look if it meant the wellbeing of a brother or sister, then I won’t eat meat.” Paul knew that sometimes you just have to give up your own wants and desires for the sake of something larger -namely the health of the relationships with those whom we share our life with.
It’s a reflection of what is known as the “kenosis” or self-emptying of Christ. This is a theological term that has to do with the emptying of one’s own self-will in order to be receptive to God’s will. This was a central understanding of Paul’s theology and what he believed Jesus accomplished on the cross. To empty ourselves, is to make room for God, which in effect is making room for others.
In this text from 1 Corinthians there is also a debate about the categorization food going on, except in this case the debate is not about pizza, it’s about whether or not members of the Christian church should be eating meat that had been offered to idols. This might sound kind of strange to us at first, even bizarre that people would be eating meat offered to idols. It’s not something we do in any sort of conscious way in our 21st century world. And if we were to imagine first century Corinth we might think that meat offered to idols was something left at the altar. Except this wasn’t the case. The city of Corinth was full of temples to any number of the Greco-Roman gods and live animals were often sacrificed and then left for the priests. The priests might keep some of the meat for themselves but would often sell most of it to vendors in the marketplace as a source of income. For many people this meat sold in the temples could be bought for less money and was readily available. But it was also the case that when this meat was being sold, that it could get mixed up with the meat that hadn’t been offered to the idols, so when one was buying meat you wouldn’t necessarily know if it had been offered to idols or not. (The food labelling system of the first century left a lot to be desired!)
This is where the problem presented itself for those new Christians in Corinth. It was one of the challenges that the apostle Paul had to deal with as he attempted to spread the gospel of Jesus and the message of the one God amongst the Gentile world of Greeks and Romans. These individuals who were professing a belief in one God, were men and women who had previously given their allegiance to any number of idols at whose altars meat had been sacrificed. This posed a challenge for them, how could they who now believe in one God eat the meat offered to idols? It would be as if they were participating in idol worship.
It was a troubling situation for Paul. Paul recognized that these idols were false. Paul’s faith proclaimed there was no power within that idol food. He declared, “We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.” Paul knows there is no difference between angel food cake and devil’s food cake, between “Heavenly Hash” or “Rocky Road.” In classic terms, “Food will not bring us close to God.” (Although we may have certain favourites we think are divine). Yet, the power these idols still wielded in the lives of some of the Corinthians was very real. The food people ate was becoming a source of division. You can imagine how aghast some of the members of the community would be as they watched brother Andros or brother Nicolas throw a steak on the grill and then continue to eat it. They would have been mortified thinking that somehow members of the community were profaning themselves by eating this meat. Even though they had come to accept Jesus and enter the family of God, they were weak in faith to the point that they were still giving those idols power over their lives. For the ones eating the meat they felt as if they weren’t doing anything wrong. If the idols weren’t real, then eating the meat shouldn’t be any big deal. Besides, it was cheap! But to some buying meat on sale wasn’t such a good idea and it was a big deal.
It used to be said that if you wanted to avoid controversy in a conversation than you shouldn’t talk about religion or politics. But these days can you find a topic that is any more controversial than food? Food is a topic that touches both religion and politics because food is powerful thing. The food industry keeps people employed, food is a source of pleasure, it’s something we need to survive. Food can cause trade wars and diplomatic struggles. Why it was only just this past week that some countries started to import Canadian beef again how many years after the mad cow scare? Or try taking fresh produce with you if you ever cross the border into the U.S. and see how successful you are. This reading from 1 Corinthians is there to remind us that food and how we treat food can say a lot about our spiritual health and wellbeing because food impact our relationships with others. Food can be a source of division.
We can give food a lot of power and food can wield a lot of power over us. Food can direct our behaviour, our budgets, our bodies and our lifestyles. Just think of the food choices that are available to us these days. There are opportunities to go local, or buy organic, we can buy in bulk. We can cook at home, or eat out. There are slow cookers and fast foods. There is free range and grass fed. There are nut free and diabetic options. And when we walk through supermarkets it is not uncommon to see kosher and halal sections. All of these preferences and needs can produce all sorts of awkward moments and differences of opinion.
Not long ago I was having dinner with a group of individuals where one couple at the table was talking about how they always tried to eat organically farmed, pesticide free food, locally grown if possible. During the course of our conversation I suggested that this is a lot easier to do if you don’t have children to feed since buying organic food can be significantly more expensive. When I said this, another member at our table echoed her agreement with me. She is a single mom with three children, including two teenage boys, and she said that as much as she would love to be able to buy the best quality food for her children, the reality is that she just cannot afford it. Was she less of a person because she could feed her children organic food? No! -But it does go to show you how what we eat can make us feel better about ourselves or worse about ourselves. I’m sure this mom was trying to do the best she could with what she had for her kids. And I believe the couple who were buying the locally grown organic food were doing what they thought was best. To me it’s just a good example of the deeper impact of the choices we make when it comes to food.
Consider that in 2008 (I don’t have the numbers for Canada) but in the United States 40 billion dollars was spent on the dieting industry. Compare that with the 3 billion dollars that was the total budget of the World Food Program, which is the United Nation’s food aid branch and the largest humanitarian organization in the world. I know that people contribute to other agencies and food banks. But isn’t it amazing that in one country 13 times the amount of money can be spent on dieting as is spent by the world’s largest body dedicated to fighting global hunger? You see, there is more than one way to measure the spiritual impact of food in our lives, and the way it can influence our thoughts and behaviour in any number of ways. Like Paul, we may say that there are no idols, yet when we start to take a closer look at how food can effect our lives and our relationships with others we are talking about something with a lot of power.
That is why Paul’s admonishments to the Christians at Corinth in today’s epistle reading are actually good news. Paul takes a small, seemingly inconsequential slight — the matter of whether to eat or not eat food that had been offered to idols and uses it as a sign of genuine Christian faith. Paul’s concern is not whether any Corinthian Christians are consuming food that, having been purchased in the marketplace, might have been previously used in an offering ritual to some lesser deity. Paul does not care about the food. Paul cares about people. Paul cares about people’s faith. Food is not there to be a source of division.
Paul was asking for empathy. Paul implores the “strong,” those who are confident in their knowledge that idols do not exist, that there is only one God, to consider the fragile faith of others. The apostle Paul was asking Christians to be attuned to different kinds of actions and attitudes that might put spiritual well-being in jeopardy; a kind of attitude that might even endanger the very salvation of a brother or sister in Christ. You see, for Paul, at the heart of the matter is the relationship between the men and women of the church. Paul uses himself as a model and says, “look if it meant the wellbeing of a brother or sister, then I won’t eat meat.” Paul knew that sometimes you just have to give up your own wants and desires for the sake of something larger -namely the health of the relationships with those whom we share our life with.
It’s a reflection of what is known as the “kenosis” or self-emptying of Christ. This is a theological term that has to do with the emptying of one’s own self-will in order to be receptive to God’s will. This was a central understanding of Paul’s theology and what he believed Jesus accomplished on the cross. To empty ourselves, is to make room for God, which in effect is making room for others.
I don’t know how many of you have seen this picture on the right, it was a billboard advertisement that was run by the city of Saskatoon. It says, “There’s plenty of room for all of God’s creatures right next to the mashed potatoes.” I read that and a part of me gets nervous, after all, I’m one of God’s creatures too! Maybe there’s room for me on the chair, next to the plate with the mashed potatoes. What I would really rather say what the church has been saying for hundreds of years, it was Jesus’ message to his disciples and Paul’s message to the Gentiles. It’s one of the reasons that this table is always central to our worship. It’s why so many Protestant churches have a table and NOT an altar. There is plenty of room for all of God’s creatures at the table. In Christ God has emptied God’s self, making a sacrifice for us. God makes room for me and you and we have been given this same power to make room for others. God does this in order to satisfy the deeper human hunger which is the need for community and friendship and the opportunity to know God. Thanks be to God.