Paul has a strong message for the Corinthians in his letter today, but my sense is that he is not trying to chastise them, but rather to speak the truth and to reach out to them in the context of their lived reality. Sometimes we priests have to have tough conversations as well in our ministry. It would be a temptation just to ignore reality sometimes. I know that as parents as well, it is hard to have tough love with children. Paul tells the Corinthians that they are still spiritually immature, that they have a long way to go in their journey of faith. It is sometimes so easy to be immersed in the world and to ignore the reality of our journey of faith. And that is where the Corinthians were at on their journey. They still had not made the transition to being disciples of Christ. If Christ says that we are in this world but not of this world, what does that really mean? Are we really disciples of Christ if we don’t let our faith mold us, transform us, and change us? It is easy to talk the talk, but a lot harder to change our lifestyle. It is not a matter of following a certain leader. We see mega churches being so popular in our society where they have a charismatic leader whom people follow. But that does not last forever. As Paul said, he and Apollo are just earthly messengers bringing the message of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our loyalty is to be given to the values of God’s kingdom, not to the values of the manmade earthly realm. We are not supposed to divide into little groups or cliques. If we are not truly the Body of Christ, then who is?
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