Paul has a strong message for the Corinthians, but my sense is that he does not do so to chastise them, but rather to speak the truth and to reach out to them in their reality. Sometimes I have to do that as a priest, and that is often not an easy conversation to have. It would be easy just to ignore reality sometimes. I know that as parents as well, it is hard to have tough love sometimes. Paul is telling 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 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 to us? Are we really disciples of Christ if we don’t let our faith mold us and transform us and change us? It is easy to talk the talk. It is a lot harder to change our lifestyle. It is not a matter of following a certain leader. We see mega church 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 of the message of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are loyalty and membership is to be members of God’s kingdom, not of manmade earthly realm. We are not suppose to divide into little groups or cliques. If we are not truly the Body of Christ, then who is?
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