Morning Devotion for Lent
March 16, 2022
The Invitatory
The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. Come let us adore him
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us,but if we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Reading: 1 Corinthians 6:1-8
When any of you has a grievance against another, do you dare to take it to court before the unrighteous, instead of taking it before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels—to say nothing of ordinary matters? If you have ordinary cases, then, do you appoint as judges those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one believer and another, but a believer goes to court against a believer—and before unbelievers at that?
In fact, to have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud—and believers at that.
Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones
Imagine if this passage were to be read at any meeting of attorneys gathered at a law firm, any courtroom, or at a meeting of any and all bar associations! The reader would be run out of town on a rail! How dare someone speak out against what is the very grist of these mills, stealing bread from the plates these men and women labor to provide for their families and themselves. Their clients would all take to the streets to protest what they believe to be rights guaranteed to them since the signing of the Magna Carta.
Paul does not use the word stupid here, but his implication is that these people are very foolish for doing what they are doing. They were obviously engaging in lawsuits, dragging them before the Roman courts, and airing all their quarrels and dirty linen in public to be settled by a secular court. This, Paul says, is foolish, and he has two reasons for this.
First, he implies that it is an act of audacious boldness, Moreover, it is an outrageous act. One who pursues the vindication of his rights against another is uncaring. He has reached the point where he does not care what anybody thinks or feels and is acting regardless of the injuries that may be done to others. Paul then suggests in the two questions he poses, that anybody who does such a thing is really an ignorant person: "Do you not know that the church is going to judge the world, and do not you know that the church is going to judge angels?” There are immeasurable consequences to consider.
These questions he asks imply a certain degree of knowledge that the Corinthians ought to have had. "Do you not know," he says, "that the saints will judge the world?" In other words, there are consequences. When the Lord returns a new order will be established. How this comes to be is not given to them, but they are to enter into the mind and heart of God as he examines the motives and hearts, the thoughts and innermost desires and urges of humankind. Paul has written that we are not to judge before the Lord comes who will examine the motives, the hidden things of the heart. But we are learning how to do that, and that is the point Paul is raising here. He does not mean to put down the systems of justice that were practiced in that day or any day, but he points out that human law by its very nature has to deal with trivial, superficial things, with actions, and not with urges and deep, hidden desires and motives. Those who are familiar at all with law courts know that is true. The law is restricted to judging actions, whether they are injurious to others or not. Human law operates at a rather shallow level of judgment. Paul envisions that people learn during the course of their lives to plumb the depths of others’ actions, and psyches to ascertain their motives and assess the reasons for their actions and the underlying feelings and urges. Then they can maintain the community without a lawsuit. And that makes for a very different community and world.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
