This blog provides a meditation on the Episcopal daily readings along with a headline from world news:

HAS PIONEERING AL JAZEERA  DIRECTOR BEEN SACKED IN FAVOUR OF ROYAL LACKEY?

Retiring (?) Director General

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

12 ‘All things are lawful for me’, but not all things are beneficial. ‘All things are lawful for me’, but I will not be dominated by anything. 13‘Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food’, and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. 15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, ‘The two shall be one flesh.’ 17But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. 19Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

commodity

Paul’s argument is delivered in bursts but it’s clear enough:

1. It may seem that the body is as naturally equipped for promiscuity as for eating. But just as not all food is beneficial, neither is all sexual activity.
2. Our bodies are not irrelevant to the life of faith for God wants to dwell in our bodies which he will ultimately transform, as he did Christ’s body.
3. Believers share their lives with Christ as Christ shares his life with them. Christ can honourably share in the union of husband and wife, but not in the union of a customer and a prostitute.
4. Yes, the love of God sets me free from the regulations of religious law but I must not allow myself to become a slave to anything or anyone. Paradoxically, I keep my freedom when I remember that I am a slave of Christ/ God who has paid a great price for me on the cross.

Paul’s view of the dignity of the human person is a good antidote to the dominant view in present day society which sees the human person as a relentless consumer of commodities including food and sex.

Matthew 6:1-6,16-18

6‘Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2 ‘So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

5 ‘And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

16 ‘And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Religious duties can be a profound and disciplined offering to God, or they can be a show to impress others.

Much that passes for true religion has neglected this warning and allowed itself to become a hypocritical pantomime, either of perfected liturgy or born-again emotion. As Jesus dryly observes, if you’re looking to impress others, that’s your reward. Charitable giving, prayer and fasting can all be genuine tokens of our love for God and our neighbour but any true relationship is intimate and not for public consumption.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer felt strongly that our religious discipline had to be secret. God is not another object in the world and he is profaned when he is presented as such. Our reserve, especially in prayer, is a sign of God’s holiness. Notoriously he said that Jesus’ words about not casting pearls to swine, had to be taken seriously.

There is an inwardness in any true faith which we must be careful not to betray.