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LECTIO DIVINA :1-3 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A Fr. Brizio, IMC www.frmichaelbrizio.com

1) OPENING PRAYER:

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth.

O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy his consolations.

Through , our Lord. Amen.

2) READING OF THE WORD (What the Word says):

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1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,

2 to the church of God that is in Corinth, to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3) EXPLANATION (What the Word means):

Context

Acts 18:1-17 recounts Paul’s visit to Corinth on his Second Missionary Journey and his work with the Jewish community there.

We can date this visit fairly precisely, because of the reference in :12 to the Roman proconsul Gallio, who held office in Corinth less than one year, probably beginning in 51 A.D.

Based on this, we believe that the appearance of Paul before Gallio in Acts 18 took place in the middle of the year in 51 A.D. (Murphy-O’Connor, 732-733).

Paul spent 18 months in Corinth (Acts 18:11), arguing in the every Sabbath and trying to convince Greeks (Gentiles) as well as Jews (Acts 18:4).

When the Jews opposed him, he left the synagogue to begin to work primarily among the Gentiles (Acts 18:5-7). However, Crispus, a leader of the synagogue became a believer, along with his family (Acts 18:8), so Paul did not turn his back on Jews.

The Jewish community continued its attack against Paul by preferring charges against him in civil court.

The proconsul, Gallio, dismissed the charges as having nothing to do with Roman law. Gentile bystanders (not the Christian community) responded by beating Sosthenes, the synagogue leader (Acts 18:12-17).

After serving in Corinth for eighteen months, Paul left to go to Ephesus, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Galatia (Acts 18:18-23).

During that time , an Alexandrian Jew, began teaching in the synagogue at Ephesus. He knew only the baptism of John, but corrected his understanding.

Apollos then went to Achaia (of which Corinth was the capitol) where he gave a powerful witness to the messiahship of Jesus (Acts 18:24-28).

Paul then wrote a letter to the Christians at Corinth warning them “to have no company with sexual sinners” (:9), but that letter has been lost to us. Page 3 of 10

Paul then learned of divisions within the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 1:11) and mentioned receiving a letter from the Corinthian church (:1).

He clearly understood that there were problems in the Corinthian church and wrote this letter that we know as his First to the Corinthians to address those issues.

v.1a: Paul,

It was customary for people of that time and place to begin their letters by introducing themselves (quite different from our letters today, name of the author at the end), and Paul follows that convention by introducing himself at the beginning.

v.1b: called to be an apostle, apostolos), of Christ Jesus

Paul first states his name, and then his office.

An apostolos is one sent with a message.

In Paul’s case, the one who did the sending was Christ Jesus and the message is the of Jesus Christ.

It is important that Paul establish upfront that he is an apostle. These Corinthian Christians have questioned his authority (4:1-5; 9:1-23), and he cannot fulfill the work to which Christ has called him unless they acknowledge his authority as an apostle.

If Christ has called him to be an apostle—has endowed him with apostolic authority—then these Corinthian Christians must listen to him. If Christ has not endowed him with authority, they are well within their rights not to listen. Page 4 of 10

We usually think of twelve apostles, but after Judas committed suicide there were only eleven for a time. The apostles chose Matthias to succeed Judas (Acts 1:21-26), so then there were twelve again.

Later, Paul saw a vision of the risen Christ in a vision on the road to Damascus, and the Lord told Ananias that Paul was “my chosen vessel to bear my name before the nations and kings, and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15).

He was ordained to this office when the Holy Spirit set him and apart “for the work to which [the Spirit] called them” (Acts 13:2).

Luke (the author of Acts) soon thereafter refers to “the apostles, Barnabas and Paul” (Acts 14:14).

In his letters, Paul refers to “James, the Lord’s brother” as an apostle (:19). That James was not one of the original twelve apostles (Matthew 10:2).

Paul refers to “the brothers of the Lord” in such a way that suggests that they might have been apostles (:5). He refers to Andronicus and Junia as apostles (Romans 16:7).

Paul introduces most of his letters with a claim to be an apostle (Romans 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Galatians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; Colossians 1:1; 1-2 Timothy 1:1; Titus 1:1), and makes many other references to his apostleship in his letters.

Paul says that he was called to be an apostle by Christ Jesus. That story is told in some detail in Acts 9:1-19).

Paul knows that an apostle functions as the representative of his sender Jesus Christ, whose message he must accurately communicate. In a sense, an apostle can be compared with an ambassador (2 Cor. 5:20) who represents in another country the president or prime minister of his government. v.1c:by the will of God,

Paul further cements his authority by stating that his call by Christ Jesus to the apostleship was in accord with God’s will, thus effectively affirming that his calling as an apostle originates with God.

v.1d: and Sosthenes our brother,

The name Sostenes appears in the only here and in Acts 18:17, where Sostenes was an official of the synagogue who underwent a beating in Corinth after the proconsul Gallio refused to hear Sosthenes’ complaint against Paul.

If this was the Sosthenes mentioned in this verse, he would have had to have experienced a conversion for Paul to speak of him as “our brother.”

However, Sosthenes was a common name, so this could be a man about whom we know nothing other than what is revealed in this verse. Page 5 of 10

v.2a: to the church, ekklesia,

The word ekklesia is a combination of two Greek words—ek, a preposition meaning “out” and kaleo, a verb meaning “to call.”

The Greeks used ekklesia to speak of assemblies— gatherings of people who had been called or invited to assemble for either political or guild meetings (Acts 19:32, 39, 41).

Early Christians appropriated ekklesia to speak of the church, by which they meant those people who are called by God out of the world and into a holy community.

They used the term to distinguish themselves from the Jews, who used the word synagogue for their meeting places.

They were almost certainly influenced at this point by the LXX (the Septuagint—the Greek translation of the Old Testament), where the word ekklesia was sometimes used for the people of Israel.

The Christian use of the word ekklesia (“those who are called by God”) has much in common with the words “elect” or “election” (eklektos ), which are used in the New Testament to speak of those whom God has chosen.

The idea of election extends back to the Old Testament, where the Lord said to the people of Israel, “For you are a holy (Hebrew: qadosh—set aside for a holy purpose) people to the Lord your God: the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6).

In both cases (“those whom God has called” and “those whom God has chosen”), there is the sense that the people have been called or chosen to be a holy people, separate and distinct from the common people of the world.

New Testament English translations routinely use the word “church” to translate the word ekklesia. The word “church” goes back to the Greek word kyrios, which means “Lord.”

Over time, it morphed from kyrios to the Greek words kyriakos or kyriakon—to the Middle English word chirche—to the modern English word “church.” v.2b: of God

The church belongs to God, not to the people. They aren’t the church of Corinth, but the church of God. They are not in charge—God is in charge.

God is not dependent on their wisdom or strength, but they are dependent on God’s wisdom, which sometimes appears as foolishness to humans (2:18-31).

Paul does not dignify their local leadership by naming their leaders. He wants them to understand that they are simply the church’s local manifestation in the city of Corinth.

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v.2c: that is in Corinth,

To Paul, wherever an individual congregation might be, it was a part of the one Church of God.

He would not have given the Church a local designation; still less would he have identified the congregation by the particular communion or sect to which it belonged.

To him the Church was the Church of God. If we thought of the Church in that way we might well remember more of the reality which unites us and less of the local differences which divide us.

v.2c: to you who have been sanctified, hagiazo, in Christ Jesus,

The verb hagiazo means to set aside for a holy purpose.

The Sabbath is qadosh, because God established the Sabbath as a day of rest and worship. Israel is holy because God chose Israel to be God’s covenant people. The tabernacle and temple are holy, because God set them aside as places for people to worship and to experience the presence of God. Priests and Levites are holy because God set them apart for his service.

The Christian has been consecrated to God by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. To be a Christian is to be one for whom Christ died and to know it, and to realize that that sacrifice in a very special way makes us belong to God.

v.2d: called to be holy, hagios,

As indicated, hagios describes a thing or a person that has been devoted to the possession and the service of God.

If a person has been marked out as specially belonging to God, he must show himself to be fit in life and in character for that service.

The root idea of the word is separation. A person who is hagios is different from others because he Page 7 of 10 has been separated from the ordinary run in order specially to belong to God.

This was the adjective by which the Jews described themselves; they were the hagios laos, the holy people, the nation which was quite different from other peoples because they in a special way belonged to God and were set apart for his service.

When Paul calls the Christian hagios he means that he is different from other people because he specially belongs to God and to God’s service.

And that difference is not to be marked by withdrawal from ordinary life, but by showing there a quality which will mark him out.

Paul first states that the believers have been set aside by God to live holy lives and then paradoxically points out their sins and shortcomings. He intimates that when a believer is made holy, he is fully aware of God’s gracious act, for the Christian realizes that he is constantly called to be holy (Romans 1:7) and to live a life of holiness.

To become holy, a person must separate him/herself from that which is common. To be holy is to be “called out” from the sinful world into a deep and abiding relationship with God so that the person becomes more God-like— more holy—less like the sinful world-at-large.

For believers, therefore, sanctification is both a definitive act of God and a lifelong process.

v.2e: with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Paul embraces both Gentile and Jewish Christians everywhere as equals in the church of Jesus Christ.

Paul provides a subtle reminder that the church is much larger than the little body of believers at Corinth, and that they are tied by the Lordship of Jesus Christ to Christians everywhere.

Paul also stresses the unity that believers exhibit in prayer when they call on the name of Jesus Christ. Prayer unites Christians before the Lord.

It would be to our good if sometimes we lifted our eyes beyond our own little circle and thought of ourselves as part of the Church of God which is as wide as the world. Page 8 of 10

v.2f: their Lord and ours.

Paul speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then, as it were, he corrects himself and adds their Lord and ours.

No one, no Church, has exclusive possession of Jesus Christ. He is our Lord but he is also the Lord of all.

It is the amazing wonder of Christianity that all possess all the love of Jesus Christ, and that “God loves each one of us as if there was only one of us to love.”

v.3a: Grace, charis, to you and peace, eirene,

In keeping with convention, Paul opened this letter by identifying himself and those to whom the letter was addressed.

Now he continues with customary practice by offering good wishes—in this case a prayer for the recipients of the letter.

He prays that God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ might confer on the Corinthians both grace, charis, and peace, eirene.

The Greeks commonly used the word chairein, which means “to rejoice” as a greeting—and that Paul took that secular greeting and adapted it to his Christian purpose by saying charis (grace) instead of chairein (Greetings!).

Grace, charis, is a significant word in the New Testament, especially in Paul’s . Page 9 of 10

The understanding of charis in the New Testament has its roots in the Hebrew word hesed, used in the Old Testament to speak of God’s lovingkindness, mercy, and faithfulness.

Greeks often used the word charis to speak of patronage (the support of a patron, such as financial or political support). To Greeks, the word charis connoted generosity—generosity that demanded loyalty on the part of the recipient.

Christian charis is the gift of salvation by God to all who accept the Lordship of Jesus Christ. God, therefore, is the patron—the benefactor.

Just as we could never fully repay a person who left us an inheritance of unimaginable wealth, so also we can never repay God for the gift of salvation.

However, if a patron were to grant us unimaginable wealth, we could be faithful to the patron by using the money in a way that would be consistent with the patron’s wishes or values. So also, we can be faithful to the God who gives us salvation by living in accord with God’s will.

Peace, Eirene, is also a significant word.

The Christian understanding of eirene has its roots in the Hebrew word shalom.

Both eirene and shalom, as used in the , mean more than the absence of violence—although they can mean that (Judges 4:17; 1 Samuel 7:14).

Both eirene and shalom connote the kind of well-being that is derived from a deep relationship with God. They connote the kind of wholeness that comes from having the image of God, once shattered by sin, restored in the believer.

“Grace is always first, peace always second. This is due to the fact that grace is the source of peace. Without grace there is, and can be, no peace; but when grace is ours, peace must of necessity follow” (R. C. H. Lenski).

Paul links both grace and peace to their ultimate source: they originate “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

v.3b: from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul leaves no doubt as to the source of grace and peace. They are blessings to be bestowed by “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”—not something that the Corinthian Christians can produce on their own.

4) MEDITATION (What the Word suggests to me):

a) We read the Word again.

b) Select the word or a brief phrase which touched you or impressed you. Repeat this word/phrase Page 10 of 10 aloud and slowly 3 times. Between each repetition allow a moment of silence for the Word to penetrate into our hearts. c) We will remain silent for a few minutes, and let the Lord speak to us. d) We now share what the Lord has given us in this word. We avoid discussions or sermons or comments on what others have said. We share what the Lord has told us personally by using such expressions as, “To me this word has said …”

5) QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION (What the Word asks me): a) In what am I a good representative of Christ? b) How can I take more seriously my vocation to holiness? c) Which areas of my life should bring under the rule of God? d) How can I be a more effective agent of peace in my family?

6) WORD OF LIFE (What the Word reminds me):

Called to be holy

7) ACTION (What the Word invites me to do):

I will do some research on the activities and difficulties of the Church in other countries.

8) PRAYER (What the Word makes me pray): PSALM 40

Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

I have waited, waited for the LORD, and he stooped toward me and heard my cry. And he put a new song into my mouth, a hymn to our God.

Sacrifice or offering you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me. Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not; then said I, “Behold I come.”

“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me, to do your will, O my God, is my delight, and your law is within my heart!”

I announced your justice in the vast assembly; I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.

And may the blessing of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit descend upon us and with us remain forever and ever.