Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-march-2-2026
I Corinthians 4:8-16
8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign—and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! 9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. 10 We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! 11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.
14 I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. 15 Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you to imitate me.
There’s a strain of preaching and teaching in the modern church called “the prosperity gospel” – it’s largely associated with TV personality Joel Osteen. The central idea of this school of Christian thought is that God wants you to be prosperous in a material sense, and if you’re faithful, you’ll be blessed in the things of the world. (It’s probably a little unfair, by the way, that Joel Osteen is thought of exclusively on the basis of the prosperity gospel. Most of his teaching would be considered well within the guidelines of traditional Christianity. And the idea that God materially blesses the righteous goes all the way back to the psalms.)
The problem with the prosperity gospel is that starting with Jesus himself, the foundational writings of Christian tradition have made it plain that becoming a disciple is not a prescription for material wealth and popularity and power and influence and all the other things the world considers so essential for “a good life.” It’s really hard to find anything in the New Testament that says faithful disciples will enjoy material prosperity. Some theologians have even labeled the prosperity gospel as a heresy.
But there’s no denying that Jesus, as well as some of his first followers, have warned that there is a cost in terms of the things of this world to committing yourself to Christian discipleship. Passages like the Beatitudes in the fifth chapter of Matthew clearly express the idea that faithful discipleship can’t be expected to result in material blessings in this world. Jesus also warned in the Sermon on the Mount that “You can’t serve both God and money.” And at a number of places in the gospel of Luke, God’s special concern for the poor is expressed.
The letters of Paul, which make up a large part of the New Testament, certainly don’t minimize the material cost of discipleship. In passages like today’s reading from his first letter to the Corinthians, for instance, instead of telling his readers about the benefits of following Jesus, Paul describes the challenges and hardships they’re likely to endure. Paul says that he and the other leaders of the church are treated like criminals being led to the arena to be fed to wild animals. He says they are hungry and thirsty, in rags, brutally treated and homeless, treated like “the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world.”
But then, having said all that, Paul says, “Therefore I urge you to imitate me.”
I can’t help thinking that anyone with any experience in recruiting people to a cause would want to call Paul aside and say, “Excuse me, but you might want to rethink this evangelistic effort you’re making.”
I suppose that if you want to make sense out of today’s passage, it’s important to keep in mind that Paul was writing this letter to a church that was split by factional fighting. People were squabbling over power and influence within the church. And this passage seems to be addressed mostly to the leaders of these squabbling factions. Paul is criticizing them for acting like worldly politicians.
The apostle is particularly critical of their craving for power, their self-importance and their squabbling over status. In this passage, he points out that the true spiritual leaders of the church – the ones who had been called and trained by Jesus himself and the others who were following in their footsteps – those leaders weren’t living like kings or squabbling over power. Instead, they were living a life of hard work and material hardship.
It’s hard to deny that what Paul is saying in this passage is right in line with Jesus’ own warning that life would not be easy for those who followed him. You might remember that on one occasion, he told a man who wanted to follow him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” (That’s in Matthew 8:20) Jesus’ point was clear: discipleship is not meant to be a path to earthly power, wealth and comfort. And in today’s reading, Paul is making a similar argument to the squabbling leaders of the church at Corinth.
A part of our human nature is the search for status. We might not use the term “power,” because it has negative connotations, but we want to be people of influence. If we can’t be at the top of the heap, at least we don’t want to be at the bottom.
But Jesus called his followers to turn aside from that aspect of our human nature. Instead, we’re called to accept an identity as servants of others, as Jesus himself did. To the world, that seems crazy. It seems like nonsense to try to serve your way to the bottom instead of climbing your way to the top. That probably explains why Paul described himself and the other leaders of the church as “fools for Christ” – because the true way of Jesus seems like foolishness to the world outside the church.
That craving for wealth and status causes a lot of trouble in the world. The news is full of examples. Sadly, that same craving also causes a lot of trouble in the church. The same kind of factionalism Paul talks about in this letter still goes on in churches, governing bodies and denominations. People express their disagreements in “churchy-sounding” theological language, but all too often they’re driven by old-fashioned desire for power and status and a craving to get their own way.
Those of us who genuinely want to follow Jesus, it seems to me, should be praying that God would heal us of that sinful lust for wealth and comfort and status, and replace it with the humble spirit of servanthood that characterized the leaders of the early church – and more importantly, that characterized Jesus himself, who is to be the model for everything we say and do.
Let’s pray. Lord, you know how deeply ingrained the craving for influence and status and wealth is in our human nature. Protect us from being conformed to that world’s ways, and instead let us be transformed by the renewing of our minds into people with a craving to serve others as you served in Jesus, even kneeling to wash the feet of others. Amen.
Blessings,
Henry
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