Rudeness at the Table

This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “I Corinthians 13” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, June 2, 1996.

Sermon transcript

Good morning. We are reading from 1 Corinthians, chapter 11, beginning at verse 17. Give your attention to the reading of God’s holy word. But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better, but for the worse. For in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you, and I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, in order that those who are approved may become evident among you. Therefore, when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s supper. Instead, in your eating, each one takes his own supper first, and one is hungry while another is drunk. What? Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I will not praise you.

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” So that whenever you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.

For this reason, many among you are weak and sick, and a number have fallen asleep. If we judge ourselves rightly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we may not be condemned along with the world. For then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you may not come together to judgment. And the remaining matters I will arrange when I come. And then, from chapter 13, verse 5: “Love does not act unbecomingly, does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account the wrongs done.”

I expect that some of your most painful memories are of moments when you were overtly and blatantly rude. I also expect that the most painful memories for you are those instances when you were rude to those people who are especially close to you—those whom, in your later reflection, you know and understand truly loved you: your family, your friends. Of course, the particular instances we bring to mind when we think of these things are not merely examples of bad faith, discourtesy, or insults to the basic standards of common decency and respect.

For instance, the particular memories along these lines in my own life are all too vivid, with details that emphasize my rudeness—details about my attitude of mind and my disposition of soul in those circumstances. Some of my memories regarding rudeness are from my youth, when being rude was unfortunately linked to the immaturity of what we called being cool. Even more than that, such an attitude was simultaneously a declaration to everyone upon whom I showed courtesy that I was being rude.

My attitude was at the same time a statement, a public statement, not only of my disgust with the way things and people were, but also a statement about my imagined superiority. Isn’t it strange that I associated illicit sex, vulgarity, and outrageous behavior with superiority in all things? Just consider this: if only I had been able to play the guitar well, and if I had been able to starve myself into a state of anorexia, making myself look like a recent victim of a concentration camp, I could have made a great deal of money by convincing large audiences that my rude and crude behavior was actually a genuine expression of true love. Indeed, according to the standards of our culture, there seems to be no better expression of true love than that which mocks decency and thoughtfulness for the sake of financial gain.

I know I am unlikely to go very far down this path, but I will offer this comment. Young people, with your Walkman in hand and your earphones in your ears, please, you will realize this someday—distance yourself a little from what you are hearing. You are being heard. You know that, do you not? You are being heard.

But of course, in the interest of the Apostle Paul, the focus is much more profound than my own adolescent preoccupation, even more profound than the painful memories I have of family and friends scandalized by my behavior. For Paul’s focus is the Church, and the rudeness expressed in this instance within the church at Corinth.

At Corinth, Paul is not facing the grandstanding vulgarity and arrogant behavior that we too often see in our relationships with friends and family. But he was facing a form of the same harmful attitudes, marked by a supposed sense of superiority. In fact, we can say that this attitude of supposed superiority has marked the church at Corinth from the top to the bottom. It ranged from a party spirit that divided one member against another, to a distorted view of marriage. This conflict over meat offered to idols, this confusion about women, communion, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection of the body—these were all symptoms of deeper divisions.

Now, if you know the content of this first letter from Paul to the Corinthians, you realize that I have just summarized the letter in its entirety. From Paul’s perspective, the unseemly behavior, the unbecoming conduct mentioned in chapter 13, verse 5, stands utterly contrary to the love he advocates, which should touch every aspect of the church’s life. Although this unseemly behavior may not have appeared in the extreme forms seen elsewhere, it was still evident as a thoughtless disorder, and even a cruel indifference toward others in the congregation—toward those for whom Christ has died. There is no better illustration of this than what we find in the latter part of 1 Corinthians 11. Here, the apostle addresses the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, or, more precisely, the abuse of the Supper by the Corinthian believers. The proclamation of the Supper at Corinth was not merely misunderstood; it had become lost. Yes! Read the text again. Lost! In what appears to have been a festive setting, almost like a chaotic feast, with excessive eating and drinking. Can you imagine a church service that looks more like a meal gone out of control?

If this was not bad enough, it seems these years have become, like every other area in this church’s life, an opportunity for flaunting advantage, again, supposed superiority, even to the point of drawing attention to one’s affluence and wealth. Most telling is Paul’s statement in verse 22: “Do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing?” This question from the apostle establishes an equation suggesting that despising the church of God is equivalent to shaming those who have nothing. The celebration of the Lord’s Supper, with its attendant banquet, had become another occasion in which division was evident within the body of Christ, and here, to the shame of this church, along the line of division between the rich and the poor.

It is one of the more unfortunate characteristics of the Protestant Reformation and its aftermath that it has brought to expression a certain stratification in society, so that there are certain churches that you attend if, in fact, you are a person of means. And there are certain churches that you do not attend. In fact, such is the diversity in Protestantism that it allows for these kinds of choices. This church, this very congregation, might well have been a wonderful experiment for the purpose of overcoming those very divisions.

How tragic that it is an experiment that seems to fail. The rich in the church at Corinth arrived with their food and wine, ate and drank, some to excess, while the poor, who could bring little or nothing, waited to receive the meager provisions of the Lord’s Supper. It may well have been that the wealthy members of this congregation even competed with one another in the elaborateness of their meals. A striking example.

If people know that you look at the end of 1 Corinthians 11, there is more going on here than what we have commented on thus far. There is a subtle undercurrent at work in this eleventh chapter, and let us state it clearly. You see, there was a sense in which these Corinthians were doing nothing unseemly or unbecoming according to Gentile society or the social norms of Corinthian society. It was therefore not considered rude for landowners, for the landed gentry, or for those of means in Corinthian society, to dine in the presence of slaves and the poor, while the slaves and the poor had nothing themselves. Paul, the apostle, might well be outraged. He might write his letter. But we feel quite comfortable with our behavior, and we find nothing offensive in this, in keeping with the customs of Gentile and Corinthian society. Paul’s response is this: this is the church of Christ. This is the body of our Lord. Here is a community whose origin is heaven. Here is a colony of heaven on earth.

Here is something that surpasses the order of creation, that turns everything upside down, and even demands a new understanding of love from the people of God, to the point of redefining what is unseemly and unbecoming behavior. It may have been acceptable in Corinthian society, but it is not acceptable in the Church of Jesus Christ. Paul’s protest at this point arises from his background, from his Jewish heritage, and from his commitment to the Old Testament revelation. And the validity of that revelation remains, its effectiveness, as it were, in revealing God’s will. Consider the Old Testament, with its sacramental and sacrificial system, in which the poor and the stranger were well provided for in the peace that accompanied it.

No one went without. No one left. The Apostle Paul is not merely an emissary carrying a Jewish message into a Gentile world. He carries the message of Jesus Christ. He bears the revolution signaled by the appearance of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the world. In the New Testament setting, as the Apostle Paul is deeply aware of the new circumstances brought about by who Christ is and what the life of the Church must be, he recognizes that the focus of this assembly is not a festive atmosphere, but a meal and a sacrament that marks worldly austerity. This is the point. The provision made for the poor, though limited, is the provision. For in this limited and austere provision, there is a sign pointing to the abundance of the heavenly provision found in the body and blood of the saints. Such strength and heavenly provision, according to the apostle’s explanation, is not joined with excessive celebration, but with sober reflection and self-examination. Not drunken indulgence, but the true position found in the Spirit is what?

But mark this now with respect to the Apostles. It must be that he sets the simple meal in contrast to the abundant feast, not only to show Gentiles, but also because he has something to say about Jews as well. What is simple stands in contrast to the joy of the Jewish youth that accompanies it. Here is that.

This, of course, then drives home for us a more perfect understanding of the apostle’s meaning when he says, “Love does not behave itself unseemly.” His standard for measuring and defining what is unseemly is no more strictly Jewish than universally Gentile. He has challenged the Gentile standards of decency and their measure of what is unseemly. But he also challenges Jewish estimation and standards in such a way that the heavenly, Christ-centered reality of the Christian Church becomes clearly visible. Here is a new society, and everything is now defined in terms of the DNA. All things are for your sake. Everything. Even the definition of freedom of movement. The measure of unseemly, unloving behavior is not entirely disconnected from the general patterns of social practice in the world, or even the specific patterns that arise from human institutions.

However, the message from the apostles carries us into a new environment, into a new setting, into a new society. And in that society, thanks to them, all our attitudes of imaginative superiority are set aside, and all our propriety, even that which is sanctioned by society at large, is seen to be judged by Old Testament attitude and custom and law in his life. Those standards of decency and propriety that were common in Jewish culture.

He acts in what seems to be an unbecoming manner when he sits down at table with publicans and sinners, causing outrage among religious leaders. But he goes even further, speaking as though he is replacing the Passover meal with his own supper, setting aside the Old Testament provision.

This is not unseemly behavior on his part, but rather behavior that sets him apart from his people. The fact that he is the embodiment of God’s love means he is the epitome of what is becoming a new standard. This is important in keeping with the truth of the Gospel and the appearance of the Kingdom of God in him and in his love. Even as we know that he not only carries us beyond the standards of this world into the perfection of his own nature, he has become a public example for all of us. And in this wonderful way, he comes for us, and beyond himself, he may come, but he may not be coming.

Respect God’s love. Our fathers. There are general questions about the processes going through the world. There is a common universal vision, the vision of the people of God. There are several processes and products of life, reviewed by the Jews of old. Lord, we rejoice in the testimony of your Son, in the change that he has made for the world, in what you have done in Jesus Christ, so that in him, there appears a triumph, and grant success to this responsibility, that our understanding of love and our understanding of decency are being redefined.

Please let us hold on, as we are all within the circle of this jealousy. To hear God confronting the resistance that is found in us and the resistance found in the world. To the end, O God, as in the last years, with deep affection for you and your way, forgive us, O God, when we act in an incompetent manner, when we are rude. And help us, God, as we cultivate this love set before us by the Father, which may have been the very life of our Savior, that we might work beyond it. He overcomes the burden of stress. He expresses his stress to treat our patients. He blesses them for the fervor and perfection of their service on our behalf. He remains in the same condition.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.