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Knowledge vs. Love
Sermon by Rev. Sarah Buteux
for Sunday, 2003
Scripture: I Corinthians 8:1-13
True story: there were once some missionaries in the Philippines who set up a
croquet game in their front yard. Several of their Agta Negrito neighbors
became interested and wanted to join the fun. The missionaries explained the
game and started them out, each with a mallet and a ball. As the game
progressed, opportunity came for one of the players to take advantage of
another by knocking that person’s ball out of the court. A missionary
explained the procedure, but his advice only puzzled his Negrito friend. “Why
would I want to knock his ball out of the court?” he asked. “So you will be
the one to win!” a missionary said. The short-statured man, clad only in a
loin cloth, shook his head in bewilderment. His “civilized” neighbor was
suggesting something absurdly uncivil. Competition is generally ruled out in
a hunting gathering society, where people survive, not by competing with one
another, but by working together.
The game continued, but nobody followed the missionaries’ advice.
When a player successfully got through all the wickets, the game was not over
for him. He went back and gave aid and advice to his fellows. As the final
player moved toward the last wicket, the affair was still very much a team
effort. And finally, when the last wicket was played, the “team” shouted
happily, “We won!” “We won!” (p 123) Illustrations Unlimited).
I think the apostle Paul would have appreciated this story. Today we read
from his first letter to the Corinthians, one of the earliest Christian
communities. In fact, back when this letter was written, I don’t think the
term Christian had even come into use. Paul had his work cut out for him with
this group. They believed that Jesus was God incarnate, and that he had lived
and died that they might be saved, but beyond this, there was a lot of
groundwork that needed to be laid before the people of Corinth would
understand how best to live as a Christ-like community. In this first letter,
Paul covers a number of practical situations: everything from what to do about
a man who is living with his stepmother to how best to arrange one’s hair when
prophesying in church.
But in our passage Paul is trying to bring an end to the confusion around what
they ought to do with food that had been sacrificed to idols. Back in first-
century Corinth, religions abounded, and a traditional rite of most faiths
involved the sacrifice of animals and other foods to the various gods and
goddesses. But food sacrificed to idols was still food that could be eaten.
Rules varied, and most likely the person who offered the sacrifice at a temple
would not partake of the food, but after the rite, the officials of the temple
might eat it –for in most traditions, including the Israelite one, the food
offered to God was the food the priests lived on – but that food could also be
sold in the general market to raise money to support the temple itself.
Now apparently, there were people in this young community who believed that
food sacrificed to an idol was defiled and should not be touched. But Paul
argues that idols cannot defile food, because idols represent gods that do not
exist. There is only one God in Paul’s mind, and that is the Lord. Therefore
this food that is being sacrificed to idols is really food being sacrificed to
nothing.
So Paul thinks the food can be eaten just like any other food. Nothing
magical has taken place, no change has occurred, it is still just food. But,
Paul stresses that just because he is enlightened enough to understand this
doesn’t mean everyone else is, and if a brother or sister were to see him eat
such food and still in some way believe in the power or reality of these other
gods, their conscience would become defiled. They would be confused. They
would feel conflict that could become damaging to their faith. And Paul says
that it is simply not worth the risk. He says, look, when it comes down to
it, “Food will not bring us close to God. We are no worse off if we do not
eat and no better off if we do. But,” he says, “take care that this liberty
of yours does not become a stumbling block to the weak.”
Which is to say: just because you know the truth, doesn’t mean you can waltz
around and act with impunity. Paul stresses to his friends in Corinth that
they need to be very careful. His criterion for personal behavior is its
effect on others. Determining how we should act in a given situation is not
just a matter of knowing what is right or true or customary. We must always
take into account how our actions will effect the life and growth of other
people.
In the story I read about the Missionaries and their croquet game, we see
something of this in action. The missionaries knew the correct rules of
croquet, but thankfully they did not impose them on their indigenous
neighbors. They told them once, but then stepped back and observed their new
friends act in accordance with their understanding. Thankfully the
missionaries didn’t take the mallets away and insist that they play right or
not at all. To do so would have been offensive, it would have subverted the
cultural values of the Agta Negritos, and even though the missionaries may
have had a right knowledge of the rules of croquet, the question would have
hung in the air, “right at what cost?” Our knowledge of food will not bring
us any closer to God, the our knowledge of the rules of croquet. But how we
use our knowledge in such situations, whether it is with an eye to being
right, or an eye to being considerate, will.
Now it is hard to think of really good modern examples that directly
correspond to this dilemma, because we are talking about an act or belief that
some people consider anathema, but others regard as completely benign. We
will see what you think of my examples, some of which are more convincing than
others, but my hope is that the basic principle will still be clear. And that
principles is this: we need to respect each other, and take others into
account before we act, even if we already know we are right.
So, for example, if you were to visit a traditional Amish community, you
wouldn’t offer the kids in town a ride in your car. I don’t believe there is
anything inherently immoral about owning a car, or utilizing modern technology
in general, but the Amish do. They have built up and maintained a community
dedicated to the worship of God which is grounded in simplicity. They have
deliberately chosen to avoid the use of electricity and other modern
conveniences for theological reasons that I might not understand, but I should
respect. To offer an Amish child a ride in my car would be disrespectful of
the life that child’s parents are striving to maintain, and needlessly
confusing for the young person.
Or we could look at the example of alcohol. Again, there is nothing
inherently evil about alcohol, but for some people it can become a real
problem and it places their health at risk. If I am going to host a gathering
at church, or even at home, I personally feel that I need to consider
carefully whether having alcohol available puts others at risk. And I would
certainly make sure there were others drinks available. It is the same
principles at work here in our church when we celebrate communion. For some
people who have grown up taking wine as part of their communion celebration,
grape juice just doesn’t fit into their experience. While in other churches
they refrain from using wine at all, and stick solely to grape juice. Here at
our church we offer white grape juice and red wine so people have an option.
For me it is quite simply an issue of respect; a way that we as a church make
room for the needs and experiences of each other.
My favorite verse in this chapter reads, “Knowledge Puffs up but love builds
up.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. Knowledge is good, important,
and something to strive for. I am as strong a proponent of good education as
the next person, but knowledge without compassion is dangerous. Brilliant
people who completely ignore the needs of those around them can be extremely
harmful. Swedenborg, who himself is objectively recognized as one of the most
intelligent men ever in the history of the world, said: “It is no mark of
intelligence to be able to prove whatever one pleases. But to be able to
discern what is true as true and what is false as false – this is the mark and
character of intelligence.” (TCR 334) And he continues elsewhere in his
writings saying, “Teaching what is true without teaching what is good is like
walking blind, since the good is what teaches and leads and the true is what
is taught and led (AC 4844:4).
Knowledge will only get you so far, and knowledge can most certainly get you
into trouble if you do not use it with an eye toward the welfare of others.
It takes a brilliant mind to construct a nuclear weapon. It takes a loving
mind to keep from using it. It takes equally skilled scientists to create
biological weapons that can destroy a human body and vaccines that can save
the body, equally skilled politicians to draft foreign policy that will lead
to peace as will lead to war. But in each of these cases, the question that
ought to be asked is this: is the knowledge being used to puff up the
individual, or build up all the people? Is knowledge being used for purely
selfish reasons, or is it being used with respect to the needs of others?
If we bring it down to a more personal level we realize that we as
individuals know a lot. We walk around every day loaded with information. I
think the question for us is whether we will let our knowledge determine how
we use our love, or whether we will let our love determine how we use our
knowledge. Swedenborg says that, “As God’s creation , we have been formed in
such a way that we can be more closely joined with him. (but) We are joined
not by knowledge alone, or intelligence alone, or even wisdom alone, but by
living according to these. (DP 32-33). And we live by truth, knowledge, and
wisdom, by filtering the information they provide through our love and willing
it into being through acts of goodness. Truth, in and of itself has no form.
It needs love and goodness to give it shape and set it into motion.
Our lives here in 21st century America may seem worlds away from first century
Corinth, but in our world today, just like in Corinth, we find ourselves
working with people who have very different ideas and values.
Our culture has become remarkably diverse and there will always be people we
disagree with, people we have trouble understanding, people who conduct
themselves in ways that seem downright strange and unnecessary. But just
because we don’t think the same way about things as others do, doesn’t mean we
can’t find ways to conduct our own affairs in a respectful manner. So even
though I drink wine, I wouldn’t drink it in front of my grandmother because,
having lived all her life as a Conservative Baptist and teetotaler, well to
her it would be offensive. I wouldn’t offer a Jewish or Muslim friend bacon,
nor would I push coffee on a Mormon, or meat on a vegetarian. Paul’s message
to his brothers and sisters in Corinth was simply, this: let love and respect
guide your actions and interactions, for ultimately love in the context of
diversity will help us build a stronger foundation for our community than the
pursuit of complete uniformity of belief.
We will never live in a world where we all agree, and that’s a good thing.
But it also provides us with a challenge to let love inform our knowledge
before we act, to let respect for our neighbor be a factor in our decision
making, and to exercise some humility and peace making skills by letting
others act in accordance with their conscience, even if we don’t quite
understand where they are coming from. Rather than puff ourselves up with that
feeling of once again being right, let us build one another up with a love
that is willing to take the ways of others into account.
Let us Pray
Copyright 2003 by Rev. Sarah Buteux
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