1 Corinthians 7:129-31
This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Epistle reading for Sunday, January 21, is first Corinthians chapter seven, verses 29 through 31. This is what I mean brothers, the appointed time has grown very short, from now on, but those who have wives live as though they had none. And those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing. And those who buy as those they had no goods, and those who deal with the world, as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. He rents the reading. What a weird reading, right? This is the kind of thing that is super confusing for people. He's like, let those who have wives live like they had none. And if you're not, if you're mourning, as if you're not mourning, what is going on here? Well, it begins with the appointed time has grown very short, that's an important passage to put this in conflict context, is that God, he is talking about God coming, the end of the world is soon and we need to keep our eyes focused on that the appointed time has grown short, it is time to come. And so then we have so let those who have wives live as though as they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, those rejoices, they were not rejoicing, etc, and cetera. Now, you could take that to mean, St. Paul is saying, Get rid of all your worldly connections and focus just on God. But of course, that would be not not consistent with other parts of Paul's message, where he talks about loving and serving and husbands caring for their wives and serving each other. Another thing you could take this to mean, and sometimes people say this is that St. Paul here is saying, God is gonna come back anytime so we can abandon stuff. But then later on, he realized that, that God would come back, Jesus is coming back, but maybe in a little while. So we still have to do our work. But that is also not something that we can support. Because that would mean that Paul was wrong about something and something in the Bible is incorrect. And that just isn't doesn't work out with the way we approach this. What can this mean? Well, I think what St. Paul is saying is revealed in this what comes after this, he says I want you to be from free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrayed, woman is anxious about things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. So what I'd like to suggest is what St. Paul is saying here, is not abandon all things and focus only on prayer, or that he's expecting Jesus to come back any moment now. And you should just leave everything behind and just wait. What I think he's suggesting is that when we are in Christ, we ought to focus on God. Above all things. Jesus said something that is could seem just as crazy as what St. Paul is saying. He says, If anyone would come after, who does not I hate his father, and mother, and even his own life cannot be my disciples. And if it took that literally, you would have to say, Wait a second. Jesus wants us to hate people. But that's not what he means he's using a figure of speech. And I think St. Paul's doing something similar. We who are married, like I'm married, I need to please my wife. But what's more important than pleasing my wife, pleasing God, making sure my my efforts and my hope and my life are focused on Him, which includes taking care of my wife and the people around me. But when God is first, and when God is most important, sometimes those two things come in conflict. And I need to be focused solely and wholly on God and and His will for my life. So I think that's what's going on here. It's a tough reading. But you know, we got to try to work through it. That's all we have to say today we'll see you on Sunday bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai