By Cathy Stoner, campus pastor
Scripture: I Corinthians 10:1-13 (NRSV)
The “Warnings from Israel’s History” in I Corinthians 10:1-13 provide some delightfully graphic examples of what can happen if you get on God’s bad side. Perfect for this Lenten season.
I remember my church’s Bible quiz team gleefully seizing on such phrases as “…their bodies were scattered over the desert,” “…they were killed by the destroying angel,” and “…they were killed by snakes,” and irreverently admonishing one another “Don’t do this or that, or else!”
Already at 14, I was pretty sure that if “God was not pleased with most of our forefathers,” (v.5) God would probably not be pleased with me. Even a little goody two-shoes like me had enough of a rebellious streak to make earning my way into God’s favor seem pretty impossible. This orneriness, coupled with a tender conscience, was enough to drive me to despair sometimes. “God will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear,”(v.13) didn’t seem to ring true when I looked around me and considered my own shortcomings.
The good news is that lent isn’t God’s annual “Turn-to-Earn” program. We don’t repent of our ways so we can finally deserve the love and grace God has for us. The twist on turning is that we also turn from even thinking we can be good enough, faithful enough, obedient enough, on our own, to avoid that dreaded desert body-scatter or death by destroying angel or by snakes. We can’t do this by ourselves.
The twist in our Lenten turning, or repentance, is this: after we’ve done our feeble best to please God, we hold out our hands to receive God’s grace. We let go of thinking we can earn it.
Good news for a hard-headed 14 year old. Good news for us all.
Scripture: I Corinthians 10:1-13 (NRSV)
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3and all ate the same spiritual food, 4and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.
6Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. 7Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.” 8We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. 10And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. 13No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.