Eighth Sunday after Pentecost. Holy Apostle Aquila.
1 Corinthians 1:10-18. Matthew 14:14-22.
Read 1 Corinthians 1:10-18
How can we be both right and wrong at the same time? Sometimes we are right about the content of the conversation but are wrong about what we are doing with the conversation.
In today’s epistle reading, the Apostle Paul is addressing quarreling within the church at Corinth. Church members were divided into factions according to their favorite apostolic leader. Some prided themselves on being followers of Paul. Some identified themselves as followers of Apollos. Others were aligned with Cephas (Peter). Clearly those people were fundamentally incorrect about what they were arguing about. Paul rhetorically asks whether Paul was crucified for them or whether they were baptized in the name of Paul. Of course they weren’t, the implication being that they were missing the point in distinguishing themselves from other Christians by creating an elite faction in his name.
But one faction maintained that they belonged to Christ. This has the appearance of being spiritual in the sense of being theologically correct regarding the content of the conversation, but in what they were doing with the conversation, they were being just as divisive as the others. Their error is revealed by their use of the singular pronoun – “I” – “I belong to Christ.” But Paul uses the plural pronoun – “us” – in his concluding statement, “us who are being saved.” Christ is not divided. They should have been saying we belong to Christ.
We are not saved independently, alone, apart from others. We are saved together. “Faith is not an isolated act. No one can believe alone, just as no one can live alone. You have not given yourself faith as you have not given yourself life.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 166) In our desire to be faithful to Christ, let us be part of the solution, not the problem.