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[1 Corinthians 3:1-9 and Luke 4:38-44]

     "I could not talk to you as spiritual people, but as fleshly people, as infants in Christ."  [1 Corinthians]

     Two important ideas challenge us in today's first scripture from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians.  The first is St. Paul's anthropology - i.e. his idea of the human person in relation to God.  The second, related to the first, is his idea of what ministry and the minister are.

     The body/soul distinction that we Westerners are accustomed to think in terms of was not what St. Paul used.  He thought in terms of the whole person who was either transformed by faith/baptism or not.  The "fleshly" person was the person who was unconverted to Christ.  The person who was baptized was enabled to see things in a whole new light, the light of the Holy Spirit, the mind of Christ.  The community at Corinth was behaving as if they had never received this Spirit because they were dividing into factions according to particular preachers!  [Hmmm.....that sounds familiar...."groupies?"]  

     This is where the second idea comes in, and it is important.  Paul points out that the faith is not the possession of this or that minister, to be used as a way of attracting personal followers.  Faith is a matter of the relationship to God, not to a particular preacher.  As we know well from recent events, particular preachers and leaders can fail considerably with serious consequences for others' faith.  Paul's image of "the one who plants" and "the one who waters"  is a good one to bear in mind because ultimately it is "God who causes the growth."  If we keep our focus on Jesus and living faithfully, we will be a "spiritual people."  AMEN