Being the Good News – 1 Corinthians 9:16-23

A text – 1 Corinthians 9:16-23

9:16 If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!
9:17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission.
9:18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.
9:19 For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them.
9:20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law.
9:21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law.
9:22 To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.
9:23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

A reflection:

If you have read Monday’s reflection, you will hear a similar pattern in the beginning of this passage from the Apostle Paul. Paul came to Corinth to preach and teach, not to be lauded as a great master. He was, after all, on a calling, on a mission from God, and had to complete it. There were preachers and teachers who insisted on being paid for their work, and Paul is contrasting himself with those people. His proclamation was free of charge as a slave to all. Here he is imitating Jesus, who was a slave to human beings in order to free them into relationship with God.

Paul is also very explicit in the next verses to say that he does whatever he can to listen to where the people are, and to meet them wherever they are, under whatever conditions they live. If they are Jews, he relies on his deep and vast knowledge of the Jewish faith to persuade them. If they are gentile (“outside the law” of Moses, in Paul’s words), he calls upon his background as a scholar in Greek to better relate to and persuade the Greeks and other non-Jews that he is sent to. If they are weak, he lets his own weaknesses show, in order to better reach them.

And why? “I do it all for the sake of the gospel, (the good news of Jesus), so that I may share in its blessings.” When Paul was given his mission, he knew his fulfillment of that mission, wherever he went, would bring him joy and blessings. It was what he was willing to pour out his life for. And he did.

What would I be willing to pour out my life for? My child or my grandchild? Of course. But a mission from God? How about a portion of my life poured out into a mission from God? How about a daily discipline of prayer and then, on my daily journey, listening and watching for chances to be the good news for someone I meet along the way? How about you? What would you pour your life out for?

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for the letters of Paul, and the example he set. Thank you for letting us know that, although Paul had been a major persecutor of the faith, one encounter with you made him willing to become a slave to others to let them in on your message. Help us to be willing to do whatever it takes to be the good news to someone who is suffering.  Amen.