Ordinary Time
February 3, 2023
Scripture Reading:
1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16)
Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish*. But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,
‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him’—**
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual. –1 Corinthians 2:1-13
*so he shall startle many nations;
kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
for that which had not been told them they shall see,
and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate. (Isaiah 52:15)
**From ages past no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who works for those who wait for him. (Isaiah 64:4)
I can imagine Paul engrossed in the scriptures of his time; the Hebrew Bible has one Aha! Moment after another, following his encounter on the road to Damascus, seeing and perceiving the scriptures meaning that he had never understood before. I appreciate the New Interpreter’s Study Bible for reporting the source of scriptures quoted in the New Testament from the Hebrew Bible. I was memorizing scripture as a preschooler, yet I learn something new every time I am informed of the wholeness of scripture. I am equally amazed at the frequency of times I hear the Bible being used to support ideologies that I cannot find in the Bible, but that is a subject for a different time.
The Spirit is real, but it is hard for me hard to wrap my head around. Perhaps that is because the Spirit communicates as much through the ancient understanding of the heart or gut as the mind. We are, after all, organisms. While we today perceive are bodies in more scientific forms—hearts as pumps maintain our living, and guts distribute the good and the bad food we take in to keep our minds and hearts working. But what drives us to choose the good over the bad food and love over hate? Is it the Spirit of God interfacing with us that makes us whole, tugging at us to care for ourselves and others?
Prayer:
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me,
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me.
Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me.
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me. ***Amen.
***Chorus Spirit of the Living God by Daniel Iverson, see at https://hymnary.org/text/spirit_of_the_living_god_fall_iverson#Author__st__1_
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.