SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YR B
1 Samuel 3:3b-10,19; Psalm 40;
1 Cor. 6:13c,15a,17-20; John 1:35-42
YOUR BODY IS FOR THE LORD
In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul writes to correct some issues that the Christian community is plagued with. Amongst the people were issues of division and limpness towards serious sin. He also expresses his displeasure about the Christians seeking solutions from the law courts instead of finding solutions within the church when issues arise.
Paul, in our second reading for this Sunday, addresses the issue of sexual immorality which seem to be plaguing the Christian church in Corinth. Corinth was a cosmopolitan city of Greek and Roman culture that bred and promoted all kinds of sexual activity.
Paul begins addressing the issue in a broader context of what the body is for and the goal of the various parts of our bodies. In 1 Corinthians 6:13, he noted that “food is made for the stomach and the stomach is made for food”. Then he goes further to say that “the body is not for immorality but for the Lord and the Lord for the body”. The Greek word used for immorality is “porneia” from which we derive the word pornography. What Paul stresses in using this word is that the body of the Christian is not for anything in semblance to pornography. It is not to be traded for profit-prostitution, not for exploitation nor anything that sexually dishonours the body.
This is so because the Christian is one who through faith in Jesus and baptism has been made new in Christ. For this reason, the Christian has become a member of Christ and has become one with him. The Christian is no longer as he/she was before but has become totally new. He/she now has a new identity in Christ. The Christian’s identity is no longer a sinner but one who is redeemed, saved and justified. Through baptism, the Christian is given to the Lord in a union that is like a marital bond.
It is in this context that he queries, “do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “the two will become one flesh.” (1 Cor. 6:15-16). Since anyone who mingles with a prostitute or fornicator becomes one with him, even so is the Christian one with the Lord Jesus Christ.
As a Christian, it matters what you do with your body. What Christians do with their body the Lord does through them. This is because he who is baptised in Christ is no longer for himself but for the Lord Jesus. If you use your body for something evil, then you are profaning something that belongs to the Lord. That is why, he advises them to flee from sexual immorality and promiscuity. Their lives are not to be driven by the ethics of the society, but by their belonging to Christ. They are therefore to keep themselves away from sexual immorality which is prevalent in the society. Which sexual immorality could you flee from today?
Paul continues to wonder whether the Corinthian Christians are not aware that their bodies are the Temples of the Holy Spirit. Received at baptism, the Holy Spirit transforms the Christian into the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Sexual sin therefore, is not merely a physiological problem but a sacrilegious desecration, because you have been given completely to the God. Sexual sin desecrates the holy bond between the Christian and Christ. You are no longer your own because your life has been paid for by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
Today, our world is not too far from the situation of the Corinthian society. We are beset with all manner of sexual immoral practices proposed to us and our children in guises of freedom and rights. We hear today, statements like, “my body, my choice”. Well, that may be true, but is only true for those who are not baptised. Anyone who accepts baptism is no longer for himself but for the Lord. Through baptism, you have been bought with a price, the price of God’s only begotten son.
Which sexual sin are you involved in? What lie are you believing about your body? Paul says “flee from it”.
Don’t cheapen yourself. You are God’s precious one.
By Rev. Fr. Delight Arnold Carbonu
