“Whad’Ya Know

̶= 0;Whad’Ya Know?

1 Cor. 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28

Providence<= /st1:City> United Presbyterian Church=

Febru= ary 1, 2009

Rev. = Dr. Mary Jane Hitt

&= nbsp; A few years ago, when Bill and I were visiting our daughter’s family in= Madison, Wisconsin, we did something I had always wanted to do. We went to a live broadcast of one= of my favorite public radio shows – Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know? We can’t get that progra= m here in Scranton, and I miss it, because for years I would tune in on Saturday mornings to listen= and laugh. The show is a quirky m= ix of comedy and current events and trivia and local interest, and it always begi= ns with Michael Feldman asking the audience, “Whad’ya know?”= And they shout back, “Not much! You?”

&= nbsp; Now, Michael Feldman didn’t invent that expression. It’s a fairly familiar phras= e in general conversation – a way of saying “hi” or “how= are you doing?” or “what’s new?” to folks we meet. Maybe someone greeted you today wi= th a similar phrase, and you responded in kind: “Whad’ya know?” “Not much.= You?”

&= nbsp; It’s a casual question, of course, so we respond in a casual way. That question is not designed to e= licit all the things we know. It= 217;s really just a way of saying hello. But we all do know lots of things, don’t we? And when the setting is right, we = are all too happy to tell people exactly what we know. We sit at the dinner table with fa= mily and friends, and we talk about what we learned at school and what we saw on= the news and what we read in the paper and what someone at work told us. We opine about politics and econom= ics and the issues of our time, sharing what we “know” to be true.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>

&= nbsp; We do it at church, too. Over th= e years, you have learned a lot about the Christian faith. You know what you believe, and you= have ready answers to the question “Whad’ya know?” when it com= es to your beliefs. Whether you = are the outspoken person who always has something to say, or the deep and quiet thinker who just answers such a question in your mind, you have been taught= the basics. You know what you bel= ieve, and here’s the proof: Every single Sunday, I ask you that question, “Whad’ya know?” and you respond to me.

[Well, I don’t exactly use those words.&nbs= p; What I actually say is this: “Brothers and sisters, what do you believe?” And your response isn’t R= 20;Not much. You?” Instead, you respond in the words = of one of the creeds of the church – usually the Apostles’ Creed. “I believe in God, the Father Almighty,” you begin, “Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.”]

When it comes to faith, we “know” lots of things, don’t we? Or we think we do. But today’s scriptures remin= d us that we need to be careful how we wield our “knowledge” of the faith. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up,” and we see that played out in our own time as clearly as he did two thousand years ago, don’t we?

Now the question Paul was addressing when he wrote to the church at Corinth was= one the people had posed: May we eat food that has been offered = to idols? That wasn’t = just a theoretical question. It was = a very practical matter, because, in the ancient world, temples where animals were sacrificed also served as butcher shops.&n= bsp; When an animal was slaughtered, only a portion of it was burned as a sacrificial offering. The res= t was sold to the public. If you wa= nted to eat meat, the normal place to go was the butcher shops connected with the temples of the various gods of the community.

And the Corinthian Christians were of two minds about this. Some believed that eating this meat would be an offense to their God – that eating meat from animals that= had been sacrificed to false gods would itself be idolatry. Others believed that since false g= ods don’t really exist, it would be perfectly fine to eat the meat.

Can’t you just see the debate unfold, as the church in Corinth tried to figure this out? Can’t you see folks rise to = speak to what they “know” to be true? It’s easy for us to imagine = the discussion, because we see and even participate in, such debates all the time. For us, the issue is not eating meat sacrificed to idols, of course. But Christians around the world an= d in our own community have our own debates, don’t we? – Debates abo= ut theology and practice and interpretation of scripture, and social issues, a= nd worship style, to name just a few.

· Which church is most faithful to Christ? The Presbyterian Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Assemblies of God?

· How does Jesus’ death save us?

· What happened at the resurrection of Christ, and what does it mean for us?<= /o:p>

· How often should we receive the Eucharist?

· Which version of the Bible is most faithful to the original texts?

· Who may be ordained?

· What is the definition of marriage?

· How should we order worship?

If this were a workshop and we had time to break into discussion groups, IR= 17;m sure we would find that we have different answers to these questions. And we each would feel strongly ab= out our own position, wouldn’t we? “Whad’ya know?”&n= bsp; Quite a lot, we think. Quite a lot. And we do our best to persuade others to agree with us – to come to know God and our faith = just the way we do.

&= nbsp; And so we need to hear Paul’s bottom line on the meat question today. What really matters, he tells the Corinthian church, is not being right.&nbs= p; It’s not about winning the argument. What really matters is showing love. Paul, who was trained a= s a lawyer and could debate with the best of them, realized that following Jesus isn’t an academic exercise where the best argument wins the day. Following Jesus is about showing l= ove to everyone. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

&= nbsp; As we receive Communion today, let us remember that what draws us together is = not agreement on every matter of theology and practice. What unites us is the Spirit of lo= ve that goes beyond our heads to our hearts – beyond what we each “know” to be true, to the love that we ourselves have received. May the law of love= be the tie that binds us with together in perfect harmony.

&= nbsp; Thanks be to God. Amen. &= nbsp;