Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play’. We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall…
1 Corinthians
10:1-12
St Paul now reminds
his readers about the Israelites who left Egypt with Moses in order to warn
them of the dangers of complacency. God had given those Israelites significant material
blessings but they wanted things that God had not given and craved their old
lives as slaves in Egypt. The things, like a greater variety of food, were
not wrong but God had not provided them and so the people slid into discontent,
disloyalty and disgrace.
For Christians to
participate in pagan ceremonies was to enjoy something God had not provided. Enjoying the food sacrificed there, their
disloyalty could damage their relationship with God and their witness as
Christians. They might find themselves in bad company and on a
slippery slope to drunkenness – and possibly end up with a prostitute! Then they
would be idolaters for everyone to see!
All idolatry is co-dependency between people and an imagined ideal or influence. In our society, dependency on money – the idolatry of money – corrodes our humanity: the thirst
for profit, possessions and power knows no bounds. Nowhere is safe from its
malign influence, not families, businesses, parliaments, universities nor churches;
nobody is immune from its power to corrupt, not retailers, traders, bankers, investors, politicians nor
priests.
The idea that the
Israelites with Moses had been ‘baptised’ in the cloud and the sea was a
general reference to baptisms that in the history of Israel represented
repentance and a commitment to leave behind old ways and begin a new life.
Nevertheless, these same Israelites tested God and died in the wilderness.
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Scripture
quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright
© 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by
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Handling
money and dealing with debt can be complicated and neither the author nor
anyone else involved in the production of these Reflections is responsible for
any action you take, or fail to take, based on what is written here.
