SEPTEMBER 11, 2026 FATHER MICHAEL COUTTS
Our passage from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians seems to be a whole lot of disjointed thoughts. There’s the idea of preaching the Gospel. Then the idea of preaching the Gospel, it is an obligation or there is a choice? When I preach the Gospel, do I get a stipend? Do I get a remuneration?
And then he goes off on a tangent, speaking about athletes and the discipline and the prizes that they take, and how fickle and how transitory these prizes are. So, in order to understand this, we need a little bit of a background.
Paul is preaching to the faith community in Corinth. They’re basically Gentiles who have adopted, who have believed that Jesus is the Messiah. They are not yet called Christians. They were called Christians in Antioch, in Acts, chapter 11, but here they’re simply called “followers of the way.” They believed in Jesus Christ.
But there were also a Jewish community there who also accepted Jesus as the Messiah, but they had the idea that first they had to follow the Torah, keep the Sabbath, circumcise the children. All these things were necessary before you could follow the way. So, you have these two people, and there’s a certain amount of tension over here.
The main bulk of this congregation, this letter to the Corinthians over here in this passage is these Gentiles had a lot of friends who were Gentiles but were pagans, and they were often invited to their houses for meals. When they went to the Gentiles’ houses who were pagans, they had idols, which were considered that they are gods, and as a meal, before the meal, they would offer the meal to their gods and then proceed with the meal.
Now, the believers in Christ realized that these are just handmade idols. They were not gods. They were not bothered with the idea that it was offered to the gods.
And today, we have statues of Our Lady, St. Anthony, St. Francis of Assisi. We have divine mercy in our houses. We don’t consider them gods, but they are reminders to us of our faith. These Gentile Christians believed, no big deal. We say before meals, “Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts.” So, also, these Gentiles can offer it to their gods, but we are quite happy to enjoy the meal.
But there was some other Christians whose faith was weak, and they said, “How can you do this?” You know, by saying that they offer the meals to their gods, you’re taking part in all their celebrations. You’re taking part in their worship.
Paul would come now and speak to this, to these two communities, and would say, look. What the Gentile Christians are doing are correct, but for the sake of the weaker Christians, let us not indulge in these meals that are offered by the Gentiles, your friends that are pagans. Have consideration for those who are weak in faith. Support them with your prayers, and support them with all their weakness, their scruples. Bolster them up. Do not cause them more trouble.
Paul goes on another tangent, and he says, look. I’m preaching the Gospel. I require a remuneration. A labourer is worthy of his rewards, but I will not bother about this thing that I’m entitled to. Quite the contrary. I will work during the day. He was a tentmaker. He’d work during the day and preach the Gospel on the weekend, or whenever they had an opportunity.
Then he goes off on another tangent and he says, you know, the athletes, they always discipline themselves in order to win a race, and then they get a laurel which they put on their head, which soon withers and is transitory. But I will also keep up a discipline because I have got a bigger prize, and the bigger prize is Jesus Christ himself, who has promised me eternal life.
I have been imbued in Jesus Christ. I’ve been embedded in the fact that Christ has died, Christ has risen and Christ will come again, and this is the Gospel that I’m going to preach.
When we come to the Gospel from St. Luke, there is the flip side to it. According to Paul, once you are imbued with the Spirit, you can be, with great abandon, proclaim the Gospel. But when you want to correct people, you should be very reserved and look carefully.
And the main reason is because we are human beings. We are fragile. We make mistakes. We sin, and God is there to forgive us all the time. So, while you’re correcting others, make sure that your own life is first in order before you start trying to correct others.
And when you get your life in order and then you can correct your brothers and sisters, then you have a right. But be careful. There are some people who are weak in their faith and if you correct them, they might just walk away and not come back again.
Now, Paul said this 2,000 years ago, and it is so true even in our day today. And now, as I get older, I realize what is more important is peace rather than just being right and correct. God bless you all.
