There were many groupings in Jesus’ day about which we hear a lot but know little.  There were the Pharisees, a group who traditionally had saved the people from secularization by protecting the law from overly-liberal interpretations that took the power away from it.  During Jesus’ day, however, they had taken their protection of the law too far and had begun to follow and worship the law rather than the God who gave it.  There were the Zealots, a group of Jewish extremists who used politics and even what today would be deemed terrorism to fight the Roman oppressors.  There were the Anawim, the “pious poor” who spent most of their time at the temple praying for and awaiting the coming of the Messiah to turn the tables as it were and humble the rich and elevate the poor.  And then there were the Sadducees, who focused not on the oral interpretation of the law like the Pharisees but on the written law itself.  They had come to dismiss the spiritual realm, angels, and even the resurrection of the dead.

With the communal wealth to be free from work and have time to spend all day listening to new ideas, the Corinthians had obviously heard about the beliefs of the Sadducees and this belief had crept into the new Church.  And so for the next few days, Paul will be addressing this group in the church who didn’t believe in the Resurrection of either our bodies or Jesus.

Paul begins with logic, saying that if these Sadducee-wannabes didn’t believe in any kind of resurrection, they couldn’t believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  This was because the resurrection of Jesus WAS the entire gospel.  If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then His death was in vain, we are foolish to believe in Him, and we are still in our sins and so subject to hell as are those who have died in the faith.  So Paul makes the case for a literal resurrection of the dead.

We state a belief in resurrection but do we really believe it?  Has our scientific culture really invaded our faith so much that we can’t believe unless we see for ourselves?  Is this why we obsess over stories of those who have died and returned, so much so that there are shelves of books by these people?  Can we simply believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and, because of that, our own resurrection?

Walt Muller, president of the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding (CPYU), spoke at our Covenant Midwinter pastor’s conference a few decades ago.  What I remember most from his discussion was the fact that, “media is both mirror and map.”  This means that as we look at movies, television, music, and any other modern day media, we know that it directs and guides our teenage (and adult!) culture.  We think what we think because of what we see and hear.  We wear what we wear because we see others wearing it on TV.  And everything from our fashion sense to our belies systems are guided by our media.  Media is, in this case, a map guiding us to what is “groovy, hip, cool, in, hot” or whatever means “socially acceptable” in today’s culture.

But it is also a mirror.  It reflects what is going on in the culture.  Why did superhero movies become such a hit after 9/11?  We needed heroes to help us feel safe in a suddenly unsafe world.  If we want to learn about our culture, watch some media for a while.

As such, our media has changed over the years to both guide and reflect the culture around us.  We moved from “The Waltons” and “Little House on the Prairie” about family values and togetherness, to “The Simpsons” and “Friends” about family dysfunction and friend groups closer than family.  We moved from Batman and Superman, heroes who stood alone against the universe, to The Avengers and Justice League, where the collection of individuals formed a team to work together.  The group is more important than the individual.

This is Paul’s message here in 1 Cor. 14.  The gift of tongues is good, but it is a gift for the individual.  It does not edify the body.  Better is the gift of prophecy, which is not for the individual but for the body.  The group is more important than the individual!

I wonder if we are in a time in history where this kind of message, the message of the gospel that has not changed through the years, might ring truer with the world around us.  Self-sacrifice, unity in community, the group worth more than the individual… might these themes speak to our world now in a way they haven’t for the past century?