Redemptorist Preacher

The Bane of Competition

1 Corinthians 3.1-9, Psalm 33, Luke 4.38-44

God bless St. Paul and his subtle pastoral approach. If I tried to speak to people from the pulpit the way he does I don’t think I would have many parishioners left in the pews. But let us examine the message.

St. Paul compares his listeners to infants not yet ready for solid food. If you have watched a baby eating banana mush off of a spoon you can begin to see the image that Paul is trying to conjure. He remarks on the behavior he sees in the community and says that it reminds him of children squabbling, immature and acting out of the basest human inclinations. The feud in question is about competition over who is the better preacher, Paul or Apollos, and to whom the people should owe their loyalties. According to St. Paul the question is pointless because it is clear that neither camp has taken the message of either preacher to heart.

Competition finds its way into every human activity from sports to business to the arts. We begin our lives competing for our parents affection and we end our lives competing for our children’s attention. Our very survival is  based, to a degree, on competition.  It is in our nature to want to succeed. The reward for success will vary widely from monetary gain to peer recognition or just self-knowledge that we have out done ourselves. Competition spurs us forward it compels us to take risks and to grow and to that end competition serves us well.

But competition is not the only thing that can or should motivate us. Competition has its drawbacks, it can tear us and our communities apart. This is the trap of which St. Paul is warning the Corinthians to take heed. The message Jesus taught is that many times cooperation and self-sacrifice will take us farther than competition ever could. As an example, perhaps we would never have made it to the moon had the Americans and Soviets not been in a space race. However, given that we have succeeded in that arena, we have to ask; why is the world still full of starving people, why are there countries still decimated by AIDS, why are so many areas of the world still plagued by war? We certainly have the technology to address these issues but our resolve is lacking. These questions cannot be resolved by competition or they would have been solved long ago.

The message St. Paul wants to get across to the Corinthians is that it fine to be a winner. It is great to be loved and sought after.  But the message of the Gospel is far more important than a popularity contest. Regardless of the messenger it is the word of God that takes center stage. Each preacher brings his own gifts  but God does not rely on superstars to get the message across. And the message is about Love. The message is a declaration that we do not have to live our lives in cutthroat rivalry with one another to ensure that we get ahead, there is another way.

Do you find yourself comparing yourself to others, thinking you are greater or not as good as they are?

Do you know you are loved by God despite your flaws and imperfections?