Monday 29th May
Read 2 Corinthians 11:1
“I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me!” (NIVUK)
Paul is in a bind. The Corinthians have foolishly listened to ‘some people’ who have arrived with great credentials, big spiritual claims and a false holiness that mimics the kinds of status and ‘ladder-climbing’ typical of Roman society. Respect is won by speaking well, looking good, projecting strength and making oneself impressive by belittling others. It all sounds disturbingly familiar in our celebrity culture…
How does one correct an entire culture? The world values eloquence and strength and ‘me-first’ pragmatism. The gospel undermines each of them completely. When Paul was in Corinth he resolved to be the exact opposite. “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” (1 Corinthians 2:2-5) (NIVUK). The cross is foolishness to those who value strength and pragmatism – it is the most completely weak ‘triumph’ imaginable! The Corinthians are being seduced by the strength and pragmatism of these interlopers – a message that looks great from the outside, aligns with the very air they breathe in Roman Corinth, yet insidiously opposes the cross in every way. The bind Paul is in is substantial indeed. To correct their cultural infatuation he has to do the very thing that makes him ill. He has to explain why he and his cross-way are so much better than they and theirs. He has to ‘out-post, out-tweet, out-chat and out-shine‘ these people so that those whom he loves turn back to gospel. He has to be foolish in order to speak to fools.
When Paul described his approach to gospel ministry (1 Corinthians 9:19-23) he spoke of the immense flexibility he endures to speak to people where they are at and never compromise the gospel itself. Chameleon-like he becomes all things to all people so that by all possible means he may save some. The Corinthians have forced him to become a fool to save fools. Only the humble would stoop so low on behalf of others. It is going to take some time to prepare the ground for this humiliation. Paul is applying the wisdom of Proverbs – he is answering the fools according to their folly (Proverbs 26:4-5). You can almost hear the ironic chuckle in his request – it shouldn’t be too hard for them to listen to his foolish ramblings – they tolerate fools easily enough based on the evidence he has seen! It is comforting to know that all Paul’s ways are known to God. Perhaps his foolish boasting, his humiliation, borne of love for the church, will be rewarded too.
