Saturday 10th June
Read 2 Corinthians 11:30-33
“If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised for ever, knows that I am not lying. 32 In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. 33 But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.” (NIVUK)
One significant military honour awarded in the ancient Roman world was the ‘corona muralis’, an honour given to the person who was the first to scale the wall of a city in the face of the enemy. It is a feat of strength of arms and, like the Victoria Cross today, should be attested by witnesses. Perhaps that is why Paul calls God as his witness? If the false apostles are essentially importing Roman ideals of excellence and honour into the gospel, Paul’s final observation around what he will boast in, is deliberately provocative. The ‘corona muralis’ is awarded to the bravest soldier, the first to scale the wall, Paul boasts in an ignominious escape down the wall and away from the enemy and danger. It is literally boasting in weakness.
What would that look like today? The difficulty in conceiving the answer to that question is likely the best example of how insidiously the culture of self-promotion and advancement has seeped into our bones. None of the things on Paul’s list would ever show up on a resume. We would polish them out. A quick search of ‘How to clean up your Facebook profile’ suggested 445 million relevant links… All the shameful and embarrassing things we have done, and may have been captured digitally somewhere, have spawned an industry to delete. Paul puts these things at the top of his profile. It is simply so counter cultural as to be foreign to us. Perhaps it should be less so?
