2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Today we are looking at our New Testament reading, and Paul’s remarkable and greatly encouraging words about what the grace of God looks like, in his second letter to the church he started in Corinth.
Let’s look a bit more closely at what Paul is saying here and put today’s passage in context.
The relationship between Paul and the church in Corinth was a complex one, and sometimes hard for us to follow. But reading between the lines in the book of Acts and the two letters to the Corinthians, we can figure out that it went something like this.
Paul went to the city of Corinth (southern Greece) to preach the Gospel in about A.D. 50, and a Christian church was soon started there (we can read about this in Acts 18).
In Corinth Paul found a tentmaking couple, Aquila and Priscilla, and since he was a tentmaker himself, he lived with them and shared their business, while at the same time preaching in the synagogues and sharing the Gospel with the local Jewish population.
Eventually he got thrown out of the synagogue, so he started holding meetings next door at the home of a man called Titius Justus. The ruler of the synagogue, Crispus, became a Christian, and many Gentiles were converted to Christ as well.
Paul stayed in Corinth for about a year and half and a strong church was planted. This is where we have to start reading between the lines.
It seems that after Paul’s departure other preachers either came to Corinth or arose in Corinth itself. They denigrated Paul for a number of reasons. He hadn’t been one of the original Twelve apostles, so his message was suspect. He wasn’t a good orator in the Greek tradition, and he wasn’t much to look at either.
These new preachers emphasised spectacular charismatic gifts such as speaking in tongues and visions. These things had been present in Paul’s ministry too, but not front and centre; he had given pride of place to the message of the Cross of Christ.
But these new preachers seem to have emphasised visions and boasted of their powerful miraculous experiences.
As a result, the church in Corinth began to split into little camps of people, each claiming to follow their favourite leader and putting down the others. Some claimed to be followers of Peter, some of Apollos, some of Paul.
Much of what Paul wrote in his two letters to the Corinthians deals with this tragedy and attempts to correct the wrong emphasis of the new movements in Corinth.
These new preachers that had corrupted parts of the church in Corinth would have loved our world today. We seem to like showy displays of a sort of spiritually neutered virtue that looks almost godly, but is as shallow as a puddle beside the great sea of the living God.
Paul goes out of his way to say that all forms of power come from the cross, not human skill at manipulation. The power of the cross of Jesus requires no qualifications to be a channel of God other than a humble and pure heart before our Lord – never in spiritual braggarts.
So, for instance, you might think that your visit to a sick person isn’t as good as the someone else’s because their prayers are somehow more powerful than yours, I’m not competent enough. Untrue!
That you shouldn’t sing because there are some beautiful singers and they don’t need me, besides I’m not a good enough singer. Very untrue! That only people who have been to theological college know how to read the bible. Really, really, untrue!
In today’s letter Paul offers us a different vision, a vision of a God who works through weak and struggling people, to bless a weak and struggling world. In these verses Paul offers his own life as an object lesson of how God works.
Paul had no doubt about what had caused this situation in Corinth; a sinful pride that takes the marvellous spiritual gifts that God gives and uses them as an opportunity to compete for the highest positions and to build personal empires.
Now to my human eyes, God is in a bit of a bind! [God, of course, is never in a bind]. He has these wonderful spiritual gifts and talents that he wants to give to us, but when he dares to give them to us, he runs the constant danger that we will use them to glorify ourselves rather than to do his work. How is he going to deal with this danger?
The answer often seems to be that he gives us these gifts and talents in combination with weaknesses and struggles. Paul’s experience is a case in point.
In today’s letter Paul describes an incredible spiritual experience he had, in which he was caught up to the third heaven and saw things so wonderful that human language just could not express them. He was not even permitted to tell of them!
But God was well aware of Paul’s sinfulness and his weakness for boasting, (as he is aware of the same tendency in us!), and so he balanced this vision with permitting an experience of suffering.
‘A thorn’, Paul says, ‘was given me in the flesh’ (v.7). Now the thorn certainly didn’t come from God. Paul calls it ‘a messenger of Satan’ (v.7) – but God did permit it, for Paul’s ultimate good.
What exactly was this suffering? I have read dozens of theories about it, but no-one knows. The fact it came from Satan leads me to assume it led Paul away, not to, God.
However, it’s quite plain that his Corinthian friends did know what it was. His opponents may even have seized on this ‘thorn’ as another opportunity to ridicule him, but Paul’s response shows his appreciation for it as a vital part of his spiritual growth.
There’s a very important truth here that we touched on last week in the healing of the haemorrhaging woman and Jairus daughter. We seek the face of Jesus, not the show and accolades of the miracle.
Now see what happens when Paul does this. Instead of removing the thorn (i.e., miraculously answering his prayer in the way he wanted), the Lord lavishes Paul with his miraculous grace to live with the thorn ... and not be overwhelmed by it!
We are useful to the Lord when we are forced to rely fully on the power of the Lord. Paradoxically, when we feel weak in spiritual power, God’s power works abundantly through us. Blessed are the poor in Spirit.
So, I come back to where I started. You don’t have to be strong or some sort of bible nut in order to be useful to God. In fact, sometimes these things can be a liability.
A person who is strong, or a person who has a lot of natural talent, can start to think that they don’t have to rely on God anymore. But weakness forces us to rely on God. We have to cry out to him for help and depend on him consciously every moment.
Now I think the Lord has blessed us with what may appear to be weakness in our perfect parish here in Drayton, our age. But in our weakness, too, our Lord’s power will be made perfect. His grace is sufficient for us.
The one who prays for others doesn’t need to be perfectly healed themselves before they can be useful to God. Every one of us is a work in progress. None of us has complete spiritual health, holiness, or giftedness.
And so we all cry out to God for help and depend on the grace of God to carry us through. This is good, because what people see as a result is not human expertise, but the power of the risen Christ.
This was true of Paul too; it was why he said ‘So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong’ (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). Let me pray ...