II Corinthians 11:16-33
Paul continues with his sarcasm directed at the Corinthians’ response to his Corinthian detractors, especially with his phrase “…being wise yourselves”: For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves! For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face. (vv. 19-20) He clearly sees them being dominated by these false preachers and is troubled that they cannot discern these pretenders. His words take on a harsh tone, but that appears to be necessary to deal with this issue of the false preachers.
I have always been impressed with Paul’s account of his sufferings in verses 22 to 28. I can even recall being touched by these verses when I was a youngster in the Catholic Church. These verses then became more alive when I started reading Scripture myself, especially the book of Acts where we see him stoned in Galatia, beaten in Philippi, and then shipwrecked on his way to Rome. In my mind I see Paul accepting these hardships as his just desserts for having persecuted the church in his earlier days.
Verse 30 should hit home for all of us: If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. What Paul is talking about here, realistically, is the “glory sightings” that we do as a church. The intent behind these glory sightings is to remind ourselves of the Lord’s hand in the world around us, in everything we do – in the little things and in the big things. Paul highlights his weakness, his seeing the Lord at work when he has yielded himself to God’s authority in his life. I am always happy to offer glory sightings, to report on the Lord’s working in my life. But I am often torn between a perspective on whether I am reporting on what I have done or on what the Lord has done through me. One time I reported on praying for a cashier in a grocery store in the early days of the pandemic. Yes, I felt “moved” to pray for her, but I was the one who offered to pray and I was the one who prayed. To me, God’s glory was revealed in that I was moved in a moment to pray for her, but the rest was me. How to keep myself diminished and God glorified – that’s a trouble I constantly deal with!
Slava Bohu!