2 Corinthians 11:16-33 A Fool for Christ
By Rev. Lucy Flatt
This morning we continue our exploration of second Corinthians. Last week Josh took us through the beginning of chapter 11 where we heard Paul call the Corinthians to continue to be faithful. Paul uses some harsh language calling the super apostles Satan’s servants.
Today we come back to Paul’s opening line in chapter 11 verse 1 “bear with me in a little foolishness”.
For Paul is about to get foolish.
In the beginning of today’s passage the word fool occurs in almost every sentence.
So I wonder – what do we think a fool is?
Someone silly?
Someone who jokes?
Often a fool has amusing connotations.
This week it’s been school holidays so I pulled up a show by a comedian I really enjoy.
Comedians are great – not only because they make us laugh but because they get us to laugh at ourselves. They tell the truth about how the world is and often end up revealing the foolishness of what we boast in.
Bear with me while I show you an example.
Before I had children I would go to leave the house.
“Shall we leave the house?”
Yes.
And off we’d go.
Then I had children.
Shall we leave the house?
“Noooo!”
What do you mean no?
“I want to wear a dress.”
But your already wearing a dress.
“but I want to wear that one!”
yes but that one’s dirty.
“But I want to wear a pink one”
But this one is pink
Where are your shoes?
Why don’t you have any shoes?
Who left the door open?
Please get a jumper
“but I’m boiling”
It’s cold outside.
“But I don’t want to wear a jumper”
But it’s cold
“But I’m not cold!”
Please just get a jumper – you don’t have to wear it.
Oh come on – we’re going to be late!
I imagined that having MY children would be far more like -
Shall we leave the house?
“Yes Mother, we are all fully dressed, all of us are wearing shoes and we’d all love to bring a jumper, just in case it’s cold outside.”
I was arrogantly misguided. Much like the Corinthians!
The Super Apostles have been a boastful lot and so Paul who is like the wise parent calls the community out of their foolishness.
As Tom wright puts it today’s passage is “one of the finest and funniest flights of rhetoric anywhere in the New Testament”[1].
It’s the equivalent of Paul going to leave the house with children and losing his shoe, then finding it, getting his jumper stuck on his head, then wearing it, yelling we’re late, and arriving on time.
So has Paul lost the plot?
Yes.
Yes he has.
For Paul the word fool means ‘someone who is lost their mind’. Someone who so overestimates themselves that they are not concerned for the other.
Paul in great irony knows that he must be the fool to show the fool.
So he begins in verse 16 “accept me as a fool so that I might boast a little”. He will be foolish to show the foolishness of others. Verse 17 “Not as the Lord would but as a fool”.
For – the Corinthians love fools! As Eugene Peterson puts it[2] - “You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn’t admit it to you, but our stomachs aren’t strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff.”
For Corinthians you are so much more superior! Your arrogance knows more than us!
Verses 22 and 23
Are they Hebrews? So am I.
Are the Israelites? So am I.
Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I.
Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one.
And so Paul sings “anything you can do I can do better, I can do anything better than you.”
Paul is “talking like a madman!”
Hebrew, Israelite, Offspring of Abraham?
Forgive me for my ignorance but surely he’s just repeating the same qualifications over and over again?
It’s like Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Arts
Hebrew – He is a full blooded Hebrew. His primary language would have been Aramaic (a derivative of Hebrew) not Greek which characterized Hellenistic Jews. He is a Jew above Jews.
Israelite – He is culturally an Israelite. He belongs to the family – the people of God. He is faithful to the work and practices of his tradition. Still seeking and entering synagogues first.
Offspring of Abraham – How many of us can trace our lineage to Abraham? Paul can. Not only are his parents Hebrews but he has purity of genetic stock.
Servant of Christ – he is a better one.
“anything you can do I can do better, I can do anything better than you.”
If we schooch back to verse 14 we read Paul naming the super apostles as servants too.
So how do we, or the Corinthians tell who the real servants are? With all this foolishness going on - What are the true marks of an Apostle?
Like an employer we check out their credentials.
So in verse 23 Paul launches into his CV for the Gospel.
He has been beaten by Romans, whipped by Jewish leaders, experienced near death more than once, shipwrecked, imprisoned.
And here I’ve been bragging about how I’ve won at the holidays.
True story – I was talking with some friends on Saturday - I’ve baked, cleaned, packed, cooked, parented, worked, written a sermon, planned a holiday, been for a run, read, watched some Netflix, watched a fence be built and replanted a rose bush.
Who could compare with such a list?
In the midst of all this Paul has been shipwreacked more than once! Now I’ve never been ship wrecked but I’d be inclined to stay away from boast after that… not Paul. Three times he’s shipwrecked and once he is left floating about in the sea for 24hours! As we will see from Paul’s list he did not travel first class so the vessels Paul took may have been less than sea worthy.
Paul continues his qualifications in verse 26 In frequent danger from fords, robbers, his own people, the people he sought to reach, cities, rural areas, seas, false brothers.
Danger is everywhere for Paul.
We may imagine that given the Roman Empires size that surely the roads would have been safe for travelling. Rather, it was very unlikely Paul would have come across patrols of guards while travelling and so robbers would have been a frequent hazard.
On entering towns he was seen as being a member of a civil disturbance and so he was beaten by the Romans.
When he entered the Synagogues and proclaimed Jesus as Lord – he was punished for blasphemy and given the 40 lashes minus one as per the clear legal punishment in Deuteronomy 25:1-3
Verse 27 Paul goes on - In toil through hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and in thirst, in cold and exposed.
This sounds more like a nightmare than a list of achievements!
Corinth being a Roman province would have been very aware of the list of achievements that made someone worthy. They’re hardships – when overcome were rights of boasting. They showed character development and perseverance.
Exactly the qualities the Corinthians claim they want Paul to have!
Paul then qualifies the list with his beautiful compassion and love for the churches in verse 28 “my daily anxiety for all the churches”.
It seems odd to hear of Paul having anxiety. Particularly in the midst of his wall of wins!
In Matthew 6:25 Jesus teaches “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink nor about your body what you will put on… your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”
So what is Paul anxious about?
It was clearly not his daily needs. He doesn’t seem all that concerned for food or clothing.
Rather Paul was anxious for the Churches to remain faithful to the Gospel he had proclaimed.
Much like many parts of our modern world the early Christians suffered for being Christians. For those new to the faith or growing in maturity it would have been hard to withstand such suffering without losing hope. It would have been hard to keep going without Paul’s words to encourage and admonish them.
Paul continues in verse 29 Who is weak and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?
Paul burns white hot for the faith of his Churches. For the faith of the many and the faith of the few. This is his ministry, his calling, he loves the churches and constantly prays for their welfare that they may remain faithful to their calling.
Verse 30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God the Father of our Lord Jesus, knows that I am not lying.
For unlike the Philosophy of his day – he did not overcome his trials and tribulations – God did. Paul is no Humanist.
God leads him to victory.
Paul makes an oath to God that he is telling the truth. For not many – if any – will have heard the story he now tells.
Paul in great weakness was left to the mercies of others as he descended the city walls in a basket to escape prosecution.
Ironically in Paul’s day, there was a military honour – equivalent to the commonwealths Victorian cross – where the first man up the city wall in a siege (who lived) would receive. Paul not only is not first up the wall, he is first down the wall, not by his own might, but by the might of others. Verse 33 But I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall. And escaped.
Just when we think Paul has given the Corinthians who they want… he reminds them of his weakness. He is foolish so that they might see their folly!
While we cannot attest to such greatness as Paul, nor perhaps of such weakness – for we no longer have city walls to be let down, this passage does beg the question – what do we boast in?
Do we view – like the world a wall of wins as the mark of success?
A profile or a CV packed with achievements as a measure of worth?
We might love a good win.
Yet, are we OK with sacrifice?
With weakness?
In all honesty most of us hate looking in-competent.
We may agree it’s far better to be given a formula for success than have to reveal our weaknesses – or fail. Yet, Paul is clear the mark of an authentic apostle is not in what the world weighs and values – what the Corinthians want - but in sharing Christ’s weakness. Being a fool for Christ.
Can we like the Corinthians begin smirking at our own foolish pride and honestly examine what we boast in?
Are we willing to face our list of self accomplished wins?
Where might we be invited to sacrifice our boasting for the gospel?
How might we be a fool for Christ this week?
[1] Tom Wright, Paul – a Biography.
[2] The Message translations 2 Cor 11:20-21