In today’s reading, which is pretty strong and pointed from Paul, here is the verse that really jumped out at me:
10 “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.”
When we peal back the onion on this verse a little, there is an idea that speaks to me. When he says fools, “we are fools for Christ’s sake”, looking at various translations and the interlinear literal translation, I am left thinking what Paul is communicating is that the ‘we’, meaning ‘he and his teaching cohort’, live a life of “Yes God, now what would you have me do?” vs. the Corinthians to which he is speaking who live a life of “What do you want God, so I can consider it?”. Paul is a fool for Christ in that he is fully bought it, he’s given Christ a blank check over his life, and he’ll follow where Christ leads, he’ll jump when He says jump. When he says that these Corinthians are wise in Christ, I believe he is saying that they KNOW their stuff, they KNOW about the resurrection and about Jesus and about God, but they aren’t bought in...they haven’t given Christ their checkbook. Or, we could use a car analogy - Paul is in the passenger seat of his own car with Christ in drive of his life...the Corinthians have Christ in the passagner seat. Subtle difference in orientation, big difference in outcomes. This is a GREAT idea to pray about, and a great idea to consider for ourselves...who is in front of the wheel in my life? Is Christ in the driver’s seat in some areas, but not all? Great, great thought!
And then Paul goes on to say that he is weak and they are strong, that he is disrespected and shamed and they are honored. What is implied here is that Paul is saying that he is being disrespected and shamed by culture, and that these folks are held in high esteem by culture...not by God. In other words, they are worried about what culture thinks about them, not what God thinks. This is another fantastic idea to ponder...and we talked about this yesterday when we asked this question: “For whose benefit, to further whose mission, am I making this decision, God’s or my own?”. Another way to ask this question would be, “Whose honor am I seeking...God’s or my own?”. All great questions. All challenging questions.
The Lord’s Prayer, which is something I have been working on recently with my daughter, actually has this idea built into it: “.Our Father in Heaven, let the glory be to you. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”, in other words, “God, you are God, I am not...you are in control, you made the world, and you deserve all of the glory...you have given me everything I have and you can take it away in a moment. I know you have a plan for my life, and just pray that I would have wisdom to get a glimpse of it and the courage to come alongside of your mission and your vision while I am here on earth...I know that’s my best shot at real joy in life.” That is the same as saying, “Jesus take the wheel”, or “Jesus, yes...now what would you have me do.” Paul is giving us a great example of being an imitator of Christ, and asking that we follow him in that.