Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: 2. Corinthians 12,1-10. Sexagesima

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

2. Corinthians 12,1-10 1118

Sexageima 021

Rhabaus Maurus, Archbishop of Mainz, ✠ 856

4. Februar 2018

1. О Christ, Thou Son of God, direct our meditation upon the ransom You paid on the cross, so that we are comforted in the peace You have secured for us (Starck 75). Amen.

2. I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses— though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But He said to me: My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

3. In his epistle to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul describes a revelation he had received where he was caught up to the third heaven and heard things that are not to be told. Paul describes that he was passive in this and that God is actively speaking to him through this revelation. Paul is uncertain if this revelation was merely a vision or that he had been physically taken into this third heaven. The Jews in Paul’s day divided the heavens into 3 levels: the atmosphere, the realm of God and the third heaven. This third heaven Paul calls Paradise which is the dwelling place of believing souls after they die and now await the resurrection of their body. This is the place Jesus told the insurrectionist crucified next to Him he would be: »Today, you will be with Me in Paradise« (Luke 23,43). Jesus dwells in this Paradise with the souls of all Christians. This belief traces back to the very beginning of the Bible where the Garden of Eden is referred to as Paradise [1] and God dwells among Adam and Eve (Genesis 3,8).

4. Paul’s statement that he heard things in the third heaven that cannot be told is similar to statements made by John the Apostle (Revelation 10,4) and the Prophet Daniel (Daniel 8,26; 12,4.9). Other Prophets, such as Isaiah and Ezekiel, saw things in their visions that they found human words and images did not fully do justice to what they had seen but they describe it as best they can. We could speculate on what Paul heard in Paradise but suffice it to say that whatever he had seen was certainly glorious and astounding. Paul says: if I wish to boast of what I heard I could, but I will not because I do not desire to exalt myself.

5. Paul, however, paid a price for his revelation of Paradise: God put a thorn in his flesh. Paul says that God did this to keep him humble about his revelation. Paul calls this thorn a messenger from Satan. Again, Paul is vague as to what exactly this thorn is, but one interpretation is that this thorn is some sort of physical ailment. Paul does mention a couple of times in his Galatian epistle a problem with his eyes, but exactly what this eye problem was is unknown.

6. Another interpretation is that Paul’s thorn was not an ailment, but a person. Paul says this thorn tormented him, and he uses a verb (καλαφιζη) that implies it beats or strikes him like a boxer punching someone. He also refers to this thorn as a messenger of Satan. In the previous chapter of his epistle, Paul talks about false apostles and calls them servants of Satan: »And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds« (2. Corinthians 11,12-15). Paul then lists all the times he has suffered for preaching Christ crucified: I was imprisoned, beaten within an inch of my life, fives times I was whipped with 39 lashes, 3 times I was beaten with rods, I was stoned with rocks, 3 times I was shipwrecked and a host of other persecutions were inflicted upon me (2. Corinthians 11,23-28). Paul’s thorn could have been a person who was obsessed with discrediting him and his gospel ministry. Paul tells the Galatians that some men followed him and sought to discredit the gospel by demanding the Gentile Christians get circumcised and follow the Mosaic dietary laws (Galatians 1-2; 1,7; 5,12).

7. Paul pleaded several times to God and prayed for Him to remove this thorn. God chose to leave this thorn in Paul’s side and told him: »My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.« O that we would all trust in God’s grace and power to be sufficient in our lives!

8. Paul exhorts us to boast in our weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon us. Paul proclaimed that Christ crucified is the foolishness of God and the weakness of God (1. Corinthians 1,254). Paul explains that a suffering, crucified and dying Christ is seen as weakness in the world. Christ’s saving act is much different from the other times He saved His people: there were no miraculous plagues, the parting of a sea or the tumbling down of walls. No majestic angelic host arrayed with drawn swords were sent to sweep through and decimate our spiritual enemies. Just a humbled Jesus, God in the flesh, beaten, condemned and executed like a common criminal. Paul says: in that moment of shame and weakness, when all the world sees a defeated Jesus on the cross, there is God’s power displayed in all its glory; there is God’a wisdom revealed in all its astuteness.

9. The Prophet Isaiah promises: »a bruised reed the Lord will not break, and a faintly burning wick He will not quench; He will faithfully bring forth justice« (Isaiah 42,3). Christ did not break on the cross; He endured the cross to overcome sin and death. Christ poured out His grace upon Paul; he bore his thorn and overcame it by preaching the gospel. Christ pours out His grace on us through His Word and Sacraments: the Word points us to Christ and His mercy; the Lord’s Supper gives us forgiveness and eternal life. We receive these gifts with faith and in trusting in the Christ who gives them we receive His grace to bear all things in His Name. Amen.

10. Let us pray. O Holy Spirit, today we have heard Christ’s voice; help us to have hearts wide open to receive the comfort You bring, so that whatever we face in this life we know that we face with Christ beside us who will see us through for His glory. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

[1] The Jews began referring to Eden as Paradise circa 500 BC.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

2. Corinthians 12,1-10. Sexagesima

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