Thoughts on 2 Corinthians 2:1-4
One of the great mistakes we make is to over-glorify those whom we admire. I started writing this on the weekend that Pope John Paul II died and as I watched and listened to the coverage, journalists and Catholics alike are going overboard in their admiration, making him out to seem somewhat less than human. John Paul was a man of the Cross because he knew the depth of his own sinfulness, and that he needed the Cross if ever he was to be forgiven. He was also an individual with the same feet of clay as any of the rest of us. What is true of you, what is true of me, what was true of John Paul II, was also true of the apostle Paul. He was a man who had just as many inner struggles as you and I -- possibly more.
Tom Wright points out that Paul's words in 1:8, which are often interpreted by commentators as a reference to physical illness that brought him close to death, sound very like the words of one who is suffering a "nervous breakdown." The pain inside him has reached such an acute level that he was "burdened beyond our strength" and that he "despaired of life itself." Having spent much time with a lot of pastors, and having been one for most of my adult life, I can fairly say that there have been occasions when the pressures of ministry have brought me and many others to this point. Not only have I wanted to give ministry up, but I am very tempted to abandon life, too.
I have heard pastors talk about stresses in their congregations taking from them restful sleep. I have watched pastors precipitatively lose weight because they have been robbed of their appetite and can no longer eat, decending into all sorts of illnesses because of their lack of food, sleep, and other natural restoratives. More pastors than I care to count have cardiac problems that have clearly been triggered by their work.
This, I suggest, is the way it was with Paul over the stresses of ministry he had experienced in the Roman province of Asia, as well as his concern for the Corinthians. A strong person can carry an enormous amount, but there is always the proverbial straw on the camel's back -- and it seems that Paul has encountered that straw.
So as we jump forward to the beginning of Chapter 2, we find him saying, "I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you." Which of us when pastoring has not said and thought something like, "I can't take any more of this. I need a break. I can't see So-and-So because I know that it will be a messy interview and I just don't have the inner resources to handle right now." This is how it was with Paul. There had just been too much and he could take no more of it for the moment. He also knew that coming to Corinth and handling a confrontation was not going to do either the church any good, nor the people with whom he was involved, nor himself.
So, he stayed away and wrote a letter instead. The modern equivalent of this is avoiding a face-to-face with someone (or a group of people), and making do with an email. While emails can hasten and ease communications, they are also a medium in which words spoken can be greatly misunderstood. Paul's letter sent to Corinth had clearly been misunderstood!
He sent the letter of pastoral correction for ills that are going on there, and his detractors have said, "See, he's brave with words but shies away from confrontation." Paul sent his letter hoping words on a page would be seriously considered as they looked at their believing and their lifestyle. "I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice" (verse 3). He goes on that he wrote, "to let you know the abundant love that I have for you" (verse 4). These letters came from a pastor's heart, but the heart of a pastor who had been wounded in the execution of his vocation as Apostles and teacher.
I suspect that Paul had done what most caring pastors I know have done, and that is walk the floor at night anxious for about the wellbeing of a particular individual, family, or group. He tells us that he wrote to the Corinthians out of much thlipsis (affliction) and synoche (anguish). Again, I believe that these are emotions that are no strangers to the faithful pastor, and like Paul, they are washing down with tears (verse 4).
When we are up and things are going well, it is relatively easy to cope with pastoral burdens and with the crap that is just a standard part of all Christian ministry; but when we are low and down, then it is a struggle just to keep ourselves afloat, let alone deal with arguments within the church or the mumps and measels of the soul that are so readily contracted by believers committed to our charge.
But the truth is that as we see Paul working through something that might be familiar to us, we must also recognize that he does not resort to cheap, paperback psychology, and 'feel good' motivational notions that are slapped over the surface of pain in our culture, both secular and Christian. No, he takes his pain to the Cross. These first two chapters of 2 Corinthians are full of Paul's complaints, but they also speak of the comfort that is ours in God (1:4), that we are heirs with the risen Lord (1:9), that we are equipped by the grace of God (1:12), that we are anointed and sealed by the Spirit for ministry (1:23), and that there are hard knocks that come with divine commissioning (2:17).
"To trust in the God who raises the dead, with that faith anchored in the resurrection of Jesus himself, is the best therapy anyone could discover, in the first century or the twenty-first" (Tom Wright, Paul for Everyday: 2 Corinthians, page 10).
Tom Wright points out that Paul's words in 1:8, which are often interpreted by commentators as a reference to physical illness that brought him close to death, sound very like the words of one who is suffering a "nervous breakdown." The pain inside him has reached such an acute level that he was "burdened beyond our strength" and that he "despaired of life itself." Having spent much time with a lot of pastors, and having been one for most of my adult life, I can fairly say that there have been occasions when the pressures of ministry have brought me and many others to this point. Not only have I wanted to give ministry up, but I am very tempted to abandon life, too.
I have heard pastors talk about stresses in their congregations taking from them restful sleep. I have watched pastors precipitatively lose weight because they have been robbed of their appetite and can no longer eat, decending into all sorts of illnesses because of their lack of food, sleep, and other natural restoratives. More pastors than I care to count have cardiac problems that have clearly been triggered by their work.
This, I suggest, is the way it was with Paul over the stresses of ministry he had experienced in the Roman province of Asia, as well as his concern for the Corinthians. A strong person can carry an enormous amount, but there is always the proverbial straw on the camel's back -- and it seems that Paul has encountered that straw.
So as we jump forward to the beginning of Chapter 2, we find him saying, "I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you." Which of us when pastoring has not said and thought something like, "I can't take any more of this. I need a break. I can't see So-and-So because I know that it will be a messy interview and I just don't have the inner resources to handle right now." This is how it was with Paul. There had just been too much and he could take no more of it for the moment. He also knew that coming to Corinth and handling a confrontation was not going to do either the church any good, nor the people with whom he was involved, nor himself.
So, he stayed away and wrote a letter instead. The modern equivalent of this is avoiding a face-to-face with someone (or a group of people), and making do with an email. While emails can hasten and ease communications, they are also a medium in which words spoken can be greatly misunderstood. Paul's letter sent to Corinth had clearly been misunderstood!
He sent the letter of pastoral correction for ills that are going on there, and his detractors have said, "See, he's brave with words but shies away from confrontation." Paul sent his letter hoping words on a page would be seriously considered as they looked at their believing and their lifestyle. "I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice" (verse 3). He goes on that he wrote, "to let you know the abundant love that I have for you" (verse 4). These letters came from a pastor's heart, but the heart of a pastor who had been wounded in the execution of his vocation as Apostles and teacher.
I suspect that Paul had done what most caring pastors I know have done, and that is walk the floor at night anxious for about the wellbeing of a particular individual, family, or group. He tells us that he wrote to the Corinthians out of much thlipsis (affliction) and synoche (anguish). Again, I believe that these are emotions that are no strangers to the faithful pastor, and like Paul, they are washing down with tears (verse 4).
When we are up and things are going well, it is relatively easy to cope with pastoral burdens and with the crap that is just a standard part of all Christian ministry; but when we are low and down, then it is a struggle just to keep ourselves afloat, let alone deal with arguments within the church or the mumps and measels of the soul that are so readily contracted by believers committed to our charge.
But the truth is that as we see Paul working through something that might be familiar to us, we must also recognize that he does not resort to cheap, paperback psychology, and 'feel good' motivational notions that are slapped over the surface of pain in our culture, both secular and Christian. No, he takes his pain to the Cross. These first two chapters of 2 Corinthians are full of Paul's complaints, but they also speak of the comfort that is ours in God (1:4), that we are heirs with the risen Lord (1:9), that we are equipped by the grace of God (1:12), that we are anointed and sealed by the Spirit for ministry (1:23), and that there are hard knocks that come with divine commissioning (2:17).
"To trust in the God who raises the dead, with that faith anchored in the resurrection of Jesus himself, is the best therapy anyone could discover, in the first century or the twenty-first" (Tom Wright, Paul for Everyday: 2 Corinthians, page 10).
posted by Richard Kew at 5:36 PM
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