Sermon for June 9, 2024: Eternal based upon 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—‘I believed, and so I spoke’—we also believe, and so we speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence. Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

Living by Faith

So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
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For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

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     What is going on in Corinth? Lots of things, apparently. The first letter between Paul and the church of Corinth, which he founded, has been lost. According to Bart Ehrman, the letter that we call 1st Corinthians, likely the second letter to the church, addresses several big issues, including interpersonal conflicts among members, the misuse of worship time by some members as a time to try to establish spiritual superiority over others, hoarding of food and drink, and sexual impropriety. 2nd Corinthians, which might be a collection of parts of third and fourth letters, addresses additional issues that came up after the second letter was written.

     Sze-Kar Wan describes the background for the letter in this introduction to 2nd Corinthians. Paul, who had been traveling around, sent Timothy to Corinth as “his personal emissary.” Timothy came back with distressing news: a group of Christian missionaries with very different ideas about what it meant to be Christian had turned up in Corinth and were undermining Paul’s teaching.  In order to counter their influence, Paul went back to Corinth for what he would come to call a “painful visit” in chapter 2, verse 1 of 2nd Corinthians. Someone insulted him so terribly that he left humiliated.

     It was bad enough a visit with leftover hard feelings that he wrote something he called “a letter of tears” to try and work through their conflict. While he mentions that letter in what we call 2nd Corinthians, the actual text of that letter is lost. That being said, the lost letter appears to have worked to convince the church in Corinth to continue to follow Paul’s teachings around following Jesus, and, also, led them to rebuke the person who had insulted him. Paul wrote additional letters to the church, including the letter that contains today’s reading, one that Wan refers to as being more “conciliatory” in tone. In the conciliatory letter is a section of teaching, specifically about how to make sense of hardship in terms of one’s faith in Jesus.

     In a recent visit with the physician who helps me manage my chronic pain, he mentioned that he finds some of Paul’s writings about bodies useful in conversations with Christian patients. Of course, he isn’t trying to convert non-Christian patients. But, if he finds out that someone is a Christian and struggling in caring for a body that is in pain, he has looked to Christian scripture for ways to inspire them. He specifically cited 1st Corinthians 6:19 as a verse that he has talked about with his patients: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God?” In that verse he finds an affirmation of the goodness of bodies, of the body as a gift, and as a container for the Holy Spirit. He knows that many of his patients struggle with seeing their bodies as good and struggle with caring for them. He hopes that by reminding them that their faith teaches them that their body is a temple, it can help reorient them into tending to their bodies with more love and reverence.

     I actually think that Paul has a more contentious relationship with human bodies, or at least his body, than my doctor is inclined to point out to other patients. In 2nd Corinthians 12, Paul talks about the pain he has had to deal with and offers up his theological explanation for why he has this pain:
“Therefore, to keep me from being too elated (can also be translated “arrogant”), a thorn has given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated (arrogant). Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”

     You may have heard this phrase before, a thorn in the flesh. It is often spiritualized by interpreters... by that I mean that people read “thorn in the flesh” or “thorn in the side” as a metaphor for an issue that was weighing on Paul’s heart. I actually think it is more useful to read these verses as a description of a physical pain that Paul was contending with rather than an intellectual or spiritual quandary. It would then make sense to me that Paul would do what many of us do when facing a sick and painful body: try to figure out why the pain happened and what to do about it. Paul came to understand the pain as a limitation placed upon him by God, making him weak, so that, as Ehrman notes, he will never be able to boast that the good he has done has come from his own strength, but instead, has been done through him by God.

     Truth be told, I have concerns about people thinking that God has inflicted pain and illness on them. Generally, I don’t think God works that way. Most of us are in chronic pain or are sick because of some combination of bad luck and/or genetics and/ or choices we make about how to care for our bodies. While Paul’s theological explanation for his pain seems like it brought him a measure of peace, I’ve seen plenty of people, often inspired by Paul, who feel like God is hurting them on purpose. They will develop shame around that or feel like they have to endure more pain with less support because they are “supposed to be in pain.” If the Gospels tell us anything clearly about Jesus it’s that he was interested in healing people’s pain, not causing more.

     That being said, Paul finds great meaning in remembering that Jesus suffered pain. Jesus, though powerful, did not opt out of the basic human experience of having a body that hurt sometimes and could be harmed by powerful people. Jennifer Vija Pietz points out in her commentary on this text that when Paul speaks of his own suffering, particularly the ways he has been targeted for harm because of his ministry, it is helpful to remember that Jesus suffered, too. It allows Paul to make the case that appearing to be powerful, which what some of the Corinthian church members did to try to assert that they were spiritually superior to other members, did not mean that they were actually following Jesus’ example. Given that Jesus suffered crucifixion, those who suffered on his account were much more like him than those who grew in acclaim and power.

     Pietz argues that Paul believes that suffering isn’t a sign of failure or a sign that one is disconnected from God. Instead, the Holy Spirit is present and active in the midst of suffering. While I may not be totally on board with the parts of Paul’s writing where he seems to dismiss the value of these bodies of ours, hurt though they may, I do think it is good for people to hear that suffering doesn’t mean you have failed God somehow or that those who suffer are somehow farther from God than those who are comfortable and well. A certain amount of struggle and pain are unavoidable in life. I don’t think Paul is telling us to ignore the pain in our bodies or dismiss the pain others are experiencing, even though Christians have a long history of doing both justified by his work. I do think that Paul is asserting that the world's standards for success and comfort are often very far from the standards of love and justice that Jesus invites Christians to follow.

     What is eternal? That’s part of what Paul hopes to communicate in this portion of his letter. Ultimately, he believed that renewal is possible, even in the midst of suffering and discord. And, he believed that suffering is temporary. The Spirit that connects us to each other and to Christ is what he calls eternal. Our bodies will change. We will not always succeed in following Christ or loving each other. But, ultimately, new life is being born from that which is eternal in the midst of struggle and strife. For Paul, pain in this moment does not preclude hope in the future. May we feel the promise of renewal, even as we feel the reality of the struggle, and know that Jesus is here with us in both.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Bart Ehrman, in The New Testament: A Historical Introduction of The Early Christian Writings, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000).
Sze-Kar Wan's introduction to 2nd Corinthians in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphya, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)
Jennifer Vija Pietz: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-10-2/commentary-on-2-corinthians-413-51
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