SEXAGESIMA

February 7, 2010

St. Augustine Anglican Church

“Ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.”

The Rev. Gerald Parks +

          Today’s Epistle (2 Cor. 11: 19-31) can best be described as “vintage” St. Paul.  His anger and anguish are more than apparent in his letter to the Christian converts at Corinth, and it concerns what he saw as their unpardonable lack of faithfulness and loyalty to him and to his teachings, as to the message of Christ.  There were at that time missionaries in Corinth, Jewish-Christians as they were called, who claimed superiority to Paul, because they adhered strictly to the Jewish law, while he did not.  There should be no doubt: these men were bitter enemies of St. Paul, and they did all they could to undermine his works as well as deny his primary principle, that in Christ there is no difference between Jew and Gentile.  And they were gaining a strong following among the Corinthians. 

          It is hard to imagine why the Corinthians would reject Paul’s message of the equality of all men in Christ Jesus, in favor or one that virtually made them “second class citizens” to the “superior” Jews, but that is what happened.  And St. Paul didn’t like it, and he let them know he didn’t like it in no uncertain terms.

          In the long history of Christianity there have been many who, intentionally or not, have tried to lead others into the error of false teachings.  They have never had a problem with finding followers, and consequently have never had a problem, because of those same followers, with justifying the correctness of their heretical views.  The Corinthians, to their credit, accepted the new religion that Paul brought without benefit of the work of the Evangelists who put the story of Jesus into written form as a record and an example.  The early Christians had to rely on the spoken word of missionaries who came among them, and when Paul’s version of the story was contradicted by a new version, the Corinthians had to make a choice between them.  We don’t know if St. Paul’s second letter to the Christians at Corinth had much of an affect on them or not, but we do know that, in the end, his work among the Greeks bore fruit, as witnessed by the strong traditions of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, still apparent today.

          Much time and many centuries have passed since St. Paul walked upon the earth, bringing the saving truth of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.  And the world, as he knew it, has changed far more than anything he could have imagined.  Yet, for all the changes that have come (none more quickly or dramatic than those we see today), one thing has not changed, and that is the character of man himself.  We are taught that man was created “in the likeness and image of God,” and if we start with that premise, then we can accept and truly believe that the relationship between Creator and creature can and should be very close.  If man were a perfect creature, a complete reflection of his Maker, his actions would never deviate from the Will of God, but we know that is not the case.  The infinite wisdom of God had no desire to make clones of Himself or slaves to serve Him; therefore, He gave the race of men the ability to think and to plan, and the freedom to choose both the content and the direction of his life.

          It is almost universally true that man has (and always has had) an innate consciousness of the existence of God, or at least a sense of the Divine Presence.  And along with that has come a desire to worship.  It is probably also true that every generation of men has had its own fair share of those St. Paul referred to as “fools” – those who, in spite of the evidence, try to debunk the whole idea of God, and of His Christ.  I read recently that Washburn University will in the near future sponsor a debate questioning whether Jesus “really” rose from the dead, which subject usually comes up at that location every year about now.  We may question their intent or the need for such a debate, but it is one that under the first amendment to the Constitution, they have every right to have.  However, my question is why would you “debate” an issue that has been so long settled in people’s minds as that one surely has?  You either believe it, or you do not.  No minds will be changed, no new facts dug up and no new evidence presented.  In fact, I doubt it will even be a debate at all, just another attempt to preach the gospel of non-belief, so popular today.

          But foolishness, and those who present it, always draws an audience, of whom St. Paul wrote, “Ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.” (2 Cor. 11: 19)  Fools of this kind always try to wrap themselves in a cloak of wisdom, while ridiculing those who don’t agree with them.  And those who follow them are invariably impressed by both their eloquence and the reasonableness of their arguments.  But St. Paul, who was never sparing of “fools,” presented the issue in the clearest of terms, “And if Christ is not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” (1 Cor. 15: 14)

          We can’t have it both ways: either Christ rose from the dead, and is the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, or He just died like any other man.  We might think the advice of fool’s sounds reasonable and true, as did the Corinthians, but St. Paul knew the truth: he had met the Risen Lord and spoken to Him on the road to Damascus.  That truth cannot be debated!

          We are always, it seems, surrounded by those whose arguments, while reasonable sounding, have no basis in the truth.  And they always seem to find people who are fooled, and who follow them.  But, unlike some who have tried to tell us otherwise, there is only one truth, and it is unchanging and forever: Jesus Christ is Lord!  That is the only wisdom anyone needs.