“THE DELAY RELAY”
Guess what? You've got mail – again! As noted last week, 2 Corinthians is the fourth letter we know of that Paul wrote to the churches he planted in Greece, letters that wound up in the Bible because the church came to recognize their global significance as inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Imagine! We're the recipients of yet another mysterious letter inspired by the Holy Spirit...!
Calvin: Look, Hobbes! (waving a letter in his hand) I got another mysterious letter! It has a local postmark, though, so I must know the person.
Hobbes: Oh, boy! Intrigue!
Calvin: But who would send me an anonymous letter like this?
Hobbes: (smiling and elbowing Calvin) Maybe it's from a girl!
Calvin: Yikes! (dropping it) Doesn't the post office screen anything?!
Hobbes: I'll get you some gloves. (starts to leave, then stops....)
Calvin: Never mind. (carefully opening letter) Wait a minute! It says is, “Calvin has porridge
for brains”! What?! The nerve! All that suspense and mystery for an insult?! What kind of depraved mind would do such a thing? I wish I knew who sent this!
Our only clue is that the twisted fiend has too much time on his hands.
Hobbes: Look what I found! It's another letter for you! How nice to get so much mail.
Calvin: Yeah, you would think. I'm not sure I want to open it - “porridge for brains” indeed!
Hobbes: (as he exits) Maybe it is from a girl!
Stay tuned. The mystery will be unveiled next week! As for the Corinthian letters, there's no mystery there as Paul always begins by identifying himself. But after Paul's third 'painful' letter, like Calvin, the Christians in Corinth might've been a little hesitant to open this one. “I wrote that letter in great anguish, with a troubled heart and many tears. I didn't want to grieve you, but...!”
(2 Corinthians 2:4)
Though some of them took Paul's correction to heart and have changed their ways, others are grieved to the point of holding on to a grudge. Stirred up by some new voices in their midst, they've countered by leashing out at Paul and his traveling buddies, criticizing their honesty and integrity. Paul responds in the first section of today's reading by defending their integrity based on 3 realities: 1) their untarnished conscience, 2) their good reputation, & 3) their reliance on God's grace.
Paul writes: “We can say with confidence and a clear conscience that we have exhibited a God-given honesty and sincerity in all our dealings. We have depended on God's grace, not on our own human wisdom. That is how we have conducted ourselves before the world and toward you.”
(2 Corinthians 1:12)
It's a good model for all of us – to act in sync with our consciences, discerning what is right and what is not. What's more, Paul's reliance on God's grace was not just good words but was the reality that inspired him to love them, in spite of their floundering in their faith and their tendency to argue among themselves and hurl accusations at him and his peers.
So why were they doing that? It struck me that key to understanding the significance of this section, not just historically, but personally for us today, is understanding why they were so upset.
Paul addresses that, writing: “You may be asking why I changed my plans. Do you think I make my plans carelessly? Do you think I am like people who say 'yes' when they really mean 'no'?”
(2 Corinthians 1:17)
-2-
In today's venicular, you could say that Paul got delayed. He had written them about his plans, about his traveling schedule, in his previous letter. We read that a couple of weeks ago: “I am coming to visit you after I have been to Macedonia, for I am planning to travel thru Macedonia... This time I don't want to make just a short visit. I want to come and stay awhile.” (1 Corinthians 16:5-7)
As it turns out Paul had made a short, unplanned stop on his way up to Macedonia and that had not gone well. So, as a result, he had a change of plans - and they were not pleased.
Fact is, we still have trouble with delays. Who likes to wait? Anyone drive Chimacum Road or wait at the bridge lately? As I waited in line, car after car behind me frantically turned around and sped off. Have you flied the friendly skies lately? One person noted that doing so reminded them of a line from Pirates of the Caribbean: “Flight schedules are more like guidelines than actual rules!”
Once after a three hour delay my flight finally boarded. After a moment the pilot announced:
“Sorry for the delay. We had trouble finding the duct tape.” Not a person laughed. To the contrary I heard many an angry voice: “I don't think a pilot should make jokes” – “They shouldn't even grin!”
That's what I call the delay relay. Delays prompt annoyance, annoyance leads to discontent and discontent feeds off each other like runners handing a baton in a relay race. One gripe leads to another, and before you know it we all become experts on the flaws and foibles of those responsible. Apparently, we Christians are not exempt from this, as this letter gives witness.
That's sad, because we should be. We should be the exception to the rule, not mere guidelines. Pastor John Ortberg addresses this in his book, “Everyone's Normal Until You Get To Know Them.” What a great title! Therein he talks about the Porcupine Dilemma. This large rodent has around 30,000 quills and as a result, is not generally regarded as a very lovable creature. Mostly isolated animals, they basically have two methods for handling relationships: withdrawal or hurl barbs.
As a result, you're not likely to see porcupines on a marriage course any time soon as love is rather risky business for the average porcupine. Females are open to dinner and a movie only once a year. And that's the Porcupine Dilemma: How do you get close without getting hurt?
Sound familiar? It's the human dilemma as well. Even though God designed us to be in nurturing relationships, bad experiences cause us to either withdrawal or attack. Our quills or barbs take the shape of envy, criticism, hostility, name-calling, conceit and resentment – a Corinthian specialty!
Their resentment and inflexibility have fed into a deep disillusionment. Ortberg notes that when he's talked about this people, are often quick to identify the porcupines in their lives. The problem tho' is that it's not just them. I'm somebody's porcupine too, and yes, so are you!
In the movie, As Good As It Gets, Helen Hunt's character struggles in her ambivalence toward Jack Nickolson. Imagine that! He is generous to her and her sick son but he is also agoraphobic, obsessive-compulsive, and terminally offensive. If rudeness were measured in square miles, he'd be in Texas. In desperation she cries out to her mother: “I just want a normal boyfriend!”
“Oh,” her mother calmly replies, “everybody wants one of those. There's no such thing dear.”
“Everyone's Normal Until You Get To Know Them.”
-3-
The problem is that we wind up in perpetual state of disillusionment. There's such a pervasive spirit of disillusionment at loose in our world today. Disillusionment leads to rampant distrust and that's exactly what's happening today, as it did in Corinth. As we'll see, Paul finds himself reasserting his apostolic authority repeatedly in this letter because their disillusionment, fed by, among other things, his delay in visiting them for a third time, has led to their open displays of distrust.
Listen again to his inpassioned words as he addresses their disillusionment and distrust: “It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guaran-tees everything he has promised us. Now I call upon God as my witness, I am telling the truth!”
(2 Corinthians 1:21-23)
Once disillusionment settles in, we're vulnerable to the voices around us that confirm our fears, that only those like us can be trusted, only those we deem as normal in their faith and life decisions, but the problem is everyone wants the new normal, but there's no such thing dear.
So, what's the solution to this Porcupine Dilemma? Paul gently points to three remedies to the dilemma: Clarification, Affirmation and Destination.
Knowing that disillusionment comes partially out of misunderstanding, Paul points to the need of clarification. The dissonant voices questioning his character are feeding the Corinthian distrust of him so he clarifies for them why he changed his plans. He provides more information: “The reason I didn't return to Corinth was to spare you from a severe rebuke...., so I decided that I would not bring you grief with another painful visit.” (2 Corinthians 1:23; 2:1)
He realized to return so quickly wouldn't give them time to heal from the tension of his last visit or allow them the time to put into practice what he'd taught them. Sometimes in order to counter our distrust and disillusionment with one another, as well as our leaders, we need time and more clarity. For that to happen we need to hear from other voices then the ones were already listening to. They'd been listening to the voices of discontent in their midst. Paul offers more information instead.
A second thing we need when we struggle with the delays and disappointments of this life is renewed affirmation. Paul provides that when he writes: “We don't want to dominate you by telling you how to put your faith into practice. We want to work together with you so you will be full of joy. I didn't want to grieve you. I wanted to let you know how much love I have for you.”
(2 Corinthians 1:24; 2:4)
We can help each other out with that one. So many of us face disappointments on many levels – some of them in terms of the times in which we live, and others more personal in nature. We can be voices of affirmation by encouraging one another, pointing to where God is on the move, to the reality of God's unconditional and personal love for them in Christ Jesus. Who near you needs to be affirmed?
Third, Paul counters the destructive spirit of disillusionment and distrust by pointing to our final destination. “God has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything He has promised us.” (2 Corinthians 1:22)
-4-
When you become discouraged with the disappointments in life, be they the result of your encounters with the porcupines around you, or the one within you, keep in mind that God loves you so much that He has put his Holy Spirit in you, not only so that you may believe, surely that, but also as guarantee of that and a sample of what's to come, that one day you will be so immersed in his love for you that all doubt and disappointment will be like a distant and insignificant memory. Your faith in Jesus is evidence of His Spirit alive in you and His Spirit is evidence that the best is yet to come!
God has invested everything in you! So when life hands you a delay – put it to good use...!