Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 361​

{Are we beginning to commend ourselves again?

Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You are our letter written on our hearts, known and read by all,

shown to be a letter of Christ administered by us,

written not in ink but by the Spirit of the living God,

not on tablets of stone but on tablets that are hearts of flesh.}

Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that of ourselves we are qualified to take credit for anything as coming from us; rather, our qualification comes from God, who has indeed qualified us as ministers of a new covenant,

not of letter but of spirit; for the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

We should understand the Apostle's intimate connection to his Corinthian congregation. If the missionary and his church are not exactly codependent, they certainly rely on one another. They are his "letter of recommendation."

The Roman Empire was built on personal connections. It's not what you know, it's who you know. Where we ask a job applicant for his credentials -- including experience and employer's reviews -- they asked, "How well connected are you? Who wrote your recommendation? It's not what he said that counts, but who said it.

By correspondence and frequent travel Jewish rabbis knew one another; and it wasn't hard for a Christian missionary to connect with someone who knows someone and be recognized as a reliable member of God's people.The disciples streaming out of Jerusalem used their contacts as they moved into Jewish neighborhoods in distant, unfamiliar cities.

Often traveling in bands, they gathered new converts into alternative Jewish synagogues with an open door for gentiles. Within a few years a major city would have a Christian community with its own organization and leadership. But they were no longer synagogues; they were churches. These were Paul's letters of Christ administered by us.

The successful missionary is naturally tempted to boast of his converts so Paul adds a disclaimer in today's reading, "Not that of ourselves we are qualified to take credit for anything as coming from us; rather, our qualification comes from God.

Just as we speak of the Trinity in God, we must notice the trinity of our own practical faith: I rely on God, I also rely on the Church. Popular notions that "I must do this for myself." are unrealistic. We choose our spiritual wellness as we choose our sickness, by the company we keep. 

If I feel abandoned, I turn to God or to God's people for help and direction. The church might notice what I cannot see when I have sinned, and help me to repent. Or the Lord might rebuke me when I have sinned against the Church. Or the Lord might send me with a prophetic word to redirect and strengthen a misguided congregation. Or the Lord might encourage me when my church has rejected the prophetic message I bear. And sometimes I pray with the Church, "God, where are you?" -- especially in the hospital ministry.

If a codependent relationship is binary; a healthy relationship with God is Trinitarian. All three parties work closely together. The one who despises the human fellowship while choosing "God" fools only himself. But we know that some congregations do refuse the Word of God, racist churches being the most obvious example.

The anchor of this trinity is God, who may rebuke and punish but never abandons his Church.

I have enormous confidence that the Lord in his infinite mercy will bring an unlimited power to bear against my immovable stubbornness. Only with that confidence would I dare to say anything in church.