“You think you already have everything you need. You think you are already rich. You have begun to reign in God’s kingdom without us! I wish you really were reigning already, for then we would be reigning with you. Instead, I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world—to people and angels alike. Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honoured, but we are ridiculed. Even now, we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home. We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us. We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment.”
1 Corinthians 4:8-13 NLT
Paul sets out a stark contrast between his life, living for Christ, and the life of the Corinthians, who displayed middle-class affluence and contentment. We can imagine such a scenario today, with the congregation arriving for the Sunday morning service at a quaint, post-card picture, type of church building in a similarly quaint English country village, with expensive houses skirting the village pond. Neatly manicured gardens and a graveyard, and well-dressed people in all their finery walking through the postern gate leading up to the church door. That was the image Paul was presenting about the Corinthian church. They were living like kings, he said. But compare that to a city-centre church today, with homeless men coming to the building for a bit of warmth and a hot meal if it is available that day. Their clothes were ragged and filthy, hair unkempt and dirty hands. Such a contrast. It is sad that such a situation is happening in our society today, but there have always been rich and poor people since the earliest times.
Paul set out the conditions under which he was living as a worker for Christ. He compared weakness and power, honour and ridicule, hunger and plenty, homes and homelessness, blessings and curses, unclothed and clothed, and finally, he said he and his fellow workers were being beaten and treated like “the world’s garbage”. He and his fellow workers were truly living their lives “at the bottom”. So why did they do it? Paul had at one time so much going for him, as a Pharisee with a career in tent making. He could have had a comfortable living, much as the Corinthians had, should he have so chosen. But Paul had an encounter with the risen Jesus on the Damascus Road that transformed his life and turned it around. No more comfortable suburban life for him because he had been commissioned to take the Gospel to the Gentiles, and nothing was going to divert Paul from his mission.
Paul points to himself and the other apostles of Jesus to show the contrast between their lifestyles and attitudes and those of the Corinthians. He wants the believers in Corinth to see the true path of those who live as servants of Christ. Paul writes that God has made him and the other apostles an exhibit of life at the bottom, in terms of earthly values. Instead of living as kings, as the Corinthians seemed to be trying to do, Paul and the other apostles lived as condemned men living on death row. Their lives were on display as a spectacle for all to see in both the natural and supernatural worlds. Both angels and men were watching how poorly they lived in human terms and made judgments about their choices. Paul had sacrificed much in his missionary service, and he wanted the Corinthians, and by implication, us pilgrims as well, to know that life being lived God’s way and in His Kingdom would not always be a comfortable existence.
Dear Father God. Living in Your Kingdom is not an easy choice. Jesus said that in this life we would have trouble, but we take heart, as did the early disciples, that He came to overcome the world. In deep gratitude, we move on step by step, towards our eternal home with You. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 