Five paradoxes of God's way with us

By John Pearring

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/090520.cfm
1 Corinthians 4:6-15
Luke 6:1-5

The complication of Paul’s reading for this week is overwhelming. The phrasing of St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 4:6-15 leads to potential confusion. This is one set of verses that makes more sense with help from others. 

I recommend that you start with a summary of this scripture, like the one on Corinthians by Father George T. Montague at Catholic Commentary. It’s a reprint of Baker Publishing Group. Next, find a commentary that zeroes in on the verses. I selected a few, then settled on one from St. John Chrysostom in a homily he wrote around 400 AD. Yeah, that’s a long time ago. St John details a series of discoveries about God from his review of 1 Corinthians 4 that we can visualize today.

I found five paradoxes in St. John’s homily. Each one presents how the world operates. He then compares how God operates. I’ve added some insights from other commentaries to flesh out what Christians need to do with these paradoxical comparisons.

The first contradiction is that our independence puts us at odds with bending our will to God. Yet, God made us unique and independent. He even insists that we choose every step we take. God allows us to fail miserably as a means to find him. He does so without any forced influences.

St. John says that even though God realizes we act like children in our relationship to him, this allowance has a purpose. Children seldom agree with direction from their parents, teachers, and even physicians regarding what is good for them. Children insist on deciding on their own. We, adults, remain like children. We start with what pleases our senses, not with what is a better choice. Rather than be healthy, safe, or more efficient we do what feels, tastes, sounds, and looks good. We hopefully learn with experience to ask for help, search out wisdom, and trust authorities.

The disciple handles this contradiction to be independent, yet rely upon God’s help, as a discovery of God’s love. To be patient for God’s direction means to look for God everywhere. And, we find comfort in the Holy Spirit in his gathering of believers together. Being among followers who listen to God means we strengthen our relationship with God.

The second paradox is to exercise our authority and power by serving others, not by having them serve us. To serve others does not come easily. The contradiction is that power puffs us up, and strengthens our will to control. Yet, God gives us authority and power in every facet of our lives — family, work, citizenship, competition, play, discovery, and so on. We can tap into power at every turn, and even rule the world.

Instead, God expects us to wield power as he does. Not by satisfying our needs, but by meeting the needs of others. God provides us with constant opportunities where people need us. Our first reaction is to evade other’s problems. We must practice helping those in need. God gives us constant chances to do that. 

We would rather have people strive to help us when we have power over them. The more we practice advancing our careers, increasing our superiority in skills, and exacting our confident leadership, the more powerful we become. Yet, this focus means we practice less on being a servant.

The disciple, like anyone else, understands the strength of authority and the power that goes with it. Sacrifice and discipline do not come easily. They are the Christ follower’s tools. Within community, felt needs are met by believers who set aside his or her own needs and favor those whom God sends.

Third, the paradox of God’s grace baffles the world. Goodness falls upon everyone without distinction. Grace is so prevalent, so pervasive, as to seem like good fortune and rewards. Blessings are not accidents. Nonetheless, we become spoiled, and lazy. The contradiction is that we learn to expect that God will shower us with abundance, because God will continue to do so. 

God does not hold back, even when we fail to give him the credit. Where abundance prevails, though, so does evil. We might envision our good fortune and favor as confirmation of our promotion in the eyes of God over others. If our sense of authority is twisted, and our drive for independence fulfills our desires, then we project a false image of God’s power and will. We get anger, destruction, and horrible displays of sin. All the while, God’s grace abounds. Even in war.

In the matter of grace, the disciple revels in abundance as witness of God’s love, and he or she rejects the lies of random luck and haughty rewards. The disciple strives to know the difference, and in the process become more intimate with God and God’s followers.

Fourth, God knows that his followers cannot get enough of his knowledge and goodness. Curiosity and insight and revelation will last for eternity. Those who don’t know God, or have simply dismissed him, have the same unquenchable thirst for eternal things and for intimacy with the creator. Instead, they can only fill their desire for God with riches of this world, hoarding knowledge as well as treasure. They discover that they too are made to grasp for the knowledge of God, but not knowing God they will can't satisfy their hunger. They are constantly disappointed. 

God doesn’t take away any of our desires. He wants our desires aimed at him. The disciple, then, is joyful in the constant and increasing intimacy with God and goes deeper in his knowledge. He is satisfied and even eager for an unending curiosity and deeper knowledge of God.

The fifth paradox of Corinthians, Chapter 4, is that all of God’s teaching, graces, authority, and direction reveals God’s presence whether we improperly operate or properly operate. That is, both our cooperation with God and our rejection of God is seen by everyone. Every person tunes their heart toward God or away from God, but in all instances, God is the source of everything we do — and the world is watching.

The disciple hopefully patterns their authority over others as God exercises authority over them. Even if this is not so, God will work with us.

In these five examples of God’s paradoxical ways, Paul explains that we are both observers and the observed. Even the angels watch us, he said. Christians are a spectacle in this realm, the world we live in; but also in the spiritual world. The angels work toward our redemption as the devils seek to destroy us. Everything is happening upon a stage.

We may be called fools for thinking this way. As fools, though, we are observed as God’s plans unfold. We suffer in plain sight. Being foolish for God isn’t just suffering. It is a confirmation. God chooses us in our weaknesses to be examples of his blessings, grace, and mercy. In our strengths, we are not a spectacle at all, and quite often invisible. Our strengths are expected, like the steadiness of a tree in the wind. So it should be. Our weakness, though, reveals suffering with joy, hunger with hope, and even the doom of death with eagerness for heaven. All reveal God’s loving presence.

These are spectacles, things especially visible to the world who cannot unsee the foolish behavior of believers. Despised, but honorable, says St Paul. As disciples, we look dissimilar to the world only in our weakness when we call out to God. We are not perfect and will fail, but God still uses us in a constant revelation of his love, graces, authority, and presence.